Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1919 — DEMOTTE BOY WRITES OF WAR [ARTICLE]

DEMOTTE BOY WRITES OF WAR

CORP. A. H. ROSING WRITES TO GEORGE MAIR OF HIS ' ' EXPERIENCES November 26, 1918. “On the German Border and Somewhere" in Luxemburg in the town of Beaufort. Dear Friends:— As you know that I haven’t any “dad” to write of our experiences, I decided to pick you as my victims, and give you an idea of what we did in this past conflict which, thank the Lord, is about over with now. Jbis letter won’t be censored and is called “Dad’s Xmas Letter.” From start to the present will relate about what occurred and in what fights our division was into. Chapter I. On Dec. 12, 1917, at about 6 in the morning, we lifted anchor and steamed out of New York harbor and were ordered below decks. Why, I do not know.

Saw the-last of the Statue of Liberty, and everybody happy on the good ship Adriatic, the 15th F. A. and the Ist division replacement battalion. Things were pretty tame on the boat. Our officers had submarine fright but we cursed about having boat drills and such, like General Wood and some other high ranking officer with us. Gen. Wood made a speech and told us that we were early in the game, and thought we would see lots of action, which we sure did. On the trip there were a good many of the boys seasick, but I never missed a meal, which, by the way, is saying a great deal, for the people who owned the Adriatic put out fish that had been caught before Columbus discovered America, so strong the fish smelled.

The way we had boat drills, we, by the end of the trip, were rather disappointed for not getting sight of a U-boat. We landed at Liverpool Dec. 25, Xmas day, and had hard bread, one potato and tea for our dinner. That evening we left Liverpool, took the train to Southhampton and came to one of England’s rest camps, which are tents with pine floors, stayed there one day and crossed the channel and his sunny France, the city of Havre, another rest camp, and cold at that. That night we boarded our Pullmans, which consist of small box cars, about 30 of us in one car, and started on our two days’ trip across France. We did not even have straw to sleep on, but the nice, soft sides of the boards. Gosh, what a trip. A good many of the boys had frozen toes and ’had to go to the hospital and have the frozen members amputated. Our training camp was near the town of Valdahon; Had dandy quarters but sure were drilled. Landed at our new homes Dec. 30. The 4th of January we were issued our new cannons, the famous French 75 mm. Was made cannoneer and had gun drill from morning until night for about a week, then off for -actual firing. Had to pull our guns out by hand at times for five miles. The 15th of February we quit firing and were instructed in building dugouts; On Feb. 18 I had the hick of getting hurt. I stuijjc my hand in the way of somebody’s pick and it cut my hand open. Had five stitches put in the wound, and, of course, stayed in quarters the rest of the time in training. Ate eggs and all that junk and lived high in general. On March 18 we left Tor the front for a quiet sector. (To be continued.)