The Republican journal., 1919-02-06

sisted of the dew off the grass but it felt
refreshing at least. About 9 o'clock we
started again and at 10 were in Montreal.
At Montreal we were put on board an Eng
fish troop or freight ship known as the
Alma. This ship was camoutlaged, paint
ed in black, white, blue, red, ETC., in
stripes. On July 14th at 4 a. m. we left
Montreal and sailed up the St. Lawrence
and at the next morning we passed
Quebec and for three days we saw the
most beautiful scenery imaginable. Dur
ing this sail we passed under the great
steel bridge that crosses the st. Law
renee You know that this is the bridge
that the Canadian government has had
so much trouble in putting up and at last
they called on the American engineers to
put the center span in place.
Halifax.
On July 18th at noon we arrived in
Halifax, and dropped anchor. Here we
had an opportunity to see from the ship
that part of Halifax that was wrecked
by the explosion, also the steamers that
were blown ashore. We left Halifax on
July goth at a. m. and sailed in a zig
gag course from then on.
Our Convoy.
There were % boats in our convoy, each
travelling at the same rate of speed and
in column formation. We were escorted
by British cruiser and two British des-
troyers The latter Travelled with us 48
hours and then turned back. For ten
days we sailed with only water as land
scape. During this time we sailed some
where near the coast of Greenland and
sighted iceburgs at distance. Talk about
being cold, gee whlzl Well, at O'Clock
in the afternoon of the Both the sea was
as calm as Mirror Lake and we were at
tackled by submarines.
The Attack.
Previous to this we had been picked
up on that same morning by American
destroyers 1t was foggy and they lost
US but along towards noon they found us
again, eight of them. AS | was saying
at 3 O'Clock we were attacked. A sub
came up in the middle of us about 40
feet from the boat we were on. 1t fired
a torpedo which passed our bow and the
ship in front of US, the Saxonia, turned,
hard to port and fired at the torpedo, get
ting it at the first shot. In the meantime
the cruiser fired and sank the sub.
No doubt you have read how sub
marine goes down after it is hit Well, |
saw the whole show. You ought to have
seen those American destroyers. Talk
about speed, they went around and around
it, dropping depth bombs. They claimed
there were seven subs that attacked US.
The little destroyers got the most of
them with depth bombs. All the fellows
were tickled to death, myself included,
watching that fight. They have nothing
on those destroyers.
Liverpool
From then on until we landed in Liv-
erpool, nothing of any consequence hap
pened. On the 3lst at 2 p. m. we landed
at Liverpool and at O'Clock we took a
train and travelled until one the next
morning, passing through many beautl-
full places and saw neat farming lands.
At 10 we arrived in Winchester got off
the train and hiked a couple of miles
with our packs. All up hill and as dark
as pitch. At O'Clock we were in Camp
Moon Hill, an English rest camp; all you
rested was your stomach. The name
sounds good but that was all. will tell
you the rest later. We were put in Eng
fish barracks for three days. During our
stay here our first lieutenant took the
company on hike to the Winchester
Cathedral. There we saw King Arthur's
Round Table. An old English gentleman
there gave us the age of the cathedral
and what kings had owned it at different
times. l also have book describing it.
This will show you later.
On Aug. 3rd we left Winchester for
South Hampton. There our company
| loaded steamer, the name of which is
Yale. found out later that this steamer
formerly ran from New York to Boston.
In loading this steamer the company
made a record that hadn't been beaten
by any troops that came across. Aug.
4th we embarked on a fast English
steamer of % knots known as the Gale
going across the English Channel, but
the ship was fast and IN a short while,
just one nights ride, we arrived at Cher
bourg at 7 O'Clock, Aug. 5th. No trouble
with subs. This city has very pretty
harbor but we didn't stop long for scene
ry. We hiked about five miles to anoth-
er English rest camp. Here we slept IA
in small tent; it was round and we all
slept with our feet towards the center.
We again rested our stomachs, washed
our clothes and cleaned up for two days.
Cadaujac
On Aug 9th, we boarded "side- door
Pullman" and on Aug. 9th we arrived at
our destination, which was Cadaujac,
near Bordeaux. If you get French map
you can see how far we travelled We
arrived at 6 a. M, were given our billets
and remained here until Sept 9. could
write enough about this place to fill
book, but will save it until later. On the
morning of Sept. at 9 o'clock we left on
ammunition wagons, hauled by trucks.
This was the hardest ride think l ever
took, riding on a dead axle with truck
hauling me. The wagons were coupled.