Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-02-11

home, but can't cause we are in the
army now Here's hoping l will see
you soon.
Taken from letters dated Jan. and
1e.
Rainy France, Jan. 16.
Received your fine letter and have
been waiting for the other letter you
promised, to write but that is just
about as slow getting here as our
orders to go back home. Well, any
way, my kingdom for those orders.
At the present time we are in Mars
La Tour, the first troops to get here
after the huns evacuated it by request
from the Americans. We, being the
first troops to strike this place after
the Germans left 1t and had the first
chance at the German fees, which
| they left behind them and we sure
were entertained. We didn't mind the
| rats so much until they began to wear
| roller skates, on the floor above us
| and of course, then we were annoyed.
We are running hospital here for
| returning soldiers and prisoners now,
and don't know when we will pull out.
Will say, l always did have ambition
j
| the same ambition. Coming over we
had good time. A bunch of Southern
boys were with us. One of them
| thought the boat was going faster than
usual and asked me what / thought
was the reason. Well, l told him we
were going down hill, and he believed
| it.
AS 1 started to tell you of some
| of my experiences in the army the
past seven months will continue. l
will just mention some of the places
we have been to. We struck Liverpool,
England, and was greeted by band,
which played the Star Spangled Ban
ner, which sure sounded good to US ALL
We marched through the town to the
| depot, where we took a train to South
! Hampton. The train trip was fine,
| riding in regular passenger cars,
| which are partitioned off, seating eight
people and no aisle between them and
| a door on each side. We found Eng
| land to be a very pretty country and
| every inch of ground seemed to be
| used for a purpose. From this place
we walked about two miles to a rest
camp and rested on a board floor for
| the night. We left that afternoon,
which was on Sunday, but Sunday
is just like any blue Monday, when in
the army. We finally arrived at a
1 point of embarkation, where we took
the transport called st. George and
| crossed the English channel, getting
| to baHavre, France, at a. m. the next
morning. Afer leaving the rest camp
here we took our first trip in the
1 famous box cars or dry goods boxes,
| and will say a hobo, with any sense of
good judgment, would of preferred to
| ride the rails or go to work, before
he would try passing any time riding
in these cars. We were crowded in
these match boxes 40 strong and after
we all laid down to go to sleep we
would have to wake up seven men in
order to stretch leg. Well, we trav-
eled two days and finally hit town
by the name of LaGuersch and found
a court house square to sleep in. We
| were all so tired that we laid down
on the hard ground without removing
| our packs; but this hard ground didn't
last long, 1t began to rain about 2 a. m
| and we just staid out in the rain
| The next morning we had to walk sew
en- miles, with our packs soaked, add
ing 10 weight. We reached a town by
the name of Grossuier, where there
was chateau. where we were billeted
for two months, so that is the place
/ where you got most of my letters from.
| We finally landed and finished in
barn, or what we called Hotel De
Barno. Well, right there is where
We got our first taste of war. Never
| did know whether we would go west
any minute or not. We were within
shell fire. and am quite sure within
bomb fire and when those huns
| dropped one of them bombs, addressed
to whom this may concern, and il it
| concerned you. well, good morning,
Angels, that's all. We staid at (Rosy
in the Hay) until the 10th Of Nov, and
then got orders to go up on the Metz
| sector, which / think meant we
! were going to take Metz, if the
armistice hadn't been signed. So
we lost our license to kill Ger
mans that day, but / guess
| never would have had a chance to
Kill any. being in the Medical Branch,
We would be az some hospital near
the lines. l never had a gun in my
hands since I've been in the army.
We then moved up here, at Mars La
Tour, near Metz. Have been up to
Metz and found it quite interesting.
This finishes my little adventure as
far as / have gone; will tell you more