Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-01-31
PRAISES
PRAIRIE DIVISION
FOR ITS BRAVERY
oTTAWA'S OWN INCLUDED IN
CITATION LAUDiNG BOYS OF
tLlINOiS--LETTER HOME TELLS
OF AN OFFICIAL COMMUNIQuE
FROM GENERAL.

FROM GENERAL.
That the &3d Division was general.
used as a buffer, or, in the vernaculal
Of the baseball fan, as a utility hitteI
in pinches, is disclosed in an ecep
tionally interesting letter from Corp
Harold Duncan of Company c, l29th
Infantry, 10 his aunt and uncle, Mr.
and Mrs w. d. Duncan, OF Ottawa.
For it's work on the battlefields
particularly at the MeuSe and Ar
gonne, where the Prairie Division was
used to pinch hit for The French in
historic drives-the Illinois boys were
cited in d special communique dis
patched to the commander by Gen.
Pershing Corp Duncan, in his let
ter, tells OF this citation.
They have lot of castles on the
River Rhine and they have many
swell shacks in Luxembourg. but Dun
aan indicates that about the swellest
hing he saw in all his travels in the
closely confined duchy was an Ameri-
can girl-a Red Cross girl-who, he
says, certainly did stand out by her
self against these people" meanlnl
the Luxemburgers.
Corp. Duncan's war letters have
won distinction for their news and for
the interesting manner in which they
are written The one of today proved
to he as interesting az any Of his pre-
yious communications. fie tod oil
Corp. Julius Gerding being sent tc
the hospital with a crippled bacR
which prevented him from carrying
his pack on the march,
The division in which Lieut. How
ard Morley is an officer, the 26th, was
the first put in the army of OCcupa
ton, but their place was taken by the
ed, and the Goth is now on the way
home The letter reads in full:
Ettelbruck, LuXemburg, Dec. 20.
Dear Jennie;
! received your letter a couple of
days ago and surely was glad to get
it, We are in the above place for
long stay, | hope, after completing
a twenty-two-day march through Lor
raine and ali of Luxembourg and part
way into Germany and back. This is
a fine little city, clean and wide
paved streets and good stores and
the people are certainly nice. They
Teat us great. too.
The majority Of the people talk
German here, but there are lot who
talk French. TIE German speaking
people mix a lot of French in theil
ak though, making a language all
their own. The fellows who can
warbIe German are in jake here; they
get everything they want The peO-
pie all dress more neatly than in
France. OF course. they have better
and they also have better
food This town is fun OF hotels. 1t
is a great tourist town in peace times
and at these places you can get a
meal any time. They have only rye
bread, though, and use barley for Ccf
fee, but they have real buttcr and
milk and jelly, and plenty OF potatoes
and meat. \ full meal will cost you
1 marks or > francs.
1t is some job changing French and
German and Luxembourg moneys and
getting change. Yesterday was the
last day that German paper money
WAS good; the silver money will still
pass The people here changed al,
our German marks into French francs
for us. All Of the German silver
money has Cote Mitt TINS" on the
rim. The Inyemburg money is printed
N German on one sido and French On
the other
We had a pretty fair Xmas; it
showed all day and was real cold, |
was invited to a big dinner at hotel,
given by the medical corps and the
family owning the hotel 1t was surely
9pIIit I4l|di' -NObpug went 10 beu mat
night. There was a dance at every
hotel and soldiers and civilians mixed
and had a great time It was great
fun watching the different couples
A soldier would have a girl with him
and he would talk English and make
motions and she would talk German
and make motions, and they would
get along fine; then some would talk
French, and the fellows would try out
their French, and all the girls would
try to talk English. In fact. a large
number can, having learned it in
school. There are some real good
looking girls in this town. too--ir