The north Mississippi herald., 1919-02-07

was Sub or not. We didn't stop e
investigate as we were in the danger
zone. When we were three day,
from this side we were met by fee
/ OF y U. 5. Destroyers. These pluck1
little devils completely surrounded
J us, and as we were at that time in tho
thickest part of the submarine nest
their presence was q bit comforting
to say the least. Right here I wani
to say word of praise for the mer
who ride those Destroyers. They
are one fine, brave set of men, | can
tell you. How they manage to keer
from drowning with the tremendous
waves breaking over them, God in
| Heaven only knows, but they etick
on like leech on the back of Turk,
and if there is one thing this side of
He'll that German Sub is afraid Of.
it's United States Destroyer. Fast?
Why they are just like creased light
ming; they can spin around like q
cat, and the sea can't get too rough
for one of those little boats. When
the praise of this war is being issued.
don't forget that good big slice
should go to the crews that managed
these Little Greyhounds, who guard
ed your boys while they wre enroute
to France.
On the last day of our trip, i'm
mediately following dinner, We were
nearly thrown from our feet by 8
terrific explosion. The gong sounded
and we were ordered to our RATS.
Everyone thought we had been struck,
and though the air was tingling with
excitement, there was perfect order
among the men, and not sign of
panic. All remained quiet and steady
until the bugler sounded Recall. Then
everyone heaved q sigh of relief. It
seemed that one of the Destroyers
had dropped a depth bomb and when
it went off the explosion was what
caused our ship to tremble. Those
depth bombs you know will tear open
the seams of Submarien, and its
tremendous vibration will shake q
Sub to pieces. Aside from these few
our trip was made in rec
ord time and about $50 on the af-
ternoon of Sept. 7th--one week from
date of sailing-we suddenly heard a
cry of "Land ahead" We look ID and
sure enough there 1t was. \ great
happy shout went up from the throats
of fifteen thousand men,, thsrsaIiz.
ed we were aOver There"
ARRIVE In FRENCH WATEK5:-l
It was beautiful sight which met
our eyes as we steamed slowly up the
the harbor. A French War Balloon
which had come out to meet US, cir
cled gracefully about our convoy and
now escorted us toward the distant
shores Of Brest. On either side were
huge rocky cliffs, gray and sombre,
and here and there one saw large
patches Of green on which many
sheep were grazing, and stili nrtker
on were stone h0u ses whose
red tile roofs added touch Of color
to the picture. We passed numbers
of small boats, fishing smacks, etc.
whose occupants waved gaily to as,
shouting words of welcome and to
whom we as gayly answered, tho
dare say neither understood what the
other said. 1t didn't matter anyway.
We were happy, the journey was at
an end and we were soon to SET foot
on land once more. We passed sew
eral large camoufiaged French Battle
ships-Watch Dogs of the harhor,
and after bit saw some French De-
stroyrrs guarding some captured Ger
man submarines. We were pulling
in now, we could see people hurry
ing home from work and presently
there appeared, one by one, the lights
of the city. The sun was almost
down and when we dropped anchor,
and as the last strains of our Nation
al Anthem floated over the waters OF
France at Retreat, the sun slowly
sank from view behind the western
hill and verify the end of a rerfect
day had come.
There was q reception after supper
held on the Officers deck. General
Hines, head Of the Transportation
Service, who had come aboard our
ship in company with other prominent
military personages, made the wei.
come address, giving US some idea OF
the Frnch people and their customs,
and a hint as to how we should con-
duct ourselves. There were speeches
and cheering, lively snappy selections
by the band and more speeches, ut
the most enjoyable talk and one which
impressed us most Of all was made by
Sect,y. Baker. A wonderful speaker
s Mr.. Baker, and wonderful speech
did he make on the evening of our
first visit to France. At the onclu-
sion of his address the applause was
deafening. A prayer of thanksgiv-
ing was offered by the Chaplain, and
after singing America, our gu ,sts de-
parted and we were left To spend the
night as we pleased. We could -tay
out on deck and smoke If we wanted
to, we could go to bed, we could do
any darned thing we pleased.
The next day we would be taken )ff
the great transport and landed on
French soil. Tonight we could amuse
ourselves as we saw fit. Most & Us
lust hung over the deck railing,
shocking our cigarettes and looking
at the lights in the harhor. A sh 1T
week ago we had pulled out of New
York and tonight we were anchored
at Brest. So, this is France--Well,
well--what the devil do you know
about that? We've been trying to
q