Dear Mother-:
I think the last installment of our continued story left me as advanced billeting officer in the vicinity of Gisors. Well, I and two other boys finally got the regiment all placed and settled in a little town called Chambord. Every thing was very exciting for just then the Bosche had broken thru and were still coming and it was believed that we were going to be used to make some sort of a counter attack along with several other divisions we had seen. Hence no sooner had the division arrived than we worked for about a week on open warfare and then set out for the line. Every bit of baggage was cut down to absolutely the low limit, the officers were allowed but twenty pounds total and the men to one blanket and their regular equipment. We even had orders that the horses should be led and not ridden so that when we finally arrived everything would be fresh that mattered. Our route lay up towards Montdidier from Gisors, passing thru Beauvais, a beautiful city where later I had some splendid times. We halted for two days at Thieux and then started into line. Never will I forget the first trip I made up. The Germans had been more or less stopped and the artillery fire had become proportionately greater as it does under such circumstances. At night the whole sky seen from a distance was one continuous flickering flash of white fire, not for a few minutes but always. We left about 6:30, by we I mean myself and two guns (155 mm.)with their crews etc., planning to get to the battery as soon as the darkness would let us. Within an hour we had gotten to where our long range guns were and from then on it was a continuous performance for the ten kilometers further to our position. I had had an idea that I knew what heavy fire was but this was a revelation. The road for a good way led thru woods and what wasn’t in that woods in the way of artillery never existed. They seemed to be behind every tree and in every conceivable place. The noise was so great that to speak to any one you had to get right beside him and howl in his ear. However, it helped in that you couldn’t hear what was coming after you. There were long guns that yelped and sent a shell over that sounded like a soul from hell with its shriek.There were big, short fat ones that went floom! and sent a ton or so of metal over to the Bosche with a noise like a slow freight. And everywhere 75’s (75mm guns) going on continuously with their crack and growl. It was wonderful and somehow so inspiring that somehow you didn’t mind the danger or discomfort - for it was also raining – at all. We took up a position that looked to me like suicide itself on TOP of a hill and finally a little before daybreak got the guns in and began to add our part to the fuss.There were no organized positions. The sector was too new and ours was simply an old farm laneway behind a hedge overlooking the village of Wells Perrennes. The whole thing was about two inches deep in water when we started and every time the old boys went off a shower of liquid mud would come out from under the trail spade (the trailing portion of an artillery piece which rests on the ground for stability in firing) and cover the gun crews and executive and worse luck by then I was executing. Just about dawn too, to make things a little more pleasant Jerry started in on the town with 210’s (210 mm.guns) and we watched the houses go up in dust in spite of the rain and wondered if he was coming after us. He didn’t tho and we had breakfast of rum, bread and chocolate sitting on the powder boxes in the rain a little later.
There seemed to be no limit to the amount of firing they expected of us. Five hundred (rounds) a day with a 155-mm. Howitzer is a large order for any battery but we thought that we were lucky if that was all we had to do. Usually about the time we thought that we were finished along would come a call for a barrage or a C.P.O. (order from a command post?) and when those were over it was time to begin work again.
After about a week of this I suddenly received my orders to report to the Ammunition Train for duty and discovered that I had been transferred. At first I wasn’t at all well pleased as I liked the battery work very much and we just had things running nicely. I didn’t find out until later that the Am.Train was known unofficially as the suicide club but soon discovered that it might well be. Taking twenty-odd three-ton trucks loaded with shells, powder and fuses to some battery and delivering it without trouble or confusion when the Bosche are doing their own little bit of shooting took, I found, a vast amount of head work and planning. Ammunition is the one thing that can’t be held up and has got to get there and it is up to you to do it and no one but yourself cares how you do it as long as they have it to shoot. However I had rather a splendid touring car to ride about in and little or nothing to do in the daytime.
About how we lived and more detail about the work I wrote you a great deal. How Reg, the Dr. and I lived and kept house in Beauvoir in an inverted style living at night and sleeping during the day.The Cantigny fight there was the only thing out of the regular fun but the work was steady, hard trench warfare. The weather throughout with the exception of the first week was perfect and we used to come home in the green and pink dawn and toast the new day in a glass of port and go to bed and sleep until noon. Thru it all tho there was the element of uncertainty for we all expected the second attack to come at any time and mostly we expected it thru us which wasn’t pleasant to contemplate.
Well this is all now so good bye.
With love
Paul
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Monday, January 12, 2009
Letter written December 28, 1918
Dear Mother -:
As Kipling says there is “another mocking Xmas past”, and although it wasn’t nearly as bad as last year’s it was far from pleasant or anything that I would like to go thru with again. This year at least I had the advantage of being with friends which is something, while last year I had just arrived in a new outfit and knew practically nobody. However, try as one may somehow you can’t seem to put any cheer into Christmas away from home. It is easy enough to celebrate the armistice as a victory or something of that variety but Christmas falls flat. Moreover the environment this year wasn’t particularly of an inspiring nature. The Germans, tho I have a hunch it is their big day, weren’t at all enthusiastic in their demonstrations and rather naturally we didn’t do things for the children as we did in France. We staged a horse show in the morning and a large egg nog party. Some seven gallons being consumed without great effort or effect. In the afternoon we had a motor exhibition and an extraordinarily large amount of punch which held its chief merit apparently in its ability to depress. Our dinner at evening was rather splendid from the point of view of decorations and food, and there were thirty officers present. The room was draped with evergreen and on the table were three little very much ornamented trees such as we used to have on the table at home. Somehow tho everyone got more or less engrossed in his own thoughts and the excitement did not run high. Such was the day and I am tremendously glad it is over. As I said tho, it was an improvement and perhaps after a few more years I may begin to enjoy it again.
I hope you had the party at home just the same and everything went off in O.K. style, for certainly that is an occasion and one that I enjoyed always almost more than any other. I managed to go back to Coblenz a few days ago and got some presents for you all but the means at hand for sending them are still lacking as I don’t want to risk them by the ordinary mail and I am not yet able to register them. This peace time warfare somehow isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. True enough there are no more flaming, roaring dawns or hideous nights but after all that you can’t imagine how time drags – every day is just about like every other day and you feel pretty sure that the days coming are going to be just about like the ones just past. War is a horrible thing and I never want to see any more of it but nevertheless there is a terrible fascination in it. You may lie down to sleep and sleep peacefully until late the next morning or you may never wake up, or again you may be waked up in ten minutes and start on something absolutely different from anything you have ever done before. I suppose that as a matter of fact it is the lack of thrills and excitement now that palls but certainly there is something. On the other hand I am living more comfortably than I almost ever have anywhere else. The Major, a Capt. Delong and I have three rooms, two small bedrooms and a huge living room which is all hung with at least 20 heads of very good deer, boar, etc., and finished in dark wood and light blue of which very little shows. The house is owned by two splendid old ladies who treat us as tho we were their children.
I am enclosing another little picture of myself which I had taken back in Picardy last July at a little place called Beauvoir where we all had a wonderful time and were very happy even tho the fighting just there wasn’t exactly what one would term quiet.
This is about all there is to tell you just at this minute but I will write you again very soon and in the meantime will continue my serial story.
With love
Paul
As Kipling says there is “another mocking Xmas past”, and although it wasn’t nearly as bad as last year’s it was far from pleasant or anything that I would like to go thru with again. This year at least I had the advantage of being with friends which is something, while last year I had just arrived in a new outfit and knew practically nobody. However, try as one may somehow you can’t seem to put any cheer into Christmas away from home. It is easy enough to celebrate the armistice as a victory or something of that variety but Christmas falls flat. Moreover the environment this year wasn’t particularly of an inspiring nature. The Germans, tho I have a hunch it is their big day, weren’t at all enthusiastic in their demonstrations and rather naturally we didn’t do things for the children as we did in France. We staged a horse show in the morning and a large egg nog party. Some seven gallons being consumed without great effort or effect. In the afternoon we had a motor exhibition and an extraordinarily large amount of punch which held its chief merit apparently in its ability to depress. Our dinner at evening was rather splendid from the point of view of decorations and food, and there were thirty officers present. The room was draped with evergreen and on the table were three little very much ornamented trees such as we used to have on the table at home. Somehow tho everyone got more or less engrossed in his own thoughts and the excitement did not run high. Such was the day and I am tremendously glad it is over. As I said tho, it was an improvement and perhaps after a few more years I may begin to enjoy it again.
I hope you had the party at home just the same and everything went off in O.K. style, for certainly that is an occasion and one that I enjoyed always almost more than any other. I managed to go back to Coblenz a few days ago and got some presents for you all but the means at hand for sending them are still lacking as I don’t want to risk them by the ordinary mail and I am not yet able to register them. This peace time warfare somehow isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. True enough there are no more flaming, roaring dawns or hideous nights but after all that you can’t imagine how time drags – every day is just about like every other day and you feel pretty sure that the days coming are going to be just about like the ones just past. War is a horrible thing and I never want to see any more of it but nevertheless there is a terrible fascination in it. You may lie down to sleep and sleep peacefully until late the next morning or you may never wake up, or again you may be waked up in ten minutes and start on something absolutely different from anything you have ever done before. I suppose that as a matter of fact it is the lack of thrills and excitement now that palls but certainly there is something. On the other hand I am living more comfortably than I almost ever have anywhere else. The Major, a Capt. Delong and I have three rooms, two small bedrooms and a huge living room which is all hung with at least 20 heads of very good deer, boar, etc., and finished in dark wood and light blue of which very little shows. The house is owned by two splendid old ladies who treat us as tho we were their children.
I am enclosing another little picture of myself which I had taken back in Picardy last July at a little place called Beauvoir where we all had a wonderful time and were very happy even tho the fighting just there wasn’t exactly what one would term quiet.
This is about all there is to tell you just at this minute but I will write you again very soon and in the meantime will continue my serial story.
With love
Paul
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Letter written December 21, 1918
Dear Mother -:
This is another break in the serial I am running but I have gotten tired telling what has gone on and am full of what is going on. We crossed the Rhine at Coblenz on Friday the 13th of December at five minutes before midnight. That somehow sounds to me to be very unlucky and just now the worst thing that I can imagine happening to myself is to have to stay where I am for a long time, which certainly looks to me as tho it might happen. We are finally settled in what appear to be our permanent resting places for the occupation. Ours in a town called Kilgert (sp?) about fifteen miles or so from the Rhine in a country that resembles the Adirondacks and New Jersey rolled into one. Fine high wooded hills and lots of splendid red sticky mud. Not one redeeming feature. All the inhabitants that are left are engaged in the absorbing pastime of making the mud into little ornamental pipes and marbles which they bake and sell to the unsuspecting. I am sending you some specimens for Xmas as they are the only things I can get hold of. Some day perhaps I may get back down to Coblenz from where I may be able to send you something nice. By the way if you can think of anything nice that comes from this part of the country, Germany I mean, let me know and I will send it to you. I doubt it tho for I haven’t yet seen anything around here that I would care to carry away. I don’t blame the Dutch much for invading some other country. It took them away from home. As you can see I am very low in my mind today and probably will be for some time if it is anything like last Xmas. Somehow a whole year’s homesickness seems to catch up with me at this time of year and makes me feel like jumping in the lake. I know too now why they call it sunny France: like everything else in life it is purely a comparative matter. France is a whole lot sunnier than Germany. We left Verdun on a perfectly beautiful day the 21st of November and since then I have seen the sun exactly three times and those have never been for more than ten minutes. That is why, I suppose, that the Germans have such pink and white complexions; there is no sun to tan them.
I am enclosing some orders which give you an idea of what the 1st Division did. It is the only division that was ever cited singly by the commander in chief and this order deals with probably the most disagreeable fight I was ever in. This is all now.
