The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-07-04
SERGEANT CHAS. WIKLE
WRITES FROM WARSAW
He Made an Interesting Journey
From Paris Through Italy
And Austria

letter from Sergeant Charles A. Wi
kle, Jr., who is now in Warsaw, Po-
land with the Polish Mission. Ser
geant Wikle left America one year
ago with the 516th Engineers, and
was stationed with his company at
Is-sur- Tile, until May 4th when he
was transferred to the American Re
| lief Commission in Paris. On May
18th he received his discharge and
became a civilian attache of the Po-
lish Mission. His letter tells the sto-
ry.
Warsaw, Poland, June s, 1919.
Dear Mamma: Arrived here yes
terday and was very much surprised
to find Warsaw TO be as nice a place
as it seems row.
Have written you since your letter
of May 4th came, but was in such
whirl while in Paris that | am not
,certain that have made things clear
to you. The whole thing is that l
| am a civilian, discharged on May 16,
in the employ of the Food Commits
sion. Am now in charge of Motor
Transportation at the Polish Mis-
sion in Warsaw. This MISSION closes
on July 18th, as orders now stand,
so will probably return to Paris and
then home, at that date.
Have had about all the travelling
l care for now and hope that | will
start for home in July. Ny trans
portation will be paid from port TO
port but l will have to pay from New
York home and probably from Paris
to the port. Am hoping that / will
be able to go by England, seeing
London and sailing from Liverpool.
Suppose most all the home boys
have returned by now and sure wish
was there, too, but considered my
chance one in a million and couldn't
turn it down Had never seen any
one of this mission before | arrived
here and from what / have seen of
them l will be very well satisfied
if they leave me in peace. There
have been very few fellows that |
have cared for very much and ex-
cept for a few at home the most of
these were in the old ambulance
company.
Will try and tell you something Of
my trip which l think was the great
est experience of my life. Was
routed by my orders to go to War
saw, Poland, via Modane, France,
and Turin, Italy. Left Paris on
Thursday night, May 20, and arrived
at Modane, France, on the Italian
frontier on Friday morning. Here
we had to pass through the customs
office and had to pay 25 francs duty
on II cans of Prince Albert tobac-
co while some of the fellows that
had cigarettes paid as much as 100
francs (nearly $20i00) We also
had our first change in money here,
changing francs into liras. We re-
ceived 1900 liras for 100 francs so
| it seemed as if we had more money
then than when we left Paris. Leav-
| ing Modane about noon we travelled
through the most picturesque of the
Italian Alps, just south of Switzer-
land. We passed through tunnel at
ter tunnel but as the line is electri-
fed nearly in to Turin we didn't have
the smoke to contend with. One of
| the tunnels was IL miles long, the
longest in the world, and it took
more than half an hour to pass
through. The scenery was beauti-
\ full and at times the railroad was
nearly up to the snow line. Arrived
/ in Turin late in the afternoon and
had time 20 walk about the city be-
fore the train left for Venice. Had
supper here with macsroni and It
was much better and quite different
from that we get in the States. Ev-
ervthing else was cooked in oil and
had a peculiar taste that didn't suit
me. Was told that | would find the
Italians hating the Americans but
didn't notice any such feeling here al
though / did at Venice and Trieste.
The train left about 9 o'clock for
Venice and passed through Milan but
only stopped there for few minutes.
Arrived in Venice about q. m and
/ in front of the station, insteSd OF
Fcalling for q taxi we motioned for
a gondoIa. The gondolas and every
thing else seemed just as / had ex-
uected TO find it. As all our expen-
ses are paid We went 10 one Of the
incest hotels overlooking the harbor
and l could hardly believe It was
me travelling in this style and being
! paid for Il
Practically all traffic is by canal
50 we went about the city IL goa-
Confined on page six)