The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-02-07

like schoOlh0useS, halls, etc. i had one
captain put lot of his men into big
room with my men, then sent word for
me to move out, saying he had prefer
ence, being on some special duty, d.
visional work, etc, and finally tried TO
find when | was made captain so he
could prove an earlier date of commits
sion and so rank me out Well, what
l said to that big fellow wouldn' t do
to print and / made him take back
every word he had said. You find all
kinds of people in this army of ours.
We have no more idea than jack
rabbit when we will get out of this
country A general impression is that
we start about March !. That will al
most get me home for sugaring,
HUGH.
Somewhere in Germany, Dec.17, 1918.
Dear Mother and ALI
If you can keep up with me You
sure will do well. 1t 5 one move after
another and they keep coming. We
came to this little town of Boppord on
the Rhine Dee. II, lovely little place
clean and modern, and people very
| friendly. There few days and then
was ordered here with my company to
operate this pontoon bridge across the
| Mosselle river at Treis, about 80 miles
from CoblenZ. just month ago we
| began this hike, Nov. II at o'clock in
the morning and it certainly has been
hard one for everyone, animals in
Guided. Many places-most places
they simply had to stay out nights,
rainy and cold. They did have blan
kets They were in awful condition
when we drew them just before start.
ing and in spite Of their trip have all
| grown fat and working better every
day.
Our company came down with the
''fup over in little town of Bots in
| Luxembourg and nearly every one was
done up including the officers. They
arranged to have them carried along
in ambulanees and trucks Left them
with only one regular teamster out of
Is. At Olewig, Germany L of my men
| came down with it and | sent eight to
a near hospital One has since died, a
mighty good soldier and the first death
in the whole company since leaving
! Camp Devens back in old Massachu-
setts
The last days march up to the
Rhine was a dandy. The men were full
of ''pep' at getting there and al
though it was the fifth straight day
they had been marching without a
rest, they did a little over 81 miles.
Now YOU put on an evercoat and 40
pounds on your back with a rifle to
boot, and Won have something. Many
poor lad just shut his teeth and said
~ am going to stick il out, when his
| font ,1-ora On
could hardly move.
You can hardly imagine, mother, how
well these people treat us. The place
| staid at Boppard, wine exporter :
place, they simply treated me like al
old friend.
| In the family was the father anC
mother two young fellows, both officer:
in the German army only few weeks
before, one was the youngest son anC
the other was a daughters husband
, there were two daughters, the olde
e married to the officer She had beer
to school in England and spoke excel
I lent English, so of course acted as in
|. terpreter for me. They were all gla'
+ the war is over and at the results, bu
G they, like all the Germans we meet
: seem to feel they were led into
n bhndly by their government whor
P they trusted at first, but lately hav
2, found out was telling lies and putin
n up war of conquest. None of ther
A seem to feel hard toward the Amer
N cans but they do hate an Englishma
n and dirty Frenchman They ca
e. the French Frogs, But no one ca
i, keep mad at a "Yank very lonj
II They are good natured, have lots c
money and pay for all they get. Al
10 clean, like to talk to everyone.
y The country is pretty as a pictur
y For a long way we came down IL
Ks Moselle valley, narrow, deep and croo
- ed as blazes. Then we climbed up G
* to high rolling country for 40 mill
ne perhaps, until we dropped back into Il
he valley of the dear old Rhine. almo
Mt with thud. 1t was SO steep whe
OIL we came down to the river that Il
us road zigzagged back and forth on i
Mt self five times in so short a space tn
lg the regiment was on all FIVE parall
is roads at one time. | was leading t
re- company and / actually could see ba
on up its file four lines of troops and wa
at ons, one above the other and each 9
ing in a different direction from t
nc one next to it.
of When ON the road the compani
til marched by platoons. That is, ca
IRE company has four platoons and VIII
- marching each keep twenty PAGES
OF hind the next Then each compa
adj keeps SO PAGES in the rear of the o
l ahead of it, so it keeps a regime
,xt spread out pretty well. That is to ma
,ed it easier because one group of men "
ne gain or lose a little which makes
his hard for the next group. With this
ere terval it helps. Back near the fro
ust we always marched this way so IL
ose if a shell landed right in company
oks wouldn't kill so many. We certain
were fortunate all through it and
of am heartily glad it is over. As a pa
ldy time it was sometimes fun, but as
not business you are bound to lose mon
var With love,
HUGH
IRE
hey l5rOhl, on the Rhine New Years D