Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1919-01-11
TELLS EXPERIENCES IN
HUN PRISON CAMP
Lieut.. Edw. Gray. of This County,
Writes His Sister, Mrs. Soper, Real
Story of He Was Treated By Huns

How the Germans would only per-
init American prisoners of war to
send out letters to the folks at home,
which made it appear that they
were being well treated, while on the
contrary, they were subjected to cruel
and inhuman treatment, is told by
Lieut. Edward Gray, in letter to his
sister, Mrs. Crutcher Soper, of Madi-
son county, which she has just receiv-
ed As will be recalled the Daily Reg
ister published several letters from
Lieut.. Gray, written from Camp Ras
TAFT, Germany, while he was prison.
er. Since his release, he tells the real
facts of his Imprisonment, and writes
a story which viii be read with in
tense interest by his host of friends
at home here. This is perhaps the first
letter printed in Kentucky, from an
American boy who saw the inside of
Ia Hun prison camp. Lieut. Gray
wrote from an American hospital, to
which he was sent after returning to
the American lines:
Base Hospital No. 25, Allary,
France, December 4, 1918.
Dear Sister and All:-Just arrived
lin France from Germany and am very
glad to be here. In this letter / am
going to give you a brief history of
my last six months experience; 1t
may be interesting to you and others.
So here goes:
AS YOU know was in Co. /, 7th u
s Infantry, (3rd division). On July !
1918, my division was ordered to the
front and occupied sector of the line
on the Marine river, four miles east
of Chateau Thierry. Companies
and K. were on the fighting line and
the remainder of the Seventh lnfan-
try was in our support, about one miie
in our rear. 1t had been very quiet
sector except for heavy artillery hre
until the night of July IA, and then
was when the fire works began IN
earnest. At IL o'clock that night the
Germans cut loose with everything
they had to fire with and from then on
70 day break we were under very
heavy fire and at $3.50 q. m, was when
the sure enough fight began, the Ger
mans trying to cross the river in the
face of our rifles and machine guns.
He was simply slaughtered but finally
about 6 o'clock, after the Germans
had blasted us out of our trenches
with artillery and brought up fresh
reserves, we having lest our whole
platoon. either killed or wounded, the
Boche finally got the remainder OF us
surrounded and we had to give up at
7 a. m. They took us away to the
rear about 10 miles that afternoon
and we stayed there all the next day
and till noon the 18th. All this time
we were without anything to eat at
all. / was so weak / could hardly
stand up and yet we marched about
20 miles that same afternoon and got
some bread and soup for supper. The
bread looked something like a brick
and was Just as hard.
The next day we marched to Laon
and stayed there two days. We left
there July 21st on a freight train.
There were SO Of US in a box car for
three days and nights without sleep or
very little to eat. One night as we
were passing through some town in
Germany, the French aeroplanes Were
bombarding, so they locked US in the
train and away they went to some
place of safety, leaving us there to be
bombed, but luckily We escaped injury
and landed in Rastatt, Baden, July "a.
There we We're put in with some Eng
lish officers and treated little better.
We got beds and little more to eat.
Talk about coffee, we had none, but
instead, something made from parch-
ed barley and boiled water that tasted
more like pond water than coffee. We
stayed there long enough to get full
of acooties" and then they took US to
Karlsruhe, put us in single room for
a few days, took us before a German
and tried to make US give
them information of our own forces
but silence was our motto and they
found out nothing from US.
Then we were sent to Villengen,
where there was an American prison
camp and we landed there on August
3rd. AS there were some American
officers there ahead of US and had re-
ceived food from the Red Cross, we
had our first good meal there. We
lived a very solitary life except we
were taken for walks occasionally and 1
nad some few games, which were fur |
-ished bv tLe Y. NJ. c. A. and Red |
Cross and if it hadn't been for them,
we would have lived very poor life !
indeed, and maybe starved besides.
You remember. I wrote you some I
very favorable letters from there but /
couldn't send any other kind or thev I
wouldn't 90 through, SO / had to write i
good news or not any at all We re-
.eived the German papers while in |,
villngen and that kept our morale up /
,y hearing how our amries were /
zicking the Germans out of France h
We lived in this way until the arm
stice was signed and then we were
allowed free hand or in other words
We took it and at a. m, November
10Th, we left Villingen and went to
Constance, a city on the Switzerland
German border and spent our Thanks Il
yivng day there without any sign Of
urley). Il
We left there on the morning Of
10Th and when we crossed
,ver the border into Switzerland we
We sure did receive royal welcome 4
" the Swiss people. We came by !,
he way of Berne and Genoa and. talk 4
bout q reception, we sure did get one 1
It every place the train stopped by Il