Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1919 — LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS [ARTICLE]

LETTERS FROM OUR SOLDIERS

Guy „ Daniels Writes Home From France Mrs. William Daniels received the following letter a few days ago from her son Guy, who is with the American forces in France: France, January 24, 1919. Dear Mother: As I am not so very busy this morning will write a few lines, although do not know of much to write about as things are very much the same here now. My work will soon be finished and unless they assign me to something different will be coming home soon. One of the officers w'ho used to be at Rock Island arsenal wants to get me ln> his office as soon as I get through here. If I go there. It will probably be four or five more months before his work is finished as that work has to do with Che disposition of all the ordnance property in the A. E. F., and it is a big task to keep track of so many articles. For instance, all the rifles, pistoTsA horse equipment, cannon and all Spire parts must be accounted for and disposed of and when it is remembered that every man in the A. E. F. has some ordnance property it will be seen that there is some work connected with the records.

1 expect to start oni a leave of absence about the third of February 'and will be gone for a couple of weeks. It will be the first leave I have had. I did have in my orders permission to visit Chateau Thierry, which is the place the Americans did such hard fighting, and may go there yet, but a new order has just been Issued allowing officers to visit Italy. I have just been over to see about getting my order amended so as to allow me to go to Italy. Nobody over here can go any place without proper authority, even civilians must register and have permission to make a journey on the railroad. I think it would be a great privl-

lege to be able to visit Rome, especially as we are so close and only have to pay one-tfourth fare on the railroads. Officers get one-fourth fare and enlisted men travel free on their leaves, which in a why is some sort of a reward for some of the work the men did over here. If a person was to travel on his own expenses as much as he has since he joined the army, it would cost a lot of money and there are not many of us who would have seen France, much less some of the other countries. My trip through Scotland and England was wonderful' and it was also a wonderful experience, to go through the submarine zone just at the time the Germans were so anxious to sink the transports carrying thousamis of soldiers to fight against them. While we were unable to see any" submarines

with the naked eye from our ship, the look-out saw one through his ■marine glasses and one of the ships fired at it. We received many wireless reports that subs were in our vicinity and there was much excitement on board, tout that' was all. We all had to wear life-belts from the time we pulled out of New York harbor until we reached the coast of Scotland, and hope we do not have to repeat the operation going back because they are not so very comfortable and are very bunglesome. The men slept In- theirs most Of the time, but I put mine on a stool at the head of my bed where it would be within arm’s length. We had orders that it must be within reach at all times. When we would go down to eat we would take them off and lay them beside our chairs. We ' had three days very rough weather and we, who were not used to rough weather — that included the majority of those on board—sometimes thought the boat would upset, if the subs did not get it. Some of those who were seasick wished the boat would upset. They always had the tablecloths dampened so they would not slip off the table when the boat would rock. Sometimes, during the rough weather the boat would tilt so the dishes would fall off the table anyway, and you would have to hold to something in order to walk about the ship. When we would eat soup we would have to hold to the plate with one hand in order to keep the plate more nearly level or the soup would all run over the sides when the ship would list. When we first started each one was assigned to a tableland to a certain chair at that table, and we kept the same one all the way over. The chairs were all bolted to the floor a«d so was the table. At the start of the trip the tables were filled up at every meal, but as the days passed there would be first one empty chair and then another until sometimes we would only have five or siy. I was very lucky as I did not get seasick and did not miss a meal. Expect I have told you all this a time or two before; maybe not, but you will not have to read all if you do not want to do so. When I started writing thought would only write a few lines but see this is beginning to be quite a long letter, so will close for this time. Trusting to hear from you soon, I am, as ever, your son, GUY. Care Chief Ordnance Officer, American Expeditionary Forces, A. P. O. 717.