The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1919-03-14
LETTERS FROM The
BOYS. IN The CAMP

aulSilCdu uouSuUOyS III y IdliCef nave
written home of the big thrill which
it gave them to get a glimpse of
President Wilson during his visit to
Europe, but there is one Northfield
boy who was actually invited out to
a little spread given by President and
Mrs. Wilson at the Murat mansion
in Paris. His name is Alvin W.
Rooster and he was with the guard
of honor which protected the Amer
lean executive while hs-was in the
big city, -
Reports say that the body guard
was picked from the flower of the
Expeditionary Force, and il is inter
esting to note that a very large mum
Der of these men were from Mime
sofa. So pleased was the president
with these men, that he sent each
one a card which read like this:
THE President of the United
States of America and Mrs. Wilson
request the pleasure of the company
of Private Alvin w. Rooster on Fri
day, January "a. from FIVE to six
o'clock at tea"
But you will be more interested to
read what the young soldier has to
say about it in a letter which he re-
Gently wrote TO Erwin Roach the
larger portion OF which follows:
Paris, January 20, 1911 was with
my original company until December
% when they called for volunteers
to serve indefinitely over here as
honor guards for President Wilson
My company commander offered me
the privilege of being a member of
that organization, saying it was not
compulsory for me to go but that he
advised me to grab the chance Un-
DESTROYS as / was of leaving my old
comrades, l thought | would take a
chance, SO Christmas morning we
left lie Mans as the Presidential
Guard of Honor for gay old Paris
Perhaps the thing that will lingerI
in my mind long after Paris is for
gotten is he fact that of all the
American 'dougboys" over here, our
company of two hundred and fifty
men had the great honor of shaking
hands with the President and First
Lady of the Land We were almost
stunned to know that we were invit-
ed to attend a reception given by
President and Mrs. Wilson Friday
of conversation for several days be-
fore the event was who was going
70 make the most blunders. Conse-
quontly we let the host and hostess
do most of the talking and we came
out alright except that one big
mountaineer from out in the Ozarks
wished to know if "Woodie" wasn't
going to take us home with him. Ev-
eryone left with the feeling that
Woodrow Wilson was real sport
tainer
We have heard erumors through
and Mrs Wilson charming e-.tey,
several secret service men that we
| are to accompany the President and
his party home but up to this 4 date
we have nothing official Personally
believe we will be the chosen ones,
as we have been on his guard at his
residence ever since he has been in
Paris. Here's hoping at least we do,
for if we fail in this we have several
long months staring us in The face.
In closing | want to say a few
words of appreciation for what the
Red Cross has done for me and for
every other soldier lover here who
has been stationed where there was
any Red Cross organization Thanks
to- their goodness, we are able to get
a taste of meal prepared by femin-
inc hands, any hour of the night
They have given us sweaters, towels,
handkerchiefs and many other ar
tiCles. 1t is certainly pleasure to
get their canteens and have a good
cup of coffee or chocolate.
Our duties here are not so strenu-
Gus as they We're back with the COM
pany, especially before that mo-
mentous day of November IL. At
present we are doing a guard tour of
| twenty four hours on, and then have
forty eight off, which is spent al
most entirely visiting the many plac-
es. of interest during the day, and at
night taking in some entertainments
given by the Red Cross or Y. M. C. A.
and similar organizations.
We did not have any material evil
dence that this was winter time till
last Saturday when we witnessed the
| first snow fall while ever here 1t is
| not very cold at that the thermomet-
| er registering only about fifty above.
! This NAV seem strange, but when
left the company we had our billet all
decorated with holy and mistletoe,
and now for the strange thing-we
had sort of wreath made of roses
which Were plucked fresh from the
vines, and they were growing outside
and not tGken from hot house. New
ertheless, even with roses budding
in December, cannot "compre" mote
my French) why they call it sunny
France" as the sun shines four or
| five hours "a week In southern
France where we were first, it is
very nice especially if you happen
| along about the time the grapes are
| ripe, as we did when we came to Bor-
deaux. The country there is indeed
pretty any one can see quite az dis
lance in places.
l have ben around here ute a lit
tie since we had the opportunity of
making Paris our home, and have
seen numerous places of world re-
nown, which American tourists spend
millions of dollars annually to see;
and me, merely "doughboy," takins
it in with our regular lire oflduty.
Just to mention a few of these pIac-
| es: Napoleon's tomb. and by the
way, at the time Paris was occas
ionally being shelled, Napoleon's cas-
ket was buried in about twenty five
feet of sand as safe guard, and the