Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-04-16

| and many other queer dishes which
Three Years Of Misery.
After spending two years and nine
months in misery, awaiting to be or
dered back to the States, that day
, finally came-and | was one happy
man, too. On the 10th of July we
| boarded the Good Ship Sheridan
| to sail for Gods country. and after
| sailing for five days we reached Ma
kisaki, Japan, and there we were per-
mitted to go ashore (provided we had
dime), for the ship had to anchor
out in the bay, and the Japs were
busily running their little row-boats
tsanpans), for which they wanted q
dime us the fare. 1t made no diff
just SO it was dime; they accepted
Japanese, Philippine, Chinese or
| English money. And then, after get
ting ashore, there were the Japs with
| their rickshas, which are little two
| wheeled carts, just large enough>for
| one person to sit in, and the men
draw these carts instead of animals,
and they will ride you all day for
| twenty cents. | don't know what a
man would do If he wanted to take
his girl to ride. The women do most
Of the hard work, such as coaling
up the ships. They work all day
with their little babies tied on their
backs, the sun beaming down in
their faces hot enough to blister.
After being there for two days we
pulled anchor and started on our way
again. We sailed for sixteen days,
| arriving at Honolulu, and were there
for two days again to enjoy the beau
tiful scenery. Then we started >pn
our homeward lap towards San Fran
| cisco, arriving there August 14th,
1917, and thought it was the cold
est weather l had ever felt. After
| disembarking we were sent out to,
camp at the old p. p. |. Exposition
grounds, just outside the city limits.
There we were told that we were
| going to get to France within very
short time, so we waited patiently
until in May we were supplied with
some new recruits to train, and then
made sure that we would soon be on
our way, but in the latter part Of Au-
gust we received orders TO send IS
per cent of our men to Siberia; so
after that we had to wait for more
recruits to fill our companies to war
strength. Within few weeks we
| got them, and then began working
and. training them for eight hours
day We finally got orders to leave
for the east coast, so on the 18th Of
October we left California for tour
across the continent That was a.
very pleasant trip.fOr our commander
on the train gave us permission to
stop over for at least two or three
hours twice daily, in every large
city, while passing through. After
nine days of pleasure and sight-see-
ing, we finally reached New York.
going on ferry boat to the Long
Island station, and there we boarded
the train for Camp Mills, where we
worked for five days, getting ready
to start. On the night Of the Sd of
November (about 3 a. m.) we started
for the ship. On arriving at the
pier in Hoboken we were met by the
Red Cross workers, who greeted us
| with hot coffee and buns, and that
was certainly appreciated, for we
had our breakfast at 2 a. IN. After
finishing our lunch we boarded the
ship Finland with view Of getting
started on our way the next day, but
we stayed there for three days await
ing orders to sail, but instead we got
orders to disembark and return to
camp. You should have heard them
all begin to growl. Just to think
we had worked so hard to get across,
and then to be disappointed 80 was
enough to make a preacher swear.
So out to camp we went again, and
we were kept there in suspense until
the armistice was signed, and then,
shortly afterwards, we were sent here
to Brooklyn to guard the government
piers, and have been here ever since.
So, this being the end Of my jour
ney, ! will close for this time. Good
Dye for the present. Hope to hear
from you soon.
AS ever, your son,
Sergt. Oyd G.. Cole
| Jnf