Good bye. With love
Paul
The reference in the last paragraph above is to:
General Orders No. 201, dated Nov. 10, 1918, from the General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces:
“1. The Commander in Chief desires to make of record in the General Orders of the American Expeditionary Forces his extreme satisfaction with the conduct of the officers and soldiers of the First Division in its advance west of the Meuse between October 4th and 11th, 1918. During this period the division gained a distance of seven kilometers over a country which presented not only remarkable facilities for enemy defense but also great difficulties of terrain for the operation of our troops.
“2. The division met with resistance from elements of eight hostile divisions, . . . The enemy chose to defend its position to the death, and the fighting was always of the most desperate kind. . . .
“3.The success of the division in driving a deep advance into the enemy’s territory enabled an assault to be made on the left by the neighboring division against the northeastern portion of the Forest of Argonne, and enabled the First Division to advance to the right and outflank the enemy’s position in front of the division on that flank.
“4. The Commander in Chief has noted in this division a special pride of service and a high state of morale, never broken by hardship nor battle.
“5. This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly formation after its receipt.
“BY COMMAND OF GENERAL PERSHING”
This is another break in the serial I am running but I have gotten tired telling what has gone on and am full of what is going on. We crossed the Rhine at Coblenz on Friday the 13th of December at five minutes before midnight. That somehow sounds to me to be very unlucky and just now the worst thing that I can imagine happening to myself is to have to stay where I am for a long time, which certainly looks to me as tho it might happen. We are finally settled in what appear to be our permanent resting places for the occupation. Ours in a town called Kilgert (sp?) about fifteen miles or so from the Rhine in a country that resembles the Adirondacks and New Jersey rolled into one. Fine high wooded hills and lots of splendid red sticky mud. Not one redeeming feature. All the inhabitants that are left are engaged in the absorbing pastime of making the mud into little ornamental pipes and marbles which they bake and sell to the unsuspecting. I am sending you some specimens for Xmas as they are the only things I can get hold of. Some day perhaps I may get back down to Coblenz from where I may be able to send you something nice. By the way if you can think of anything nice that comes from this part of the country, Germany I mean, let me know and I will send it to you. I doubt it tho for I haven’t yet seen anything around here that I would care to carry away. I don’t blame the Dutch much for invading some other country. It took them away from home. As you can see I am very low in my mind today and probably will be for some time if it is anything like last Xmas. Somehow a whole year’s homesickness seems to catch up with me at this time of year and makes me feel like jumping in the lake. I know too now why they call it sunny France: like everything else in life it is purely a comparative matter. France is a whole lot sunnier than Germany. We left Verdun on a perfectly beautiful day the 21st of November and since then I have seen the sun exactly three times and those have never been for more than ten minutes. That is why, I suppose, that the Germans have such pink and white complexions; there is no sun to tan them.
I am enclosing some orders which give you an idea of what the 1st Division did. It is the only division that was ever cited singly by the commander in chief and this order deals with probably the most disagreeable fight I was ever in. This is all now.
Good bye. With love
Paul
The reference in the last paragraph above is to:
General Orders No. 201, dated Nov. 10, 1918, from the General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces:
“1. The Commander in Chief desires to make of record in the General Orders of the American Expeditionary Forces his extreme satisfaction with the conduct of the officers and soldiers of the First Division in its advance west of the Meuse between October 4th and 11th, 1918. During this period the division gained a distance of seven kilometers over a country which presented not only remarkable facilities for enemy defense but also great difficulties of terrain for the operation of our troops.
“2. The division met with resistance from elements of eight hostile divisions, . . . The enemy chose to defend its position to the death, and the fighting was always of the most desperate kind. . . .
“3.The success of the division in driving a deep advance into the enemy’s territory enabled an assault to be made on the left by the neighboring division against the northeastern portion of the Forest of Argonne, and enabled the First Division to advance to the right and outflank the enemy’s position in front of the division on that flank.
“4. The Commander in Chief has noted in this division a special pride of service and a high state of morale, never broken by hardship nor battle.
“5. This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly formation after its receipt.
“BY COMMAND OF GENERAL PERSHING”
Letter written December 9, 1918
Dear Mother-:
Since we have not moved lately and are still hold down the village of Salmroh (sp?) I can continue the travels and adventures of one P. Hills. I think I was at Beaumont in (illegible) at the last writing doing a touch of artillery observation.We lived there, another lieutenant called Hatch and I, for over two months. For quarters we had a splendid dugout underneath the building the O.P. (observation post) was in the top of. It was proof against anything except the very largest shells and happily very dry and fairly warm. There was too a French O.P. nearby and the two of us messed (ate meals) with them and in fact imposed on them generally. We worked our duty in eight hour shifts since one of us had to be there all the time. I would go on at four in the morning and stay till noon when Hatch would appear and stay till eight at night when I would relieve him again and so on. The night hours were naturally by far the worst for we could have no heat or light except in the little cubby hole where the telephones were and cold wasn’t the word. Moreover outside of the regular fire works there was absolutely nothing to watch. It was just a question of keep looking and wait for something to happen and usually nothing did. Sometimes tho things would get livelier and livelier among the rifles and machine guns and then up would go a rocket of one variety or another and we would turn on all the artillery and try to see what the results would be. Some nights would be very quiet with hardly a cannon fired from ten at night until morning, others would be fairly lively almost all the time with things coming and going in fine style. However, the fire in that sector was never very heavy unless there was a barrage on and they happily were never of very long duration.
About this time it became fairly evident that the Bosche were going to attack somewhere and it was going to be a real attack since already there had been identified on a great many parts of the front units that had come from Russia. We talked about it unofficially quite a bit wondering where it would break and officially every defensive measure possible was taken all the way from Switzerland to the North Sea. Then finally it did come, about as far from us as it possibly could be and it was then that Gen. Pershing made his famous offer to Marshall Foch, and we were taken.
I was sent ahead to billet the second Battalion of the 5th (Field Artillery Brigade of the 1st Division) principally I suppose because I could speak French and also because I needed a vacation. I had been in the O.P. for two months without a break or change of any sort. Three other officers had been there with me but somehow the business hadn’t agreed with them and they had been given something a little less strenuous.
It was then that I passed thru Paris and had one day there. We were to billet in the vicinity of Gisons and it was to that town we (the billeting party) first went. It was a wonderful part of the country, by far the best I had ever been in with the City of Gisons wonderfully medieval and interesting. Wasn’t there sometime in history a Black Knight of Gisons? If not there should have been. For the place is just suited to him. Black towers, a big, dingy narrow cathedral, very narrow streets and a million crows all around.
This is all I have time for now with love Paul
Since we have not moved lately and are still hold down the village of Salmroh (sp?) I can continue the travels and adventures of one P. Hills. I think I was at Beaumont in (illegible) at the last writing doing a touch of artillery observation.We lived there, another lieutenant called Hatch and I, for over two months. For quarters we had a splendid dugout underneath the building the O.P. (observation post) was in the top of. It was proof against anything except the very largest shells and happily very dry and fairly warm. There was too a French O.P. nearby and the two of us messed (ate meals) with them and in fact imposed on them generally. We worked our duty in eight hour shifts since one of us had to be there all the time. I would go on at four in the morning and stay till noon when Hatch would appear and stay till eight at night when I would relieve him again and so on. The night hours were naturally by far the worst for we could have no heat or light except in the little cubby hole where the telephones were and cold wasn’t the word. Moreover outside of the regular fire works there was absolutely nothing to watch. It was just a question of keep looking and wait for something to happen and usually nothing did. Sometimes tho things would get livelier and livelier among the rifles and machine guns and then up would go a rocket of one variety or another and we would turn on all the artillery and try to see what the results would be. Some nights would be very quiet with hardly a cannon fired from ten at night until morning, others would be fairly lively almost all the time with things coming and going in fine style. However, the fire in that sector was never very heavy unless there was a barrage on and they happily were never of very long duration.
About this time it became fairly evident that the Bosche were going to attack somewhere and it was going to be a real attack since already there had been identified on a great many parts of the front units that had come from Russia. We talked about it unofficially quite a bit wondering where it would break and officially every defensive measure possible was taken all the way from Switzerland to the North Sea. Then finally it did come, about as far from us as it possibly could be and it was then that Gen. Pershing made his famous offer to Marshall Foch, and we were taken.
I was sent ahead to billet the second Battalion of the 5th (Field Artillery Brigade of the 1st Division) principally I suppose because I could speak French and also because I needed a vacation. I had been in the O.P. for two months without a break or change of any sort. Three other officers had been there with me but somehow the business hadn’t agreed with them and they had been given something a little less strenuous.
It was then that I passed thru Paris and had one day there. We were to billet in the vicinity of Gisons and it was to that town we (the billeting party) first went. It was a wonderful part of the country, by far the best I had ever been in with the City of Gisons wonderfully medieval and interesting. Wasn’t there sometime in history a Black Knight of Gisons? If not there should have been. For the place is just suited to him. Black towers, a big, dingy narrow cathedral, very narrow streets and a million crows all around.
This is all I have time for now with love Paul
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Letter written December 5, 1918
Dear Mother-:
This has got to be more or less of an interlude in the sad story of my life for it is an occasion. In fact one of the few ambitions of my life have been realized for yesterday we came into Germany, that is real old Germany that always has been Germany.We were, as you remember, in Luxemburg until yesterday when we started and went down to the river Moselle along which we followed until we finally crossed some little stream the name of which I don’t quite remember and were in the ancestral home of the squarehead. It was really quite a thrill that one had and if anyone had told me a month ago that I would be in Germany today I should have put them down as quite mad. We followed along the river to Treves (or Trier, in German) and from there came over to where we now are, a village called Salmohr, not far from Wittlich. It is the invasion of Germany but vastly different than I ever had any idea it would be. I am sorry that we did not get into their towns as the Bosche went out the other side to the accompaniment of machine guns, falling walls, the black smoke of melanite and dust and noise, but this way is very much more comfortable. The invasion is more in the way of pleasure trip than anything else. We arrive and billet just as we did in the French rear area town.The inhabitants are not at all ill disposed and nothing in the world can keep the glorious American high ranking buck private from making friends with every and anybody. Ten minutes after they were in Germany the streets were full of Heinies and Americans swapping cigarettes and having the time of their life. The Dutch can’t cope with the situation at all. There seems to be some mistake. For here are these soldiers whom they have heard were such savages and brutes treating them better than their soldiers would.
As a matter of fact the people can’t do enough for us and the feeling against the Kaiser among them is tremendously high. It may perhaps be different in some other parts of the country as we go farther in but just now the feeling between the invaders and the invaded is thoroughly amicable to say the least.
This is about all now --- I will write more later
With love
Paul
This has got to be more or less of an interlude in the sad story of my life for it is an occasion. In fact one of the few ambitions of my life have been realized for yesterday we came into Germany, that is real old Germany that always has been Germany.We were, as you remember, in Luxemburg until yesterday when we started and went down to the river Moselle along which we followed until we finally crossed some little stream the name of which I don’t quite remember and were in the ancestral home of the squarehead. It was really quite a thrill that one had and if anyone had told me a month ago that I would be in Germany today I should have put them down as quite mad. We followed along the river to Treves (or Trier, in German) and from there came over to where we now are, a village called Salmohr, not far from Wittlich. It is the invasion of Germany but vastly different than I ever had any idea it would be. I am sorry that we did not get into their towns as the Bosche went out the other side to the accompaniment of machine guns, falling walls, the black smoke of melanite and dust and noise, but this way is very much more comfortable. The invasion is more in the way of pleasure trip than anything else. We arrive and billet just as we did in the French rear area town.The inhabitants are not at all ill disposed and nothing in the world can keep the glorious American high ranking buck private from making friends with every and anybody. Ten minutes after they were in Germany the streets were full of Heinies and Americans swapping cigarettes and having the time of their life. The Dutch can’t cope with the situation at all. There seems to be some mistake. For here are these soldiers whom they have heard were such savages and brutes treating them better than their soldiers would.
