The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-03-20
. Letters From and About Soldiers

/ !
=. ! : :
Sidney B. Carnine. radio sergeant in
charge Of the wireless station at Fort
Andrews. Mass. ehsrscteriZes as
gventful his experience preceding and
accompanying the arrival of President
Wilson's party al Boston aboard the
George Washington. Sgt. Canine.
whU was formerly bugler Of 18th Co,
writes his parents. Mr.. and Mrs. 5. b.
Carnine, as follows:
From Saturday until Sunday night |
received messages constantly from the
transport George Washington. There
were messages exchanged between the
George Washington and nearly every
large radio station on this part of the
coast greetings to the President and
congratulations upon his successful
work abroad. The Boston Naval radio
station was kept busy getting details
for his reception.
The ship. with its escort. came in
sight on the horizon about 4.30 p. m.
Sunday. Then all the forts blazed
forth a salute of u guns. They pro-
ceeded up into Boston harbor, anchor.
ing off Deer Island, which is just op-
posite Fort Strong, staying there until
morning. | got up at a. m. Monday
and took the early morning boat for
Fort Andrews with the soldiers who
were to form part of the Presidents
body guard Every ship in the harbor
was decorated with Flags. The boat
We were on passed within about so
feet of the George Washington. SO
close that we could give three lusty
cheers for the President and the sol.
diers returning from overseas. In the
city all was aglow with the colors of
the allied countries. American Flags
were massed over the entire city.
Il had my kodak and went up to the
state house, where the reviewing stand
was in order to get some good pictures
of the President. | got some'pictures
when they plnched the sutfragsttes.
was talking with Betty Gram, the girl
from Portland, who refused to move
and was forcibly taken away by the
police | also got picture of her.
got dandy picture of President Viii
son.
THE reviewing stand in front of the
state house was occupied by the boys
of the 30lst Regiment of the 26th Dl-
vision, Boston's own regiment. Many
of the boys were wearing distinguished
service medals. had place right in
front of the stand with newspaper
men, and when President Wilson came
in sight of the boys he stood right up
on the back seat of his car. took off
his silk hat and gave US bow and a
smile a yard long. His hair is quite
white, and believe me, he seemed glad
to get back to the United States.
There were enough secret service
men around the state house to fill a
regiment. SharpshooteIs We're sta
toned with rifles on top of all the
buildings lining the route of the pa.
rade, and soldiers or sailors were
formed all along the line of march
from Commonwealth pier to Copley
Plaza hotel.
"Now Of all funny incidents that
have happened to me for long time
here is one: After the parade | went
to a movie in order to sit down and
rest After | had been seated fof say
about 10 minutes lady behind me
touched me on the shoulder and handed
me a note. | looked the note over and
on it there was an address which | las
unable to recognize as anyone | knew
so then looked behind me and saw a
couple of girls beckonng for me to
come up and sit with them, 50 | de-
cided | might as we'll call their bluff.
When | had sat down one of them said
Hello, Frank. Nv but it seems good
to see you again. When did you enlist
and where are you stationed?' ! real
lied then that they had mistaken me
for someone else. | didn't know
whether to tell them of their mistake
or to see how far could go without
their finding it out. So decided upon
the latter course. let them ask all
the questions and | talked as little as
possible. She asked me, How are all
the folks?' | said, Well, mother has
gone on little trip to New York. ,
When it came time for me to go she
said, Frank, cant you come out home
Saturday for supper? Mother would be
mighty glad to see you again. ! said
I'd call her up if could get liberty.
And so it ended. Quite an episode,
wasn't it. ?"
W. W. Aldredge, formerly a conduc-
tor on the Mount Hood Railroad just
back from France where he was a
member of railroad transportation
corps. does not think much Of the
French rail equipment. However, he
has the greatest praise for the con-
structon of their roadbed.
after four years. without any re-
pairs or maintenance, the tracks were
still in very fair shape" says Mr.. AL
dredge "but the American equipment
is so far ahead of the French that the
latter will not bear comparison.
Freight trains have no air brakes. An
American has lot to watch out for to
keep from getting injured. Lines are
all double tracked, and the trains run
on the left-hand system. The tracks are
so close together that the cars barely
clear.
"A conductor over there was known
as chef de train. That was my title
the most Of the time of my service
dDTOdu. He tTdlilS CdTIleu over ny
the United States created awe in the
minds of the French. The freight
cars of the French lines had a maxi
mum carrying capacity of nine tons.
while those sent over for the use Of
the A. Z. +. carried 90 tons.
"The American hospital trains
formed the finest equipment saw in
France. We had l6 such trains, all of
huge steel cars. The French used
'buggies. as they call passenger cars,
and their ordinary box cars to carry
wounded.
Mr.. and Mrs. Norman Mays are en-
titled to a service flag with five stars.
Mrs. Mays has two brothers in over.
seas service. Cpl. John h. Lauter-
bach is in France as chief gunner of
the Fifth Balloon Co. He enlisted at
Vancouver January A, 1918 He train.
ed at Kelly Field. Texas. He was in
service at the front from September
until the signing of the armstice. Ben
c. Lauterbach was inducted into the
Goth Engineers at Vancouver early in
February. He sailed for France with
his regiment after snppial TRAINING at