The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-18


 in another think and drop the dollar ance to get in on the deal.
 be loaded and unloaded and sitting
 off from driving. The loading detail l
 laid on top of the six-inch shells and |
 slept. And slept well at that. Pretty l
 soft'' on that particular night when |
 tain welI-known society, name not |
 mentioned, and was refused stuff for |
 my men, more than 100 of them, be- cause we didn't happen to belong to
 their division and besides it was one o'clock in the morning. Now that
 was tough luck. We had had our | last coffee at o'clock in the after soon. I can't repeat just here my remarks on the work of that certain society and it's general mode of con duct, but while was saying it there, l half a mile he thought I could t1ud that if I went up the road about
 a tent where they would fix me up | I did That tent hadn't been up | three hours and it was well on to
 in the morning when I walked in-
 Three women were there--wome
 from Gods own country-and three | men.
 | when I asked her, What are you put
 ting out tonight. lady, for nice, cheer full, wet and frozen soldiers ?"
 asking for myself, "come over here
 and I will give you a cup Of hot l chocolate."
 Not just for me, lady," said.-'I have forty-f1ve trucks down the road | there loaded with ammunition and 1 two men to the truck besides the load 1 ing detail. Whats chances on the
 gang?'
 In two details we moved in on that | tent. We got our own mess cup full of steaming chocolate and a ham
 and cigarettes were stacked on a long ta ble and we helped ourselves "Give all the bill to me-" I told
 the lady.
 "Your folks back home have paid for
 this through the Red Cross. Come
 back tomorrow and we will give you !: hot apple pie" And sure enougn;
 we were there and, mother o mine" !" we got the pie.
 Thanksgiving day, 1918, at Base
 Hospitals Nos IS. "A and 2S. Limo i>ges, France More wounded men went through this center direct from the : field than any other base in France. Here was where the shot-torn young sters of Uncle sam..s army were sent | to be cut and sewed and spliced and |. worked back into the semblance. of a man. Soldier, were you there? l lreckon there are a lot of Bridgeport : CTS who were there, for know some | myself. Rain and mud and uncer- tainty and homesickness. Rumors rumors, rumors of going on to Bor- deaux and home. If ever there was a ? time to be homesick it was theer Q and there as that Thanksgiving day :. approached.
 y tReckon we'll get the same ole
 'slum' tomorrow, won't we nursle? 7
 | growled the doughboy in the bed neX 2 i to mine
 e Now just you shut sp and go te 5 sleep,'' said nursie. Little poy' shouldn't get so inquisitive.
 HKvhn n
 | ever forget that Thanksgiving dinner a I know I never will. And then again
 no conveys went out and it was onl. d such a little while until Christmas o 1 miles from home as Christmas eve ap preached? Have you even been Il those conditions, no money no noth ing. I paid those soldiers Thanks n giving and Christmas pay, and whe1 f | hey got the first pay there were hun dreds of them who had not had cen IF since they were inducted into tn .s year. Now I leave it to you, wasn' that a of an outlook for Christ .e mas? And there were hundreds o | those laddy bucks who were in be 'r to stay for many more long weeks u and some were never to get up again ,e and many would get up but woul ol never again walk like, other men lo to be fed like a chiid. Johnny Efcks id of Baltimore, who was in ward l, stil 1i 1li carries his tube and drinks all hi n. meals. I ask you, wasn't that ls cheerful outlook for Christmas? re Will any man who was there eve forget that Christmas morning whe he found a pair of big, warm, Re E' Cross sox hanging at the head Of hi z bed and they were stuffed full o l. cigarettes and oranges and P A an
 candy and a big %. d." handker 'k chief and some pretty Red Cross card g. to send home to the folks.
 eO NoulS x,o11J- how reader can0ht hi T. hitch on guard at Mills that fall. l of he did, maybe he was one of thos d boys who did guard at the front gat re and will remember the ladies wh I used to drive up to that guard pos ) 1 and issue warm gloves and helmet 70 and sweaters and cigarettes with tn Te compliments of the Red Cross wome le of New York City,
 No man who sat at St. Mihiel wi n- ever forget those eventful days whe d we were getting ready for tn u rained just like it rained here Tue: S lay night; cold, windy and in a never le teasing flood with crashes of thur IS. der and lightning. that made .yo i'd think YOU was back on the Mexico t. border Six days of blowing throug CT mud; digging out stalled truck. m heart-breaking toll loading and LII eyI loading shells and powder boxes an W dragging up guns and digging pits fe Id the six-inchers and all that other he Id of getting ready to do something. lg Some one very properly Sa1d dul us ing those days that was is just sever r. eighths work and one-eighth fightin m and in spite of the volumes that haJ ne been written about the gallant dougf ou boy. and the valiant machine gunne Id and the heroic flying man; all that Ils by been said about the gang that wei I? over the top, I wonder if some writ' T. 1 will ever wake up and write the re ar story of who won the war.
 ct For I want to say now, and 1ea1 Le. it to any wagoner, especially be I Is, of the ammun1tlon train, that u ce men who did the real honest-to-goot we ness work of the war 0e,- those sel h. same wagoners asd truck crews WI
 drove all through the storms, Il ,st mud. the hell of inky black nigh ret when not even a cigarette could I a smoked in safety. the boys who Ia he on their backs in the mud l+i.oer son to truck trying to get it to go; who dr oft and widowed and pried in the mt ed to get their trucks back into the roa' y" to inc ambulance drivers who mao
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