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1919 Wed Jan 1, 1919: Started at 8:45 instead of 8 by pooping around waiting for people. Johnston never did turn up. Wolle, Jumbo, & I to Ulmen, & then through mud & mire three feet deep, through the mistiest, wettest part of the Eifel – neat little villages, but cold & poor. Looks like fine hunting country. Got on a good road at Kelberg & went on to Adenau. Much colder than Moselle valley. Down the Ahr to Altenahr where we climbed up & looked over the old castle. Wonderfully situated for controlling the valley. On to near Walporzheim, where we had chow at a wayside wirtschaft. Big boar heads on the wall (310 lbs) (This is where the Drunken Kuh saved the caravan) – On to Ahrweiler, & saw Bertram, the 42nd G-2. Down to Apollinaris place (Neuenarch) & Sinzig to Andernach & back thro. Mayen. Got in about 4:30. Fine ride. Thurs Jan 2: The big day at Army G-2!!! Big stuff. Williams was in great form and bazooed for 2 solid hours over nothing at all. All corps & div G-2’s there – Stebbins, Rice, and S., Gowenlock, Clemens, Keyser, Bertram, Spencer, Savage, TATUM, & SMITH. Got away at one, & chowed on straight ration with Rice & Spencer at Coblenzer Hof. Back at 4. Crowd of silly ass aviators & things at the mess, Satchelass’s c – sucker son & some other bastards. Waugh!! Fri Jan 3: Slept till 8 – dead tired. In office all A.M. P.M. suppressed the Cochem Kreis Anzeiger for 2 issues for printing vindictive stuff against the French. Got the wrong editor at first, & he was tickled that the opposition had its ass in a sling. The real culprit was an old Prussian Kaiser-loving bastard who got an earful about where he & we stood. Sat Jan 4: Up at 6:30 and up to Coblenz. Beautiful lights on the Eifel thro. the rain. Complete semicircular rainbow followed us for a mile not 200 yds. away. Saw the people at G-2, got some school books, no new enamelled ware, good report, & got back by 12:15. Nevin & the boche chauffeur & “crack” mechanic he showed up, fixed up his own machine for him in 20 minutes after he had messed it for ½ a day. The boche, to cover up, at once began to boast about the teapot. “Could make 125 kil. an hour.” Typically square headed stuff. – (Climbed up to the cross on hill back of town yesterday; knife edge hog back, with fine view of Cochem) – Party in evening till midnight; Washburn crapping ably delineated by actor Johnston to slow music. Sun Jan 5: Weather still mild, thank God. All morning in office. Blazeface Johnson is here in G-3, and a conceited, face-coughing ass he is. – G.C.M. yesterday tried two officers for neglect of duty in Y.M.C.A. looting. – Saulpaugh, the Katskill basketball magnate, is Lt. Col. of 51st Pioneers. – Enochs still sick – flu. – Letter from Reynolds last week – my N. Eng. life ins. is now fixed up. P.M. walked up to Winnenburg, old home of Metternich family. (Fine view down over Cochem & Moselle. Great old dump & stronghold. – O.E. Hunt at castle. – Took Jumbo & Kistler up to buffet supper & music. Whispered in Hunt’s ear about G-1. Mon Jan 6: Slightly colder, but not like the weather in No. Dakota – 20 below! Went out with Hunt to Mayen & on to Niedermendig, where I saw F.H. Adams, the old fakir. Looked mighty well. Twice wounded. Has done splendidly with the 38th. Told me he got P.C. Harper a commission in the air service last summer!!!! After my efforts last fall! Adams evacuated 1102 men & 37 off. in 2 days without firing a shot, near Amel, when his outfit got out in front &

Hoover Institution Archives: The Diaries of General Joseph W. Stilwell. Copyrighted Material 2012

Copyrighted Material Copyrighted Material

neighboring units failed to come up. Hunt’s brigade has lost 10,000 men since he joined it in August. Met Sgt. Nevin at Mayen & got in at 12. Cold up in the Eifel. – Spencer & his G-3, Lt. Col. Turner in for chow; took them up to mess. Turner a peculiar duck. – P.M. walked down past Sehl. Not dark till nearly 4:30! Gaining! Reported Selkirk & the Luxembourg tart to C. of S. Tipped off by the French. Hot bath. Tues Jan 7: Up at 8 chowed at 9. Enochs better. In office all day. Jumbo, Metcalf to Coblenz. A clear day! Climbed up to the cross with Wolle & took him up to our intellectual & gastronomical feast in evening. Sitting Bull performed loudly & the three Boobies – Gauthier, Tilghman, & Garr just sat & never opened their traps. A high brow crowd. Dubbed around till 11. Wed Jan 8: Misty. In office all day. Huylebrock dug up an illicit meeting last night & I had the town cut-up pinched & brought over for the 3rd degree. (Friedrichs, the suppressed editor) Gave him some rough words & turned him loose. – P.M. hiked with Jumbo up on hill behind cross & came down by R.R. station. – We are watching every day of good weather & sneaking along through the first week of Jan. Thurs Jan 9: Yesterday was Teddy Roosevelt’s funeral. Of course G-1 gave mixed up orders to the adj! & the hospital units didn’t turn out, & the art. said it was a physical impossibility to get a gun down from Kaisersesch, 12 kil. in 2 h. 45 min. & of course Garr said “all right, don’t.” And of course he didn’t detail an officer till 15 min. before the formation. A hell of a performance. Smith late bringing G-2 gang down. – Turned out entire section for a 10 kil hike in heavy marching order; they surprised me by looking like soldiers. To Coblenz and had some gutta percha put in my cracked front tooth. Town full of soldiers. Our guard bn. looked 100% SOLDIER. Went & came by river road 1 h. 15 min each way. River down again. Enochs up & around. (Saw McCabe – “Bulletin on the map”

Haig’s Report

“Despite the enormous development of mechanical invention in every phase of warfare, the place which the infantryman has always held as the main substance and foundation of an army is as secure to-day as in any period of history. The infantryman remains the backbone of defence and the spearhead of the attack.” Fri Jan 10: Indoor sports, cussing out the Germans. Put the customs inspector through the 3rd degree. Abject sort of a cuss. Scared the pee out of him. Later put the tailor over the jumps for charging 10 marks for a 2 mark job. Next up was the baker for charging 10 marks for a pie. Gave him a jolt. The bad boys of the firemen’s assn. are to be tried tomorrow (Told the judge what to do with them!!) Took a walk up over the middle hill between Winnenburg & Cochem. Sat Jan 11: (Von Einem got Conger in inside office & told him only serious attacks made on his army in 1918 were made by the Americans & that that was true all along the line. Propaganda.) Long b-ache after breakfast with Gen. Wells. Office all A.M. Detailed to meet Prince of Wales, but he beat me in. A quiet, unassuming, well brought up, well-mannered, likeable English lad. 24 yrs. old, with the King’s legs & feet. Likes ragtime & being with a gang. Did his best at



chow to stir up old Sitting Bull but that’s impossible of course. The old turd is getting vain about moving pictures & snaked the kid out to pose with him. 51st Pioneers put on a show. – Eddie Greble & Waterman (1910) in. Greble same old bellyacher. Got them passes for Army area. – Craig & Sec. of War during St. Mihiel “This God-damned sec. of war is snooping around & he might light on it.” – P. Brown & prisoners. Sun Jan 12: Felt funk last night. – Turned in early & stayed in bed till noon. Sad bunch at lunch – some of Garr’s friends. P.M. bummed around & walked & went to bed at seven. Salts, aspirin, & other dope. A bum day. Mon Jan 13: Got up feeling better – cussed out Metcalf & Bennet & a few others & began to feel good. Conger & Richardson coming to-day. Richardson came with a vapid looking youth called Regnier – rather a simp but at least quiet. Had on a pair of trick pants, tight halfway to his crotch. Took them to lunch; P. Brown there also. Usual hot air. (P. Brown going to Paris to get the hardening taken out of his artery.) P.M. after Richardson left, walked. Tues Jan 14: A.M. got board ready – all P.M. spent in going over cases of recommendations. Packer came in & recommended himself. (Attitude of board – We’ve got ours; to hell with the rest of you, unless it’s some 2nd Lt to 1st.) Stayed up for chow. Wed. Jan 15: Left early & went to Coblenz along river road. Delay at Treis for bridge to be lengthened. Saw G-2 crowd – not Houdini – & went shopping. Crossed Rhine & went up through Neuwied, Ringsdorf, Dierdorf, & Ransbach. Back thro. Bendorf & home. “Next time you start a war, get plenty of medicine beforehand.” “Ludendorf is a schweinhund.” – In the evening got Kistler & had a roaring party. Richardson of course did not show up. – Washburn’s friend & he sat in the corner, drank the booze & talked Hahwahd, the poor freaks. The lily-like Marine ate all the cheese & then beat it. Then we had a good time. – Osann as a Scot was good. Marg. Wilson appeared, etc, etc. Thurs Jan 16: Kistler has orders to go home. He nearly broke Jumbo’s ribs night before last. – Spent day in office clearing up odds & ends of stuff. Walk in P.M. up on hog back & down through vineyard. Tell stuck around all day & got a kick for it when he turned up at night. Boche reception. Fri Jan 17: On year ago today I landed in Liverpool cold, dark, smoky, snowy morning after a bright clear pleasant trip. – Sent Osann off yesterday P.M. in the truck to Toul & Chaumont as special messenger to G. H. Q. He is to bring back all the junk from both places. – Wrote up a b-ache on Int. Regs. revision and took it to Coblenz. Saw Watson. Back at 3:00. Sunshine part of the day. Beautiful colors along the river. Sat Jan 18: Long walk in P.M. across river. 4 deer loped across road not 50 yds. from us. Hundreds of tracks in the mud. – Long talk with C. of S. Got an opening & tooted my horn for a fare-you-well. C. of S. is going to wire for permission to shift me over to G-1. Also quite sore at himself for not bringing up promotion question before board. Is going to write a letter himself to G.H.Q. Very satisfactory morning. (yesterday) – Bill Kistler in to say goodbye. Off to the States. Jumbo’s application held up, account of change G2 to G1. Selkirk held up!