As a matter of fact the people can’t do enough for us and the feeling against the Kaiser among them is tremendously high. It may perhaps be different in some other parts of the country as we go farther in but just now the feeling between the invaders and the invaded is thoroughly amicable to say the least.
This is about all now --- I will write more later
With love
Paul
Letter written December 3, 1918
Dear Mother -:
I think the last installment left us at the battle of Gondrecourt.That finally ended or rather the weather ended it for us for the snow got so deep that the carriages could not move and things in the maneouver line became impossible.Then I went to school which school was at Gondrecourt itself. That wasn’t bad at all, more or less of a vacation from the point of view of physical exercise but rather strong on the mental effort. We learned a lot of things we knew already and a lot more that we did not know. The schedule was usually classes and theory in the morning and firing in the afternoon. The course lasted about five weeks and was very much worth while. During the last week we were there, however, the regiment moved into line and when school was over there I went too. The battery was in the Toul sector near a town called Mandres where battallion headquarters was. No sooner had I reported than I was assigned for duty on observation from which place I think I wrote you quite a good deal.That work was wonderfully interesting and we shot Bosche and shot at Bosche to our heart’s content. It was however a little too risky to be thorough unalloyed enjoyment for two or three times we just stood still and looked at each other waiting for the end to come and wondering what it would feel like. The O.P. (observation post)was under the roof of the least destroyed building in the village of Beaumont. There was a little slit in the tiles to look out of during the daytime and rather a large hole which we looked out of at night.We were quite well equipped having all varieties of instruments and maps and were connected with every battery round and other O.P.’s by telephone. There was plenty to do which helped a bit and made the time pass quickly. During the day we made adjustments on crossroads, etc. over on the Bosche side for all the batteries and when we were not doing that, watched and tried to locate Bosche batteries. When we located one we shot him up and our work consisted in keeping the guns on the target and reporting results. There is certainly quite a satisfaction in locating some Heinie outfit who has been worrying you, proving exactly where he is and then systematically blowing him up. Sometimes, tho, Jerry would get mad and shoot back which was as disagreeable as anything could be. One morning after we had made a raid he was very mad, shooting up most everything in sight but somehow not us and we were shaking hands with ourselves wondering how long it would last when a great big black one went up right in front of the house about 200 yards away. That was the first in that particular locality and we wondered what was up.The next one was in direct line headed for us about 50 yards closer and so the next one and the next with about 30 seconds between shots. Finally one hit just in front of the house, showering dirt all over the place.The corporal and I were looking out watching things and had a fine idea just where the next one would hit. For protection we had some high grade tiles and a sheet of first class tar paper.The situation to say the least was tense. The Corp simply kept on looking and said quietly “And the next one gets us.” I have had some really narrow shaves during this performance but never did I feel as I did while we were waiting for the next one that never came. Why it didn’t come heaven only knows but I do know that during that 30 seconds and the following two minutes I lived a hundred years. It isn’t the things that happen that scare you. It’s the things that might.
I think the last installment left us at the battle of Gondrecourt.That finally ended or rather the weather ended it for us for the snow got so deep that the carriages could not move and things in the maneouver line became impossible.Then I went to school which school was at Gondrecourt itself. That wasn’t bad at all, more or less of a vacation from the point of view of physical exercise but rather strong on the mental effort. We learned a lot of things we knew already and a lot more that we did not know. The schedule was usually classes and theory in the morning and firing in the afternoon. The course lasted about five weeks and was very much worth while. During the last week we were there, however, the regiment moved into line and when school was over there I went too. The battery was in the Toul sector near a town called Mandres where battallion headquarters was. No sooner had I reported than I was assigned for duty on observation from which place I think I wrote you quite a good deal.That work was wonderfully interesting and we shot Bosche and shot at Bosche to our heart’s content. It was however a little too risky to be thorough unalloyed enjoyment for two or three times we just stood still and looked at each other waiting for the end to come and wondering what it would feel like. The O.P. (observation post)was under the roof of the least destroyed building in the village of Beaumont. There was a little slit in the tiles to look out of during the daytime and rather a large hole which we looked out of at night.We were quite well equipped having all varieties of instruments and maps and were connected with every battery round and other O.P.’s by telephone. There was plenty to do which helped a bit and made the time pass quickly. During the day we made adjustments on crossroads, etc. over on the Bosche side for all the batteries and when we were not doing that, watched and tried to locate Bosche batteries. When we located one we shot him up and our work consisted in keeping the guns on the target and reporting results. There is certainly quite a satisfaction in locating some Heinie outfit who has been worrying you, proving exactly where he is and then systematically blowing him up. Sometimes, tho, Jerry would get mad and shoot back which was as disagreeable as anything could be. One morning after we had made a raid he was very mad, shooting up most everything in sight but somehow not us and we were shaking hands with ourselves wondering how long it would last when a great big black one went up right in front of the house about 200 yards away. That was the first in that particular locality and we wondered what was up.The next one was in direct line headed for us about 50 yards closer and so the next one and the next with about 30 seconds between shots. Finally one hit just in front of the house, showering dirt all over the place.The corporal and I were looking out watching things and had a fine idea just where the next one would hit. For protection we had some high grade tiles and a sheet of first class tar paper.The situation to say the least was tense. The Corp simply kept on looking and said quietly “And the next one gets us.” I have had some really narrow shaves during this performance but never did I feel as I did while we were waiting for the next one that never came. Why it didn’t come heaven only knows but I do know that during that 30 seconds and the following two minutes I lived a hundred years. It isn’t the things that happen that scare you. It’s the things that might.
This is about all I have time to write about now but I will do some more tomorrow and try to tell you something about how we lived, ate and didn’t wash, which tho it was just our daily existence probably would be more or less interesting.
Good bye With love
Paul
Monday, December 1, 2008
Letter written November 30, 1918
Dear Mother -:
This will be more or less in the line of a second installment of the continued story I began in the last letter. As for myself just at present there is nothing new – we are still in the middle of Luxemburg and very quiet but I rather imagine that we will drag out before many more days.
We left off the last time if I remember correctly at the time we left the Luneville sector in Nov. (Paul is here relating his experiences as an officer in the U.S. Army’s First Division since beginning artillery training after receiving his commission. Before the Armistice, censorship prohibited his offering any details of operations or location in his letters home.) Well, we started from there to march to our winter quarters which were in the middle of the Meuse valley, probably the worst locality in France. At least it has that reputation for every time you even mention it to a Frenchman, he shivers, groans and makes some appropriate remark highly uncomplimentary. We were four days on the road and finally ended up in a little place about ten kilometers from Gondrecourt called Chassy. It was miserable, and medieval was the only word that describes it. I think I wrote you about it at the time for I was quite impressed and depressed also. However we started out almost immediately on a series of maneuvers which kept our minds off anything else. I don’t believe I ever worked harder or had longer hours in my life as did also all the rest of the division. In speaking about it still the men call it the Gondrecourt war and insist that it was without doubt the hardest battle they ever endured. There was one advantage, however, in that it made everything that ever followed it seem easy. That kept up until the first part of January with a welcome relief of one day off for Xmas and one for New Year’s. The weather was also in keeping with the whole performance as it alternately rained and snowed the whole time with now and then a day when it got so cold that it was almost impossible to breathe. The climate of the Meuse is more like that of Auburn than any place I have been since I left the village of the plain. I remember one day in particular we left Chassy to make a reconnaissance at four the morning. It gets light about eight at this time of the year. It was raining blue blazes and the roads were an absolute glare of ice. The major was along and all the officers of the battalion together with an immense detail of men carrying all the artillery instruments known to man. I have a hunch we looked something like the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. We rode away like blazes as the place of business was a long way off and of all the rides I ever hope to take that one wins. You could see absolutely nothing and we were supposed to be following the major. Every once in a while you would hear some one go down swoosh! Great cursings and howling would follow but those still up never stopped a second. Everyone that I saw afterward took one or more spills during that ride. Well, some of us arrived finally, the major unfortunately being one. I can see him yet as he stood there in the grey dawn with the water running off his nose and the slush into the top of his boots cussing everything under the sun and us in particular, for most of all we were late, and the others from the other brigade had gone on somewhere else. We were till noon getting that whole detail together and then having messed around for an hour or so we rode home again in the dark. Such was life but as I said everything after that seemed easy.
This is about all now but as the Ladies Home Journal says “will be continued in our next number.
This is, I think, about time to wish every one a merry Xmas tho it seems queer.
With love
Paul
This will be more or less in the line of a second installment of the continued story I began in the last letter. As for myself just at present there is nothing new – we are still in the middle of Luxemburg and very quiet but I rather imagine that we will drag out before many more days.
We left off the last time if I remember correctly at the time we left the Luneville sector in Nov. (Paul is here relating his experiences as an officer in the U.S. Army’s First Division since beginning artillery training after receiving his commission. Before the Armistice, censorship prohibited his offering any details of operations or location in his letters home.) Well, we started from there to march to our winter quarters which were in the middle of the Meuse valley, probably the worst locality in France. At least it has that reputation for every time you even mention it to a Frenchman, he shivers, groans and makes some appropriate remark highly uncomplimentary. We were four days on the road and finally ended up in a little place about ten kilometers from Gondrecourt called Chassy. It was miserable, and medieval was the only word that describes it. I think I wrote you about it at the time for I was quite impressed and depressed also. However we started out almost immediately on a series of maneuvers which kept our minds off anything else. I don’t believe I ever worked harder or had longer hours in my life as did also all the rest of the division. In speaking about it still the men call it the Gondrecourt war and insist that it was without doubt the hardest battle they ever endured. There was one advantage, however, in that it made everything that ever followed it seem easy. That kept up until the first part of January with a welcome relief of one day off for Xmas and one for New Year’s. The weather was also in keeping with the whole performance as it alternately rained and snowed the whole time with now and then a day when it got so cold that it was almost impossible to breathe. The climate of the Meuse is more like that of Auburn than any place I have been since I left the village of the plain. I remember one day in particular we left Chassy to make a reconnaissance at four the morning. It gets light about eight at this time of the year. It was raining blue blazes and the roads were an absolute glare of ice. The major was along and all the officers of the battalion together with an immense detail of men carrying all the artillery instruments known to man. I have a hunch we looked something like the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. We rode away like blazes as the place of business was a long way off and of all the rides I ever hope to take that one wins. You could see absolutely nothing and we were supposed to be following the major. Every once in a while you would hear some one go down swoosh! Great cursings and howling would follow but those still up never stopped a second. Everyone that I saw afterward took one or more spills during that ride. Well, some of us arrived finally, the major unfortunately being one. I can see him yet as he stood there in the grey dawn with the water running off his nose and the slush into the top of his boots cussing everything under the sun and us in particular, for most of all we were late, and the others from the other brigade had gone on somewhere else. We were till noon getting that whole detail together and then having messed around for an hour or so we rode home again in the dark. Such was life but as I said everything after that seemed easy.
This is about all now but as the Ladies Home Journal says “will be continued in our next number.
This is, I think, about time to wish every one a merry Xmas tho it seems queer.
With love
Paul
Letter written November 28, 1918
Dear Mother -:
Today is Thanksgiving and heavens what a difference from the preceding ones that I have had.This one is probably as peculiar and original as any could possibly be for now instead of having a wonderful dinner at Nannoo’s as I have had or a great one at Concord, N.H. or like last year taking pot luck and wondering what the war would bring, I am now a member of the victorious invading army headed for the interior of Germany. Quite a change you will have to admit. Today we are resting, that is not moving forward any more, for a couple of days at least, in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg at a little place called Munsbach (sp?) not far happily from the city of Luxemburg. Just where we are headed for is not absolutely certain but every rumor seems to point to Coblenz as the ultimate destination of the A.E.F. (You see the censorship has been modified and we can say practically anything that goes on.) We came into Luxemburg about five days ago and I am rather keen about the country tho I do not find the people as agreeable as the French, principally I suppose for the reason that they speak sort of a bastard language, made up of every known living tongue mixed together and then distorted and naturally quite impossible to speak. Usually, however, you can find some one speaking French or English.
