The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-01-24


! pose shat my requisition came and
that many socks are or their way to
! Fance. Thhey may come in handy
yet. AS for the Christmas requisi-
ton from London don't worry about
that for I'm getting pretty good
! Christmas present the way it is with
a trip home-maybe that is why
| Christmas failed to interest me more
this year. We got our orders to turn
! in our motors guns and equipment OF
all sorts and prepare for immediate
return to the states Thanksgiving
morning. The boys had something
truly to be thankful for. But since
a similar order had been received
countermanded and we had been or
dered into Germany and in all the
three or four days proceeding the Off
GERS were skeptical. / swore that l
would not believe it until had got
onto the ocean. Maybe was too skep-
tical for it surely looks now as though
the old Goddess of Liberty would get
her last look at me tomorrow morn
ing.
| l must close now and write Marie
I will keep you advised as well as
can vas to our plans. Until we get to
Camp Lewis though it will be very
problematical as to when we will be
demobilized. With love your son,
Burton.
| Corporal ]. HI. Reuvers, Third
Corps Artillery Park, with the Amer
lean Expeditionary Forces, now in
France, wrote the following letter to
his wife from Cournay, France. under
date of December II:
Dearest Anna: Received three
letters from you dated November IL,
Is and %, and was surely glad to get
them. l will answer same this morn
ling. 1t is raining outside now so l
have nothing to do at present. This
is the first mail l have received for
six weeks, so l am expecting a bunch
of it some Of these days.
| 1--WE have been fixing up roads, as
it has been too wet to drill. I will
|! try and answer some of your ques-
tons now that they are not so strict
about the censoring. / see you peo-
pie heard the news before we did,
but our boys were moving up fast
just then; but when we did hear the
news it was no surprise as we ex-
lpected it. / suppose you had some
celebration, but we worked on as if
nothing had happened. Shortly aft
erward we saw troops moving back,
Ii suppose on their way home. Can't
say when our turn will come, but it
can't come too soon for me, as the
time passes very slow now.
$50 you are sending me box?
Well, / hope l get it. My Red Cross
things from home haven't reached me
vet. We haven't had any snow here,
but it rains hard every day. haven't
seen the sun for two months or more,
so you can imagine the mud we have
around here l will write you soon
again and let you know if l receive
he package. | will now give in de-
ltail some of my travels and exper-
fences since l left the states.
eve left Newport News on August
l2S, and sailed from New York. We
lIayed in the harbor there for five
lays and then we sailed across the
atlantic. We had nice weather all
he way over, but had one foggy day
and we lost our convoy. We were
given up for lost but after thirty six
hours we found them again and con-
tinued the voyage without any trouble
1--we landed in Liverpool. England, on
September 10, and took the train
II there the same night for Southamp
II ton, arriving there at 10 a. m. on the
firth We had dinner there at some
i camp, then marched to the seaport
and got on U. s.: boat, which took
3 us across the channel to La Havre
France. After unloading we march
ed three or four miles to camp and
stayed there until the goth, and then
we rode in box cars to Angonbine
| and it took us about three days. This
was in southern France. Here we
STAYED for about a month. We left
There riding in box cars for three OF
four days until we reached Clare
mont, where we got very nice re-
ception. Some German planes flew
over and bombed us, and sure made
lit very uncomfortable for awhile.
They dropped them very close, one
bomb bursting about twenty feet be-
hind our train, tearing up one rail
but no one was hurt. We stayed al
Claremont a couple of days, Their
| moved I'D toward the front and took
J charge of an ammunition camp.
"We were about mile and a hall
behind the infantry, and had the
large guns all sides of us, so we
did very little sleeping for awhile
Our men here began that drive, ano
, they sure did raise cain. They NOV
. ed up very fast. In some way few
snipers had been overlooked in the
, hills, and one night they got range
: on our camp and whizzed over some
, large shells. My pal and | were
, sleeping, but we heard the first one
| come whistling over. We stayed
: where we were, as we knew we were
: safe as long as they were shooting
| over, but when the shells began fall
!. ling shorter and one broke near oul
tent and knocked it down and buried
, two of our sergeants under the muo
and stones l thought it was time tt
/ move. so we ran for dugout. The
: next morning our men picked up the
( snipers. Then we moved to tins
: town, and have been here for nve
; weeks. The French are moving II
{ here now SO we will have to move
| soon. and hope it's back to south
ern France. We are not far IRON
: L have