Sun Jan 19: Car laid up. Cussed out Nevin for not reporting it, got another car & left with Jumbo & Dvorkin at 11. Down to Coblenz & turned in 3rd Div. stuff. Saw Br. mission & got pass stamped. To little place beyond Metternich for chow; clean little kitchen. The “vomans” had just voted. This is election day – for the Centrum, of course. On to Andernach, Godesberg, Bonn, & Cologne. Godesberg & Bonn beautiful well-built towns. University at Bonn crosses road. At Cologne got billet from town major & put up at Wilhelms Hof, right in front of cathedral. Walked around town, saw all the fraternizing & finally got chow at a select restaurant – Kronprinz Hotel. 7 marks, regulated by Br. “Hello, Yankee, looking for something to eat?” Affable Canadian Scot. Went in to service in cathedral, where they rang the bell for Jesus, but he didn’t pop out, or even send apostles. Horrible beds, 1 sheet, 1 2x4 blanket, 1 liver pad. Had bad dreams all night. Mon, Jan 20: Up at 6:30 & after waiting for the promised poached eggs etc, went down & got fake honey & ersatz coffee. Waited till 9 for the 2 boobs & rode all around town. Got a spoon & a centerpiece (275 marks) & left for Bonn. Cold as hell. At Bonn called on G2, of Canadians. Neither he nor ass’t there. Nobody knew anything. On to Andernach & Mayen – puncture – to Monreal – puncture & no tubes. In to Cochem in Red Cross flivver & sent out Landrum to rescue Nevin & Dvorkin. – Long b-ache with C. of S. after chow. Order out changing me to G-1 & Jumbo to G-2. Tues Jan 21: Finished up at G-2 and went in at G-1 at 11. C. of S. out carting Garr around town. Looked over troop mess with Wolle. P.M. went over stuff in office. Duncan here. Over to G-2 to hear him sing & sat around till 12:30. Wed Jan 22: Yesterday took Hoskins around town & got him started. He began to police water front to-day. Cleaned half of it. Lined up civ. authorities on cleaning town, flushing streets, etc. Inspected town. Saw M.P. company & Sales Comsy. Leave proposition up again. Struggled till midnight with Garr’s bastardly billeting lists. G-3 had no map either. Made up a map, and doped out three alternative propositions to take care of 150 F.A. Thurs Jan 23: Gave C. of S. result of labor, & he was much pleased to get the dope. – Heintzelman & 7 Ways here nosing around. – Saw A.P.M. and Hq. Fr. man, Capt. Waters, who seems on the job. Hoskins got the sidewalk repairing settled. Saw Nun, Town Major. – Got room for Hamerlund’s men. Started on officers’ messes. Fri Jan 24: A.M. in office. Wrote to Win at noon. Hoskins transferred to G-1. Officers’ messes getting straight. French Gen. Wirbel & Col. Linard in in P.M.; took them up the hill. Hoskins and I went over the paperasses. P.M. Party in G-2 for the men by the 51st entertainers. Sat Jan 25: Big clean-up day in town, everybody out. Took out 5 truckloads of filth. Cans spotted & all back alleys cleaned. Inspected messes. P.M. inspected whole town. Routine in office. – Conference of A.P.M., G-2., Town Maj. & J.A. on passes. The all-American Town Major in today; he & Garr are old cronies. Sun Jan 26: Office in A.M. Inspected messes. P.M. office & down to Alf to see French & straighten out squabble. To 4th division; Canfield not in. Back via Lutzerath – cold as hell. 51st



Pioneer concert in evening; a good one. – Punk Ellis has reported. Is in G3. – Mrs. Ham Lewis in for lunch, booming the Bulletin. Going to cuss out Army for suppressing it. Two cits & Roger Williams with her. – Sitting Bull getting more affable each day. Mon Jan 27: In office all A.M. Inspected P.O. & Comsy. C. of S. nosing around; got into the 301st Hosp. & was nearly gassed. P.M. went to Coblenz & saw McCaskey, Everington & Flint. They want to handle the Red Cross with kid gloves. (Smith is a bum driver compared with Nevin; always tooting the horn.) – Jumbo had a session with Houdini. The Bulletin’s dope on returning divisions gave ‘em some uneasy moments at G.H.Q. because the W.D. had just officially denied it!! Tues Jan 28: Out with Metcalfe to Hq. Tr. target range; which was 4 kil. from where they marked it. Inspected around town. Office routine. C. of S. after Hauner & Lloyd. Rumor troops go home in same order as they came out – militia & N.A. Regular divs. remain. Moore, L., relieved. Wed. Jan 29: Left with Maj. Blair for Kaisersesch where we saw the mange dipping vat. To Mayen to mobile Vet. Hospital. Coon personal much interested in their job. Dvorkin jumped right out & began to eat meat. Had chow with them in bed-room, inspected; looked over slate workers (mine bldgs. turned into munitions shop – 1000 77’s a day) Mining carbide & slate. Coon sgt. in orderly room, looked like Wash. Yates. Limber lip. To Kelberg, saw Lt. Col. Rucker, a mut who could do nothing but kick. To Nohu (16th F.A.); horses in very bad shape. Sentry did not know batt. comdr. Had only been there 2 mos! Back through Daun & Ulmen. In at 7. Very cold on the Eifel – damp, penetrating fog, cold wind, snow, trees entirely covered with frost. Bleak, dreary scene. Cosy in the pine woods! Thurs. Jan 30: Hoskins left on leave. Moore, L. left for U.S. In office most of day. Walked with Jumbo back of Cond, saw 2 deer. – Rescned 3 telegrams Garr was sending to Div Comdrs on say so of Capt. Skinner!! Colder. Fri Jan 31: Usual day in the office. Flint, 1912, in yesterday, usual endless “cavalry” b-ache about the God damned horses, & how very few men are fit to ass-ociate with a gentlemanly horse. Ad nauseum. Farted around the services, getting the routine straight. Sat Feb 1: Here’s February. Come a-running March. G2 book out. Pooped around all day inspecting & in office. To bed at 8 – no chow. Sun Feb 2: Usual day around office. Wrote to Win. P.M. Same. Metcalf’s orders for discharge are here. Mon Feb 3: Inspected. Having lengthy b-aches with C. of S. these days. Chews the rag at me every meal-time. Metcalf gave a party in P.M. Usual rotten stories circulated. Osann’s violin string – ivory handled rectal exciter for flat tires! (In Buenos Ayres) Took a walk across the river with Jumbo, but saw no wild & savage deer. – C. of S., re mil. attaché in Switzerland, waxed complimentary & said he would get me detailed on Bliss’s staff if he went himself. Had received letter from Wallace indicating that Bliss was after him. Quite willing to endorse



favorably & said old Sitting Bull would, too. I think Bliss is after him. Hope he doesn’t get me & find me out. Bluff is working now. Tues Feb 4: In office in A.M. Went up to Coblenz at noon. Everington not there. Saw Mrs. Haselo & Miss O’Connor about organizing a dance here, but Gen Muir sat on the scheme as being against orders. Bummed around till 11 at night. Wed Feb 5: Rumor – 4th Corps will go out of bizz about Mar. 1. Raymond got it at Coblenz from a G.H.Q. stat. major. Usual day in office. Conger & ? who would not drink water in P.I.; insisted on milk. Wells caught Filipina woman milking herself into the bottle to fill up. Thurs. Feb 6: A.M. office. Y.M.C.A. mess open. P.M. walk. Fri Feb 7: Routine. Walk in P.M. across river. All sorts of tracks right down into Kond, but nary a deer. Sat Feb 8: McNeill, new adjutant arrived; had been sick in hospital. Heintzelman trying to get Garr in 2nd Army. Routine. (Took McNeill up to lunch.) P.M. across river – no deer. C. of S. rated me today & sent card down to me – 92 – 12 physical, 15 intelligence (!) 15 leadership, 15 pers. qualities, 35 gen. value. Terrible! Sun Feb 9: Still cold. My trench feet are bothering me again. Stove out of whack; office cold all day. Walk in P.M. & bummed some doughnuts from 310 F.S. Bn. Y.M.C.A. party at schloss for supper & after. Bunch of dubs, Selwyn & Co, stood around like sticks all the time. Deadly as hell. Miss Bowcock’s $4.10 story about Harrison (Franklin, Grace, Clay, Harrison. Doctor looking for house. Is this Harrison? Where’s 4.00?) Mon Feb 10: Office in A.M. To Coblenz at noon. Saw McCaskey & Flint. Everington not in. Bought a couple of bead bags. Cold weather. Tues Feb 11: Went to Mayen with Raymond in P.M. & settled Y.M.C.A. squabble with Capt Downer. Got casual restaurant started. Out to Kottenheim & looked over 302 F. Hosp. Wed Feb 12: A.M. in office. At noon Jumbo & I went to Coblenz to football game between 4th Div & 4th Corps. Div won 3-0. Poor ¼ back work lost the game, & poor kicking. Passed C. of S. & C.G. on way back, changed tire & again passed C. of S. & caught C.G. Jumbo now in Gen. Mess. New Fr. mission Capt. Aulanier here. (improvement) Thurs Feb 13: Office odds & ends. Ducked lunch & boned orders. Short walk in P.M. with Jumbo – fired rocks at a bottle in the river. – Jobo Baer at dinner, same oily snake as ever. Fri Feb 14: Valentine’s Day. Office in A.M. With C. of S. to Mayen after chow. Jumped Maj. Walsh, 405 Tel. Bn. about his office & kitchen. Went to Vet. Hosp. & picked up Jumbo there. Boob chauffeur – (Bert Moore) nearly wrecked the car & killed a kid.