The country itself is beautiful but just now tremendously hard up. The H.C.L. (high cost of living?) would absolutely astound you. Bacon is 50 Frs. a pound. Soap 15 Frs a small cake, the cheapest women’s shoes 200 Frs. with men’s about 500. A suit of clothes costs the poor Luxemburger about 650 and he can’t even get an egg for breakfast unless he puts out 1½ Frs. Thank heaven tho, we are well provided for and I have everything I need for some time. Imagine trying to set up some sort of an establishment or worse than that having a large family.
I went thru the city of Luxemburg yesterday and it is a very beautiful place. Built in two sections, so to speak, with a great deep ravine dividing the two and wonderful piled up Maxfield Parrish castles hanging up on the sides of the ravine. If I get a chance to go there again I will get some pictures as it is really worthwhile remembering.
I am sorry in some ways that Carroll (brother) never got the chance to come over but on the other hand it is, I suppose better that he did not, for although it has all been a wonderful experience and worth a lifetime there have been a great many things that were neither pleasant, edifying, or elevating, and worse than that one’s sense of proportion seems permanently put out of commission; whether that will ever come back I don’t know but just now I do know that those who have been thru it all for a year or more are certainly a different lot than when they landed.
The lifting of censorship is a great relief and I am going to take advantage of it and tell you all I can but just how and where to begin leaves me in a quandary that I can’t quite cope with. I suppose I should invoke the Muse and keep up a classic trend for the adventures have all the aspects of both the travels of Ulysses and our friend Dante’s descent into the Inferno, not to mention something that if properly put out would do justice to Stephen Leacock at his best.
As you know I was commissioned here in the fall of 1917 and finally got orders to report for duty about the 15th of Oct. The place where I ended up was a little town called Valdahou (sp?) very close to the Swiss border and not far from the city of Besancon.Things were very pleasant there and the barracks were quite splendid, in fact as I look back now the men were better off than they have ever been since.The camp was on a hill and from it you could see Mont Blanc and a great deal of the Swiss Alps.
However that didn’t last overlong, for about a week later we left for the front as the first American contingent to go into line.As you can well imagine I was in a queer way, knowing about as much artillery as a pussy cat but probably more about actual conditions in line than anyone else in the regt. I was then in Batt. F of the 5th (brigade) and we had a very good crowd of officers and a fine lot of men. Taking everything as a whole we had everything except experience.
We took up positions in a sector just in front of Luneville, a very quiet one happily where they only shoot once a week to see if the guns are in order. We did a bit better than that, simply for the practice of the thing, for there was no need for the amount we fired. I spent then most of my time at the echelons or horse lines and had, taking it all in all, a fine time, tho I did work like blazes trying to catch up to the others in a knowledge of artillery.The horse lines were in a great little place, Rosieres aux Salines. We stayed in that sector about two weeks, only had three casualties which happened just as we were leaving and I think, I know for my own part, learned a lot.
This is about all now for I have got to buzz about a bit but I will write some more tomorrow and try to make it all into one continuous story, however bad in form and all it may be.
With love,
Paul
Today is Thanksgiving and heavens what a difference from the preceding ones that I have had.This one is probably as peculiar and original as any could possibly be for now instead of having a wonderful dinner at Nannoo’s as I have had or a great one at Concord, N.H. or like last year taking pot luck and wondering what the war would bring, I am now a member of the victorious invading army headed for the interior of Germany. Quite a change you will have to admit. Today we are resting, that is not moving forward any more, for a couple of days at least, in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg at a little place called Munsbach (sp?) not far happily from the city of Luxemburg. Just where we are headed for is not absolutely certain but every rumor seems to point to Coblenz as the ultimate destination of the A.E.F. (You see the censorship has been modified and we can say practically anything that goes on.) We came into Luxemburg about five days ago and I am rather keen about the country tho I do not find the people as agreeable as the French, principally I suppose for the reason that they speak sort of a bastard language, made up of every known living tongue mixed together and then distorted and naturally quite impossible to speak. Usually, however, you can find some one speaking French or English.
The country itself is beautiful but just now tremendously hard up. The H.C.L. (high cost of living?) would absolutely astound you. Bacon is 50 Frs. a pound. Soap 15 Frs a small cake, the cheapest women’s shoes 200 Frs. with men’s about 500. A suit of clothes costs the poor Luxemburger about 650 and he can’t even get an egg for breakfast unless he puts out 1½ Frs. Thank heaven tho, we are well provided for and I have everything I need for some time. Imagine trying to set up some sort of an establishment or worse than that having a large family.
I went thru the city of Luxemburg yesterday and it is a very beautiful place. Built in two sections, so to speak, with a great deep ravine dividing the two and wonderful piled up Maxfield Parrish castles hanging up on the sides of the ravine. If I get a chance to go there again I will get some pictures as it is really worthwhile remembering.
I am sorry in some ways that Carroll (brother) never got the chance to come over but on the other hand it is, I suppose better that he did not, for although it has all been a wonderful experience and worth a lifetime there have been a great many things that were neither pleasant, edifying, or elevating, and worse than that one’s sense of proportion seems permanently put out of commission; whether that will ever come back I don’t know but just now I do know that those who have been thru it all for a year or more are certainly a different lot than when they landed.
The lifting of censorship is a great relief and I am going to take advantage of it and tell you all I can but just how and where to begin leaves me in a quandary that I can’t quite cope with. I suppose I should invoke the Muse and keep up a classic trend for the adventures have all the aspects of both the travels of Ulysses and our friend Dante’s descent into the Inferno, not to mention something that if properly put out would do justice to Stephen Leacock at his best.
As you know I was commissioned here in the fall of 1917 and finally got orders to report for duty about the 15th of Oct. The place where I ended up was a little town called Valdahou (sp?) very close to the Swiss border and not far from the city of Besancon.Things were very pleasant there and the barracks were quite splendid, in fact as I look back now the men were better off than they have ever been since.The camp was on a hill and from it you could see Mont Blanc and a great deal of the Swiss Alps.
However that didn’t last overlong, for about a week later we left for the front as the first American contingent to go into line.As you can well imagine I was in a queer way, knowing about as much artillery as a pussy cat but probably more about actual conditions in line than anyone else in the regt. I was then in Batt. F of the 5th (brigade) and we had a very good crowd of officers and a fine lot of men. Taking everything as a whole we had everything except experience.
We took up positions in a sector just in front of Luneville, a very quiet one happily where they only shoot once a week to see if the guns are in order. We did a bit better than that, simply for the practice of the thing, for there was no need for the amount we fired. I spent then most of my time at the echelons or horse lines and had, taking it all in all, a fine time, tho I did work like blazes trying to catch up to the others in a knowledge of artillery.The horse lines were in a great little place, Rosieres aux Salines. We stayed in that sector about two weeks, only had three casualties which happened just as we were leaving and I think, I know for my own part, learned a lot.
This is about all now for I have got to buzz about a bit but I will write some more tomorrow and try to make it all into one continuous story, however bad in form and all it may be.
With love,
Paul
Letter written November 28, 1918
Dear Mother -:
Today is Thanksgiving and heavens what a difference from the preceding ones that I have had.This one is probably as peculiar and original as any could possibly be for now instead of having a wonderful dinner at Nannoo’s as I have had or a great one at Concord, N.H. or like last year taking pot luck and wondering what the war would bring, I am now a member of the victorious invading army headed for the interior of Germany. Quite a change you will have to admit. Today we are resting, that is not moving forward any more, for a couple of days at least, in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg at a little place called Munsbach (sp?) not far happily from the city of Luxemburg. Just where we are headed for is not absolutely certain but every rumor seems to point to Coblenz as the ultimate destination of the A.E.F. (You see the censorship has been modified and we can say practically anything that goes on.) We came into Luxemburg about five days ago and I am rather keen about the country tho I do not find the people as agreeable as the French, principally I suppose for the reason that they speak sort of a bastard language, made up of every known living tongue mixed together and then distorted and naturally quite impossible to speak. Usually, however, you can find some one speaking French or English.
The country itself is beautiful but just now tremendously hard up. The H.C.L. (high cost of living?) would absolutely astound you. Bacon is 50 Frs. a pound. Soap 15 Frs a small cake, the cheapest women’s shoes 200 Frs. with men’s about 500. A suit of clothes costs the poor Luxemburger about 650 and he can’t even get an egg for breakfast unless he puts out 1½ Frs. Thank heaven tho, we are well provided for and I have everything I need for some time. Imagine trying to set up some sort of an establishment or worse than that having a large family.
I went thru the city of Luxemburg yesterday and it is a very beautiful place. Built in two sections, so to speak, with a great deep ravine dividing the two and wonderful piled up Maxfield Parrish castles hanging up on the sides of the ravine. If I get a chance to go there again I will get some pictures as it is really worthwhile remembering.
I am sorry in some ways that Carroll (brother) never got the chance to come over but on the other hand it is, I suppose better that he did not, for although it has all been a wonderful experience and worth a lifetime there have been a great many things that were neither pleasant, edifying, or elevating, and worse than that one’s sense of proportion seems permanently put out of commission; whether that will ever come back I don’t know but just now I do know that those who have been thru it all for a year or more are certainly a different lot than when they landed.
The lifting of censorship is a great relief and I am going to take advantage of it and tell you all I can but just how and where to begin leaves me in a quandary that I can’t quite cope with. I suppose I should invoke the Muse and keep up a classic trend for the adventures have all the aspects of both the travels of Ulysses and our friend Dante’s descent into the Inferno, not to mention something that if properly put out would do justice to Stephen Leacock at his best.
As you know I was commissioned here in the fall of 1917 and finally got orders to report for duty about the 15th of Oct. The place where I ended up was a little town called Valdahou (sp?) very close to the Swiss border and not far from the city of Besancon.Things were very pleasant there and the barracks were quite splendid, in fact as I look back now the men were better off than they have ever been since.The camp was on a hill and from it you could see Mont Blanc and a great deal of the Swiss Alps.
However that didn’t last overlong, for about a week later we left for the front as the first American contingent to go into line.As you can well imagine I was in a queer way, knowing about as much artillery as a pussy cat but probably more about actual conditions in line than anyone else in the regt. I was then in Batt. F of the 5th (brigade) and we had a very good crowd of officers and a fine lot of men. Taking everything as a whole we had everything except experience.
We took up positions in a sector just in front of Luneville, a very quiet one happily where they only shoot once a week to see if the guns are in order. We did a bit better than that, simply for the practice of the thing, for there was no need for the amount we fired. I spent then most of my time at the echelons or horse lines and had, taking it all in all, a fine time, tho I did work like blazes trying to catch up to the others in a knowledge of artillery.The horse lines were in a great little place, Rosieres aux Salines. We stayed in that sector about two weeks, only had three casualties which happened just as we were leaving and I think, I know for my own part, learned a lot.
This is about all now for I have got to buzz about a bit but I will write some more tomorrow and try to make it all into one continuous story, however bad in form and all it may be.
With love,
Paul
Today is Thanksgiving and heavens what a difference from the preceding ones that I have had.This one is probably as peculiar and original as any could possibly be for now instead of having a wonderful dinner at Nannoo’s as I have had or a great one at Concord, N.H. or like last year taking pot luck and wondering what the war would bring, I am now a member of the victorious invading army headed for the interior of Germany. Quite a change you will have to admit. Today we are resting, that is not moving forward any more, for a couple of days at least, in the middle of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg at a little place called Munsbach (sp?) not far happily from the city of Luxemburg. Just where we are headed for is not absolutely certain but every rumor seems to point to Coblenz as the ultimate destination of the A.E.F. (You see the censorship has been modified and we can say practically anything that goes on.) We came into Luxemburg about five days ago and I am rather keen about the country tho I do not find the people as agreeable as the French, principally I suppose for the reason that they speak sort of a bastard language, made up of every known living tongue mixed together and then distorted and naturally quite impossible to speak. Usually, however, you can find some one speaking French or English.
