Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1919-01-30
Receives Christmas Letter From
France


received by Superintendent w A.
hayes from his son, who is with the
Ana e. F. in France:
My Dear Dad:
Today is Dads Day" in France, and
vWajIe / have written you whenever |
had the chance, this is one day
rHyEald not miss Scribbling you a few
ef my uppermOst thoughts.
In one way it is a thanksgiving day
that is. it is a day Of celebration,
when my mind is occupied with
thoughts of dear old dad back in that
,tt841e old white house which he is
striving to make the most comfortable
nome in the world. I have been away
from the good old u. S. A. a long
'A1me, SO do not know the latest, but
can tell you what has gone ON in my
mental diary since Miss Statue of Lib
-sErty sank down into the ocean on the
western horizon.
/ have spent days and nights which
'EES1ill never regret; neither will ever
Ss8rget fi1eap 4 will say this, that I
realize now, more than I ever did be
fore, just what a wonderful home [
have. Before Joined the army, things
'seaIne easy and departed the same
way. If there was party on, and
was a wee bit short on the cash side
= OF my accounts. would go that old
reliable source-iiit dad for couple
of bucks 4 got it easy, so I would
tSaOw it for the ,frst' thing saw |
anew there was more where that came
from and also knew / was sure of
three square meals and good bed.
when things began TO look like war
II saw a chance Of adventure and a
c5nance to serve our best uncle (Uncle
.Sarn), SO, as you will remember,
,ssan1e early and avoided the rush. l
?GU9 IN on the first page Joined the
cavalry. And it wasn't long before
left that good Old home and dear old
dad for parts unknown. | never will
EOrgets those first few days of training.
81 was not long before l wanted to
orRUIt and go over there" and join an
,&tylt8t where I didn't have to drill. But
l'st WAS not long before we were sea-
sGtned soldiers. We got used to things,
sSt5StaSfa went up.
WBFWent to what seemed far-Off Tex
as, where our training was much more
rigid and we learned little more
s.S10tlt real army life. Many things
s9f interest took place in Waco. We
CygBrs transferred from cavalry to ar
e:5E1ery and began training on the old
~. s. 3-inch piece which we Later
discarded for the "French rs" We
F5v'sre placed in the thirty-second divi-
s$HGGa, whose fame has Since spread al
over France. 1t was in recognition of
The wonderful work OF this division
that 1t is known among the French
soldiers as the Terrible brigade. They
&CE1ght wonderfully on the OurCq and
Vesle rivers.
1t was in sunny Texas that we woke
mp with a foot of snow on our blan-
hefs. We dug cur clothes out of drifts
with a smile, saying it is all IN the
asxYne and probably nothing to what
RIA head of us. 1t was in Texas, also;
= 11ss1 we learned for the first time what
eight hours Of drill amounted to. 1t
avg in the Lone Star state where we
Trst walked a. post on guard duty. We
+r~jed to walk our post i'll military
.ggsa1Iner, but were spending time think
rsg> e3f, good old days not so long
i9saSt.
VtEseen1S~ as thought a soldier IS new
ter satisfied. From the time he goes
80 .cstyup he wants to keep moving
.-,u7I vwhen he gets in the front line
rke, FEELING is even stronger. We want
/, al TO get on our way "Over there" we
wanted to get Raixed up with the Ger
rran iron that Fritz rained over the
allied lines 1t was not long before
t7yur wish was granted. We left the
.zyeUple of Waco, who had been so hos
pftabIe to US, and jOurneyed to camp
Merritt. N. J. We spent about three
weeks there and then embarked on
the largest boat afoat, the U. S. s. s.
a .eyiathan. formerly the Fatherland.
7Yf is a floating palace; much larger
1faan | imagined boat could be. We
xuade it our first duty to explore this
mig boat, and spent an afternoon CIV
ing her the 'once over but although
visited new regions every day while
aboard, | do not believe | ever saw
she whole OF it.
1t took us eight days to cross the
big ditch. We had many interesting
experiences en- route. Our food was
fssxxsc we even had pie several times.
we HAD good Sunks also, and a
gxsu0r3th sea almost all the way. one
night 1t saFe was some rough, but |
anioyed it. and did not get one DIT
+easick. The night before we put
into port, we picked up our convoy
xUhich consisted OF ten American de-
.stroyers. It booked good to see our
azoiors flying from the masts OF these
men of war in foreign waters. 1t made
7xxs feel safe. The next morning we
encountered two German submarines
Our destroyerS sank one OF them and
we passed on as though nothing had
happened. q was our first taste Oh
okf not for>osof If There