Sat Feb 15: Office all A.M. After chow ducked out & went to Coblenz with Wolle & Johnston. Saw half the show at Opry House – a boche dancer – Sylvia Herzig – who was very good. Chow at Metropol Y.M.C.A. Saw young Benedict, 1915, a Lt. Col.!!! Tow still in Washington. Usual assortment of horses’ asses, pimps etc. all around. Makes you weep for your country. Home at 9:30. Sun Feb 16: Birds singing – ducks going north – buds coming out – smell of spring in the air. Letter from Win telling me what a mutt I have been for not writing. Wrote her at once. – Walk in P.M. with Jumbo. Rain. Mon Feb 17: A hell of a day in the office. Phone every minute – Aix le Bains leave business starting. Contradictory dope every 5 minutes. – New Red + man here. Improvement. Hooked to the desk all day. Tues Feb 18: Another day tied down. Garr left this A.M. Cage of monkeys at lunch. Came to 4th Corps by mistake. Invited to 7th. Attachés at London. Greek, Wop, Goose, Siamese, French, Rumanian, Serbian, & Christ knows what. Nearly ruined a good suit over last night’s C.C.’s Jumbo had letter from Win, cussing me out. Wed Feb 19: Fiddled around till 10, and then went up to Coblenz. Saw Wainwright re readjustment of div. areas. Saw Graham, M.T.O. & Tyner. Ellis back from 42nd Div. Out to game & could just see heads of players till 2nd half when I worked up the side of the hill a bit. 4th won, 10-7, but I went away thinking it was the 2nd! Thought they kicked the field goal. So did all around me. Chink Hall, young Bowley, Schimmelpfennig, Hayes T.J., & Hazzard all together dug our heels in & clung to it till the game ended. Back at 6:30, & astounded to hear who had won. Thurs Feb 20: Heard today Hoskins is in Red + Hosp. in Oaris. – Maj. Seals coming up tomorrow. Raymond went in to Coblenz to get passes for us to go to Cologne tomorrow, invited by C. of S. Tied to the desk all day except for 2 hrs. hunting billets this A.M. Consumptive woman with 6 kids, all with flu. By night one had died. Went around & found there was a man in the family. Things picked up, doctor had been etc. Fri. Feb 21: To Cologne with Raymond & chief of staff, with the Bert Moore driver. To 42nd Div. demonstrations at Remagen. Bn attack on strong point. Col. Waddle Howland’s sickening remarks to a scrubby art. capt. “Such perfect liaison I want to make it of record. Everything was simply perfect.” SHIT. C. of S. took Flagler aside & gave him hell for his god damn division being so rotten. Reached Cologne about 12:30, rode around, saw cathedral, bought a cup at Goldschmidt’s – 28000 mark ear rings – got a spoon & some embroidery & came on home via Coblenz. Back at 6:30. Seals here; got in this A.M. Sat Feb 22: Anderson killed yesterday, flying a Fokker. Burned. Funeral Sunday. Congressman Borland died yesterday; buried in afternoon; 32nd degree mason. In office all day. Seals on job & apparently a good man. Rain. Went to Borland’s funeral & then inspected kitchens. C. of S. almost got me on a memo. but luckily I had a letter from Army directing it.



Took Seals to lunch; Stern also there; down to see Jumbo. Miss McCoy had pleasure of sitting next to the tooth-picking aide. Two letters from Win. Joe riding a bike! Sun Feb 23: Office all A.M. Early lunch & up to Coblenz to Anderson’s funeral, but were held up so long at Carden by a break in the bridge that we were too late. Saw the returning heroes of the air come in & looked over their filthy barracks & hqrs building. No one at Army Hq. Back at 5. – Seals’ bro. here, capt. in 90th Division. – Enochs is acting like a – – fool, sullen & grouchy. Pulls the heavy Hindenburg stuff all the time. Mon Feb 24: A.M. inspection around town with C. of S. P.O. & comsy in hell of a shape – other places O.K. After chow, went to Mayen with Jumbo & saw Gen. Hunt. He’s in bad shape with his liver. Looked over the railhead & Anka theater & came back. Two year old kid smoking cigarette in Monreal. – All set for horse show. Tues Feb 25: A hell of a hectic day. Things popping one after another. Raining, with little promise of clear weather for the show. Entries coming in & everything ready. Y.M.C.A. dogs to carry stuff up to soldiers in front line. Scheme had to be given up because they couldn’t get a dog big enough to carry the cash register. – Episode of the program. Mercenary bastards put the red triangle all over the back sheet. – Elephant & Boston kid “What’s that, Mother” Tail. No, that thing. O, that’s nothing at all. “O Mother, aren’t you blasé!” Wed Feb 26: The big day. IV Corps show. By jingo, it was a clear day, almost all day! Everything went off like clockwork – finished judging on time. Parade right after lunch & then high jinks all over town. Gen & C. of S. much pleased. – Peep show – Canned willy. – YMCA at the front, etc. – Barker & coochee coochee in main square. – Evening, 51st Pioneer outfit at the castle. Thurs Feb 27: Office till 11. Up to Coblenz and got out to field at 1:30 – after looking in vain for someone at Army. Big crowd for game. Ran machine out on bank & had a fine view. Big air circus, planes & balloon, parachute leap, etc. 89th won, 14-0, Gerhardt quarter. Back at 6! A clear day – almost. Fri. Feb 28: In office all day & a damn busy one. Something popping all the time. A.M. board on Cruikshank’s recommends of his c-suckers. 11 P.M. again before I got to bed. Sat Mar 1: Spring weather, but no sun yet. Office all A.M. & P.M. To Coblenz in P.M. at 4:00. Chewed the rag at McCaskey & Everington & cussed out the latter about not sending Red Cross restaurant personnel as promised. Back at 8. Hell of a time with the mess accounts. Seals came to the rescue & got it pretty well ironed out. Sun Mar 2: Office all A.M. Got up at 7 and found it was 8. Time changed. Lot of people fooled. In P.M. some good fights at Schloss. Snyder the 413rd Train slugger won in 2 rounds. Mattiola, Adams’ man won, but not easily; he wasn’t half the wonder Adams thought him. Adams is the same old blowhard. Evening, same old grind at office. Sent Krambdoro with 1000 bones to send to Win.



Mon Mar 3: Haven’t been in bed before 11 since God knows when. Fixed up mess accts & find we are all stuck about 500 francs each. Touched Satchelass for 600 before he left for mtg. with Sitting Bull. Jumbo’s friend Richardson in for lunch. A balled captain for the remount named Mitchell reported in P.M. Dragged him to supper. Had a painful session with H.A. Ludendorf this A.M., – he was deeply wounded because I said his Jew lieut. Harris had fessed out on getting the ring ready. Life is too short to fool with such a thin-skinned hombre. – Hoskins back. – A busy day. – chained to the desk. Dvorkin came over at 9 P.M. & told me to go to bed. Here I am still at 9:30. Tues Mar 4: Up to Carden & went over the bakery. Old crazy man Dietrich wants to move. – No necessity whatever; got them a shack & told them to clean up. Little Belgian kid who came in for leggings was there, working away at the dough board. To Coblenz & found nobody; brought some embroidery & went to Mayen. Inspected 405 Tel Bn. mess hall & 413 S. Train. Told them to get after their barracks. Jumbo turned up but was in such a sweat he couldn’t wait 5 minutes. Driving rain on the Eifel. Back at 4. Wed Mar. 5: Office all day. 3 letters with photos from Win, 2 from Dad. Packer, Lloyd, & Co. all in to bore hell out of me. With Townsend they make a great bunch. Still raining. Squabble on with Packer who wants Waters tried for false official. “Nobody ever called me a liar and got away with it” etc etc. Thurs Mar 6: Another day at the desk. Nosed around town with Hoskins. C. of S. gone crazy over his “field meet – gen. inspection, horse & trans – tournament. Absolutely impracticable. Sitting Bull back from 2nd Army. Aulanier & Fr. Mission is to be relieved. Satchelass on leave again. Fri Mar 7: Office. All out but me (C. of S. and C.G. & all 3 G’s) Stewed around all day. Red Cross Miss Herrick reported. Took her up to chow. Hot-air club met in evening. Sat Mar 8: With Raymond to Neuenahr. Looked over Plaidt & went on. Reached Neuenahr about 11, & looked over the plant. Slimy kitchens, dirty halls, usual castrated Y.M.C.A. “men”, filthy office, tables, waiters, halls etc. Fresh enlisted men, dirty, greasy, sloppy uniforms, whistling & talking back to officers. Typical militia stuff. Ate chow with Lt. Gordon & some of the vapid Y.W.C.A.’s. Looked over town & went to Coblenz. Saw Maj. Taylor, Steiner’s ass’t. & straightened out the jumping of Raymond. – C. of S. full of 3rd Corps Horse Show & a little uneasy about our doing as well. Sun Mar 9: Kramb back yesterday. Sent cable for me. Many promotions being made. Got the “Sheba Baba” ¼ tette of the IV Corps mob. 11th Hosp. located 1 ½ k. (etc etc)” “Cheer up the officers.” Duncan sang, but the coons were the star attraction. Tickled to death to be over. The big sgt. made a little speech before each song. One coon so embarrassed he sang with his mouth shut all the time. Mon. Mar 10: In the office, I guess. Forgotten everything about this day. Just like any other.