The country itself is beautiful but just now tremendously hard up. The H.C.L. (high cost of living?) would absolutely astound you. Bacon is 50 Frs. a pound. Soap 15 Frs a small cake, the cheapest women’s shoes 200 Frs. with men’s about 500. A suit of clothes costs the poor Luxemburger about 650 and he can’t even get an egg for breakfast unless he puts out 1½ Frs. Thank heaven tho, we are well provided for and I have everything I need for some time. Imagine trying to set up some sort of an establishment or worse than that having a large family.
I went thru the city of Luxemburg yesterday and it is a very beautiful place. Built in two sections, so to speak, with a great deep ravine dividing the two and wonderful piled up Maxfield Parrish castles hanging up on the sides of the ravine. If I get a chance to go there again I will get some pictures as it is really worthwhile remembering.
I am sorry in some ways that Carroll (brother) never got the chance to come over but on the other hand it is, I suppose better that he did not, for although it has all been a wonderful experience and worth a lifetime there have been a great many things that were neither pleasant, edifying, or elevating, and worse than that one’s sense of proportion seems permanently put out of commission; whether that will ever come back I don’t know but just now I do know that those who have been thru it all for a year or more are certainly a different lot than when they landed.
The lifting of censorship is a great relief and I am going to take advantage of it and tell you all I can but just how and where to begin leaves me in a quandary that I can’t quite cope with. I suppose I should invoke the Muse and keep up a classic trend for the adventures have all the aspects of both the travels of Ulysses and our friend Dante’s descent into the Inferno, not to mention something that if properly put out would do justice to Stephen Leacock at his best.
As you know I was commissioned here in the fall of 1917 and finally got orders to report for duty about the 15th of Oct. The place where I ended up was a little town called Valdahou (sp?) very close to the Swiss border and not far from the city of Besancon.Things were very pleasant there and the barracks were quite splendid, in fact as I look back now the men were better off than they have ever been since.The camp was on a hill and from it you could see Mont Blanc and a great deal of the Swiss Alps.
However that didn’t last overlong, for about a week later we left for the front as the first American contingent to go into line.As you can well imagine I was in a queer way, knowing about as much artillery as a pussy cat but probably more about actual conditions in line than anyone else in the regt. I was then in Batt. F of the 5th (brigade) and we had a very good crowd of officers and a fine lot of men. Taking everything as a whole we had everything except experience.
We took up positions in a sector just in front of Luneville, a very quiet one happily where they only shoot once a week to see if the guns are in order. We did a bit better than that, simply for the practice of the thing, for there was no need for the amount we fired. I spent then most of my time at the echelons or horse lines and had, taking it all in all, a fine time, tho I did work like blazes trying to catch up to the others in a knowledge of artillery.The horse lines were in a great little place, Rosieres aux Salines. We stayed in that sector about two weeks, only had three casualties which happened just as we were leaving and I think, I know for my own part, learned a lot.
This is about all now for I have got to buzz about a bit but I will write some more tomorrow and try to make it all into one continuous story, however bad in form and all it may be.
With love,
Paul
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Letter written November 19, 1918
Dear Mother-:
My career as a member of the G.H.Q. was to say the least not over long due to the fact that upon the arrival of peace my expert advice was no longer needed and now I am back again once more as a member of the 1st A.T. (ammunition train) and a real fighting man with no one to fight. There was one thing splendid tho, while I was on the staff. I managed to get in my car which was a wonderful great Cadillac and run up to Paris. That was a couple of days ago and from what I knew of Paris it was a changed city. During the day one great blaze of the tricolor and at night a blaze of light. It was also very gay but so crowded that to get hotel accommodations was practically impossible. We had a regular Ivy (Paul’s club at Princeton) dinner. There were six of us all of whom I knew very well at college although only two of them were in my class. Bill McAdoo was there and on the crest altogether; it was a wonderful celebration. The next day I consecrated to shopping and bought a whole brand new peace time outfit so that now I am one of the snappiest looking young lieutenants you can imagine with the toil and grime of war completely wiped away. The end coming when it did certainly blighted my promising young military career for now promotions have been called off and I understand that my captaincy for which I was recommended about three weeks ago is also called off. However, it is cheap at the price and the end could not have come any too soon.
Were I in your place I would not expect me home too soon for heaven only knows when it will be. Being in the regular army as I am I have a hunch that we will probably stay in France after all the others (units formed for the wartime army) are gone, to fill up the trenches and roll up the barbed wire.The opinion seems to be that we as professional soldiers have no ties or interests while the others, some of whom have been here as long as six months must get back, I suppose to make the world safe for democrats and prohibition. I have taken during the past year two pet aversions, one the Y.M.C.A. and the other the prohibitionists which speaks for itself. As to the latter I am, however, trusting to the care and forethought of my friends so that it will not be necessary to commit any crimes however venial they may be. The States are certainly going to the dogs but after things have settled down a bit we can all come back to France together and do as we want to.
I saw Mildred (Woodruff) for about five minutes while I was in Paris. She was very well and seemed to be enjoying herself immensely as is every one there just now.
There isn’t a great deal more to say just now so I will call things off for the present. Good bye with love
Paul
My career as a member of the G.H.Q. was to say the least not over long due to the fact that upon the arrival of peace my expert advice was no longer needed and now I am back again once more as a member of the 1st A.T. (ammunition train) and a real fighting man with no one to fight. There was one thing splendid tho, while I was on the staff. I managed to get in my car which was a wonderful great Cadillac and run up to Paris. That was a couple of days ago and from what I knew of Paris it was a changed city. During the day one great blaze of the tricolor and at night a blaze of light. It was also very gay but so crowded that to get hotel accommodations was practically impossible. We had a regular Ivy (Paul’s club at Princeton) dinner. There were six of us all of whom I knew very well at college although only two of them were in my class. Bill McAdoo was there and on the crest altogether; it was a wonderful celebration. The next day I consecrated to shopping and bought a whole brand new peace time outfit so that now I am one of the snappiest looking young lieutenants you can imagine with the toil and grime of war completely wiped away. The end coming when it did certainly blighted my promising young military career for now promotions have been called off and I understand that my captaincy for which I was recommended about three weeks ago is also called off. However, it is cheap at the price and the end could not have come any too soon.
Were I in your place I would not expect me home too soon for heaven only knows when it will be. Being in the regular army as I am I have a hunch that we will probably stay in France after all the others (units formed for the wartime army) are gone, to fill up the trenches and roll up the barbed wire.The opinion seems to be that we as professional soldiers have no ties or interests while the others, some of whom have been here as long as six months must get back, I suppose to make the world safe for democrats and prohibition. I have taken during the past year two pet aversions, one the Y.M.C.A. and the other the prohibitionists which speaks for itself. As to the latter I am, however, trusting to the care and forethought of my friends so that it will not be necessary to commit any crimes however venial they may be. The States are certainly going to the dogs but after things have settled down a bit we can all come back to France together and do as we want to.
I saw Mildred (Woodruff) for about five minutes while I was in Paris. She was very well and seemed to be enjoying herself immensely as is every one there just now.
There isn’t a great deal more to say just now so I will call things off for the present. Good bye with love
Paul
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Letter written November 12, 1918
Dear Mother -:
The war is ended and just in time to let me stop as a soldier and not as what I became a couple of days ago, for then I was transferred from the line to the office of a G.H.Q. (general headquarters) colonel who is an authority on something and who had an idea I might be of some value to him. I had arrived from the front from where I last wrote you only a few days earlier and had not done much of anything when the end came. The way it came was quite remarkable and I suppose quite different from what anyone at home would imagine it would be like. We all knew that the German envoys had arrived and were trying to negotiate but peace has been so far from everyone’s mind for so long that it seemed absolutely incomprehensible that it would end. As soon as I got up yesterday morning tho, the rumor was all about that the armistice had been signed but there was nothing official; later it became more insistent until about 10: 30 it was finally announced and posted all over the city. The bells of the cathedral rang for a while, the children shouted a bit but it was very quiet and this is in a town that has been connected, and that intimately, with the war since it broke out. Among the older people there were more tears and hysterics than anything else, while the soldiers and people who had been actively in things couldn’t seem to realize it at all; they simply wandered aimlessly about, repeating “la guerre est fini, c’est la victoire.” Later in the day there was a band concert in the Place and things let down a little. All the national anthems of the Allies were played and the crowds which were large cheered a little but it was all very solemn. No one can seem to realize that the war is over and we have won. They know it but as yet they can’t feel it. I have heard that in some places there were real joyous affairs but for the most part it was as I told you. Too big an occasion for a frivolous celebration.
I suppose now that we will occupy some German territory for some time and then start coming home. When that will be heaven only knows for just now there is no making plans of any variety for certainly they will be all wrong. Personally, if I have to stay here any length of time what I am doing now would please me as much as anything for about all I have to do is to ride around the country in a marvelous automobile and look things over and then come back and pass out what some people are foolish enough to believe is expert advice. However I want really more than anything else to come home.
This is all now .
With love
Paul
The war is ended and just in time to let me stop as a soldier and not as what I became a couple of days ago, for then I was transferred from the line to the office of a G.H.Q. (general headquarters) colonel who is an authority on something and who had an idea I might be of some value to him. I had arrived from the front from where I last wrote you only a few days earlier and had not done much of anything when the end came. The way it came was quite remarkable and I suppose quite different from what anyone at home would imagine it would be like. We all knew that the German envoys had arrived and were trying to negotiate but peace has been so far from everyone’s mind for so long that it seemed absolutely incomprehensible that it would end. As soon as I got up yesterday morning tho, the rumor was all about that the armistice had been signed but there was nothing official; later it became more insistent until about 10: 30 it was finally announced and posted all over the city. The bells of the cathedral rang for a while, the children shouted a bit but it was very quiet and this is in a town that has been connected, and that intimately, with the war since it broke out. Among the older people there were more tears and hysterics than anything else, while the soldiers and people who had been actively in things couldn’t seem to realize it at all; they simply wandered aimlessly about, repeating “la guerre est fini, c’est la victoire.” Later in the day there was a band concert in the Place and things let down a little. All the national anthems of the Allies were played and the crowds which were large cheered a little but it was all very solemn. No one can seem to realize that the war is over and we have won. They know it but as yet they can’t feel it. I have heard that in some places there were real joyous affairs but for the most part it was as I told you. Too big an occasion for a frivolous celebration.
I suppose now that we will occupy some German territory for some time and then start coming home. When that will be heaven only knows for just now there is no making plans of any variety for certainly they will be all wrong. Personally, if I have to stay here any length of time what I am doing now would please me as much as anything for about all I have to do is to ride around the country in a marvelous automobile and look things over and then come back and pass out what some people are foolish enough to believe is expert advice. However I want really more than anything else to come home.
This is all now .
With love
Paul
Friday, November 7, 2008
Letter written October 26, 1918
Dear Nannoo-:
I received your letter a few days ago and enjoyed it very much in spite of your comments at the end that was a “stupid scribble”; as a matter of fact I think that your letters contain more actual information than any I receive. I also received at about the same time a notification from Morgan Harjes (Paris office of the Morgan Bank –Ed.) that they were authorized to issue me a new letter of credit for 5,000 francs. You made no mention of it but I am sure that it must have been you who sent it to me and I want to thank you more than I can possibly tell you. I do not as a fact need it at all for I am never away from the front and consequently have little or no opportunity of spending anything. If this war keeps up long enough I shall certainly end up a monied man for even during the past year when I lost my complete outfit twice I managed to save nearly 1,500 Frs plus that which I did not draw of the letter of credit you gave me a year ago which is something around 3,500 Frs.
