The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1919-03-05
From the Boys
Grover Wilkins, Enaers, Germany


The letter printed below appeared
in the Charter Oak Times OF the past
week, and on account of it's unusual
interest we have taken the liberty to
publish it in the Review:
.,. Jan. q, 1919.
Dear Sir: a'ts
/ have not written to you for quite
some time The war is over, as you,
know, so there is nothing to write about,
but this morning it is showing. and
thought perhapseyou would like to know
that 1T Is the first real snow have seen
this winter. ,+t q. sre rsre + l.
] am Somewhere in France mo longer,
but somewhere in Germany; to be exact
am at a little town called Fingers, just
across the Rhine. Here we, are oper-
ating q hospital, taking care of some
OF the sick for the division. We are
located in a large four-story building
that was at one time a school for Ger
man officers, but now the American leg
flies over it. 1 wonder what Bill thinks
of that. . - .- .
We were at Beaumont, France when
the fighting ceased, and it caused no ex-
citement whatever. We could not be-
lieve it: 1t did not seem possible that
it could quit SO suddenly, especially
when the night before the Heinies pour
ed so many shells into the town that we
,,es1u to sing We will never see our our
after the day broke, one lonesome old
shell broke close enough to scatter some
pieces of 1t among us, but none of us
got. hit. This outfit sure has been
lucky one. .'
This was the night of the 10th. The
morning Of the 11th the guns were still
working, gradually ceasing until at II
we could not hear one. About 2 p, m.
everything was as quiet at the front as
1t was around the hospital. Still we
could not believe it, and it was not un--
til three days later, when we passed
through Stenay into a stretch Of country
that showed no marks, of war, that we
did begin to believe that it was done,
and We were on our way to Germany.
We passed, through Montmedy, in
France, Arlon, Belgium, Merch, Luxem-
bourg, to where we are now. The wealth
err was good most of the way, and, even
though the TRIP. was done mostly via the
ankle express" I enjoyed it very much.
Belgium l found to be a very pretty
country. The old chateaus and especial
ly the vast pine forests, are wonderful
The Germans, though, made use of the
use and in one little town we spent the
night in there was saw mill the Ger
mans had put up and there was all kinds
of lumber that they had sawed out of
these trees. -.,t - .......-
I was on guard that night, ~ until 2.
About 1 o'clock a Belgian citizen came
up to the fire I had. 1 was stewing eof-
fee and making toast. I offered him
you ought to see him dive into the
white bread I gave him.
I saw some pitiful sights in that
country; one especially little boy
about seven years old with both hands
cut off, the work of the Germans. And
against church wall an old lady show
ed, us where her children were lined up
and shot. The refugees and prisoners,
released from the camps in Germany,
were coming home. Some had hardly
enough clothes to hang together, and
some looked as though they never could
walk until night came. They all were
walking except a very few, and most
Of those were riding in our trucks going
back for supplies.
Conditions in Luxembourg were very
little better, if any. I guess about the
only difference was that the Germans
did not kill all of the young men or
steal all the brass door knobs in Luxem-
bourg 80 -
We stopped at Krutchten, little vii
lage Just outside of Merch, for a rest,
and here was the most miserable part
of the whole journey. We were there
over a week, doing nothing. We slept
in a barn and the weather was pretty
cold. Everything was fine at night, but
in the daytime it was different. We had
no place to build a fire, or anything to
build a fire of; but we r''took over" a
grog shop and used it for Y while we
were there.
many. crossed the line at p. m Decem-