The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-02-20
letters From and About Soldiers

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Rea Babson, former Upper Valley
OrchardiSt, was one Of the few civilian
Americans who Witnessed the grand
fete at StrasbOurg. when II was Wis
itei early in December by French,
English and American military leaders
and host Of civil authorities. Mr.
Babson relates his interesting expert
enees in a letter to his sister-in- law,
Mrs. Sidney G. Babson. Of Parkdale.
Special trains from Paris brought
all the senators and dignitaries. the
four presidents. the Council of the
Republic, the Chamber of Deputies.
about 8. 30 and then there was an in
formal parade TO the Hotel de Vile
for POlneaire'S 5 speech. Clemencau,
poincaire and Foch were in the same
carriage and Pershing and Haig in
another. My chief had secured an adj
mission ticket to the events and
worked me IN on 1t simply because
there are nc Americans here. | stood
few feet behind Poncaire when he
made his speech to the people from the
balcony of the Hotel de Vile. Later
all went up to the reception room up
stairs. 1t was all very informal
nothing like presidential reception in
Washington. Poor Clemencau was
quite squashed, and | walked all over
a small general, who did not seem to
Babson is over six feet talO. FOch
was not nearly as popular as the two
civilians and was quite alone when
went up to him. shook hands with
P.oncaire, Clemencau, Foch and Jotfre.
| 3sked Joffre if he would like to get
b; * to BrC adway and he said, 'Oh,
Yesp missed Petain and Pershing
al Haig did not come up stairs.
b ker, my chief, and | were the only
A nericans. There was a fine spread
in one Of the rooms and 'beaucoup de
vln. ln the afternoon luck was again
" tn US and we got in the covered
q andstand on the Place de Republique
along with the generals, senators and
other big guns.
The parade, which at first was bad
ly managed by the easy going French,
was finally started off by the soldiers
clearing away the crowds. The mill
tary part of the procession, ended by
the tanks, came first. Then all kinds
of societies, civil and religious, with
the maTchers all dressed in uniforms
and carrying ancient banners, went by
in review. Three Alsatian girls were
escorted up to the grandstand to sit by
emenceau. Foch and Poincare, and
hundreds Of the girls danced by the
gIandstand and threw flowers up at
the chiefs. Everything was mass Of
color and big head dresses.
1--WE had worked hard to get the
place in shape. We changed all the
German decorations. shields. signs,
pictures and everything. 1t was IA big
job. | had the pleasure of smashing a
big bust of Frederick the Great, and |
put my foot through painting of the
kaiser.
1T seems strange to be going to
cafes with Alsatian soldiers who have
Just returned from four years service
with the German army. From all ap-
pearances they are intensely pro-Ally,
but of course it is impossible to tell.
But there are still plenty of Germans
here, and the Alsatians say they will
all have to get out. We are getting
stuck a little on the money. paying
one and quarter francs for a mark,
but soon it will all be francs. Food is
quite high here, naturally, butter 10
francs, milk almost unobtainable,
no chocolate, imitation coffee, little
sugar and undesirable little apples for
dessert.
"Strasbourg is fine city. clean and
picturesque, and with little manufac
turing. Old Strasbourg has some very
artistic buildings. The city does not
seem to have suffered during the Ger
man occupation. E
1T is surprising to think how much
money the French have. In the last
loan they have taken in 28, ,000. 900, 600
francs, with none of the canvassing
we have at home. That knocks our
81, 600, 900, 600 all hollow.
Edwin A. George, son of II. S
George, participated with the l38th
Field Artillery, 35th Division, in the
terrific fighting of the Meuse Argonne
battle The prowess Of the men Of the
35th Division is recorded in general
orders letter signed by Gen. Pershing
Mr.. George, in a letter just received
by his father. encloses number of
relics of the battlefield. He sends
four German playing cards and other
articles left by the fleeing huns. In
his letter he enclosed the letter OF ci-
tation, which follows
"lt is with sense of gratitude for
its splendid accomplishments, which
will live through all history. that
record in general orders tribute for
the victory of the First Army in the
Meuse- Argonne battle.
Tested and strengthened by the
reduction of the st. Mihiel salient, for
more than six weeks you battered
against the pivot of the enemy line on
the western front. 1t was position
of imposing natural strength, stretch
ing on both sides of the Meuse river
from sthe bitterly contested hills of
Verdun to the almost impenetrable
forest of the Argonne; position,
moreover, fortified by four years of la
Dor designed to render it impregnable
a position held with the fullest re-
sources of the enemy That position
you broke utterly and thereby hastened
the collapse of the enemy's power.
Soldiers of all the divisions engaged
under the First, Third and Fourth
Corps the lst. End, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th,
26th, 2Sth, 29th. 93rd, 35th, 37th, And,
nth. 18th, S0th, SIND. Goth and 9lst-
YOU will be long remembered for the
stubborn persistence of your progress.
your storming of obstinately resisting
machine gun nests, your penetration
yard by yard of woods and ravines,
your heroic resistance in the face of
counter attacks supported by powerful
artillery fire For more than month
from the initial attack of September
26, you fought your way back slowly
through the Argonne, through the
woods and over the worst of the hills
west of the Meuse; you slowly en-.
larged your hold on the Cote de Meuse
to the east. and then, on the first of
November, your attack forced the en-.
emy into flight. Pressing his retreat,
YOU cleared the entire left bank of the
Meuse south of Sedan. and then