I wrote Mother a few days ago that I had at last managed to be promoted and now am a long-ranking 1st lieutenant with fair prospects of becoming a captain before many moons. However, the future is always uncertain but for the present I am very well satisfied.
Your remark that you did not know what organizations I belong to certainly was a surprise for I thought I had told you dozens of times. Just now I am adjutant for the 1st ammunition train which is part of the 1st field artillery brigade and that in turn is the artillery of the 1st division. You see I am first, at last, in everything, something if I remember correctly you always wanted me to be, tho perhaps this wasn’t quite what you had in mind. It is quite a comfort now that we are getting an army over here to realize that we were the first Americans here and the first to take on the Bosche for any sort of a fight and are now looked upon by the others as more or less veterans, tho getting to be veterans certainly was not all that it might have been.
As for me I am still just the same and not finding my duties as adjutant overly onerous. My office is separated from the (ammunition) train by several miles as I have to live fairly near the guns but equipped with half a dozen orderlies and messengers and a telephone and a splendid Hdqs. (headquarters) mess. I manage to make fairly good times of it tho the hours are uncertain to say the least. More than that I have an automobile and chauffeur to run around with when necessary so things are not altogether disagreeable. Were it not for the Dutch and the certain amount of uncertainty that they add to things, life would be one long pleasant dream.
Things in the war line tho are certainly looking better and more remarkable still is the effect on those engaged. When the first news began to come that we were beginning to go ahead (that was a long time ago) everyone seemed to take on new life. The most impossible things were accomplished in the most terrible conditions.Even the horses seemed to know that it was victory, and where they would have ordinarily dropped they seemed to pick up new life and carry on. Since then we have been going ahead steadily and almost continuously. It has been wonderful. We have lived in Bosche shelters, used any amount of Bosche material and even eatern Bosche food. I would not have missed it for anything tho heaven knows I would like to come home with a soft billet as an instructor for a while. How Nelson Jr. (apparently a friend or relative from Auburn – Ed.) managed it is certainly a mystery to me for good as he may be as an instructor of troops I don’t quite understand how he in one visit to the lines could qualify as a seasoned warrior with the experience of war to draw on. However, as I have often said the ways of the army are stranger indeed than the ways of women and someday I may wake up and find myself military attaché to the Republic of Liberia. This is a very long letter and in it I have not managed to say a great deal tho I have covered a lot of paper, but they say that old age and strange modes of living make people garrulous and perhaps I am suffering from both for I feel that I have in the past two years lived at least 100 years.
This is all now, Nannoo, but I want to thank you again and again for letters of both varieties.
With love,
Paul
I received your letter a few days ago and enjoyed it very much in spite of your comments at the end that was a “stupid scribble”; as a matter of fact I think that your letters contain more actual information than any I receive. I also received at about the same time a notification from Morgan Harjes (Paris office of the Morgan Bank –Ed.) that they were authorized to issue me a new letter of credit for 5,000 francs. You made no mention of it but I am sure that it must have been you who sent it to me and I want to thank you more than I can possibly tell you. I do not as a fact need it at all for I am never away from the front and consequently have little or no opportunity of spending anything. If this war keeps up long enough I shall certainly end up a monied man for even during the past year when I lost my complete outfit twice I managed to save nearly 1,500 Frs plus that which I did not draw of the letter of credit you gave me a year ago which is something around 3,500 Frs.
I wrote Mother a few days ago that I had at last managed to be promoted and now am a long-ranking 1st lieutenant with fair prospects of becoming a captain before many moons. However, the future is always uncertain but for the present I am very well satisfied.
Your remark that you did not know what organizations I belong to certainly was a surprise for I thought I had told you dozens of times. Just now I am adjutant for the 1st ammunition train which is part of the 1st field artillery brigade and that in turn is the artillery of the 1st division. You see I am first, at last, in everything, something if I remember correctly you always wanted me to be, tho perhaps this wasn’t quite what you had in mind. It is quite a comfort now that we are getting an army over here to realize that we were the first Americans here and the first to take on the Bosche for any sort of a fight and are now looked upon by the others as more or less veterans, tho getting to be veterans certainly was not all that it might have been.
As for me I am still just the same and not finding my duties as adjutant overly onerous. My office is separated from the (ammunition) train by several miles as I have to live fairly near the guns but equipped with half a dozen orderlies and messengers and a telephone and a splendid Hdqs. (headquarters) mess. I manage to make fairly good times of it tho the hours are uncertain to say the least. More than that I have an automobile and chauffeur to run around with when necessary so things are not altogether disagreeable. Were it not for the Dutch and the certain amount of uncertainty that they add to things, life would be one long pleasant dream.
Things in the war line tho are certainly looking better and more remarkable still is the effect on those engaged. When the first news began to come that we were beginning to go ahead (that was a long time ago) everyone seemed to take on new life. The most impossible things were accomplished in the most terrible conditions.Even the horses seemed to know that it was victory, and where they would have ordinarily dropped they seemed to pick up new life and carry on. Since then we have been going ahead steadily and almost continuously. It has been wonderful. We have lived in Bosche shelters, used any amount of Bosche material and even eatern Bosche food. I would not have missed it for anything tho heaven knows I would like to come home with a soft billet as an instructor for a while. How Nelson Jr. (apparently a friend or relative from Auburn – Ed.) managed it is certainly a mystery to me for good as he may be as an instructor of troops I don’t quite understand how he in one visit to the lines could qualify as a seasoned warrior with the experience of war to draw on. However, as I have often said the ways of the army are stranger indeed than the ways of women and someday I may wake up and find myself military attaché to the Republic of Liberia. This is a very long letter and in it I have not managed to say a great deal tho I have covered a lot of paper, but they say that old age and strange modes of living make people garrulous and perhaps I am suffering from both for I feel that I have in the past two years lived at least 100 years.
This is all now, Nannoo, but I want to thank you again and again for letters of both varieties.
With love,
Paul
Letter written October 17, 1918
(Beneath date, a pencil notation by William Hills, Paul’s father: “This letter arrived the morning of Nov. 11, 1918, the day peace was announced. W.H.” )
Dear Mother -:
I am still on the front but with the new work I told you about it is not particularly unpleasant especially considering all that is going on. The Dutch are certainly beaten or at least beginning to be and the results are wonderful. Everyone is willing to and wants to give everything he has in him to keep it up and as you can imagine the work as in all advances is not easy. The weather has been vile and the roads and country a perfect sea of mud but somehow the thing is being managed tho the poor horses are suffering terribly.
I spend about six hours a day at a desk and about six more chasing around the country locating the ammunition that I have directed from my desk. However things are beginning to become a little more easy for me now and someday perhaps I will able to sleep 24 hours a day and know that everything is working OK as it should.
The promotions that were sent in at the same time that mine was are just beginning to materialize so perhaps it will not be a too long time before I begin to amount to something in the way of rank.
You wanted me to write you a letter describing just what I looked like. I don’t really believe that I can, especially considering the fact that I don’t believe that you ever saw anything that looks at all the way I do especially after a day’s or night’s work. About all there is to it is a trench coat with boots sticking out underneath, a gas mask on its chest and topped off by a tin hat covering one eye and half the face of what always has been underneath. Splash the whole variously with different colored mud and you have it or at least all that can be seen of it under ordinary circumstances.
Since I began to write this the long expected promotion did arrive and I am now a full blown 1st lieutenant with the assurance of the commanding officer that at the first possible opportunity I will go up for captain. It is really quite something for you to be proud of that, while others were getting theirs training or at home, etc., P. Hills nailed his on the front. I just happened to be figuring it out the other day that since there have been any American troops in France, there hasn’t been one single fight of any size that there have been any American troops in that I haven’t managed to be in on too.
(As to the foregoing paragraph, it was an abiding source of both pride and frustration to Paul Hills not only then but in future years that, while contemporaries in military service in World War I achieved higher rank in non-combat duty, his promotions and assignments were in the course of extended battlefront duty.)
In some ways, that is from the point of view of leaves, etc., it has been a decided disadvantage, but the experience has been worth anything even tho a little concentrated, and I doubt if anyone has had more advantages, if they may be called such, of seeing real downright war from the best side, which is none too pleasant, to the worst, which is that in all respects and any way you look at it.
This is all now so good bye
With love
Dear Mother -:
I am still on the front but with the new work I told you about it is not particularly unpleasant especially considering all that is going on. The Dutch are certainly beaten or at least beginning to be and the results are wonderful. Everyone is willing to and wants to give everything he has in him to keep it up and as you can imagine the work as in all advances is not easy. The weather has been vile and the roads and country a perfect sea of mud but somehow the thing is being managed tho the poor horses are suffering terribly.
I spend about six hours a day at a desk and about six more chasing around the country locating the ammunition that I have directed from my desk. However things are beginning to become a little more easy for me now and someday perhaps I will able to sleep 24 hours a day and know that everything is working OK as it should.
The promotions that were sent in at the same time that mine was are just beginning to materialize so perhaps it will not be a too long time before I begin to amount to something in the way of rank.
You wanted me to write you a letter describing just what I looked like. I don’t really believe that I can, especially considering the fact that I don’t believe that you ever saw anything that looks at all the way I do especially after a day’s or night’s work. About all there is to it is a trench coat with boots sticking out underneath, a gas mask on its chest and topped off by a tin hat covering one eye and half the face of what always has been underneath. Splash the whole variously with different colored mud and you have it or at least all that can be seen of it under ordinary circumstances.
Since I began to write this the long expected promotion did arrive and I am now a full blown 1st lieutenant with the assurance of the commanding officer that at the first possible opportunity I will go up for captain. It is really quite something for you to be proud of that, while others were getting theirs training or at home, etc., P. Hills nailed his on the front. I just happened to be figuring it out the other day that since there have been any American troops in France, there hasn’t been one single fight of any size that there have been any American troops in that I haven’t managed to be in on too.
(As to the foregoing paragraph, it was an abiding source of both pride and frustration to Paul Hills not only then but in future years that, while contemporaries in military service in World War I achieved higher rank in non-combat duty, his promotions and assignments were in the course of extended battlefront duty.)
In some ways, that is from the point of view of leaves, etc., it has been a decided disadvantage, but the experience has been worth anything even tho a little concentrated, and I doubt if anyone has had more advantages, if they may be called such, of seeing real downright war from the best side, which is none too pleasant, to the worst, which is that in all respects and any way you look at it.
This is all now so good bye
With love
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Letter mailed October 10, 1918
Dear Mother-:
I am terribly sorry about not having written more lately but you have no idea how it has been. You have probably seen by the papers all that has been going on (the heavy fighting around Soissons). Well, as usual I haven’t managed to miss a single bit of it. Then I was sent to school and immediately sent back again with the result that I tore from pillar to post and upon returning found myself in the thick of it. I went (this is true but unsanitary) for one whole week without taking off my clothes and four days without even taking off my boots. The great part of it all was, tho, that after I was nearly dead and wished I was and wondered if I would last an hour more I found myself suddenly in a fine new job. To be exact I am now the regimental adjutant and having a great time with prospects of a fairly quick promotion and a very pleasant existence. The commanding officer is a corker and it was thru him that I landed the job, as he was about the first officer I knew in the army over here and I have seen more or less of him ever since. Lately he was put in command of our outfit and here I am. Well, so it goes and tomorrow morning I may wake up and find myself in jail.
