The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-03-19
WASHINGTON
William Martin with Army of 0ccupa-
ton in Germany.

From her son, William Martin, with
the army of occupation in Germany,
Mrs julia Martin of Washington has
received the following letter, dated Mel
senheiIn, Feb. %:
"Just received your letter and was
pleased to hear from you, as it ia the
first letter, and ] write every other day
or two, ! did not get your box.
do not know how long it will be before
! get back. As for the girls, / do not
think / will bring one back. No, have
not seen Alcide. We do not have any
thing TO do with the French soldiers. Do
not send me anything, as it most likely
would not reach me.
well, mother, we could not win The
war by staying in France, and we had
to win by fighting. We were not allowed
to tell where we were when the fighting
was going on, but now it is all right, as
the peace treaty is most to an end.
do not send me anything for my
birthday, for it is not safe to send. |
do not think | will be back by then.
well, mother, / am not a corporal
because ! am cook. mean, an army
cook. / boil water without burning it,
Cooking is fine. l am at present cooking
for II sergeants, and | tell You they are
fussy do not care to be a corporal
any more, as it hard to hold down. You
are always jumped on if your men are
not just right, SO / decided to be
cook.
Our last hard work in France was
the hike to the Rhine, about $50 miles,
and we did il in one month. With all
the rest, we had stopoyer in one big
town. ! tell you the way we counted the
miles, and with full pack at that. But
the Rhine cannot be beaten. One won
derful sight. We were the first troops TO
reach the Rhine and had dinner ON the
Rhine. We struck the river about 20
kilometers from Aberweasel. Look on
the map and find Aberweasel and figure
about Is miles towards the mouth of the
river and you can see where / struck
the Rhine out of the mountains There
are old castles everywhere here.
I'VE do not have anything to do with
the Dutch people here and | am sleeping
in a fine bed, one Of those Dutch beds,
and tell you it is fine When you land
on one, you sink way in. Well, | must
close now, as / have to get up at 4;S0
tomorrow morning to make hot cakes
for the sergeant and that is no fun, but
as soon as / get dinner ready / 60 to
sleep. The sergeants are eating on plates,
and real ones, and at a real table, /
have man to peel potatoes and wash
the dishes, and all have to do is cook.
Some job.
Il made some cakes the other day and
they said that they wished had made
them at the front, as they would have
been good to throw at the Hun, for they
were hard as a rock. | made a pie and
they had pie-eating contest, but none
Of them won, for they could not break
the crust. You see l always make good
one sor myself and if / make one that is
tough, why they viii not ask for more.
You have got to learn to figure in the
army.
well, had a good Christmas, if I was
in the hospital Had good dinner. This
is what | had: Deer steak lone of the
lieutenant doctors went out and killed
it,, chocolate pudding, fried potatoes,
bread tea, chocolate candy, cookies, Gig
ars, pumpkin pie, cake, one package of
Bull Durham. How Is thatg / also
went to midnight mass, as | was well
enough to 60.
Talk about church. Well, the states
have not got anything on this one at
Maria Laach. About 100 monks there.
| tell YOU it was swell. Here is luck
to you all and best wishes. William