Tues Mar 11: Pershing coming here on Mon. 17th. Much to-do & flurry. Review of Corps troops. Ludendorf at once had ‘the solution’! Just like a map problem, Gen. The greatest trouble in these things, Gen. is the distribution…etc. etc. Heavy stuff. – Dvorkin has the boar-skin; Carl Haussmann got it for me. John at once claimed it, or inferred that it was meant for him. (!!!) Wed Mar 12: A Real Spring day, sun shining, air balmy. Got after the town – painted up a sentry box, whitewash at motor park, etc. Made Reed Hqrs. Comd’t. & turned over police & guard to him. New aide (Hoopes) came in, accompanied by 2 palpitating horses’ asses, one a Lt Col. Pusey, who owned the world, & the other a major dentist. We had them at lunch & nearly puked listening to Pusey’s incessant drool. Thurs Mar 13: Cold again, spring gone. At G-1 mess last night for chow; Capt Jones birthday. Miss Herrick & Miss Philbrick, Red Crossers there. Took latter & Hoskins to Coblenz at 9. Passed a boche pissing on the wall; he had about 18 inches of dink let out & was waving it around in the air. (Another pair of boches on the wall by the main road, doing a King of Siam stunt.) Did some errands in G-1, Sig, Air S. etc & Hoskins went out to 2nd Div. Came back at 2, & we went out to Andernach & laid out the horse shoe grounds. A Capt Meunth with him. Back through Mayen & stopped at railhead to see about the Gostly affair. Washburn gave a farewell party, before leaving for G.H.Q. & we chewed the rag till midnight. – O.P. Smith on the 42nd – 5 of them who raped a pregnant woman in Rembervillers & laid out her son with a bottle. Bunches of them A.W.O.L. & drunk all over the place. Fri. Mar 14: Another spring day; sun out again. In office & chained to the desk. Took a walk in P.M. up on the hill. Old boche woman who sat on the settee with me & blamed the war on the high leute. Husband & son killed. The kleine kinder have no milk. The world is no besser, etc, etc. – Ludendorf is getting off on wrong foot on use of M.P.s, command of trucks, etc. for review. Sat Mar 15: Arabian duke not coming. Hell of a day with Kittell, putting him where he belongs. Direct orders, verbal & written to keep him in town. Struggle with 4th Div. Army, & horse board. Finally sent Hoskins out to conduct sale, if necessary. Stopped him off at Troop trans. office by order last night. He jumps around like a flea, but I am going to stick to him. Busy day, as usual. – Inspected around town. Dvorkin got photos. Sent ‘em to Yonkers & Syr. Sun Mar 16: Slack day in office. Inspected around town, & found a flagpole, behind the Hq Troop stable. – Cable from Win saying the 1000 beans were rec’d. & sending birthday greetings. – Took Seals up for lunch, & Ludendorf never opened his trap once during the meal. “Affable bugger, what?” Mon Mar 17: Getting ready for the review, doping out trucks, etc. Lubeck pretty weak; very inaccurate & careless & particularly lazy. Finally got it straight & trucks began to come in at 5 P.M. Tues Mar 18: Up at 5 & at station at 6. No word from train. Lears at G-4 Army spotted it at 4:45 instead of 4:30 & it never arrived till 7:30. We tore our hair, but it did no good. Quite a



snowstorm at 6:30-7:00. Finally got the 51 Pioneers out of town at 8:00 & went up after them. Review outside of Kaisersesch, near Dungenheim. Luckily Pershing was an hour late & we had just time to get the last bunch in ranks before he arrived. Farmer Reed & his “about face” was a scream. Ludendorf made an ass of himself with his antics. Pershing made a moral-political speech. – C. of S. & I went down to Buchel to the 4th Div’s reviewing grounds & ate lunch before the review. C. of S. rode around & I dozed. (Y.M.C.A. hot chocolate – for the “77th only.”) Inspiring sight as the division moved across the field by brigade; forest of bayonets & mass of moving men was very impressive. – Cold as hell. – Some of the troops had already bivouacked 2 nights. – (Pershing highly complimented the corps troops.) – Persh. & party came to Cochem for chow & an entertainment. – “Live Wire” party & soldier stunts. Dancing afterwards. Turned in at 12. Wed Mar 19: Thirty-six years old today, & getting gray headed rapidly. Send 60 trucks to Bowles to help his regiment get home. Adams in to bellyache & turn in his entries. Great old blowhard. BOAL is a Major! Got a shot of lipo-vaccine from a horse syringe & toward night felt like hell. Turned in early with a fever. Thurs Mar 20: Out to Andernach with C. of S. & Raymond. Had hard work getting out of bed & nearly reneged on the trip. Had chow with Blub Blub Howze & staff. (McCleave, Van Puyne, Turner, Ely etc. etc.) Howze just the same as ever, bellyaching & snorting. Finally gave in & acknowledged our idea & layout & choice of site was O.K. – Back into Coblenz & to Cochem. Quite a snowstorm on way back. – Accident in 3rd Div., ambulance skidded into a grindstone quarry shaft, killing seven. Fri Mar 21: Out to Andernach with Raymond. Got after 413 M.S.T. about their mess shacks. Fuss over use of field with the God damned air service. To Coblenz; saw Harmon, who had never seen the Andernach field! No pep. Back to field & saw a jackanapes capt., who told me I didn’t know anything, but he would try & point out a few things. Saw Finch, ’06, at Andernach, got his O.K. on gravel & came home. Cold. Sat Mar 22: Sent Hoskins & Johnston to Andernach to get things going. Truck Co. ordered from Mayen. Billets arranged in Weissenturm. Trucks got in very late & did no hauling. Brought Johnston back. (I went up to Coblenz at 10:30 & then out.) Sun Mar 23: Office all A.M. Raymond sick in bed all day. The lipo inoculation & cold ride got him. I turned in at noon, feeling like hell and stayed there all P.M. & all night. Hot drinks & mucho covers. Mon Mar 24: Rainy at start and snowstorm up on the Eifel. Up to Andernach. Gravel hauling going on – about 75 loads on. All hangars up. Stand finished. On to Neuenahr & saw about hotel capacity etc. On to Cologne & put up in Hotel du Nord, after losing Dvorkin & Nevin. Bought prizes: cig. cases, knives, etc. Had bum chow – rotten soup, & long wait. Br. gunner capt. & lieut. going home. “Yes, nasty aggressive big fellow, what?” (The puny waiter.) Walked around & turned in, still feeling rocky. Raymond looked up a circus & saw the usual rotten performance.



Tues. Mar 25: Up at 8. Bum breakfast. Spent a lot of time in cutlery store buying scissors & knives, etc. Megaphone, boomerangs, etc. Back to Bonn, stopped to call on Monkhouse, but he was out. On to Andernach. Rainy & muddy. Nothing moving, & a rather dreary outlook. Chow at junior officers’ mess. Saw Swanton, 1917, & Tucker & Meunth. Back at 4 P.M. Nap Riley here. Wed Mar 26: In office in A.M. till 11. Got judges all lined up. Left with C. of S. – Hoskins left to-day for duty with Peace Commission & Mission to Syria. – Stopped to have chow with Gen. Hunt at Mayen; he had Win’s letter & a picture of the kids. Out to field – a bloody, muddy sight. Everything stuck; only 1 tractor going. Ordered 6 more at once. – Monkhouse & Kerin there & our crop of judges. Gave them the dope, fussed around & beat it to Coblenz with C. of S. & Miss Herrick. Back about 4. Thurs. Mar 27: Jumbo’s birthday. In office all A.M. – Usual stuff. P.M. Seals went out to Andernach with C. of S. Letter & check from Dad. Three letters from Win. – Gen. Hines, 3d Corps, here for chow. Had a 51st P. Imp. show in evening. Rotten weather continues, & we’ll no doubt have swimming rather than judging. Fri Mar 28: Sent Welfare Johnson to Neuenahr. – C. of S. & Sitting Bull went to Wittlich to 7th Corps show. – Went out to Andernach at 10:30 & saw Raymond. Entries coming in & being spotted. Ring looks better with poles up & band stand in. Went on to Coblenz & saw dentist. Got a rubber filling & an X-ray of broken tooth. Back at Cochem at 4. Raymond phoned “All Set!” – Durell leaves to-morrow: came in to say goodbye to-night. Sat Mar 29: Up at 5 & with Blair Kittell Wilders & Hawley beat it at 6. Just breaking the bridge at Dreis! Down to Moselkern & got over on the ferry after quite a wait, but made the field at 7:45 & put the 1st event in the ring at 8:00 A.M. sharp. Kept right up to schedule all day long, in spite of Blub Blub’s prediction. The weather was simply bastardly – rain & wind & a snow storm beginning at noon. We plugged right along just the same & finished on time. The lunch was a bit queer, Muir & Wells having beaten it to Andernach, so I did the best I could & got the crowd eating. The truant gens. showed up later & everything went O.K. – Remarkable showing by corps troops 65 point – 4th Div made about 84 & 3rd about 125. Lucky for the 42nd they were not in it. About 5 or 6 events of course the corps troops could not enter. We beat it at 5:30 – Miss Herrick & Blair & I, & got back at 7. Chow, hot bath, & bed. – Cussed out the pretty boy aide at noon, & told him it was up to him to know something. Kind of got his nanny. Sun Mar 30: Three fine letters from Win & one from Mom. Up at 9 & dead-beat all A.M. Wrote all P.M. and turned in early. A quiet day. Blizzard at 2 P.M.! Getting colder. Seals & Blair left for Cologne. Mon Mar 31: In office all day, tied to the phone. Maj. Johnson back from Neuenahr. Ludendorf paid his mess bill via Lieut. Cheesman. – Blair & Seals back from Cologne after a fine trip. Tues April 1: Up to Coblenz via Kaisersesch. (bridge out) Saw Reynolds, new G-1. – Evrington out, thank God. B-ache with air service ref. field at Andernach. Long session with



