Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1919 — LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS [ARTICLE]

LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS

• J' t S’* &" 1 " , 1 V-V • Dr. Gwin Writes of Ceremony Attending Decoration of D.S. M. lira. M. D. Gwin received aletter Monday from her husband who is in the medical service in the A. E. F., from which we pub Hah , the following interesting extracts? * Wednesday eve.. Dee 11, 1918. At 2 today we witnessed a sight I hardly expected to ever be fortunate epough to spe. Two America boys were decorated on the field with the American honor, called D. 8. M. (disintinguidhod service medal), > (Imagine a field suoh as you saw at Oglethorpegf, » soldiers, practically all having been wounded and now convalescents in our several base hospital units, marched on the field as for a review—two boys Were standard bearers in the center of the field. Facing the soldiers -was a line of ‘WBmeAimeri colonels’ and majors' (among them our C. O.) and in front of them the colonel in command here, with six fellow eolohels from the French army. The boys came on the field (one a sergeant and one a private) escorted by a colonel, who announced that the soldiers to be decorated were now present. The* national anthem was then played by the band, following which the boys* sponsor read an account of their exploits. The sergeant, in a fierce battle, found himself alone, wounded and unable to stand, on his feet. He was immediately surrounded- by Germans. 'He dragged himself to his knees and killed five Gprmwm with his revolver, and the remaining five ran away, and the sergeant «H#n orderly who succeeded in delivering an important message in spite of A barrage fire and enemy- dre. , Qur colonel now advanced, accompanied by - his, distinguished escort, and pinned the medals to their left pockets. I presume the French gave them the cross of war rteo. Following this the soldiers passed In review before the boys and the officemf, _ I may see such presentations again, often, even, but likely not. Of course, it was photographed from every angle and you may see some o f the prints surely don’t count when country bestows thpge honors. * John WorfW : Writes Interesting letter From France - . * France, Nov. 24» 1918. Dear Father and Alli—- ’ Today is “Dad’s letter day,” co I am not going to miss it I frees you have it coming. The ban on letter writing has been raised and now we can write all we know and some things we don’t, if we can only make you.believe it. I.hpyp afready let you know most all of what I have been doing but I’ll try td tell you what I couldn’t get by the Censor. We have been here at Bourron (Set M) since in June. K4a the French and English tank repair station and the largest In the doubt. There are also some French airplanes repaired here but tanks are the biggest item. From 1000 to 2000 tanks were being Aent to the .front from this camp every week for three months previous to the signing of the armistice. Not all of "them were completely overhauled, but all of them were repaired and tested. A big per cent of them, however, are torn completely down, not even one thing left untouched. I work in the motor room and we turn out about-an average of a motor a week, sometimes jess. They come in in a terrible shape and every thing is put in new that needs repairing. Sprung crank shafts and flat thros are quite common, ecored cylinders and broken connecting rods are expected and we don’t get surprised often. There are several kinds of tanks, but the Renault, a French tank. isSeonsidered the best tank ever by anyone no to date. It is smairaompared to the English tanks but A quite capable. It is manned by Witten, * driver

and a gunner, and is one of three guns, either a 75 m. (3 • i in.) or a machine gun. It is capable of doing 20 to 25 miles an hour and can turn directly around and retreat in less than its own length and never slow down its speed, it sure would surprise you to see one of them “turn tail. They can climb a remarkably steep grade. lam enclosing a few photos of this‘ showing it going through the tests before leaving for the front. Another tank of note, an English tank, is equipped with six machine guns, four 57 m. guns and carries • crew of twelve, besides it can carry thirty “doughboys” with it (inside) up to an advanced post where they let them out. It is about 30 feet long and real active for it ssize. I wouidnt attempt to guess its weight. The motor alone perhaps weighs two tons. There were a few Ford tanks here, they were mere toys compared to the Englis htanks. Several German tanks were brought here. They were used as targets by the allied tanks. Quite appropriate, I’d say. , These tanks return m all conditions to us. Some are completely salvaged. It is impossible to describe how bad they do look, but 1 can form a good idea of how “any men return in some of them that meet a “tank shell.” These Shells set the tank on fire, both the gasoline and ammunition, and it is not uncommon to see exploded cartridges eight and ten inches deep in a tank floor. . Shortley before the armistice was signed we were working 16 hours a day getting .tanks out, but no one kicked as we all knew how necessary they were toward winning the war. Before coming here we were stationed near Chalons, not far from Reims. We worked th are on motorlorries and airplanes. I liked that better than tanks, but they needed us worse here. While there I got to go to the front twice, taking up some motors and bringing some back not in quite as good condition. It was quite a sight l up there but I won’t go into details about it as you have, no doubt, heard more about that now than you can believe. There were several French airdromes where we were stationed and we got to see some air battles. They are amusing to watch but not nearly so amusing to the pilot that gets shot down in flames. ' i One more thing I wish to tell you is about the depth bombs we dropped for “Jerry” on our way over on the “Vaterland.” We were just in sight of land for the first time, just off the coast of Ireland, when the crew thought they sighted a sub. There were three depth bomb charges let down but it didn’t bring up any “Jerries.” I was on deck at the time and I thought we had been struck by a sub. The decks were soon filled, only to find that it was our own ammunition that caused the jar. I could tell you of plenty of interesting instances but it would make most too long a letter, anyway, I want to save some to tell after I get home. lam back from my furlough now and had a fine time, and also took my first ride in an airplane; it’s a funny feeling, especially when you go to land. It seems like the earth comes up to meet-you; it makes you feel like you have been missing something, and that you had just found it at last. lam in the Shops again. I don’t know how long we will remain in them but until peace is sighed or until they are all finished. We are leased to the French and it is uncertain when they will release us. If we return to the U. S. in the order an which we arrived, we ought to be back yet this winter as we were among the first 300,000 men in France. I think I will have enough soldiering for the rest of my life. I could write on indefinitely, but as I have several more letters to write, I will say au revoir. lam your affectionate son, SERGT. JNO. E. WORLAND. So. 7, 2nd Air Service Meeh. Reg.,

A. P. O. 702, American E. F.» France. P. S.—l haven't heard from Paul since I wrote Mamma last. Nd doubt he will write you today also.