Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-01-03
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
suIleMans kq Pc asMV

I
of the Southern New England Tele
phone company, who is now a corporal
in Co. c., 3tGst field signal battalion,
has written ti1e following letter to his
relatives in Groton:
Dear Mother: At last we can write
explaining where we are, etc. 1t is /
raining hard here sucn weather you |
never saw, itsE some different from the
weather in the States YOU can bet.
We'll Mother, I will tell you about our
trip over here which, ! viii say was
some exciting. it is as follows:
We left Camp Devens on the 10th
! day of July. got a train which was
Wanting for US at the camp, arrived
| in Montreal Canada via New Hamp
| shire the mex morning at eight o'clock, |
| left Montreal at three O'Clock that day
| the 18th, and arrived in Halifax, n. S.
via Quebec, UT the St. Lawrence river
| and you can tell the world il is some
scenery along there; arrived there at
A o'clock on the 10th. Stayed in Hall
| fax harbor until the goth, waiting for
| the troopshtps to come, as there were
| twenty trooDships in our convoy across
and one English cruiser, making
| twentY-one IN all, and We were the
| first there, so had to wal for the 9TH
ers. The name of the boat we came
over in was an English mai! boat The
Durham Castle" and flying the Union
! Jack Tie second day ont on the st.
| Lawrence Was tho roughesT day we
] had and the boys were l,rG*i0r ever
thing. but | managed to hold m'rc
down, although 7 was very unsteady,
| "a. ha. Believe me, it's an awful feeling
| We got a hammock and Q life holt
| when we boarded the ships ard had TO
wear the belt on us all the way arrose
iraEp pfro=1 ry-iEha1 hos
mock since :hen as if is some bed.
There was a corps of nurses, an am
bulance cornS, a machine gun corps. t
| medical corps and the 20i signal corps.
] think" with the crew and all there
were about eco aboard orr ship. The
| Red Cross fed US at different places
| on the trip which was vc:Y \CQod. We
sang and tried to forge about the
| danger we Wr~e in all the Wav over
| sud of course the nurses Helped that
| along quite = hit OF course On leaving
Halifax, the Goth we were escorted by
| submarin ci,s,srs for about 200 miles
out and then they left rs with the
| cruiser leading us, it reminded me of
IN old hen Guiding her children and it
sure did guard us. After hoing on the
Atlantic / WIS put Oil lookout, a
Guard duty for subs which I was on
all the way over. The weather was
l
days of heavy. fog and a couple of cold
days of which we had TO wear over
coats in July. imagine it, well outside
of that 1t was good weather The
boys were drilled all the way over, fire
drills, life bo2t drills, company drills.
etc, and that kind of took their minds
off Of subs. The orders were strict
while we were on board, the penalty
was death so you can het We all obeyl
ed them. No lights of any kind to be
lighted after day dawn was one of
| them, as the ships had to be in dark
ness at all times On tho trip. / will tell
you it wis a long ans dreary ride. On
| the 2sth Of July on a Sunday, and it
| was foggy, too, l will never forget it,
I saw, what I thought t. he subma~
| rine coming for us, but to my Joy
| found it to be one of the destroyers
I We had been so anxious 10 see as we
expected them two days bafore, so you
can imagine our joy. AS the one came
on US you chuld see them all around
about ten if ] remember right and
| what pleased us most was to see the
| Stars and Stripes they We're flying and
the american sailors aboGr l. you can
| bet they got a great welcome and
| cheers from us all. They keep in and
out all around us as I found our later
we were in The war zone and couldn't
they go, gee, ] did not envy the boys
on them for they looked as if they
were going 70 tip over evcrv minute,
Well mother, they sure did look good
: to US. On the Goth at about o'clock
, when we We're about to break up the
convoy we we're attacked by subs, and
| | of all the noise you ever heard you
should have seen those destroyers
| dropping those depth bombs, I never
. heard anything like it. I expected the
SlIi 70 err mi, 4c I11f
| came out of It safe and sound, the L.
S. destroyers the heroes. 1t was stated
, | IN the paper a couple Of days later
| that they got three, bu. to tell the
truth I saw rome. The gun on the
stern of the loaf I was on fired as did
, one other Some noise ! believe I
iumptd ten feet when the =Iln went off.
, hut the deTtn bombs I did not mind.
/ We an three others went up the Bris-
t toll Channel and the others continued
to Liverpool, as I learned later. all
: safe and as though nothing happened.
| We left the three with us at Barry,
I Wales and We continued. arriving at
81 Cardiff, Wales on the 31st of July,
: making us on the water tWentv-one
| days. We got the message of the
| King here naraded all around the town
! with the Lord Mayors band. marched
: TO the CITY hall. where we heard the
lord Mayor speak, answered by Brig.
| Cen Evans, who came over on the
| boat with us and had / i1IUch on the
| lawn there and peonlc, you never saw
!. so many. It was the first time they
c ever saw American troOps. so they
/ | were all out % see US ard some re-
| nention that we got. VIII tel Won all
| about it when return. W. left there
a II night and went to 4 rest camp at
4 | Winchester. England, where I wrote