Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-04-23

Paris, February al
Dear Folks at Home. Well I have had 50
much excitement lately that | have not had
the time for writing. then again / think the
knowledge Of the fact that you sometimes
give my letters TO the newspapers rather in
habits expression, and ! keep putting OF writ
ing until the story gets stale. / got tired
of the work Of hostess in the officers club and
asked for real live job You ! had Eine
and ~. way ! have lived with live officer. a
colonst, all my life, and these little upstart
ofhcers here in Paris make me tired l pre-
fer the toughboy every time. All the girls
prefer the 5oughboy and even Genera Pessn-
ing says he tnYies the doughboy.
Well, my new job is interesting, yes thrilling
through YilIers. Cotteret, Vierzy and Derry
lie Sec TO Scissors. After lunch at Scissors
in tie hotel where Won kiuek had his head
quarters in 1914 go out TO the battlefield
Of Chemin des Danes then back to Scissors
and over the Soissons-Chatesu ThieTry road TO
Chateau Thierry, then around the Chateau
Thierry vicinity and back TO Paris. The gov
eminent and Red Cross plans that all return
ing personnel shall much of the thing
our boys we're up against, and the French
army grants permission for passports into the
battle area. My work il buying tickets and
making reservations: then meeting the people
at the provost marshafs window and getting
them past the ticket agent and American mil
itary police and into the two reserved com
partments. You imagine hew scared /
was at hrgt, for If there is anything that gets
me going Is the fact that Il have TO catch
train" No matter though / have crossed the
continent 30 times | am just as scared Of being
left as though were making my first trip. /
went FIRST understudy and we passed By
trains from Paris TO Chateau Thierry going
over the battlefield of the first battle of the
Marine, crossing the winding river again and
again. A charming French major who wears
a black band around his arm stood at the win
dow and told in broken English and a
little French now and then of the first battle
Of the Marine. Then when came TO Maux,
Balleau Woods. Daux. and Chateau Thierry We
were in the vicinity of Americas first en-
trance into the war. The ground cover
ed with a tYo-iach blanket of snow and all was
hidden. At the station a Red Cross motor
met US and rode from Chateau ThierTy TO
scissors. At the latter place visited the
cathedral, seeing for the first time the utter
destruction of home and part of the cathed-
rat Imagine my first picture-great heavy
flakes of snow falling down through destroyed
vauiting of the nave of the big cathedral
The north facade OF the nave, still stands, the
rose window is there with its skeleton tracery
but no glass. just below it the shattered or
gan is sanding and resting balcony, be-
low which is huge crucifx where the Christ
hangs, ell covered with dust Of the crumbiing
wall, but unframed and still a substanti al
symbol. Before the crucifix. thirty German
prisoners clad in green coats which are
printed the lettersP. G. (prisoner de la Guerre)
were working with shovels and pick axes,
cleaning up the debris. while young smiling
French soldier in horizon blue. fully uniformed
with gun on shoulder, stood guard. He finds IL
difficult TO make his prisoners work. No doubt
some of these prisoners were captured by the
Americans in their drive toward scissors last
July.
After lunch at CrOix dor we went out to
Chemin de DANES but because of the heavy
snow got little view Of the place. Since that
time my trips have been filed into remarkable
Of my first trip. From Scissors we return by
Impressions and sensations, but | speak now
Chemin de Fer 10 Paris
This 6kst trip was on Saturday and went
frat as real guide the following Tuesday
en- persons. among them two Red Cross cap
tains and four u. 5. nurses. ! had a map and
1t. Col. Frederick Palmer's book, america in
France" but there still snow and had to
draw on my Imagination to get the battle and
divisions properly staged. We got over the
road 20 scissors. beautifully; / knew that be-
elled by tourists in the Forest Villers COtteret
had been deer hunts and wild boar hunts.
There were many ruined farms and towns and
castles but | didn't know just what part
boys had in the devastation, etc. We had a
good lunch at CrOix d. Or, the one hotel in the
city of Scissors. Madame Croix d. Or does the
cooking and two French girls, one Of them a
prisoner of the Germans for three years, waited
en- the table. Won kluck of the first battle of
the Marine, who had been decorated by the
Kaiser, but who was later, Ousted from COM
mand, had used this hotel headquarters.
