The Republican journal., 1919-01-23
A Letter from Corp.
II. B. Atkinson

!
Dear Mother: Your letter of Nov 18th
came before the one of the 18th, probably
because they did not 60 the same route.
expected you would be anxious when
| did not write for over two weeks, but that
was the time when we were moving from
Ceyrat to the front, and l did not have
chance to write until l got back to the
echelon where the rest of the battery
was. There were only about eighty Bat
terv D men at the front, the remainder
staying at the echelon, as the place of the
reserves is called.
Some of the fellows were in England
only nine days after landing, and after
the fighting stopped they went back to
the U. S.
wonder if Harry Woods has gone
back2 He is a first lieutenant now. Madi-
son Banton has been made first leuten-
ant and | heard that Allen Neal was hold
ing that rank now.
I haven't any idea where we will 60
when we leave Troyon, but hope it will
be towards the coast. However, if we
are destined to remain in Europe for the
winter had rather be in Germany than
this part of France. There is no wood
here and the place is not so comfortable
as the one we Just left. At st. Chris
topher's Farm there was plenty of wood
and the camps were warm. 1t does not
seem likely that we will stay here long.
No doubt there would be more seasick-
ness going back now, for the sea is
rougher in the winter, but it would not
take so long to 60 back.
We were fifteen days on the water
coming over, but two of these days were
spent in Halifax harbor. We took the
boat at Boston about midnight July 18th
and the next morning at left the harbor
with other transports and U. S. de-
stroyer We got to Halifax the morning
of the 18th and left the morning of the
goth with twenty-one ships in the con-
voy. A British cruiser accompanied us,
The transports were all British vessels.
Two DAYS out from England we were
sub chaser. We were some glad to see
them for submarines had been around
night or two before, but had not attack
ed We were sailing a zigzag course for
safety. We had life boat drills every
day and some times were called out in
the night The morning after one of
those night alarms we were Informed
that the alarm had not been false for
submarine had been seen a few miles
away. On the day our escorts met US, at
about 2 80 p. m, lively submarine bat
tie took place. We were called to our
boat stations and from there we watched
the fight. AS our raft was on the hurrl-
cane deck we had good view. Over
forty depth bombs were dropped by the
chasers and destroyerS, and it was re-
ported that two subs were destroyed.
None of our ships were attacked, but one
u-boat ran across our bows and just
escaped being rammed by our ship. They
did not have any chance with all our de-
stroyers. We enjoyed the battle i'm
mensely for we had not had any excite
ment for long time. The convoy split
in three parts that night, each going to
different ports. Later that night we
good.
We dropped anchor in the harbor of
Barry or Berry, Wales, the next morning,
July 3lst, and later sailed for Newport,
where we disembarked and paraded
through the city. We got a great recep-
tion; we took train for Winchester that
On Aug. 3rd we sailed from Southampton
for Havre, France, and Sunday morning,
Aug. 4th, landed and marched to another
rest camp.
Monday we took box cars in the P M.
and set out for our training center. Aug.
9th we detrained at Clermont Ferrand,
Puyde Dome, France, and hiked to Cey-
rat. You know what we did after that
Aug. 9th to Nov. 1st Lean tell you
more and tell it better when sit by the
light in the dining room. / hope that
will be in a few months. If we do not
leave before FEB. /, 1919, we will be en-
titled to gold service stripe on the left
sleeve. would like that. For less than
six months service overseas we get
blue stripe.
Love to all,
HORACE