On coming from the Argonne offensive on October 5th, the Sanitary Train
moved to Vaubecourt, a city whose blocks of ruins told plainer than
words the story of its bombardment in the earlier days of the war. But,
complete as was the destruction of some parts of the city other parts
escaped harm, and in this quarter we found a comfortable home in a large
barn, well equipped with bunks.
The memory of our stay in Vaubecourt to most of us is not a pleasant
one. Sick, tired, hungry, dirty, clothing torn and stained with mud and
blood, and equipment lost, the men of our company certainly did not have
the appearance of spic and span soldiers of Uncle Sam. A few hours of
rest, with good food and plenty of soap and water did much to better
conditions, but the effects of the previous days at the front were not
at once thrown off. Sickness prevailed, hardly a man escaping it in some
degree, and the number sent each day to the hospital was probably the
largest at any time in the history of the company. Here for the first
time in months, we heard the once famous sound of the bugle, the
companies standing all calls.
But in the midst of this, there was one day of our Vaubecourt stay that
stood out as one of the brightest in our experience. It was the day the
news arrived that Germany, surrounded by an unbreakable band of fire and
steel, and realizing the inevitable, had asked for peace terms. To us
who had just emerged from the horrors of the Argonne, the news seemed
like the first streak of morning light shining through the darkness.
However, the constant rumbling of the distant artillery and the steady
procession of aeroplanes overhead, kept us from becoming too optimistic.
Yet the feeling seemed to remain that it was the beginning of the end,
and that peace could not be far distant.
The fact that the Hun was at last, not asking, but begging for a
cessation of hostilities, in the name of her people, gave us renewed
spirits. We were further cheered by the fact that the entire Sanitary
Train had been commended for its work in the Argonne by our own
Divisional Commander, as well as by the Commanding General of the
division that relieved us. The work in battle had been without fault,
but at this time we were informed that discipline was very lax, and
instead of the much needed rest, we were put through a period of
training which lasted until the division relieved a division of French
in a sector north of Verdun.