"It rains here or is foggy about five days out of every
week. It is very nice outside today, though, and I have been
outside
most all day watching the farmers work in the fields. I feel
like going out and tell them they are crazy, because, instead
of driving their horses abreast, they work them single file,
one horse ahead of the other, and one man to every horse. One
farmer has three horses strung out pulling a drill and two men
lead the horses, while one man runs the drill. And in the street,
instead of passing a rig on the right, they turn off to the left.
I'd had to drive a car up the streets of Liverpool, for fear
I would forget myself and smash something all to pieces."
March 29, 1918.
"I left Liverpool hospital yesterday, and when I got
to the debarkation office, I found that I was in charge of ten
men,
whom I was to take along with me to the casualty outfit.
We did not leave Liverpool until 11:50 at night, so had from
ten o'clock in the morning to burn around town. I did not think
much of the town except for their shipping docks, which, of course
are quite a sight. We traveled all that night and had to change
at London, and we found that we had about two hours there, so
we saw a small portion of the city. Their buildings are not nearly
as high as ours. I did not see any over four or five stories
outside of the House of Parliament. Their dwelling houses are
nearly all alike; even in Liverpool all the dwelling houses are
exactly alike, and they do look pretty from a distance, all tile
roofs and brick sidings. Their streets and roads outside of towns
are beautiful too, only they are so winding; one has to go six
and seven miles, in order to make two, just because some of the
English lords will not allow roads to built through their estates.
We saw more of London from the train. Their trains are the funniest
outfits I have ever seen. The coaches are divided into booths
with double seats running crossways of the coach and a door on
each side making probably six or seven doors on each side of
the car, and they pack the passengers in like sheep. They of
course, are divided into first, second and third class."
Somewhere in France, April 16, 1918.
"I did not get back to my regiment after all, for I
am now in a Field Artillery Replacement Regiment.
"The French people treated us very nice on the way.
We were on the road about six days and I had charge of twenty-
nine men all the way.
"France is a beautiful country and we saw some beautiful
town son the way, but the weather I don't like. Like England,
it rained most of the time. I have often heard the expression
'Sunny France,' but that I have yet to see.
"I saw quite a few Scotch soldiers on the way and also
Australians. The Scotch uniform consists of a short skirt that
hangs nearly to the knee, a pair of socks, that come nearly
up to the knee, leaving the knee bare and a small jacket like
we wear and a loose cap that looks like a girl's cap. Even in
the coldest weather they go around with bare knees and a short
overcoat. It surely is some sight to see a bunch of them in formation.
The Australians are dressed more in Buffalo Bill style. I also
saw some Hindu soldiers from India with their big turbans on
their heads. In some places we saw German and Turkish prisoners
at work with guards over them. The biggest sight though, was
the way they handled goods at the docks and shipping yards."
France, May 11, 1918.
"I haven't been doing much of anything since I got to
this camp, except to lead the band whenever we have a regimental
review. I had been expecting to get a call from my own regiment.
When none came I decided to volunteer for tank service when the
call came. Well, the call came last week and I passed examinations
as far as I know, so I expect to leave for some new camp somewhere,
any day. I very likely will be sent to a tank school for six
or eight weeks. But the worst of it was that a call came from
my own regiment or rather my whole Brigade for all their men,
but, of course, it was too late for me to sign then, so I don't
expect to ever see the old 120th any more."
November 21, 1918.
"We were dated for our first show on September 12th
near Bapaume, but the Germans retreated so far, that we were
not called upon until the big battle started between Cambria
and St. Quentin. That was the breaking of the Hindenburg line
and took nearly two days to run them out. We were in the next
four stands they tried to make and it crippled the battalion
so badly, that we could not go farther. The next few days we
expected to go back for a rest but we got a lot more tanks from
somewhere and some men had just come from England for replacement,
so we were ordered into action again, but we never saw any more
fighting except for the big artillery barrage. They were retreating
so fast that the heavy tanks could hardly keep up and then the
order to cease fire came, so we called our tanks in. We had three
tanks that had been in the last show and were stalled."