Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-01-08
GAVIN HJERLEID
AT BREST FRANCE
Landed There After Tiresome Trip
of Ten Days and He Was Sea-
sick For Two Days
: THE TOWN OF
BREST Is DEAL
Natural For 1t to be So After Fouv
Years of War and All the Men
at the Front
Joinville, France
Dec. 8, 1918

Joinville, France
Dec. 3, 1918
My Dearest Folks:
For the first time since cur land
ing here / had good place to write
you, but now | hope to tell you a
few interesting facts, also to tell yoa
first of all i am we'll and happy. We
landed after little tiresome trip of
ten days at Brest, France, and you
can bet on this trip l was a seasick
boy for two days. Didn't eat thing
until after the third day, when / be-
gan to move out of my nest. 1t is
nothing, only the same thing every
day of course. We came in the Bay
of Biscay and for about two miles>we
could see good old land Brest, which
| is supposed to be rest camp. Well
the town of course is dead, natural
ly, after four years of war, and all
the men to the front The homes are
all of white stone, not a wooden
building to be seen. but / must sas
there are some beautiful spots, The
people are all poorly clad, wearing
wooden shoes, driving one old skim
NY horse, two wheeled cart, and
slow to get around. Makes me often
times think how long they would last
in our good America in the financial
world. But then again you see line
of 20 or 80 OF our big fourwheeled
drive trucks u, S. A. come through,
and say what difference. / can see
now why America is first.
Well we slept in tents about three
miles from here for about four days,
nothing to do only a little detail
work. Saw the building where Napo-
leon surrendered at the battle OF
Waterloo, also the big Ceaser Chat
eau which is built B. c., which l will
tell you about later.
We left here for Joinville which is
40 miles from Metz, and along the
way there were some wonderful
scenes, going through DeJohn and
several other large cities. This place
especially was more American. We
arrived here at Joinville, town OF
about 10000, and of course all OF
US are living in houses which were
left by the people, as you know this
town was raided several times by
planes and the German army was
only 40 miles from here.
The people here are of course after
the soldiers money, charge about
two prices. can tell you so much
when get home you know. Our
eats are good and sleep fine, so don't
worry about that.
Seems funny to go along and see
the homes all closed in and when il
comes to entering you may strike q
yard and beautiful surroundings thai
knocks your eyes out. Where We live
is beautiful place, and one can SEE
that no bum lived there once. Of
course the homes are very old ans
close, with very little air and light
I have a German helmet ard an
going to try and send it to you by
mail. il not / will carry it. J. am In
line for few more little German
ttrinkets. Ha! Ha!
Its wonderful to see all the
French and u. s. armies comins
back and one can not realize what il
has meant for some. ] am looking and
finding out all can of Raymond, but
my last report is that he was in by
the Belgian front. or course / cannot
tell by that. wrote him though. We
are allowed to drink light wine from
is to evenings, but there is not SC
lmuch of that going on.
Suppose your Christmas will bs
about the time you receive this, sc
remember dear mother and father
that we two are hoping to be home
to enjoy the happiness of the mex
one, so just pretend we are there
and remember we are thinking Of you
always. If you shouldn't hear from
me or even Raymond regular don't
worry as I can see now why there is
such delay. Give this to Helen and
George. am happy and a M"rry
Christmas and Happy New Year,
am
Your loving son
GAVIN HJERLEID
The average man would rather