The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1919-05-02
THE MEDINA SENTINEL
CLARENCE DAGUE
WRITES FROM GERMANY


Following is a letter written by
Clarence H. Dague, now at Bladern-
helm, Germany, to his parents in
Spencer.
Bladernhein, Germany
March rs, 1919
Dear Folks at home: y
Received Hazel's letter last evening,
also the pictures arrived o. X. Levi
must be growing like weed.
/ just got back from a three day
pass to Neuwied; had a good time and
saw many pretty and historical places.
Will try and tell you little about the
trip.
Saturday morning we got up at 5
a. M, ate breakfast and took the hob
mail express to Montabaur about six
kilometers from where we are station
ed. At Montabaur we took a passen-
ger train. Arrived at Neuwied about
10 a. m. Neuweid is town of about
18,200 inhabitants, and is a recreation
center for the third army corps. There
are some interesting castles and an old
park which / went through the first
day. At5:3O we went to the ex-kaiser's
hotel. now known rs Uncle Sans
hotel, for supper. This is a hotel
especially for soldiers on leave. There
the Dutch frauleins served our meals
in good old American style with real
china and silver (no mess kits and no
lineup for chow there). After sup
per we took in, show entitled, "War
Tc Ho1lV th4 host oh r
in long time.
The second day in the morning I
attended Bible class at one of the old
Catholic churches in Neuweid. This
is, a fine, large building and on it's
walls are carved pictures of Bible
characters. The pipe organ is large,
standing in the back of the church.
think the largest pipes on it must be
rs or 100 feet high.
At 10 a. m. went down to the
Rhine river and took boat up stream.
We passed much pretty mountain
scenery. Then we came to Coblenz, a
town of $4,000 inhabitants. Here at
the junction of the Rhine and Moselle
rivers is the largest equestrian statue
in The world of Kaiser Wilhelm l, who
was the kaiser's great grandfather.
This statue is Al feet high. A woman
with wreath in her hand at the side
IS 80 feet high. On the wreath are
carved words, which translated in
English mean, "Never will the empire
be disturbed if the people remain
united and loyal"
Across the Rhine in the face of Cob
lenz is the old fortress, Ehrenbreit-
stein. This fortress is 1856 feet above
the river. The present structure dates
from 1816-1826. The stars and stripes
are now floating over this fortress ana
can be seen for distance of Is kilo-
meters.
Next we came to, the church of Four
Powers. The walls are standing as
they were in 800. The church was re-
modelled in 1900, long before America
was discovered. This is where Charlie
magne met with his four sons to di-
vide the European territory. At Urm-
itz mile down the river I saw where
julius Caesar built a bridge in Sc, BIC.
Just above the town of Branbauch
is the Schloss Maksbing castle, which
dates from the 18th century This is
the only castle on the Rhine which
has not been more or less destroyed.
We had dinner on the boat. | thought
it was a very interesting trip.
The next day, I took a trip down the
river but that was a shorter one and
| will tell you about that some other
time. There were also many places at
Neuweid where we enjoyed ourselves.
It. has been pretty stormy today,
and raining. / just finished
up my last shift of guard for the day.
Most of the fellows in the company
are feeling pretty bum. They got a
shot in the arm while I was gone and
some of them were pretty sick. l ex-
pect will get mine in day or so.
Well guess you will be getting tired
Of reading this scribbling, so will close
for this time. If | ever get home I
can tell you more about some of the
places have visited. With love and
best wishes to all,
Your loving son, @
Clarence H. Dague
Co. M. 26 Inf, American E. F. France