Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-05-23
DiRGEA WRITES OF
GREAT ADVENTURE
Tells of Some of His Experiences and
Observations During Two Years
of Service Overseas

wrote the following letter to his fam
lily and The Herald is indebted to
Miss Viola Dargen of Seattle for q
copy of the very interesting COM
munication;
France, Jan. IS, 1919.
Dear Folks at Home:
Have been threatening to write you
n long letter, telling roughly and
briefly about what my experiences
have been since / arrived. The CEN
sorship laws permit of that now. It
is not to be very long nor very &C
curate. l can fill in details when I
return.
As you know, came with the 18th
Engineers, but we soon dissolved
partnership. This is the reason.
There was dearth of medical de-
partment men in France and the ur-
gent necessity for them at ports of
debarkation and at centers of train
ing gave us our call. But am bit
ahead OF my story. We arrived in
Liverpool, England, and it was there
that I struck my first luck. A de-
tachment of us was left there to care
for baggage, and look up such sup
plies as might have gone astray. Let
me say we were in charge of a very
fine lieutenant, but who had some
exaggerated ideas of which / will tell
you more when / get back. We spent
over week in Liverpool, and it was
some week. 1t was all big dream
to me, guess, and l am quite sure
that ] couldn't quite get the wonder
and the difference of it all, even
though / tried to be sophisticated.
From Liverpool We went to Win
chester, where Winchester Cathedral
and Castle stand. There we saw the.
old table famed in the King Arthur
stories; the actual old round table
of the knighthood of Old England.
In the ancient Anglican were in
scribed the names of Galahad and
Arthur, still somewhat legible. 1t
was more than wonderful to me, it
was inspiring. And then the altar
(still in use) where Mary, Queen of
Scots, was married, and all of it, oh,
so rich in legend and history. / will
tell you more of this when l can do
it properly. From here to Aldershot
Here we were present at the Royal
Review of the troops, and the king
and queen shook our hands. Of this
l can only say that aside from a bit
OF embarrassment, it was very much
like any other hand shake, or at
least. so il impressed me then. At
mat time 1t was a novelty. First
troops always are. And then to Lon
don. | am not going to try to pic
ture London to you. That would be
folly. We came in at the London
and Southwestern station and went
through the tube to Waterloo. Then
BACK to the surface cars through
Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus,
The Strand; came Whitehall, Rotten
Row, the Houses of Parliament. Lon
don Bridge, and Tower along the
Thames, and 1 was strangely remind
ed of the time when as kids we used
to play London Bridge is Falling
Down." and we didn't know what we
were saying except that it was bit
o. rhyme. To White Chapel (of
this more later) and then to West
minister Abbey. Two extremes TO be
sure. In this case from the awful 70
the sublime. Here at the tombs of
the kings and queens, princes and
knights and scholars and statesmen.
we looked, strangely thrilled. l think.
upon the dust of the glory of Eng
land. Every soul that has contri-
huted to her greatness and honor
III great measure, lies buried here
1t came TO me that the rose of Eng
land which blows so red, is blowing
from the beds of these buried Gaze
sars of hers. 1t was so wonderful
that | didn't wake up for weeks.
Away from London. We went TO
our port from which the regiment
had already left for France. 1t was
southampton. Here, as we marched
through the streets, the old women
and little children crowded the pave
ments TO watch us pass, and no.
ticed that they were crying. That
was the first time that I had ever
seen a sign of sentiment on the sur
face of an Englishman. didn't
think he had it. These people had
sent countless thousands of their own
across that channel and countless
thousands had not come back. They
knew, but we were merely "adyen-
turing down into life" It was then
that l knew what was meant when it