"Was talking with a man, who had been over in France,
and he said the Yanks had the pep and, as they went 'over the
top,' they said, 'Hell, Heaven, or Hoboken by Christmas,'
and so that is spirit. We surely represented 'over here,' and
all the people show their appreciation of the fact, when they
see us. The trains and autos here as well as many other things
are different from ours and seem so funny.
"The following is presented to each soldier, as he lands
in England signed by the King of England: 'Soldiers of the United
States, the people of the British Isles welcome you on your
way to take your stand beside the Armies of many nations now
fighting in the Old World the great battle for human freedom.
The Allies will gain new heart and spirit in your company. I
wish that I could shake the hand of each one of you and bid you
God speed on your mission.'
George R. I."
Somewhere in France, Aug. 20, 1918.
"Had quite a trip here from England and, of course,
saw lots of interesting sights. Also note most of French buildings
are
of brick and built alike along in a row and right next to
the sidewalk, and would be something like what we call 'flats,'
I guess, as they all seem to be occupied.
"The folks in the U.S. have no kick coming and one does
not fully realize until he gets here."
Somewhere in France, October 29, 1918.
"We are now in a different place than where I wrote
from last and so you see we keep on the move and are billeted
in
a barn with plenty of straw for a bed and our proprietors
are certainly fine old French people and as I understand they
have lost two sons in this war. They cannot do too much for us
boys, and I te'l you it is greatly appreciated. There are six
of us staying at this place and most every night we have the
lady cook us a pot of pomme de terre (potatoes). She has plenty
of good fresh milk as they have two cows and also use them as
oxen, and so we have quite a feast.
"We decided we wanted some chicken the other day and
so bought two for 20 francs (about $3.60) and hired her to
dress and bake them and also cook some pomme de terre for
us and so you see we don't stop for expenses when we want anything
and can get it. We had learned that it was the French custom
to cook chickens, etc., with the head on and so we saw to it
that the heads were cut off before the lady got hold of them
and they sure thought it was awful that we should do so. We enjoyed
the feed as she is a good cook and clean and so it met with our
approval.
"Every morning about nine o'clock an old lady and an
old man blow their horns and the people all turn their goats
and
pigs out together and they drive them off to the pasture
for the day.
"The scenery here is beautiful with its rough, rolling
country with tree covered foot-hills and small towns, whose buildings
are all of stone."
France, October 31, 1918.
"Parve was formerly a French military camp and so we
had brick barracks to sleep in. This place is about a mile from
the once great city of Verdun, which is now only a mass of
ruins, but am told that it is now an undermined city and is occupied
and run the same as a large city on top of the ground with its
bakeries, stores, etc., and prepared to withstand an attack and
not receive supplies from outside world for two years. It is
almost impossible to get a pass to go down into same, on account
of so many spies. The great wall which surrounds the city still
stands and am told that never a twenty-four hours passed since
the battle of Verdum that a shell has not been dropped therein.
The Germans were never able to take this city, and it was practically
the beginning of their down-fall, as this was the greatest and
bloodiest battle of the war, lasting for four months and resulting
in the Germans losing 600,000 men and the French 400,000.
"Well, our destination was dugouts (about 35 to 55 feet
deep) and were occupied by the Germans at the time of the
attack on Verdun and about half way between them and Verdun
was as far as the Germans ever got. But the French were successful
in driving them out. Sure some dugouts, alongside the road, with
steps leading down into them ever so far and equipped with electric
lights, as it was dark down there and lights were necessary.
The bunks were built along the side of the walls and were built
in 'Pullman fashion' that is three deep or one above the other
and I was lucky in landing a top one. Right here is where we
really encountered our first 'cooties' and trench rats, which
seemed as large as cats and kept us awake by their nightly maneuvers
and will say some of them got so familiar with the fellows in
the lower bunks that the fellows got up and sat up the rest of
the night. They also had races down the alley-way, chewed the
boys leather shoe-strings in two and many other stunts. Well,
the 'cooties' also come in for a little credit as to their part
in the war game and will say I think they have caused many to
have extra ambition."
* * *
"I saw a night air-plane and saw the strong
searchlights flash across the sky and the report of the machine
guns in the
planes.
* * *
"We had not gone far when we found we were in
the midst of battle with shells dropping and bursting all around,
tearing
great holes in the earth and throwing dirt everywhere, and
heard the pieces of flying shrapnel go whizzing past and it was
one of these pieces of shrapnel that went through my coat sleeve
and at which I considered myself as being lucky, that it had
not been of a serious nature and I did not receive a scratch.
"When you talk of 'hugging close to the ground' and
'digging in' well, I never knew how close to the ground I could
get
until that afternoon, and believe me we were 'hugging the
ground' or crawling along close to it most of the time, in crossing
the field under fire in our attempt to reach the front lines
and thus relieve the other men there and allow them to go back
for a rest. Being stationed at Battalion Headquarters, the Major
Adjutant and a couple of other officers and we signal men crawled
into a large shell-hole for the night and then came the work
of stringing our telephone wire and getting our communication
with higher officers working, so that we could get the orders.
I was given charge of the telephone for the night and so no sleep
and in fact it was so cold and so much firing throughout the
night that it would have been most impossible to sleep. Orders
came to 'Go Over the Top' at six a.m. sharp and so plans were
started early for same and everything was carried out perfectly
and being greatly favored, weather being cloudy, we soon had
the Germans on the run before us; but, of course it was not without
resistance and many were they who were wounded and paid the supreme
sacrifice on both sides and so it was demonstrated and proves
that 'War is Hell,' and there can be no question of it. Considering
that this was the first successful drive that had been made on
this Verdun battle-front (the greatest battle-field of the war)
for over a year and that we had them on the 'run' all along the
line was certainly gratifying and yet the news to 'cease hostilities
on the whole front at the hour of 11:00 a.m.' was most welcome,
as it was practically unconditional surrender of Germany, and
the accomplishment of our aims and victory for a just cause.
Imagine the battle raging at its greatest on both sides, and
then promptly at 11:00 for everything to cease, as a 'calm after
a storm' and to hear no shots thereafter. It was great. We spent
the afternoon pulling the stakes out of the wire-entanglements
for a bon-fire, and it seemed good that we could lie down and
sleep that night. We also had real fire-works and celebrated
as best we could."
Written to Steele and Schempp.
Nesle, France, April 9, 1919.
"Hello! Just a line from France to let you know I am
still waiting for the welcome word to leave for the good old
U.S.A.
Home papers always looked for and news much appreciated and
sure miss any of it. Have been in Southern France and hope to
get a pass to Paris soon, as I want to see all I can while I
am here, for I don't intend to come back again. The Division
will be reviewed by General Pershing tomorrow. Regards to you
all."