OCR Text |
Show Sailor Smith I in France I U. S. S. Glacier (Brest Frasce.) December 5, 1018 Dear M. Wlxom: Just a few lines to tell you how much I appreciate your wonder- H ful littlo paper.. Mail just come aboard and out of the ordinary, I failed to rccelvo any first class 'H matter, but certainly was re- Heved when they handed out the second class mail and I received TH two copies of the "Globe." vH Wo have been in Franco for . 11 several weeks and was here at VH the tlmo tho Armistice was H ulgncd which, you can bo as- .H BurccI, was a happy tlmo for H every man in uniform In this r'l part of tho world, including the ,' Germans. Ono sees hundreds of U. S. Mcn-O-War in these waters, and , while ashore In most every littlo H city, you can always find our "dough boys" waiting forwarders lH to go to tho front A happier I.H 'bunch of men, both soldiers and ' sailors, under such conditions, Sl 1 don't beliovo you could find. lH Of course, while ashore, some IH arc always feeling better than others, as champaign is very rl cheap and the whiskey Is ll ''wicked" it puts much fight- ll lng spirit In them and that, mix- ll cd with what they already had, ll sure makes had men for the ll Germans to handle. Wo will probably be here when H Alio, President arrives, which means the. flrlngof lnanygunB, -"1 full dress ship and manlng ' tho" i roil for a few hours, which every one of us hates, as It might be raining that day. I havo met but ono mau from Garland during our many visits , to dlffcrents ports of Europe. i'I That man waB Lorenzo Peterson ' of East Garland. I was on the 4 docks at Southhampton, Eng- , land, watching tho train loads of 1 American soldiers come in from ' Liverpool to catch their boats i for Franco, and Is making my way through a crowd of about one million soldiers, It looked to me, some ono grabbed mo and as I looked around behold It was IH Mr. Peterson. Wo chatted for a jH short time and I had to leave as our ship was getting under way .that afternoon. I always look every soldier In tho faco to try to xecognlze some one I know and every soldier does tho samo with Well I guess I bad better closo as wo are coaling ship today, 'mH considered by a regular Navy H man as tho most Important drill we have, but I havo another namo for It, but the censor and I are always going "round nsd round," so I guess I had better not say any mora about It any-way any-way it means work but It wont Sast much longer as wo only havo about 1,500 tons more to - put H Thanking you and tho peo- pie of Garland for this wonder- ful littlo paper and wishing each lIH and every ono a Merry Christ- JH mas and a Happy Now Year, I 'H tremaln as ever, 'H IRVIN J. SMITH. |