Even with it all, tho, I am still pining for quiet and rest. There is no sign yet of any leave and I doubt if there ever will be any. On my hurried trip to school and back which consumed four days I spent one day in Paris and had the good fortune to see Mildred and take dinner with her. We absolutely gorged and then went to the Olympia (a legendary music hall in Paris -.Ed) for a while. The next day on the way to Nevers, I accumulated a new girl. Very homely, very funny and extremely interesting since before the break-up in that realm (the Russian revolution of 1917 -.Ed) she danced in the Imperial Russian ballet. She has taken me on a (illegible ) but due to the fact that I only saw her for four hours and probably never will see her again I fear greatly that nothing will ever come of the affair. Those were the only events worth of interest during the journey and I returned as I said before to the very thick of things where I still am. Somehow I just can’t seem to keep out of war no matter what happens. I have got a great deal more to tell you but just now have no time.
With love
Paul
I am terribly sorry about not having written more lately but you have no idea how it has been. You have probably seen by the papers all that has been going on (the heavy fighting around Soissons). Well, as usual I haven’t managed to miss a single bit of it. Then I was sent to school and immediately sent back again with the result that I tore from pillar to post and upon returning found myself in the thick of it. I went (this is true but unsanitary) for one whole week without taking off my clothes and four days without even taking off my boots. The great part of it all was, tho, that after I was nearly dead and wished I was and wondered if I would last an hour more I found myself suddenly in a fine new job. To be exact I am now the regimental adjutant and having a great time with prospects of a fairly quick promotion and a very pleasant existence. The commanding officer is a corker and it was thru him that I landed the job, as he was about the first officer I knew in the army over here and I have seen more or less of him ever since. Lately he was put in command of our outfit and here I am. Well, so it goes and tomorrow morning I may wake up and find myself in jail.
Even with it all, tho, I am still pining for quiet and rest. There is no sign yet of any leave and I doubt if there ever will be any. On my hurried trip to school and back which consumed four days I spent one day in Paris and had the good fortune to see Mildred and take dinner with her. We absolutely gorged and then went to the Olympia (a legendary music hall in Paris -.Ed) for a while. The next day on the way to Nevers, I accumulated a new girl. Very homely, very funny and extremely interesting since before the break-up in that realm (the Russian revolution of 1917 -.Ed) she danced in the Imperial Russian ballet. She has taken me on a (illegible ) but due to the fact that I only saw her for four hours and probably never will see her again I fear greatly that nothing will ever come of the affair. Those were the only events worth of interest during the journey and I returned as I said before to the very thick of things where I still am. Somehow I just can’t seem to keep out of war no matter what happens. I have got a great deal more to tell you but just now have no time.
With love
Paul
Letter written September 30, 1918
Dear Mother-:
The mail still continues to be lacking and with the exception of the two cablegrams which I wrote you about I am without any news of you or in fact with the exception of a few papers of any news whatsoever of the world outside. We moved away from the front again a few days ago and are now in a pleasant but exceedingly rural rear area without a great deal to do but wait. I still have my company and really enjoy the work a great deal. There is more to do and more responsibility but it is good fun to have your own separate command and to see what you can do with it. Also my recommendation for promotion has gone to G.H.Q. so there is a reasonable chance perhaps after a few months it may come thru tho the affairs of the army are, as I have often said in a terrible semblance to the mills of the gods. People grow old and gray just waiting for some paper of great importance to go thru channels while a small order about the use of soap flies thru with amazing speed. However, due to the fact that the promotion of a mere sous lieutenant isn’t an affair that the fate of the nation depends upon there is some chance of its happening before I am due to have longevity pay.
You should see the place I am living just now. It is quite a splendid billet but its location is unique as it is in the back room of a café and to get to it I have to pass thru all the rooms of the establishment including the bedrooms of M. and Mme. And also that of the not unhandsome two barmaids. My nocturnal habits make, as you can well imagine, some situations that are a scream. The first time that my orderly came to call me he arrived, having run the gauntlet, a trembling wreck.
I am enclosing a little medal I picked up on a walk the other evening so I can vouch for its authenticity. This all now.
With love
Paul
The mail still continues to be lacking and with the exception of the two cablegrams which I wrote you about I am without any news of you or in fact with the exception of a few papers of any news whatsoever of the world outside. We moved away from the front again a few days ago and are now in a pleasant but exceedingly rural rear area without a great deal to do but wait. I still have my company and really enjoy the work a great deal. There is more to do and more responsibility but it is good fun to have your own separate command and to see what you can do with it. Also my recommendation for promotion has gone to G.H.Q. so there is a reasonable chance perhaps after a few months it may come thru tho the affairs of the army are, as I have often said in a terrible semblance to the mills of the gods. People grow old and gray just waiting for some paper of great importance to go thru channels while a small order about the use of soap flies thru with amazing speed. However, due to the fact that the promotion of a mere sous lieutenant isn’t an affair that the fate of the nation depends upon there is some chance of its happening before I am due to have longevity pay.
You should see the place I am living just now. It is quite a splendid billet but its location is unique as it is in the back room of a café and to get to it I have to pass thru all the rooms of the establishment including the bedrooms of M. and Mme. And also that of the not unhandsome two barmaids. My nocturnal habits make, as you can well imagine, some situations that are a scream. The first time that my orderly came to call me he arrived, having run the gauntlet, a trembling wreck.
I am enclosing a little medal I picked up on a walk the other evening so I can vouch for its authenticity. This all now.
With love
Paul
Letter written August 21, 1918
Dear Mother -:
My hoped for raise arrived at last and tho the actual rank hasn’t pulled in yet, I am in command of a company and along with other privileges drawing a captain’s pay. When my advancement in actual rank will come heaven only knows since such things having to go to the States and back again take time but I am reasonably sure that I will get a 1st lieutenancy within a couple of months and a captaincy in the not terribly far off future, that is all barring accidents as any day I may make the necessary mistake and shoot the whole business to pot, but c’est la guerre and I am hoping and doing the best I can. Along with other things I inherited my own touring car and chauffeur which is a great relief. We are doing exactly the same work as ordinarily , that is leading rather a sundodging existence delivering ammunition to three batteries and so forth but happily on a less strenuous scale here than elsewhere since, as I told you this is a quiet part of the line and not a great deal of shooting is done.
I also have prospects of a leave, just when I don’t exactly know but I have prospects and they are fairly bright. If they come true I shall certainly go to Cannes and see Cousin Josephine. It will be quite the wrong time of year for Cannes but that is about as far away from the war as any place I can think of, and more than that I long for the flesh pots of Egypt, not, strange to relate, in the sense of a riotous time but more in that of quiet, lazy comfort. I am so sick of eating at messes and cafes that I could weep.
The other day I met Pell Foster, who was in my class at Princeton and in the club and also another boy called Charlie Latrobe whom I knew very well.We met in town and fortunately as I could get hold of the commanding officer we were able to have dinner together and talk for hours.
You see I am just full of good news and afraid to turn around for fear some of it will turn out to be only a pleasant dream. I imagine Mildred (Cousin Mildred Woodruff of Auburn) is in Normandy or Brittany just now. When I saw her she intended going there for her vacation. She has done, I gather, a great deal of work exceptionally well, as she is now the head of the service. Just what the name of that particular service is I never have been able to find out. This is about all now so good by
With love Paul
My hoped for raise arrived at last and tho the actual rank hasn’t pulled in yet, I am in command of a company and along with other privileges drawing a captain’s pay. When my advancement in actual rank will come heaven only knows since such things having to go to the States and back again take time but I am reasonably sure that I will get a 1st lieutenancy within a couple of months and a captaincy in the not terribly far off future, that is all barring accidents as any day I may make the necessary mistake and shoot the whole business to pot, but c’est la guerre and I am hoping and doing the best I can. Along with other things I inherited my own touring car and chauffeur which is a great relief. We are doing exactly the same work as ordinarily , that is leading rather a sundodging existence delivering ammunition to three batteries and so forth but happily on a less strenuous scale here than elsewhere since, as I told you this is a quiet part of the line and not a great deal of shooting is done.
I also have prospects of a leave, just when I don’t exactly know but I have prospects and they are fairly bright. If they come true I shall certainly go to Cannes and see Cousin Josephine. It will be quite the wrong time of year for Cannes but that is about as far away from the war as any place I can think of, and more than that I long for the flesh pots of Egypt, not, strange to relate, in the sense of a riotous time but more in that of quiet, lazy comfort. I am so sick of eating at messes and cafes that I could weep.
The other day I met Pell Foster, who was in my class at Princeton and in the club and also another boy called Charlie Latrobe whom I knew very well.We met in town and fortunately as I could get hold of the commanding officer we were able to have dinner together and talk for hours.
You see I am just full of good news and afraid to turn around for fear some of it will turn out to be only a pleasant dream. I imagine Mildred (Cousin Mildred Woodruff of Auburn) is in Normandy or Brittany just now. When I saw her she intended going there for her vacation. She has done, I gather, a great deal of work exceptionally well, as she is now the head of the service. Just what the name of that particular service is I never have been able to find out. This is about all now so good by
With love Paul
Letter written August 11, 1918
Dear Mother-:
Yesterday and today have been quite banner days. I had just begun to think that as far as I was concerned the mail service between Auburn N.Y. and the A.E.F. had been permanently discontinued when I received a letter from Nannoo and two telegrams from you. It was great of you to remember me on that day (August 6, his 24th birthday) for tho it was not quite as disheartening a birthday as I had a year ago, I was away from everyone and to say the least did not have a highly cheerful day
I told you in the last letter that we were holding a quiet sector. It continues as such and as a result we have very little to do. Day before yesterday I spent the afternoon in a fair-sized town near by. It was really quite a sight. The city itself is a beautiful old place. The day was not hot but very bright. At about five there was a band concert on the Place. All the allied nations seemed to be represented and the scene as you can well imagine was splendid. All the café terraces which gave out on the square were crowded with brilliant uniforms of all description and apparently all the lovely ladies of the town were present. I forgot to say that it was Sunday and consequently the crowd was extraordinarily large. Under the tunnel of trees which surrounded the open part of the square promenaded all the favored nations of the world. From the black, blue and silver of the chasseur and the blue and scarlet of the infantry officer to the long gown and turban of some Arabs who had drifted in from no where in particular. So it goes on and were it not for little times like that, real flashes of the extraordinary, the war would be quite unbearable. But fortunately there seems to be a sense of balance or proportion behind the whole thing and just about when you are ready to give up, something pleasant happens, you have a day or a few hours off or an extra good time for a few minutes and you are ready to carry on again for a while.
I hope Carroll (younger brother) gets into something good before he finishes and if possible goes to college as long as he possibly can before he comes over. Tell him again for me that there is no hurry in spite of the fact that the gov’t has seen fit to discard age limits for both officers and officers training camps. Also I am more than ever convinced that he would not like and isn’t particularly suited for the infantry.
Give my love to Papa and Day. Also how are the dogs – you have not told me anything of them for some time. This is all I have time for just now so good bye
With love, Paul
Yesterday and today have been quite banner days. I had just begun to think that as far as I was concerned the mail service between Auburn N.Y. and the A.E.F. had been permanently discontinued when I received a letter from Nannoo and two telegrams from you. It was great of you to remember me on that day (August 6, his 24th birthday) for tho it was not quite as disheartening a birthday as I had a year ago, I was away from everyone and to say the least did not have a highly cheerful day
I told you in the last letter that we were holding a quiet sector. It continues as such and as a result we have very little to do. Day before yesterday I spent the afternoon in a fair-sized town near by. It was really quite a sight. The city itself is a beautiful old place. The day was not hot but very bright. At about five there was a band concert on the Place. All the allied nations seemed to be represented and the scene as you can well imagine was splendid. All the café terraces which gave out on the square were crowded with brilliant uniforms of all description and apparently all the lovely ladies of the town were present. I forgot to say that it was Sunday and consequently the crowd was extraordinarily large. Under the tunnel of trees which surrounded the open part of the square promenaded all the favored nations of the world. From the black, blue and silver of the chasseur and the blue and scarlet of the infantry officer to the long gown and turban of some Arabs who had drifted in from no where in particular. So it goes on and were it not for little times like that, real flashes of the extraordinary, the war would be quite unbearable. But fortunately there seems to be a sense of balance or proportion behind the whole thing and just about when you are ready to give up, something pleasant happens, you have a day or a few hours off or an extra good time for a few minutes and you are ready to carry on again for a while.
