The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1919-05-02
MARINE TELLS
HIS EXPERIENCE
IN MARINE CORPS
St Naaaire, France, April ., 1919.

St NaHaire, France April 9, 1919
Editor Big Sandy News:
on May II, 1918, enlisted at Hunt
Iington, w. Va, for actual service over
here and l am actually staying here)
was sent to Paris Island. S. c., for
part of my training and there | met
many difficulties; most of all was the
i heat, one day in particular it was 1876
in the shade, and the dust was very
bad. j stayed there two and one half
months and then was transferred to
the 9th Regt. and we finished our
1 training at Quantico, Va, and on Sept
18th we started for Hoboken, N j.,
for transport ON our way 10 No Mans
land-all proud ana anxious of the
opportunity to serve ard fight for our
country.
We left the train, and embarked the
u. s, s. Won Steauben the same even.
ing and remained in port until the next
night and they pulled out some few
miles and anchored in the harbor and
when they dropped the anchor il
j frightened the boys for they thought
a depth bomb had struck them and
they came rolling out on deck We
/ stayed there until the following noon
and then we started TO sail for Franco,
There We're three ships and two CON
voys with us, the conveys stayed with
us until the third day and they went
back. The first four days were very
calm and on the fifth day we discover
ed an iceberg. some distance away and
all kind of snow birds sailed around
our ship, on the sixth day we ya<S a
submarine and they fred number Of
shots at it but il submerged and no
one knows the results. 1 thought /
saw ii but | could have been mistaken
cur ship was well armed had some
thing like twenty one big guns and a
crew OF twelve hundred and they were
always, on their job. Every day when
we were in mid ocean they had target
practice and the soldiers " rent
sighted for they also had Their sub
marine drills to avoid rushing and so.
they could go to their posts in the dark
for we had no lights and the alarm
rang so often that an OF us got used
to it and the crowd wonId not rush ana
in case of necessity they didn't know
the difference.
We had to have our life preservers
whore We could reach them at all
times and IL we went up on gun deck
we had to wear them and they were
deck for we were crowded so that two
of us only had one small bunk and l
! found it very cold but rather than
/ sleep down where the air was not pure
| | took chance up there. felt good
at all times. I often watched the boys
feed the fishes. but most OF them had
! the flu for there were about hve hun
+, dred cases out OF our bunch and when
nod a lar. l.. =
about forty dead The last four DAYS
were very rough and at last we had
| to go down in our compartment to
/ sleep for the big waves almost ran
over tie top OF our ship and for two
days had more fun watching them
serve meals for the ship was rocking
so that when the boys got their pans
full of stuff a big wave would hit the
port side and down they would go,
knocking a half dozen with them and
at last il was better than some OF the |
stunts have seen in movie On our
ninth day conveys came out to meet |
us and on Sept 25th we were gazing 1
on the old rocks of France and even
the boys that were sick climbed out of l
the bed to see the beautiful land. One I
fellow l noticed in particular for he 1
sick for two days but as soon as land |
was seen he got up to take a look
il was the old shore of Brest.
On Sept 26th we went ashore, all /
anxious to see the French people and |
we found they wore wooden shoes and
were very poorly dressed The ancient
buildings looked like they had been
there for hundreds OF years, and all
Inn n1H ~ IL
heavy marching order to the rest camp
(but did everything but rest) where
we tried to erect us a little tent Our
home was a very small pup tent and
two blankets and as usual 1t was rain
ing and we used our trench shovel to
move some of the mud and make 1t as
comfortable as possible. One week
passed and still nothing had improved
We were in quarantine and the only
chance to get out was on wood or
water detail for we had to haul it
about half mile and this was the
only chance we had to buy anything :
and our allowance per day was a can
teen full of water, about two pints to
wash, drink and shave. Guess would
have tried to take bath If there had
been room. A month passed and we
did not fulfill our expectations for we
to go to the front and on our
arrival here we had very good bunk
houses and we did not want to leave.
but the next morning they made fly
ing stevedores out of us. We worked
and did not mind that and our third
day here we got another order to
move to Nantes, which has a wonder-
full history. With bunch OF boys ]
visited the old Chateau. Its surround
ed by water and they can turn the
water off or on at any time This is
in case of an attack. On the inside
are the old prisons which i went thru
with a flash light accompanied by
French madam. She tried to explain
in French and some broken English.
Down in the cells where they kept the
prisoners was water about waist deep
and any little offense they would
throw them into ii and they have IS /.
British soldiers in one of these cells
That has been sealed up. Another
place where prisoners are convicted
and sentenced to/death they have
chute they throw him down and he
catches on four hooks and stays there
until he dies. There are all kinds of
names cut on the walls and of different
nations Queen Anne's apartments
a nd thp\nlaca aha was horn ara oIoo