Perhaps this, or maybe just accident, is why
the hotel is not destroyed. The city of SOis-
sons is almost completely demolished. You
remember IT Is the scissors which Julius Gaze
sar speaks of in his Commentaries, the SOis-
sons where the armies of Cloves fought, the
SCISSORS of NapOleon's campaigns, the Scissors
sons of first. 1914 and later the 1917 drive,
and finally one of the detectives of the French
American, Setoeh and English drives of last
July, where our gallant First and Second d.
visions fought like demons.
have never studied dramatics so hard in
all my life. have staged all sorts Of things in
drama. High school boys have made the seem
cry and helped with the costumes. Now / am
going over the theater of the greatest drama
that the world has ever known and seeing
the trenches, the shell wounds, the awful de-
VISITATION. | have been trying to visualize the
action of the Americans. have been trying TO
imagine the 1.-THE fine bodies of these boys in
khaki, leaning up against the 'enches. /
have tried 10 imagine that Richard McAuey
perhaps has probably had to dig j hole for
his body out on the exposed hillside, but |
can't do 1t. l have been the ground six
times now. the very heart of the worst of July
OF last year, and | can only manufacture for
myself IN crude actressy way, a little idea
OF what the spirit of the drives must have been.
with French veterans in an offensive and the
forte of the French is the offensive in the
hrst line. not wishing TO give up the honor TO
young Americans. (whOm they hOnored deeply
for work done at BeIleaux WoOds) with our
own divisions full of the spirit of rivalry
among themselves; with that intense pent-up
have been the spirit of this fight on the road
TO SOissOns!! | see only the broken for
ests, the miles of exploded and unexplOded
shells, the ruins of homes and forests, the de-
serted dugOuts and dugins the long lines of
trenches, the worn out camOuhages now and
then and try TO imagine that human beingsN
OF nature in earthquake of cyclone
Mercy! Where am l now? The worst is
yet TO come! Please return to my first trip
and We are in auto. riding out of scissors.
north TO the great plateau where fought
the battle Chemin des Names. This plateau
has been the scene Of bombardments from the
time OF Caesar. Gas you already know. Ii is
on sort Of triangle between scissors. Laon,
khemIs. IL is very high and exposed. The
wind is always blowing The distances are
as great as those on the California trips.
We ride through he dam0lizhad rifv af Gois.
sons, little narrow streets which wind around
among old stone houses: we cross the Aisne
The river which rose so high in January. 1915.
mat the French had TO retreat over consider
able area; we pass through the little village
Crowy. completely demolished. while across the
valley Is Braye all in ruins. We notice a few
lines of trees which mark the highways lead
ing of to some old Chateau, nav in ruins, we
pass by demolished sugar factories and finally
reach TO corners" near Lafaux where French,
american, British-all the Allies engaged the
Germans in the greatest artillery battle the
world has ever known IL is the Chemin des
Danes! We have passed numbers of graves.
some German and some French. Many are
Almost IN the roadway where they VIII soon be
lost Some with the French helmet. the can
teen and the trieOlor standing out vividly.
We pass innamerable dugouts, for here the
Germans were securely entrenehed for some
time in ISl4-I5. The most remarkable dug
outs are now used by French eOlonists, Now
oeeaus. who are still in French uniform wear
ing the red fez cap. They working the
roads and probably exploding the shells and
ammunition that is lying around. constant
menace 20 tourist and souvenir hunters
When we get a little higher up on the plat
eau. the real thing is visahle; miles and miles
OF devastsd country, trees all gone: in all di-
reetions as far as eve can see are demolished
villages which look like ruined foFtresses that
have been demolished hundreds of years
believe We see many as 25 or 80 from this
iaheauN corner. But one cannot lock IN the
distance forever; for right at hand. Just on
the roadway Is the grewsOme. hldeous evidence
that we are in the vicinity of the worst of the