dentist – impression for a big inlay. Got a few embroidered hankerchiefs, went out to Weissenturm field & back home through Mayen. Sun out & spring in the air. Wed Apr 2: Winter back again. Cold & gloomy. In office all day. At 5 P.M. chowed at Red +, & left with Seals, Jumbo, Johnston, Dossert, & Smith for the fights at Coblenz. They were N.G. for “Champeenships.” Big Gallagher, the wild heavy, knocked out in 1st round, & glad of it. A bunch of long-haired, wooly Congressmen were present, & were a spectacle for the gods. Kahn & idiot son & a bunch of others. Back at 11, chowed again at Red +. Thurs Apr 3: Left at 10 for Mayen & Neuenahr. Stopped & saw Prince, picked up St. Luther at railhead – had to send for him after giving him orders to be there. To Andernach, & saw Meunth. To Neuenahr at 2. Went over whole plant with Raymond, saw Miss Hinman, had the “Rainbow” micks (Gordon & Bagley) thrown out. Got an omelet & beat it at 4. (Meeting of “Rainbow Veterans’ Ass’n.”) Coblenz & dentist at 5. Had inlay put in at 6:00. To Army Hq. No one there. On to Cochem. Bridge being changed at Treis. Finally reached castle at 8:15. Red Cross girls there for chow (Herrick, Foster, Painter & Hoppin) Went up & got a cheese sandwich & turned in. Fri. Apr 4: Hell of a time getting up. Office all A.M. Sheep Nelly hooked for Central Records office. P.M. took Punk Ellis up to Winenburg & got the ink running on him. Sat Apr 5: Bunch of Congressmen came down from Coblenz to see Castle. Richardson with them. Sweeney reported yesterday. In office all A.M. Usual run of dope. – Rumors of a Bolshevik strike for to-morrow starting at Saarbrucken. Decided not to go to Mainz. Sun Apr 6: No strike, apparently. C. of S. said go ahead, so after spending A.M. in office, got away at 3 P.M. To Brodenbach & up past Ehrenberg ruin to the Henosrück & due east down to the Rhine at St. Goar. Rheinfels ruins at entrance to town. Lorelei rocks, Oberwesel & its old walls. Caub. & the Platz in the river, like a steamboat. Bluecher crossed here in 1813. Monument one side, tablet on other. To Bacharach, (old Roman hangout) old walls & towers still standing. Through the gorge to Bingen with its unimposing rat tower. Giant statues of the Niederwald opposite the town. Magnificent spring day. On across the flat to Mainz. Fine big town of 100,000. Well built & laid out. Mangin’s hqrs. here. Old cathedral dates from 6th century or so. (At Bingen, Romans had one road branching to Coblenz & one to Trier.) Rode around town, then went across & out to Wiesbaden. 100,000 people, big gardens, fine streets, substantial bldgs, prosperous stores, pretty villas, everything clean. Rode around town & then got room at Palace hotel. Had punk chow on a dirty table served by a dirty poilu. Filthy glasses. Town full of wild women. Walked all around & turned in at 9 ½. Beautiful room & bath, N.Y. style. Mon Apr 7: Another beautiful day. Up at 6:30 & down at 7. Punk breakfast of air-snatch coffee & bread & marmalade & beat it. Went looking for stamping ground of 30 years ago. First out to N.W. of town, but could not recognize anything. Then up by the big park & out to old reservoir above Leberberg street. Here found what was probably the kids’ playground. Took pictures all around & went down through the gardens on both sides of big Badhaus. Shopped for knives, spoons, etc. (Got a frigging rooster set for Seals & a naked lady for C. of S.) Beat it at



10:30 for Mainz & on through Bingen to Backarach. Turned up here through Rheinbollen to Simmern & then went to Panzweiler & up to Treis. Country of the shit-pumps, & shit-carriers – long style like boilers. The French soldiers all through here are sloppy & dirty & their equipment looks like hell. – French band & soldiers marching through Wiesbaden. Fine road up back of Bacharach to the plateau. – Excellent meal at Simmern – puffed omelet! Yum. Pretty brook running down into the Mosell at Treis. Padre fishing – $5 to Nevin to throw him in. – Altogether one of the pleasantest trips I ever took. – Enormous bath towel at Wiesbaden. Back at 3:30. Foch’s remark on Nov. 1 when Americans broke through in Argonne – “The battle is over.” First time in war when Germans acknowledged that their front had been penetrated & their art. Position passed. Easy progress of Fr. IV Army dur to advance of Am. 1st. 1,036,000 men in 1st Army just before 2nd was formed. 2, 036,000 men in France on Nov. 11. Orders out for move of divs in St. Mihiel fight to go to Argonne befdore they jumped off at St. M. 800,000 divs & 200,000 corps & army tr. (Aver. army 175,000 to 250,000) Tues Apr 8: Sent Seals out with Highpockets to Neuenahr. In office all A.M. and P.M. Seals back at 5. Walked around in the sun & felt good. Wed Apr 9: Office all day. Marshall here & lectured at 11. Long dull lecture till 1. Saw Canfield & Tipton. Hersey & Hazzard stayed to chow. Marshall sounded off about Schmeerkase & named the author. Walked around town. – After chow C. of S. took me in back room & said he’d do anything he could to get me a detail or a decoration, if he were relieved. – Muir going home with 28th. Liggett to replace Dickman. Thurs Apr 10: Started at 9:30 for Mayen but got tangled up in 4th Div. move & gave up after working up through Moselkern & went in to Coblenz – Invited to opera for Monday night. – Out to Andernach; field still bad. Up to Neuenahr & found Raymond with chip on shoulder, fussing over Waltz. Straightened it all out, & got back at 7 – Gen. & C. of S. not yet back from Mainz. Fri Apr 11: With Seals to Mayen. Inspected 310 FS Bn. billets, all mess shacks, & railhead. Chow with Gen. Hunt and then to F.R.S. 306. Terrible time trying to avoid Mitchell the Sissy & talk with Warden. Finally ducked him with Seals’ help & got in a word. Mitchell is running the outfit. Back at Cochem at 4, & a steady rush till 6. – Sitting Bull leaving on Monday or Sunday. Mackall coming up. Sprang leave proposition. O.K.



Sat Apr 12: In office all day. Gen. King here at lunch – bazoo about cavalry – same old stuff. Rainy. Sun Apr 13: Much bustle getting Sitting Bull’s stuff off. The God damned aide of course did nothing. Jumbo went down to Luxembourg to see Mackall. Howze & Hershey in to lunch. Old Muir beat it brusquely at 2 P.M. Rainy day. Summerall detailed to command the corps. – Tirke & McAndrew coming to-morrow night. No opera for little Willie. Mon Apr 14: Fine day again. Phoned canceling opera engagement & then C. of S. phones saying the S.O.B.’s aren’t coming till tomorrow night. God damn these plan changers. Lost out on opera. In office till 11 & then up to Coblenz with C. of S. – Boot store. – On to Andernach & Neuenahr & got a good chow, for which the boob boche tried to make us pay 20 marks! I soon showed him his error. Looked over plants & school & saw Waltz in Palast Hotel. Came back via Adenau & Monreal, rain cutting like needles. Britichers over here fishing in the Ahr. Got in at 6:20. Jumbo back from VI Corps at 7:00. Mackall not coming; grabbed for civil affairs. Tues Apr 15: In office all day; the – – rating cards took most of A.M. & all of P.M. Dug into a few of the false alarms. Rainy. Late session at night. Gen. McAndrew & Fiske here for supper – Also D. H. Montgomery who thought he was eating rabbit; McAndrew a fine old scout. Johnston at chow with us, furious because they took him for an aide. Wed Apr 16: Pooped around all day. One continuous flow of stuff all day long. Tied to the desk. C. of S. gave me a long b-ache in P.M., till 10:30 – ref. Hunt & rumors that they were after him, etc. (Lazy classmate Perry in 30th Inf. doing him good deal of harm.) C. of S. going to G.H.Q. tomorrow. Thurs Apr 17: Rainy. C. of S. & Jumbo left at 1 P.M. for Chaumont, leaving me to hold the pot. They went to Villerupt to spend night with VI Corps. – Gold toothed Stivers came in & allowed as how he was G-2. I allowed as how he wasn’t. Took Seals & Johnston up to supper. – C. of S. gets the legion of honor on Saturday from Marshal Foch – Wired him – another gas officer being sent. Fri Apr 18: Don’t know what happened. Sent Seals to Neuenahr & he reported trouble brewing. Not definite enough distinction between town & leave center. Sent for Raymond to come down. Alone with the frog – it’s awful. Sat Apr 19: Dubbed around. The idiot Gilbreth in crying about everything. Absolutely uninformed – very, very tiresome. Went up on hill & sat in the sun for an hour. Worthless as hell to-day. Seals feeling sick. Turned in early. Sun Apr 20: Up at 6 & out at 6:30 with Johnston. – Up to Treis & up stream to the monastery. Netted the streams without luck till 9:30. Threw the boomerang. Had breakfast at a farmer’s house & inn. Dvorkin & I both got soaked. Back at 10:30 P.M. Kruger got in at 2. Bummed around all P.M. with him.



