Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-04-23
FROM OUR SOLDIER BOYS

AMONG AMERICANS ACROSS WHO GREET
ED PRESIDENT WILSON
| by Amund o. Tuhus, Camp Hospital No. So.
Base Section No. 5. A. P, o. 7I6. Am. E. F..
Brest, France. March i6th.I
Dear Friend Mr.. Munson: Perhaps a few
lines at this time viii not come smiss. As
| the heading shows, l am located at Rrest and
have been for q little over three months, COM
| ing here December 9TH, from a little village
near Bordeaux, | have spent practically all Of
my time in the medical supply office of this
hospital
Pontanezen Barracks. as this camp Is called
| is perhaps the largest debarkatiOn earnp in
France There is on the average of SO coo
troops here at all times and there has been as
high 100000 men stationed at enc time.
About 5000 men are leaving daily for the
states and as many more come in. At the
present time the S7th Division. consisting main
| " of Ohio National Guardsmen. are on their
way to the docks TO catch that good old steamer
| for the states. Next TO 20 are the men of the
| SSth. whom I understand are now pouring
into camp. The unit TO which I am attached
81 a permanent organization and will. no doubt.
be one Of the last TO leave this base section.
While we have no immediate prospects of
| going home. as the bulk of the troops have,
We are enjoying ourselves and living better
The camp hospital is located inside of a
large stone wall while the remainder of the
camp is on the outside. Until few months
ago the the outside had TO use tents
which were pitched in mud with no hOOrs did
not make very pleasant home. In fact most
of the sick in cur hospital came from this area
are more comfortable than formerly although
we are all subjected TO more or less MUD.
Brest climate being a very rainy one. In
| fact until three days ago, I don't think that
We had single day without some rain. How
ever. the last three days have been beautiful,
the sun shining continuously. Took advantage
of this sunshine and spent Friday afternoon
/ in the city viewing few Of the sights. The
city was aRlOw with sailors, the George Wash
| ington. with President Wilson aboard. having
locked Thursday night. This is the third
hat he cft afR has v.aF- 4
president.
usually get the Censor each week. and al
I though il IS about three weeks old when it
reaches me, il contains very welcome news
except the issues when she flu was raging In
the city. We will miss a good many Of those
| faces when we return Harry Nelson is the
last man have from home and that was
the first part Of November, when Harry and /
were stationed about mile apart in the Bor-
deaux sector. Many Of the boys have returned
TO their homes and their old Jobs, but Harry
and I doomed to hang out in France for
a time. Received letter from Elmer Davis
the other day, who Is at DierdOrf, Germany.
He relates that he stopped at this camp on his
way TO the interior a little over a year ago.
The send Division is slated to 60 home in
May aleng in June ought TO big bunch
of the NirOqua lads home. I'll come trailing
in after they arrive.
The Red Cross people have erected hut for
| the personnel Of the Camp Hospital. giving
shows every night of the week except Sunday.
| They have done great deal for the boys over
here; intact. more than any organization that
/ can mention. They furnish the boys with
hot and cookies every night after the
show and the boys relish il, too This hospi-
| tai proper consists of seventy wards, two OF
which are operating wards. AZ the present
| time have about eighteen hundred patients.
| many of whom have but slight colds. Pneu-
| mOnia has been the prevalent disease, pTae-
| ticaly all Of the deaths being from that cause.
/ The last two weeks has shown a decrease, both
| in the number Of patients admitted to the hos
pital and the number Of deaths. From now
/ on We can look for a good decrease as the
weather is getting better although we have
/ seen few DAYS when IL was freezing