The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1919-01-04

did was that n afternoon. The very
next day l was out digging a hole for
a latrine. The barracks we were in
were very old. They were used by
Napoleon as a rest camp. They were
all of stone and the walls were IS in.
thick. One of them was even older
than the rest. 1t had been an old
monastery. Right at the rear of this
barrack was an old house, built in
1900 something. While we were dig
gfng that latrine We dug into a bunch
of stone. We kept on digging and
struck a tunnel. 1t was large enough
for four men to walk abreast in. The
people around there claim there are 80
miles OF such tunnels around Brest.
Believe me, the thing was put in the
ground to stay awhile. There was a
wall Is TT. high all around the place
and only two gates, n front and one
back. At one place in the wall bullet
holes could be found. This place was
right by the guard house, so l suppose
it was where they took them out and
shot them at sunrise. On Sunday
morning at 2.90 we left camp for the
station. 1t was about five o'clock
when we got there. We received our
travelling rations, which consisted of
bread, jam, tomatoes, beans, salmon
and corned beef. We left Brest at
$50 and we got our first taste of
French transportation. We we're lucky
as we were in a first-class coach, at
least that is what they called it. The
engine that was pulling us looked like
an overgrown peanut rooster. 1t GER
tainly did seem odd as we started out,
&c xra 1-aaf nm thu Inff IarJ rooI-
Just another instance of the backward
ways of the French. Their trains have
good intentions when they start out,
but that is about all they do have, be-
cause if they stop at a place they don't
care if they leave that day or the next.
We passed through LIE Brenis, Laval,
La Mans and Tours. You can find
them on the map and see the way we
went. When we were at Tours we
found we were headed for Gievres.
We lost our officers when we were in
the railroad yard at Tours. The
blamed French train crew cut their
car off by mistake. They caught up to
us after we were fixed at Gievres.
We landed at Gievres on Monday after
noon, Aug. II, and then we had a glo-
rious march of about four miles. May
be we weren't some tired, after all that
riding on cars no better than our
freight cars, in fact our freight cars
have better springs on them. While
at Gieyres l learned to soldier, in
other words, how to be a D. Dor
Duck Detail. We were in Gievres
about two months.
On Sept. 9th we left Gievres for
C~hateauroux, arriving there the same
day. Our camp is about 6 miles from
town. 1t was supposed to have been
the largest camp of its kind in France,
but it has been cut down to one-third
its original size. Even at that there
are about seyentyfive warehouses al
ready up or under construction. 1
guess it will never be completed, as
the men are already leaving the camp.
The air is always full of airships or
aeroplanes. There is a French and an
American field near here. You should
see the planes doing the different
stunts. There are. usually two out to-
gether, chasing each other. They dive
straight down toward the earth, one
chasing the other. They fly right
along and all of a sudden turn COM
pletely owe sideways. l should like
W ll9 II OAlCG III d ldl4ll4S pldAAG DIS
they don't try n stunts. I don't
think I told you the name of the tub
we came over in. 1t was the Caserta,
an Italian boat, and every one of her
crew was an Italian,
1 was down at the "Y" tonight and
saw Clayt Ingersoll. They posi-
tive they are going back to the States.
Any way I bid Clayt goodbye. We ex-
pect TO be moving somewhere before
long. as they say all U. S. troops are
TO be out of this camp by a certain
date. and that is in the very near fu-
ture. 1t would be great if I could be
home by Christmas. but I am afraid
that is too good TO be true; but they
can't make me mad by sending me
home right away. l understand We
are to have turkey for Xmas, going to
buy it out of our mess fund. Ny work
ing hours have been changed. I go 70