The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1919-07-17
COL. CLARK WILL BE
HOME SOON
Camp Hospital Disbanded-TeIls
of Trip to Noted Battle
Fields.

: Colonel B. O. Clark is now camp
v surgeon at Brest. However, in let
n ter to his son Floy, written June 19
0 he writes that he expects to be on his
5 way home very shortly. His letter
4 follows:
had intended to write long letter
giving detailed description of my
trip, but we are breaking up now and
will all be on our way home very
shortly. So l will wait until I see
you to tell you the greater part.
For the present, it is sufficient to say
that / saw all the American ba.' lie
front from Chateau Thierry, Sedan,
st. Mihel and Verdun. 1t was a won
derful trip and one never to lie for
gotten. We had the war maps and
explanations of the actions that took
place at all the important points. Also
had lectures concerning the actions
and the troops taking part. 1t was all
an education in itself. Saw where the
Crown Prince of Bavaria had his quar-
ters in the Argonne woods He GER
tainly was fixed up fit to kill and was
not taking any chances on himself. At
this camp, which was rest camp for
the Boche, there were caves, dugouts
to accommodate some twelve thousand
men, with beer gardens, theaters and
picture shows all in dense forest and
ravine, which made it difficult, if not
impossible, to locate by the Allied
aviators. Saw the lookout on Mont
faucon from which it is said the Crown
Prince watched the battle of Verdun.
This lookout was made of concrete and
railroad iron two or three feet in |
thickness, and was in the center of the !
residence. Strange to say this resi-
dence was the only one left in the |
town of Montfaucon Also saw the
place where the Crown Prince lived |
during thirty months during the war
Believe me, boy, the American dough-
boy did some fighting at Chateau /
Thierry and in the Argonne. The st.
Mihiel did not amount to much and is
admitted by G. H. Q. to have been
little more than a maneuver. The
Germans were getting out so fast they
could not catch them. But Verdun, or
rather the area around Fort Deau-
mont, may well be called the worlds
burial ground, for here in one spot,
which can be taken in with the eye
from the top of the hill near the fort
nearly one million men lost their lives
and were buried by the terrific bonn
bardn3ant that took place. Words
can never describe this place. 1t is
said that the ground has all been turn :
ed over completely fifteen separate
and distinct times and one of the hills l
is eight feet lower than before the c
battle. After seeing this place the t
fighting abilities of the French has
been greatly increased in my mind. {
One wonders how human beings could Il
i've and retain their reason amidst g
such contest which must have taken v
place here. 1t is said that for every
square meter of the area surrounding
his fort there is dead soldier, and
zones and accoutrements are scattered
today.
At Romage in the Argonne they are fl
making an American cemetery called r,
he Argonne cemetery in which twen- tc
Y five thousand of our brave will be b,
uried. The work is being rapidly nj
ushed by, the labor battalions and lii
ioneer infantry. They are securing ],
ne forests and fields and digging up NJ
he dead and placing them in boxes m
nd re-burying them at this cemetery
/, is a beautiful site for a cemetery
nd some day, no doubt, will be mec-
/ for American father and mothers b
no lost their sons in the Argonne ri.
ght. When we passed thru this area We
lie smell was something terrible.
any times while riding along the Sc
ad petrid odor from some clump of be
ees or from some small ravine told mi
plainly that some soldier, either
,che or American, was still unburied. foo
We made the trip to the battle field wn
trucks, connecting with our hospi- ti'
train every evening", where we
,uld eat our supper and sleep during
, night, while we were moving to the
xt point from which we would start
: following day. / could write and
scribe the things l saw for hours, ~
t Pickles fingers would get sore Q,
fore finished. However, l must o'i
you little about the trip into
rmany. Y
We spent Sunday in Coblenz visit AM
old fort Ehrenbrietstein, where the Mo-
h Field Artillery are now watching car
Rhine. On Monday We went by wri