Mon Apr 21: Off after the usual 50-odd clinging interviewers had strung in, to Coblenz at 10:15 – Saw show grounds – half finished & went on to Neuenahr. Big squabble with Waltz over the “horrible memo.” Chewed it all out. Saw Raymond & Johnson. Had chow at Germania. Came back via Altenahr & Adenau. Got in about 9:30 (2¼ hrs.) Beautiful ride up the Ahr Valley. Dubbed till 11 & turned in. Tues Apr 22: Jumbo turned up for breakfast. Had seen the Bastard at Chaumont; escaped after a short b-ache. Is G-2 at Tours, in the visitors’ bureau!!! Shit. C. of S. not coming back till Sunday. Jumbo put it up to C. T. Gauthier to get me decorated. “We will see!” Howze phoned in P.M., that IV Corps space at show was in punk shape. (The great Struble.) Wed Apr 23: Beat it up & looked all over hell for the jew Struble. Got him at 2 P.M. Read the riot act to him in plain words & put Luther on the job. Laid out the plan of decoration, scouted evergreens & arranged for detail from 51st P. S. had done just nothing. Luther showed more pep in 5 min. than Struble had in 3 days. – Came back & found that one frog aide, 6 oat-blowers & 1 American aide assorted, had blown in. Well, Jesus. The aide let the orderly go to Coblenz with the good car, lock the general’s stuff in his room, & put the key in his pocket. We took turns grilling the aide & believe me, he stood at attention. Got the room open for him & “young manned” him till he got military. A perfect 0. (Delands Andrews) Thurs Apr 24: Dubbed around, waiting for the god-damned congressmen. The boobs came at noon & we took them up & gave them some wine at the castle. A gang of hay-seeds if there ever was one. We shoved them out at 12:15 & left at once with the signs for Coblenz. Relay race just starting. Got in at 2, & Luther had been busy. Things beginning to shape up. Watched the races for an hour or so & then went out to Andernach to see Howze. He was out. Back through Mayen. Cold as hell. The 2 frogs are getting insufferable. Thank Christ the Delands thing was absent. – The A.P.M. business is getting too far; going to can him. Fri Apr 25: Began to clear out all the junk & trash & records I’ve accumulated. The P.O. is getting choked up. In office all day doing nothing. Wrote & dubbed around. Seals going to Wiesbaden to-morrow with his brother. Paid Dvorkin 548 fr. Now pd. in full. Sat Apr 26: Office all A.M. Sent out n packages of junk. Rainy P.M. Walked up to Clotten with Jumbo. Up till 11, working on a list of guys for promotion. Sun Apr 27: Up to Coblenz in A.M. Saw Luther & grounds looked fine. – Hq. stable had 8 ribbons. Boche refused the boots. Got back at 12:30. – (Chief phoned last night he would be back to-day.) Rusty Burtt came in at 3:30 & there was a session. He is worn to a frazzle & getting peevish about the business. – C. of S. came in about 4:30 & got the list checked. (The same gang I put down last night.) – C. of S. sent in a letter recommending me for the D.S.M. Toujan – Turning wine glass down. “No, I do not dreenk. I am what you call, on der water-closet!” “Most cavalrymen are about 18” from a horse’s ass.”



Harry La Montayne & Krueger. “Boy, what do you know about horses?” “No much, but I know a horse’s ass when I see one.” Mon Apr 28: Sent Averbeck down with the list of makes to Wittlich. The commissions for temporary officers were back at night & C. of S. called them all up & presented them. Our crowd went to club & drank some Schaumwein on Col. Seals. Jumbo & Seals, Lt. Cols., Raymond & Q.M. Smith, Maj., Johnston, Wilson, J.S. Smith, Gill, Capts., etc. Dead feet Townsend is back again. – Kuhn, 1916, here for duty. Krueger rooked again. Tues Apr 29: New adj here, Robbins. C. of S. to Cologne, brought back Jamerson. – P.C. Harris, Adj. Gen, & his gang in at 4:30. Waited chow till 2:45 for the discourteous mutts. No word of any kind from them. – To Coblenz in A.M. Snow flurry on way back. Saw no one. Dull day; nothing doing. Wed Apr 30: Another dull day. Don’t know what the hell happened, except that C. of S. thought I had better postpone my leave for 2 weeks more. Thurs May 1: Took Kuhn & Seals & went up to Bullay & Bad Bertrich. Saw Millikin & Joe Beacham & Gen. Gordon. Went on to Kaisersesch in a blinding snowstorm. Looked over railhead & came home. Hell of a day for the first of May. Walked on other side of river in P.M. Fri. May 2: Summerall expected. Phoned Conger. Liggett took command of Third Army. Dull day again. Dubbed around office & did nothing. Summerall got in after we had finished chow & we sat around for an hour while he told of his trip with the congressmen. Sat May 3: P.M. party in G-2. (Jumbo’s relief is Spencer, T.K.; due in a few days) Millikin up for chow & stayed for party. Usual do-nothing day. C. of S. gave me job of writing IV Corps history. Sun May 4: Usual dubby day. In P.M. went up to Treis & on up past the monastery. Threw the boomerang & bummed around. Had chow (20 marks!) & came back at 7:30. Beautiful day. Mon May 5: In office all day. Got out fake orders for Dosick & Dvorkin to go to the Polish Army. Raymond swallowed it whole. Peace terms began to come in, in evening. 20 billions, all colonies, all ships, all territory acquired in 200 years. Dubbed all day. Tues May 6: Liggett coming in to-day. Wired for orders to go to Chaumont yesterday. – Liggett arrived at noon with the Stackpole – (aide) The Gen. is a good old scout. – We went out to the brook & played ball in the P.M., Jumbo, Seals, & I. Wed May 7: To III Corps. Saw Shallenberger. No G-1 stuff done on forward move. To Army, G-4; saw Chaffin and Howard. Nobody home there. Scurried around & promised action. Spencer came in in evening. – Permission to go to Chaumont. Leaving in the morning.



Thursday May 8: Got off to a bum start, cussing everybody out, being detained by fool questions & raising hell with Wilson, whom I put in con for giving the frog aide a Cadillac. Took Raymond & Sgt. MacArthur, put down the top & had a glorious ride thro. Wittlich to Trier. Had a 40 fr. lunch & went on to Longury – (view back into Luxemburg – gateway to France) & Longuyon. This is a shell of a town – utterly destroyed – boche P.G.’s working at it. On up to Montinédy (for gas) & out to the Meuse at Stenay. (Saw quetzagabeseschmeer people at Lux.) a – To Sedan along Meuse via Mouzon. 5th Corps monument near Froulins. Farm machines being brought back. Swiped by boches & carried off when our advance began. The old citadel in Sedan. Pooped around town & got lost. Sent 3 ways by 3 frogs; all wrong. Had tire trouble, but got off at 1:30 for Flize, Mezières & Charleville. Poor road & much dust. Gen. impression – hills much lower than map indicates. Got chow & room at Charleville, much to our surprise. YMCA hod carriers & 2 women there. No crap – headache from sun – all burned. Fri May 9: Due south from Mezières through Boulzicourt & Poix Terron to Le Chesne. Up on hills at Poix Terron, with extended view to the Meuse. At Le Chesne, boche system begins – town wrecked – first big signs of the fighting. Keep getting worse toward Maison Rouge, where there had been hell to pay. This was the right of the Fr. IV Army. Same struggle evident at Quartre Champs & on road out to Vouziers. Satler town W. of Aisne, visible from long distance. Turned S.E. & went over the hills thro. the Bois de Bourgogne to Grandpré. At Vandy, Quatre Champs & Longevé the Fr. penetration had threatened to cut off a large force. Grandpré a ruin. On past Bois de Loges to Champigneulles – on its cliff-side – view to N. & N.E towards St. Georges. Down to St. Juvin & over to St. Georges & Landers. All towns of course in ruins. Beginning of def. org. Three big camouflages & 1 concrete pillbox finished. Around B. de Bautheville & into B. (taken by 90th Div.). View up to Aincreville & down to Romagne. Up hill to B. des Rappes (taken, given up & taken by 5th – McMahon blovied here) & on to Cunel (reported by Pinhead as taken, a bit too early). B. de Cuvel on W. On to Nautillois, everything open on all sides at this point. Montfaucon dominating. Am. cemetery at Nautillois. Crown Pr. “dugout” at Montfaucon. On over Malancourt & Bithincourt to Forges & Cueiveres. Awful roads. – Coons collecting bodies, pulled one poor lad out as we went by. Raymond puked, & we had to stop while they took a coffin out of the road. Gruesome business. On into Verdun via Charny & Belleville. Went to Regret to take pictures. Back via Dugny to Lempire & on thro. Lemmes & Souilly to Bar-le-duc. – Lunch was one piece of dry bread. – Had supper, after seeing Raymond’s famous paintings, & turned in. Sat May 10: Up early & left without breakfast at 7:30. In Chaumont at 10 A.M. Got rooms in guest house, under club, met Jumbo & Johnston there, got sworn in as a full colonel, saw about archives, etc., got Nevin & MacArthur fixed, & after lunch did an afternoon’s work on the history. (Cooper, Carmody, Buttons, Walker, etc. etc.). – Fine chow at guest house. Rumors about Corps breaking up. 6th & 7th Divs., gone to the SOS. Quick return. Sun May 11: Up early & did a morning at the office. Same in P.M. At 5, left for Bar-le-Duc arriving about 7:30 & turning right in. (Saw Geo. Spalding & Casad, just as were leaving.) Mon May 12: Up at 4:45 & at 5:30 pulled out. (Grandpré at 8:30.) Turned off at Erige & went thro. Beauzée to Clermont & thro. the Argonne to St. Menehould. Destruction of 1914 invasion still remains without change. Beautiful country. Fine road thro. Argonne up to Ville-sur-



