"Well at last the lid is raised and we can write. I
am in Varennes now and have been here about a month. It is near
the
Argonne forest. It is on the old Argonne sector about 30
miles northwest of Verdun. The towns around here are now ruins.
All that is left is just walls and once in a while a part of
the roof is left. The ground is full of shell holes and you can
see places in the woods where the trees are fairly mowed off.
There are some good dugouts in the hills. Some are even concrete.
The Boche had things well fixed here. There is a sort of net
work of narrow gauge railroads that they had for transporting
shells, etc. We were farther up in the valley the first of the
month to a place called Summerance. It is a small town, or I
should say was a small town. The Boche were here the latter part
of October. It is about ten miles from here and the Boche fell
back that far in about one month. The tankers assisted during
the drives. They came into this town September 27, 198, and the
tanks led them in. I have been around a good deal since I have
been here and have found lots of interesting things. I nearly
forgot to say that the company to which I now belong, was one
of the three that did the work with the tanks on the Argonne.
They came back in October to be replaced and filled up as some
were killed and wounded. On our way back to the front we were
stopped. The war was over. I was at Summerance just a few days
after the Boche were driven out. We stopped there over night.
The next morning were ordered back. While we were waiting for
gas, I took a walk over the battle-field and found lots of things
of interest. During my walk I cam across several dead Boche.
"For Thanksgiving we had some real nice roast beef,
mashed potatoes with brown gravy, pumpkins turnovers and cheese
and coffee. We did well by the dinner and enjoyed it a great
deal. The rest of the day we spent in talking over the chance
of going home soon.
"At present all that we are doing is just cleaning up
the tanks and getting wood, etc. Once in a while we have pistol