OCR Text |
Show P COON'S LETTER' I and it took' about a half hour to-get j the company up or down, so we de--cided to-' build a set of stone steps, .which was easy enough, as the' conn-' ... -lone-quarries and-th " ! was' plenty-of it laying around everywhere.'- We had -to - build a kitchen kand:latrine the first thing and the way ; we- threw things around sure make: the: natives open their ' eyes, a We .landed -there about'two in the afternoon af-ternoon -and -Had' supper ready by five and everything ready to go into train-,Ang.;- again. -- The ' French .standing around? Couldn't see-how it was . possible, pos-sible, to do things : in "such-' a little bit of .--time.---i They are slow in doing anything any-thing dnd.iuriless I miss -my guess, it is this -same speed and pep . on .. the part of -the Americans which has ended' en-ded' the -war-at -this time; in spite p'. the fact that-all 'the ' credit seems to be - going to-the 'French "and British. We-stayed 4n: this town just one week and again loaded into -box cars we. lit out for. this town !at-which we arrived on the 23rd of -September-.1 . About the only r-historical " event " corthected with this "town -'isthe- defeat of the Ven-:dean" Ven-:dean" by the Revolutionary" gbverri-" -ment :duving -ithe" French ' revolution" TbeEi itePifciVifr'' battle 'of -,!the'" 'fracas' took; place-nt- fhis-'city." :On the sec-ondi:day. sec-ondi:day. of :t)ctober,-I left! with the .captain ior' iT"Ma,h1ne Gun sehool -nt Cleameefv .Fratice'and it " was-:-here .that tracei-ved' your first' letters about themiddlb of! the-month;- On the way ..to.jClamecyv :we passed through cities at: Nanti'S;! Ttiurs,;-Angers, . .Orleans, (.where. Joan ef .Are- did-her :..bit : for. France! Pttris .-.and t-Auxerre...: We. rW.ere. in; Paris about six '-.'hours and ,tookJrin.-,aii!,much,r. aS"possibIe, but of course didn't; ss-e. much.-.- ,L will tell y.e.n.-.aU .fvbxktkt rititwnen: 1 get t home. ,W.hilo., atr.siiiiool.-.-iwe j,. worked and siudieln3,4:,hQurB..a day.! from 7: 30., a. ,m.. until S :?C, p.im. andias to the rest of qw;,rJeaHurqi J .will- tell -more anon.. W"! wer (here just a -month when, the, sphqol;;elosed and we were ordered .baciotftj our organizations. .Right hr't.e-Iywanti .to addj that while at the school, I happened to be in charge of ,the, JiOO. and some. .- odd,,1 tton-comm! sione,d,,o.ffipersv.iOf ,-tbe .(Machine. Gun sectipriiiand: bqliaye,!meI ,was the hap ples.t,.man .alive, when.., we.vgot orders to move. T&ey;i failed'. from almost ey.er cjyipn ..in France, and from every ev-ery state in the TIniop.and a crazier . buach..of,1"yaj?s,,1 .Ipeyerrun into nor a better. . They,.!hadi,. enough pep . to yqkj.tbje rwhpel,pe,rman, army.L On our wa.y!jba.ck rfr.om,, school. ,,(-we passed through Nevers, Bqurges,' Tours, Poit-i,e.rs,.Lap9ch,e)le, Poit-i,e.rs,.Lap9ch,e)le, ajj.d. Nantes, covering about all of central. j..and western France. In all of these towns, we snentifrom ,twon to-. six' hours and, took rvlvantafe of all,' the ! time we had. , Oh'M(y9s,tiI'aHet.-aBergeantiat ..school , -hor'.W-aSircorparal-.-in.iour- company in. the coast artillery at i San Francisco. K::ia, tunjiy ' how, you- -run-onto people ,YOHknoWnOy&r ibere. 1 1 -guess it is be-"ause be-"ause it is such a small, ;place. ,,rfWll,,rIi;haYetQld,,tfOU.,alli about my Ravels ftujt bve .abqut,! three days of Straight, taiJuyiEibefore -I. .pan tell it all so will not waste any more paper. . At resent w,e ar.e,,located ,about fifteen kilometer, fromthe, imputh of the Lpir,e,rr.iv,-err.,at which,, is., located -; the, ise3.poirt7,pf,i-Sti-JVTazaire,jand- are about, thirty kilometers .fr.pn. .Nates, one of the..Ia,r.gest ..cities, in.. .France. We are. alowe,(lY,3undav5 passes, to,, the places and have already, made several trips.. ...Speaking; .of ihosecXmas, boxes,, we did get,. the. i slips,, but. decided not to j 'send them for fear.,you would try and o.yerdQ-,the,,.thin.g .with siich-large boxes.. box-es.. We, are.. Just as well satisfied and all weiask i9 plenty of -mail. Besides we,haye"Ono. chance i in two million of j (being; with, you Xmas, anyway, so with .such bright., prospects,-,,-why send a !. box?.,, Don't worry .about : us Xmas. , for .we .will hnva a .good time and en-j en-j joy ourselvef. if there is anyone in the : A, E.; F. -that fan,,. Of course there is i nothing lik-j.n-. box from home, but it I,i8 only, a lot 'oi unnecessary trouble J and red-Pe ;o .wq decided not to. send. the. slips home. .. '.,; J Dad. this is not such a Christmas letter;.-but .thought. -you- would like to , hear of. some of our travels and know what is going on.- You are somewhat, , of. s rovr yourself, and am sure I can" , keep yon interested, for a while after I get. back,. so will elope this with love ;.nnd;.b?st, wishes for a merry Xma all, I am, 1st Sge. Harry Coon... P. S.."We are sorry we didn't sw action, but we did our best to get in-: in-: to it, and no one can blam us of slack ing. T i.m more- disappointed than I : would be willing to admit, but '' is a pejor time to say you would like to have gone up to the front (after the war Is over.) |