Tourbe – utterly wiped out – & the Champagne battlefield of 1915. Worked in toward Massiges and looked at the “main”. Threw a grenade, which was still good, & beat it on up past Maisons de Champagne & Mont Cuvelet to Séchant. Heavy fighting here & the usual intricate defenses. N.E. to Semce and Grandpré, where we had Johnston’s wonderful breakfast of purgative water, bread & cheese. He is sure a cipher on doing anything. To St. Juvin & Sommerance & pooped around looking for Young’s grave. Out to Flevills & in through Exermont & Gesnes to Romagne. A decided ridge through here, but much lower than I had imagined. Monretagne a tough point between Exermont & Sommerance. Had chow with M.P. lieut. at Romagne & then went down to Charpentry & Varennes, which is flat, & saw the bridge (Louis XVI). Past the height of Vangnois & over no man’s land to Neuvilly. Turned off on the rocade road through Dombasle & Blercourt. Thro. Nixéville to the Souilly road & back to Chaumont via Bar le Duc. Arr at 5:30, just 12 hr. trip & did about 220 mi. Last 60 kilos. in 60 minutes. – Little evidences of fighting west of Varennes road – all E. – Phoned Seals; corps passed to S.O.S. on 11th & 3rd Div. to III Corps. We are busted. Tues May 13: A.M. out at office. “Jackie” Barnes the heavyweight thinker there. Finished up the history dope, & left MacArthur to beat it out. Took Jumbo’s stuff to train, cleared up & cleared out at 3:45. Jumbo & Johnston leaving at 5 for St. Aignan. To Neufchateau, saw old lady store-keeper. On to Nancy, where we stayed at Hotel de L’Europe. Nancy is sure a wide open town, full of aviators, etc. We turned in & I was kept awake from 1:30 to 3:00 by a cognac drunk in a dive opposite. Wed May 14: Waited till 8:30 to break into embroidery shop. Then out & up to Metz past Norroy, Vandières, & Prény – tunnel entrance showing plainly. Bridge at Noveant had a hit on one pier. Tank barriers here & there. Saw cathedral, with Kaiser’s figure, & chains on the hands. A sign hung on it, “Sic transit gloria mundi”. Pooped all over town looking for an exit. Not a goddamned frog knew a thing, all day long. Our order was good everywhere, however, – Fr. or Am. sector. Beautiful ride to Bouzonville along a ridge & on to Saarelouis. Hell of a time getting out of Saarelouis & finally turned up toward Merzig & then through Morbach to Traben-Trarback & along Moselle to Cochem. Arr. 5:30. Wonderful weather, sun out, flowers & blossoms everywhere. Big bunch of mail waiting. Also a notification of the D.S.M. Read mail, had a hot bath & turned in. Thurs May 15: In office all day. Usual stuff. Exton here – sent him to Eltz. Pooped around all day. Fri. May 16: To Coblenz in A.M. Beautiful day & ride. Saw Steiner ref. Y.M.C.A. squabble. No dope. In office in P.M. Dance at night. I beat it early. Lot of girls from Trier & Coblenz. (Affected society type. Mrs. McKinlock, the rich Chicago lady with the pose. Lost her son & getting a lot of sympathy for bearing her loss so “ideally”. Painful.) Worked in office, doing nothing, till 11. Sat May 17: Gen. Wells back at noon, after touring S.O.S. Gen. Summerall leaving in morning for good. Work on details of preparation for leaving. – Walked with Spencer in P.M. & came in at 6 to find that Maj. Johnson, (welfare officer), was dead. Found in the bath-tub, parboiled by the running hot water. Had been there over two hours. Too bad. Had been feeling badly for



several days. Gen Wells gave the G’s a little spiel after chow. He & Krueger going to Paris by auto to-morrow. Spencer & I only staff officers left. Sun May 18: A.M. got the C. of S. & Krueger off to Paris. Gen. Summerall left at 8. Lantern-jaw went to Neuvred. Pig-snout to Wiesbaden. Busy day in office. P.M. walked with Spencer. Rusty Russell & Harry Howland in to chow. B-ached till 10. Old-time belly-ache. Harry in great form. Mon May 19: Maj. Gen. Thompson, British service, & a capt. came in & had lunch yesterday. Fine old duck. Usual routine all day. Got after all units to hustle up. – At 6 P.M. the order came to suspend all movements of troops! The usual performance. Rumor is that Germans will refuse to sign & that we move forward. Got things lined up in evening & notified all concerned. Tues. May 20: Called Craig, & as result, wired Gen. Summerall to return. Wired Wells. Red + girls left at 2:20. Turned out band & gave them a good send off. Hq. Fr., M.P.’s & band escorted them to station & bunch of other men turned out also. – P.M. Orders reversed again, we move on the 26th. Wired Summerall & Wells. Usual performance. Wrote till midnight. Wed. May 21: Went to Coblenz with Raymond. Cussed out Muhlke who ruined the cigarette case, & then bought a lot more stuff. Saw Reynolds & his crowd, & I. L. Hunt. Bought two Hun helmets, & some ribbons. Got a grasshopper shit ribbon for Seals. Beautiful day & ride. Nothing doing at the office. Arrangements going along O.K. Whipple in this A.M. Took Seals up to supper. Thurs. May 22: Began the final scramble, cleaning up offices & turning stuff in. Usual fuss & hullabaloo. Had picture of G-1 taken. Gen Wells did not show up. Capt. Butler came back. Turned in early. Fri. May 23: Gen. Wells & Krueger got in at 3 A.M. Gen. saw Mott & left my name with him for work as ass’t. Krueger looked like the wrath of God. Wallace & Grant came up with them, not up when I left. Went to Coblenz & picked up Seals, shopped around & back at 3 P.M. – Soldiers knocking off Hun hats – & heads – as flag went past. – Saw Grant & Wallace just before they left. Puttered around & had a session with Horse’s Ass Church, the D.S.M. Ord officer. Sat May 24: Office all day, milling around. Gouin left this P.M. – Photos of corps staff at castle. Finishing up the odds & ends. Sun May 25: Milled around the office. Packed & marked stuff. – M.P. drowned, while a gang watched from the bank. – 8 P.M. chow at troop officers’ mess. Gen Summerall & Wells there. – Weakening on taking leave!!! Mon May 26: Gen Wells left us at 9 A.M. Haircut & milled around the office. P.M. same. Had G-1 up for supper with Miss Herrick & had a roaring time. Col. Shipston (CAC) erstwhile gen. blew in for chow. – Sold mess stuff for 1000 mks. & chow left over for 1800 marks. – Turned in for the last time on that god damned bed at 10 P.M.



Tues May 27: The big day. Overcast. Last odds & ends cleared up in A.M. & to train at 12:30. Pulled out at 1:45, & down the line at Verdun were side-tracked for 6 hours. The trip down was beautiful along the Moselle to Thionville. Shower of cigarettes (K of C)! from the train. Woman in fields at Trier kicking us out. Saw Conrad at Trier & got a 1st cl. coach in. Seals, Seals, Raymond & I & Reed & medico filled in & were on easy street. Wed May 28: Woke up at Tierme entrance east of Verdun at 4:30. Man on 1st section fell off and lost both legs. Helped put the tourniquets on himself. Through Verdun, Dugny, St. Mihiel, Commercy, Gondrecourt (dusty sleepy old time town in the gulch) to Jouiville. Then on west to Valentigny, So of Troyes to St. Florentin. – Seals, Bisco, left door open & Seals C.H. woke up in a shower of glass, hand cut. Bisco caught it all day long. He finished up by sticking his head thro. the other window in the P.M. – French kids all along getting KC cigarettes thrown at them. Thurs May 29: On leave now. Fine sleep. At Bourges at 6 A.M. To Gièvres for breakfast + a fine crap – much needed. Left Gièvres at 10. Other section there when we pulled in. Continued fine weather. Gièvres a big wide-spaced lay out of stone-houses. Went thro. St. Pierre des Corps, & on to Saumur for supper. (Saw Muir & Golubich. During night went through Nantes & reached St. Nazaire at 3 A.M. Fri. May 30: Decoration day. Up at 5, & went down to hotel in town & shaved & washed. Had chocolate & then went out to Camp 1. Saw Goodwin. Over to Camp 2 & got Seals’ card & beat it. Caught 10:21 A.M. to Nantes, arr. noon. Fine big old town on Loire, built partly on islands. The pont transbordeur. Old cathedral & beach. Girls inside dating up. Rained hard all P.M. & evening. Rode the trolleys all over & had lobster & artichokes at the Maurice café, then took in a bum vaudeville. Town full of “widows” & perky poulets. Got an auto ride to L’Etat gare & held a compartment against odds till the train pulled out, Seals on one door, I on the other. Finally had to let in a frog, due to crowded conditions. Sat May 31: A bum night. People in & out & no chance to stretch. Woke up at Saintes at 7:00. (The American lady who slammed the door on us & said it was a hell of a note to reserve a seat.) Flat country all the way to Bordeaux; not much to see. B. said to be larger than Lyon now – 2nd city in France. Got in at 11:30, dumped stuff in station & went to M.T.O. Got a car for 1 P.M. Walked thro. town. Rue Ste. Catherine, etc. Chow at Y.M.C.A. in Place de Tourny (Gambetta’s statue) & at 1 got the Cadillac & crossed river to Basseus. Thro. various camps to Am. docks. About 1 mi. of fine docks, with railroad & unloading facilities & storehouses. The camps were very poorly laid out & kept up. The dock development was very fine. Big crowd about to leave, bands playing, mucho cheering, large handout of stuff as they went aboard. – Over to ordnance base at St. Loubis, never finished. Not at all imposing. Back to town, around boulevard, to cathedral. Small model statue of Liberty. Girondin monument. Old towers of walls. To station, chow at Red Cross, (1 franc!) & all about at 6:30. Down thro. the flat & desolate Landes to Dax & Bayonne & La Négresse. Correspondence to Biarritz – arr. 11:45. To Palais Hotel with old Spinach & his young wife who had been very affable en route. Two Y.M.C.A. MUTTS made the trip down rather miserable. (“You going to wear a wristwatch when you go back?” Bromide conversation.) – A dance on at the hotel. 8 or 10 blasé couples pushing each other around.



