The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1919-02-21
SOLDIER LETTERS FROM OVER
SEAS.
Bettanicourt, France

Dec. z, 1913
Dear Sister and all;
No doubt you have been wonder
ing why / have not written you be-
fore this, and also more often than
do, but have been so busy OF late
it seemed as though could not find
the time. We sure have been OH
the 60 the last four weeks moving
from place to place, and moving an
artillery outfit is some job. Believe
me it takes quite while to pack up
and some time to unpack.
l could picture you all when you re-
ceived the good news that peace
reigned once more throughout the
world, but you could never imagine
how pleased the A. e. F. were, and
how happy the French were; / think
peace meant more to them than any
other nation, but of course it was a
welcome visitor to all the allied ma
tions. was more than glad to hear
of it myself, but am somewhat dis
appointed that we did not get 10 the
front before it was over.
received the two, letters you wrote
me, Thanksgiving day, also several
from quite number of other peo-
pie. and enjoyed them all.
We are billited in French town
(Bettaincourt) and living with
Fernch people and they treat US
fine. am not in house this time,
but quartered in an old Y. M. c. A.
building which has been destroyed.
Sergt Huntington was lucky to get
in a house with an old lady and sh 3
certainly is good to him. Pyle ana
I are enjoying her hospitality also.
We are both writing from her house
at present. Huntingdon sleeps in a
nice feather bed, quilts, sheets, etc,
even to an electric light and the
switch right at the head of the bed.
The house is one of those old French
dwellings. 1t has a fireplace in it
and she is sitting by it now. We
have been having very bad weather
of late; rains most all the time, and
it is muddy place, although it has
been somewhat warm since we left
La Constine. hate to see winter
come, as it will be pretty tough on
us fellows. Not like old Camp
Meade was in the winter. That YVES
a good place but we did not kno 2
it until we crossed the pond. But
why should we care how cold 1t gets,
knowing that we should have beer
| fighting this minute if the armlstice
had not been signed Nov. 18th. We
were on our way to the 'front.' but
the orders changed and we detrained
at place called La Tracey.
think we were about 35 miles from
Metz, so you see we were going ur
to get taste of the Boche's shrap-
mel. From La Tracey We went te
Dinteville and stayed few days and
from there we came to Bettaincourt
where we are located at present
1t is 80 miles from here to Metz, and
here we think we will go above
! Verdun and join our division and
no doubt I will see Paul Barrett il
he was one of the lucky ones.
We are now called the 154tl
Artillery Brigade; we were taker
out of the 10th Division and made
an Artillery Corps. The reason fol
doing that was we proved to be
efficient enough to fight where we
were most needed. Good enough tC
fight alone, without the support OF
the whole division But to our dis
appointment the Germans saw they
were done for and signed the arms
tice. I guess they knew we were
on our way to the front. Ha, ha
/ cannot help but think that we will
be home before the last of January
Won't that be great. Well, Mona
we spent a very quiet Thanksgiving
on this side, or at least the S1Oth
did, due to the fact that most all oil
us are broke / guess. l have been
broke since the middle of Nov, and
will be until we get paid, which will
be soon. But in fact money is only
a joke over here. I will tell you
what we had for Thanksgiving din
ner-turkey, roast beef, mashed
potatoes, turnips, celery, cold slaw
bread, butter, coffee, and little
beer for those that wanted it. That
is what call good dinner, and be-
! lieye me I never ate so much in all
my life and don't expect to again
/ until / return to the good old u. S.
/ A., and sure do hope that will be
soon. l am in hopes that we will
be mustered out OF the service by
the middle of February; Of course il
may be sooner or later no one knows.
Well l just returned from the
supply station. We had new uni
forms, leather coats and high-top
boots issued to US today; that looks
90 thou0h Wo moro CoinO ~ he cont