(Told by (name suppressed), 11th Regiment Railway Construction
Engineers)
_This member of Company D, 11th Regiment Railway Construction
Engineers, swings pick and axe and acts as chauffeur on a handcar, but
he enjoys it heartily._
For several days we have been busy getting some new drills, but
unfortunately I am not at liberty to tell you the nature of them.
All day yesterday was my own time, but I was too busy cleaning up to
write. The sun was shining most of the day, for a change, so I was able
to wash my clothes, air my blankets, etc., and take a real bath.
We made stoves out of some large oil cans, and as we have deep pans we
boiled our clothes out and then scrubbed them well on our washboard.
But the real treat was our bath. We walked about half a mile to a
British camp, where they have some bath. They have rigged up a small
room with live steam in it. We stood in the room for at least a half
hour and just perspired. Then a cold shower and, believe me, for the
first time since I left home I was real clean.
Do you remember how you laughed at my army shoes because they were so
heavy? Well, you should see our shoes now. They are the same as the
Tommies wear in the trenches. The soles are nearly as thick as the
heels on our other shoes. Besides, the heels and soles are studded with
iron plates and hobnails. Of course they are very heavy, but for all
of that they are very fine shoes, as the wear in them surpasses the
lighter American shoe and they are better protection from water. We
have also discarded the canvas leggings and are now wearing the spiral
cloth puttees.
We are still in a rest camp belonging to the British, but suppose we
will be moving off to our own base in the near future. The powers that
be know best.
In the Base Camp--Hurrah! Received your package yesterday in perfect
condition, and maybe I wasn't happy, also the squad, for of course they
have to have some of it. Best of all, the cigarettes and tobacco are
real American products. I do not care for the English stuff. And the
candy--well, "nuf sed!"
Last night a number of us walked around a very interesting battlefield.
If I should give you its name you would remember it as one of the
famous ones of the war. I have never seen so much junk lying round as
there is on this old battleground. Bullets, old shells, helmets, guns
and what not. There is so much stuff we did not bother to pick it up.
We found a number of English rifles and shrapnel helmets, some with a
lot of holes in them. I guess the men who wore them are dead. As for
graves, well, in some spots they are as thick as daisies.
You wanted to know if I had taken any pictures. Unfortunately all
cameras were confiscated, so nothing doing in that direction. As it is,
there is very little scenery of interest where we are. The country is
fairly well blasted and the tops of all the trees are gone; but you can
see such pictures in the Sunday supplements.
I do not know, of course, if the newspapers say that we are being well
fed or not, but we certainly do not feel the effects of the U-boat
war. While we were in the rest camp we did not eat any too well, but
now that we are in a permanent camp everything is changed. How does
roast beef, tomatoes, brown gravy, butter, tea, jam and apple dumplings
sound? Of course the apple dumplings were not hard to get, as we have
the apples growing in our camp. The flour, however, came from the good
old U. S. A.
For the last few days I have been swinging a heavy pick and axe and
playing chauffeur (with some other fellows) on a handcar. Believe me,
it is hard work pumping one of those cars heavily loaded against a head
wind or on an up grade. However, the work is doing me worlds of good. I
am feeling fine and getting stronger every day.
There is something doing on our front to-night. From all the banging
noise Tommy must be strafing Fritz good and plenty.
We have had several issues of tobacco since we arrived in this part
of the world. I do not know where the tobacco comes from, but imagine
it is part of the money collected from our good citizens in New York.
The only trouble is that it is English tobacco and not the good old
American kind.
It would surprise many of our curio seeking friends to see what we
do with those that we pick up. Our poker is an old French bayonet,
something that many a person would put in a cabinet under lock and key.
On Leave.--Immediately after breakfast I started for a very famous
city some nine or ten miles from our camp. I stopped in for a friend
of mine, in one of the other companies. We started to walk to town
in hopes of having a motor lorry (just plain motor truck in America)
overtake us, but we had covered some five miles before we were
overtaken by a horse-drawn wagon.
This particular city (censor forbids my giving name) was never reached
by the Huns except at long range bombardment. One can hardly believe
the amount of destruction the Huns are capable of doing when they start
out on their career of hate.
In this town they seem to have centered their vengeance on a most
beautiful church and one of the fine old cemeteries that France is
noted for. The church was not entirely demolished, but I think it is
beyond repair. As for the cemetery, many a poor Frenchman returned to
the surface before the Angel Gabriel had blown his trumpet.
Just next to this old cemetery is a new one. Instead of old tombstones
and marble crypts, this plot is marked with many small white wooden
crosses. Here and there one can find a more pretentious cross,
indicating an officer. One cannot realize the tug at the heartstrings
until one has seen the hand marks of "Kultur." The only consolation, a
brutal one, is that on the way to the town are many graves with German
names on the crosses.
But let's get cheerful and talk of the main object of my trip, to get
something to eat. The real fun of the day came while we were eating.
Fritz paid us a visit by aeroplane and dropped a few visiting cards in
the shape of bombs. A couple of Tommies were eating in the same room,
and as they showed a great deal of _sang froid_ I was compelled to do
the same. However, my real fear was that I wouldn't be able to finish
my eggs, but would have to dive for a bomb-proof. Fortunately he was
driven away before much damage was done and I finished my eggs in peace.
I forgot to tell you that our quarters are the most comfortable we
have had. We are in a hut which is built like a tunnel. The outside is
made of corrugated iron, but the inside is lined with wood. There are
fourteen of us in my hut, but there is plenty of room. We sleep on cots
for the first time since we left Fort Totten.