Newark post., 1919-02-12

week:
In a British Hospital
at Hardelot, France
January IA, 1919.
Dear Mr.. Griffin:
My father told me you would like
me to write up for you the story
of my trials and adventures over
here, and as ] am now in a hospital
and have plenty Of time I will try
to tell YOU something Of my war
experiences, and if you think the
Newark Post would care to print
them you might send them in for
the benefit and curiosity of some
who did not get ever here. Some
Of the boys were very much put
out because the armiatice was
signed before they could get over,
and Of course it is a very nice trip
to take in peace times, but in war
times it was anything else than a
pleasure jaunt, and the boys who
are here had a much tougher time
than any of the folks at home had
any idea Of. Yet again there were
some bright periods, even on the
very front lines, in the range of
Jerry's guns, the boys could find
something to amuse them and to
laugh over.
I left Newport News, Va, on the
18th day Of July 1918 and after
an uneventful voyage, landed in
the city of Brest, France, II days
later. I did not come over with my
regular outfit, as about 60 of us
were left at Camp Lee, Va, when
our Division sailed, on account Of
measles which had broken out in
our barracks about three days be-
fore. So we had to go over as cas-
uals. We travelled around France,
probably a month before we
caught up with our Company. In
the mean time being in about a
dozen different camps and dumps,
travelling in those little French box
cars like a bunch of sheep. But
we enjoyed it, as every thing was
so new and strange to US. We fin
ally caught up to our Company
while they were in the trenches in
the Lorraine sector, close to the
city Of Strassburg, the capital Of
Lorraine which was in the hands
Of the Germans at that time. This
was a very quiet sector, there not
having been any fighting at that
point for some time, and was then
being used more for training pur-
poses than for anything else, by
both sides. The very first first
night / spent in my dugout in the
trenches the Germans bombardod
us with their artillery nearly all
night, and every one I heard com
ing l would say to myself, that one
has my name on it | bet. But none
hit very near where | was, and
even so anly about one in twelve
would go off, the rest being duds,
and | began to think that the Ger
man army, and their artillery es-
pecially, was a joke, but | found
out my mistake later as you will
see. We usually stayed in the
trenches about twelve days at a
time, and then moved back in re-
serve and for rest for about two
weeks, and then again to the front.
The last time we went up we only
stayed three days, when an order
came for us to move to the Verdun
sector. We accordingly were re-
lieved by a French division, and
Immediately after we commenced
our long and tiresome journey to
Verdun, being something over a
week on the way. Of course we
were not travelling all the time, and
part of the distance was made by
rail and the rest by a French truck
train. We arrived at our destina-
tion about the goth or 21st of Sep
tember and pitched our little pup
tents in a large forest and tried
to make ourselves as comfortable
as possible. We expected an ar
tillery bombardment all the time
we were in the woods, so we had
to dig trenches all through the
growth about six feet and covered
over with timber and dirt, so that
we could have as much protection
as possible from shrapnel, if Jerry
took a notion to throw a few iron
pills among us. But fortunately
for us he did not, as l don't think
he knew we were there, for we
kept under cover most of the time,
and as there were, possibly, five
or six thousand troops in the i'm
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