I hope Carroll (younger brother) gets into something good before he finishes and if possible goes to college as long as he possibly can before he comes over. Tell him again for me that there is no hurry in spite of the fact that the gov’t has seen fit to discard age limits for both officers and officers training camps. Also I am more than ever convinced that he would not like and isn’t particularly suited for the infantry.
Give my love to Papa and Day. Also how are the dogs – you have not told me anything of them for some time. This is all I have time for just now so good bye
With love, Paul
Letter written August 6, 1918
Dear Mother -:
I haven’t written you for nearly three weeks and I am very sorry about it but the this time it actually could not be helped. If I remember correctly at that time I was quietly installed in a farm and expecting quite a rest. But somehow or other I can’t keep away from the war and the next day we moved off to this last attack, that beginning July 18 of which you have probably read something by this time. Things went splendidly and although I never did so much work or went thru more it was well worth it all for it set the ball rolling and it hasn’t stopped yet and better than that we advanced. That is the first time we have ever advanced when I was along in the 15 months that I have been here. You really can’t imagine the satisfaction of moving into a territory which the Bosch had recently left and left in a hurry. We stayed in that affair for about a week and then came out with expectations of a little rest at least. The day we got out, however, I received orders to go to absolutely the other end of France to get some material. The trip was wonderful but needless to say not a great deal of rest. I saw some very wonderful country tho, and had, strange to relate, remarkably fine weather all the way. We were gone ten days and I came back yesterday to find the outfit again installed on the front, heaven be praised, tho a very quiet one. On the way back, I stopped for two hours in Paris or a little more and saw Mildred (Cousin Mildred Woodruff of Auburn, living and working in Paris) and had dinner with her. Anna, I think her name is, was there too and we had a perfectly great time just talking. I would have liked to stay longer but I had to leave early the next morning and my convoy was about ten miles out. I told her to write you which I hope she will.
I am beginning to be tremendously cheered up the way America is getting into this thing and there certainly seems to be ground at least for hope. At one time the outlook was certainly poor enough. The fine summer weather too helps. For certainly France in the summer is the most heavenly place I can think of. The mere thought tho, of another winter makes my shiver all over and turn blue. If ever this blooming war ends I am coming back here with all of you some May and stay until October. Then tho, we will go somewhere there is more heat and light.
This is about all now, Mother. If only we will stay in one place for a little while I may begin to get caught up on my writing.
With love
Paul
I haven’t written you for nearly three weeks and I am very sorry about it but the this time it actually could not be helped. If I remember correctly at that time I was quietly installed in a farm and expecting quite a rest. But somehow or other I can’t keep away from the war and the next day we moved off to this last attack, that beginning July 18 of which you have probably read something by this time. Things went splendidly and although I never did so much work or went thru more it was well worth it all for it set the ball rolling and it hasn’t stopped yet and better than that we advanced. That is the first time we have ever advanced when I was along in the 15 months that I have been here. You really can’t imagine the satisfaction of moving into a territory which the Bosch had recently left and left in a hurry. We stayed in that affair for about a week and then came out with expectations of a little rest at least. The day we got out, however, I received orders to go to absolutely the other end of France to get some material. The trip was wonderful but needless to say not a great deal of rest. I saw some very wonderful country tho, and had, strange to relate, remarkably fine weather all the way. We were gone ten days and I came back yesterday to find the outfit again installed on the front, heaven be praised, tho a very quiet one. On the way back, I stopped for two hours in Paris or a little more and saw Mildred (Cousin Mildred Woodruff of Auburn, living and working in Paris) and had dinner with her. Anna, I think her name is, was there too and we had a perfectly great time just talking. I would have liked to stay longer but I had to leave early the next morning and my convoy was about ten miles out. I told her to write you which I hope she will.
I am beginning to be tremendously cheered up the way America is getting into this thing and there certainly seems to be ground at least for hope. At one time the outlook was certainly poor enough. The fine summer weather too helps. For certainly France in the summer is the most heavenly place I can think of. The mere thought tho, of another winter makes my shiver all over and turn blue. If ever this blooming war ends I am coming back here with all of you some May and stay until October. Then tho, we will go somewhere there is more heat and light.
This is about all now, Mother. If only we will stay in one place for a little while I may begin to get caught up on my writing.
With love
Paul
Letter written July 9, 1918
Dear Mother-:
I have at last left the front and I can’t say that I am sorry. It was a long, long seige and that on a sector which was to say the least not noted for its tranquility. Everything, however, went well with me and my affairs especially since I took up with the ammunition work with which I still am. The battery I was with before was over-officered and gave little chance for getting ahead, compared to which this outfit, while still the field artillery, is quite the opposite, and with another action or “show” like the last one I feel tolerably certain that I may get ahead a step. I was sorry as the deuce to leave the old outfit but I see them now whenever I want to, besides having the advantages which I wrote you before. Riding in an automobile and being, or rather trying to be, diplomatic with the French isn’t half bad sport especially considering the fact that I get to the very front line at least once a day and live in comfortable quarters and eat like a prince. The place we are in now is, thank heaven, out of the sound of the guns and last night I had the usual experience of not being able to sleep because of the lack of noise. I woke up about midnight and was really scared because of the lack of sound, no continual grind of wheels, no noise whatsoever of the artillery. Really it was weird. By the way, I forgot to tell you that the wonderful outfit I had in the spring is gone, gone without a trace. I imagine the Bosche have it and it makes me boil to think of some fat Heinie sporting around in my new clothes and boots. However, revenge is sweet and I live in hopes of doing some looting some day on my own hook.
I am sending Day in a little package a real Alpin beret and if I can find it a regulation cor de chasse to put on it. The cor is worn over the left eye and the beret pulled down over the right ear.
The families of chasseurs affect the beret and claim they have the sole right to the cor so Day can put herself in that number.
You would smile I think to see how we are living here, quartered in a perfectly wonderful chateau quite modernized – that is, bathrooms have been added. We have the mess in the big hall and the twenty of us sitting there at the long table surrounded by the ancestral paintings and silver make the darndest pictures of luxury you can imagine. It seems however a little too good to last. Things like that are anything but common in this war and I fear for our future. However we eat, drink and be merry while we can.
This about all now so good by with love Paul
I have at last left the front and I can’t say that I am sorry. It was a long, long seige and that on a sector which was to say the least not noted for its tranquility. Everything, however, went well with me and my affairs especially since I took up with the ammunition work with which I still am. The battery I was with before was over-officered and gave little chance for getting ahead, compared to which this outfit, while still the field artillery, is quite the opposite, and with another action or “show” like the last one I feel tolerably certain that I may get ahead a step. I was sorry as the deuce to leave the old outfit but I see them now whenever I want to, besides having the advantages which I wrote you before. Riding in an automobile and being, or rather trying to be, diplomatic with the French isn’t half bad sport especially considering the fact that I get to the very front line at least once a day and live in comfortable quarters and eat like a prince. The place we are in now is, thank heaven, out of the sound of the guns and last night I had the usual experience of not being able to sleep because of the lack of noise. I woke up about midnight and was really scared because of the lack of sound, no continual grind of wheels, no noise whatsoever of the artillery. Really it was weird. By the way, I forgot to tell you that the wonderful outfit I had in the spring is gone, gone without a trace. I imagine the Bosche have it and it makes me boil to think of some fat Heinie sporting around in my new clothes and boots. However, revenge is sweet and I live in hopes of doing some looting some day on my own hook.
I am sending Day in a little package a real Alpin beret and if I can find it a regulation cor de chasse to put on it. The cor is worn over the left eye and the beret pulled down over the right ear.
The families of chasseurs affect the beret and claim they have the sole right to the cor so Day can put herself in that number.
You would smile I think to see how we are living here, quartered in a perfectly wonderful chateau quite modernized – that is, bathrooms have been added. We have the mess in the big hall and the twenty of us sitting there at the long table surrounded by the ancestral paintings and silver make the darndest pictures of luxury you can imagine. It seems however a little too good to last. Things like that are anything but common in this war and I fear for our future. However we eat, drink and be merry while we can.
This about all now so good by with love Paul
Letter written July 1, 1918
Dear Mother-:
I have quite a little time just now with nothing to do but as luck will have it nothing at all to write to you about. Every single thing that I know about is exactly the same as it has been for the last two months and as you can well imagine, being here as long as we have, the monotony is getting to be rather dreadful.
I am sending you a photograph which a passing Frenchman took of the officers of the unit about a week ago. I am, if you are unable to recognize me, occupying the lower right corner, the facial expression being caused by the bright sun and not permanently put on by the horrors of war. Thank you very much for writing Jared (Ingersoll, an old friend from school and college –Ed.) for me. I received a letter from him a long time ago and answered it but that was the last. Have also had a couple of letters from Hunt Talmage, who is frantic because he went home and since that time he has been able neither to get into any sort of work on account of his eyes nor get back to France, having no excuse for coming. Adding worse to worse, his lady love is on this side which makes it very annoying from his point of view.
My work is still as it has been, going out at night with a convoy of trucks and delivering ammunition to the batteries, but now since things have quieted down a little we only go out about every two nights and in the rest of the time I censor letters of the company, of which since they are not too busy or tired there is a vast number. That does not sound hard but actually it is the most disagreeable task I have. First it is a perfectly horrible bore. Nine tenths of them say exactly the same thing, with varying mistakes of grammar. The other tenth vary from one or two actually clever ones, to all the tongues of Babel. More than that it takes just about three hours per day. (And he was also responsible for censoring his own letters. -.Ed)
The eternal Reg Windham (an acquaintance of Paul Hills and his family from before military service who coincidentally served with Paul in almost every unit, from the ambulance service to the same field artillery unit -.Ed) left yesterday on some sort of detached duty but things have happened so that I have turned up with him so much that it won’t be long, I am sure, before we both meet unexpectedly on the same work at some very out- of-the-way place.
This is about all there is now so good bye
With love
Paul
I have quite a little time just now with nothing to do but as luck will have it nothing at all to write to you about. Every single thing that I know about is exactly the same as it has been for the last two months and as you can well imagine, being here as long as we have, the monotony is getting to be rather dreadful.
I am sending you a photograph which a passing Frenchman took of the officers of the unit about a week ago. I am, if you are unable to recognize me, occupying the lower right corner, the facial expression being caused by the bright sun and not permanently put on by the horrors of war. Thank you very much for writing Jared (Ingersoll, an old friend from school and college –Ed.) for me. I received a letter from him a long time ago and answered it but that was the last. Have also had a couple of letters from Hunt Talmage, who is frantic because he went home and since that time he has been able neither to get into any sort of work on account of his eyes nor get back to France, having no excuse for coming. Adding worse to worse, his lady love is on this side which makes it very annoying from his point of view.
My work is still as it has been, going out at night with a convoy of trucks and delivering ammunition to the batteries, but now since things have quieted down a little we only go out about every two nights and in the rest of the time I censor letters of the company, of which since they are not too busy or tired there is a vast number. That does not sound hard but actually it is the most disagreeable task I have. First it is a perfectly horrible bore. Nine tenths of them say exactly the same thing, with varying mistakes of grammar. The other tenth vary from one or two actually clever ones, to all the tongues of Babel. More than that it takes just about three hours per day. (And he was also responsible for censoring his own letters. -.Ed)
The eternal Reg Windham (an acquaintance of Paul Hills and his family from before military service who coincidentally served with Paul in almost every unit, from the ambulance service to the same field artillery unit -.Ed) left yesterday on some sort of detached duty but things have happened so that I have turned up with him so much that it won’t be long, I am sure, before we both meet unexpectedly on the same work at some very out- of-the-way place.
This is about all there is now so good bye
With love
Paul
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