Several flat-head lieutenants & some cow-like girls. We watched a while & turned in at 12:30. After paying 8 fr. 30 for lemonade & 1 highball!! Sun June 1: All bitten up by mosquitoes or something during the night. Knobs all over my head. Got up at 9:45 – had chow & coffee, jam & crackers & walked around town & along beach – Rocher de la Vierge, etc. It’s what you’d expect – lots of hotels – a fine beach – villas – curio stores – lot of blasé muts, etc. Very dead indeed. A few speedy femmes would at least put some pep into it. Had lunch at a well concealed restaurant – no crabs. Saw Sgt. Richards, “C” Co., old 12th at Jossman. A capt. in the S.O.S. Walked around, bummed on the beach, wired Wells, & wrote. The 3-story station. – Train leaves at 8:30 for Lourdes & Toulouse. After chow at Café de Paris, (2 Fr. off. & their loving dames) started to turn in, but played pool on an enormous table with spinach & his darling till 11. Had a bath at last. Mon June 2: Caught the 8:45 trolley to Bayonne – crossed the Arbour to the station – old lad pushing the junk – & left at 9:20. Thro. an uninteresting country to Pau, where hills began. From there to Lourdes – beautiful views of the Pyrenees; snow on top, clouds hanging low. Lourdes in a beautiful situation, surrounded by hills. The K.C.’s delight. Town nothing but a series of junk & rosary shops. Blatant new church by the shrine. Shrine on river bank in a cave – crutches etc. hanging around. Candles galore, seats outside. 1st Wash up, & drink out of a dirty cup – 2nd pray – 3rd enter & kiss a dirty rock 4th pray some more. You’re good for murder then. K.C. girls & “Am.z’ chaplains & other geldings much in evidence. All taking water away in bottles. – “If you’re sick, it will make you well, if you’re bad, it will make you – if you’re “worse.” Watched the disgusting spectacle a while & then climbed the calvary, 13 big metal groups along the way. Through town, ate at a patisserie (kids choosing cakes) & out to Pic du Ju behind 2 distinctive donks. Cocher nearly knocked them down to make them go. Too late to make the ascent. 2 Y.M.C.A. girls there – one a Miss Johnson of High St. Yonkers!! Back to the gare by donkey power & nearly had a fight with the ticket taker. “Salaud”, etc. Uneventful ride to Toulouse – arr. 11 P.M. (Left Lourdes – 6:30.) – Beautiful view beyond Tarbes along valley with foothills of Pyrenees behind. To Hotel de la Poste & to bed. Tues June 3: Up at 8. Chow in hotel & put in the A.M. trolley riding & walking. Not much doing in Toulouse in morning. The Grand Rond & Jardin des Plantes & Alleés all very pretty & well laid out. – Good view of town from bridge over Garonne. Missed our train at 12:30 & took a nap till 5. – As a result, never woke up till next day. Bought some cherries & bread & caught 7:20 for Carcassonne. – Loud raucous voices on all the women. Continual screeching. Rickety streetcars. Reached Carcassonne at 11 & went to Hotel de Bernard. Wed June 4: Up at 7, out at 8. Walked around Ville Basse & then up to the Cité. A wonderful layout. Spent three hours rambling around, with 4 kids for guides. Beautiful view from the walls. YMCA girls with camera busted. Fixed it. All our 4 kids spoke Spanish!! Back & walked around town & through the market. Lad who spoke good English sent us to restaurant Auter where we had a good chow. – The old lad who had a miniature of the cité & who said Charlemagne besieged the queen Carcasse here in 1355!!! (7 yr. siege – threw out a pig & a sack of wheat – raised siege – rang the bells – Carcasse-sonne! – After chow went to station & caught the 2:09 for Cette. Guichet closed – Information in train dispatcher’s office. Hell of a time. Got to Cette at 4:30 & let the crowded express go out – following on the omnibus. Cette looks shiny



& hot. Just a small port. Lots of room in the omnibus & a fine trip to LUNEL & on to ARLES. Two talkative laughing dames got in & almost split trying to make us understand what they said. Advised change at Lunel, which we made & reached Arles at 9:00! Great luck. Through winding streets to the sq. of the Forum, got a room, walked around, drank some belly wash & turned in. Thurs June 5: Up at 7:30 & out at 8:30. Up to Roman arena (25,000 spectators – 110 m long. Saracen towers – fine view – wonderful old place – restoration going on.) Lectured kids for saying “Goodbye” & went over to Roman theater. Much more demolished. Being restored however. An immense thing. Out to Alyscamps (Roman burial ground). Flock of sheep, evidently long on the road – 20 or 30 lambs only 2 or 3 days old, one being carried on mule’s back. Rambled around town – thro. lapidary museum – Hotel de Ville – St. Tromphine church & palace of Constantine, a very un-imposing pile of brick. Along water front & back to hotel. Statue of MISTRAL the Provencal poet, in front of Hotel du Nord – piece of Roman forum in front wall of hotel. – Caught 2 P.M. express for Marseille & arrived, without a stop, at 3:30. S.E. France is like S.W. U. S., bright, shiny, dusty, hot, no grass, dobie appearance, duty olive trees, etc. Beautiful blue water, & yellow, orange & red cliffs. Make a pretty picture. Clouds of dust blowing in streets. Went to Hotel Splendide. – Walked down Cannebiere St. & up to Ascenseurs. Up to N.D. de la Garde. The mistral nearly blew us away. Down & walked around. Bouillabaisse at Basso’s restaurant. Sulky, surly bunch of bastard waiters. The chow was good, though. Walked along water-front in evening. Tough place. Drunken American “on the beach.” Stopped in at a bum “light opera” & wasted 2 hrs. Bath & to bed. (S. got a piece right in the hotel. Very convenient.) Chateau d’If in the harbor. Fri June 6: Bummed a Cadillac & rode out Corniche road. Back thro. town to zoo – imposing fountain. Along waterfront & docks, & back to hotel. Ostrich with his bare bum, blowing up his neck. – Fine boulevards all over town. Am., Eng., Fr., It, Alg., Senegal, Aunam, Hindus, etc. etc. make it a cosmopolitan sight. Chowed in Splendide & went up to comsy. & Hq. Saw Squirt again & also C.H. White (1907) the adj. B-ached around and then to R.R. station & stood ½ hr. on line to buy tickets. When I finally got them, the bureau de réservations was closed! Jesus. A bunch of monkey sailors clogged the place. To hotel, picked up & paid up, paid off the vultures, cussed out the clerk & back in time to get seats on the Nice Express. Got out on the sea just at dusk & could not see much of the coast. At Nice at 10 & to O’Connor Hotel. Lot of Paris YMCA girls came in. Sat June 7: Out at 9:15 along sea-front. Concert of 2 itinerant musicians at Lux. Hotel. In for a swim; pretty cold. Beach full of fake bathers. The Arles Englishman was there! (See opposite page.) Walked around & had chow at Café de Paris. Got a cab & rolled around town for an hour. Then took a nap & turned out at 6:00. Town is big spacious, well built – a nest of hotels & villas; nothing poor or unpretentious anywhere. A typical millionaire resort. – Sat on beach promenade, chowed at Café de Paris, saw “Charlot Pompier” & turned in. Sun June 8: Up at 6:45 & at 8:15 after waiting for “near” officer left with latter & 2 lts. for Menton. Along shore to Villefranche & its bay formed by Cap Ferrat – Thro. Beaulieu to Monte Carlo. (France one side of street, Monaco opposite.) – To Casino – grand ceremony of opening door of gambling room & letting the suckers in. Looked around grounds & went. Thro. town to



the promontory. – Museum of Oceanography – cathedral & prince’s palace. Army of 100 men. Whole coast is a succession of indentations with the mts. rising steeply behind & the deep blue of the sea contrasting with the green palms, red roofs & white houses. Villa after villa, hotel after hotel, for mi. after mi. On to Menton & crossed bridge into Italy. Back for chow & restaurant about Menton (funiculaire). Beautiful view. – From Menton up the Grande Corniche to La Turbie with Augustus’ tower & on to above Eze – little town perched on top of a crag 1500 ft. high. People work the oliviers – etc. – Out of date forts scattered on all hilltops. – View up to the Alps, snow plainly visible. – Views almost straight down to the shore & villas & things below. On into Nice at 3 P.M. (80 kilometers.) Old bitch at station refused couchettes without orders, & acted generally like an old bastard. Took a nap, & turned out about 6:30. – Promenade, & good chow at Hostess House. Off. & E.M. all mixed up; bad business. Bummed around & turned in. Mon June 9: To Hostess House for a good breakfast. Out for a swim at 10:45. Back & packed. At 1:45 to Café de Paris for a G.B., 30 fr. chow – Hors d’oeuvres, Langouste, Omelette, Veal, & cherries & nefles. About 4 good-sized meals. Haven’t been so stuffed for many months. To station at 3:15, after being charged for 2 days only at hotel, & got couchettes for Paris. Fine evening ride along coast, Antibes, Cannes, Toulon. Tues June 10: Woke up so. of Lyon at 4:30. Beautiful weather. Farm houses detached in Rhone Valley; like U.S. In Lyon about 6:30 & up to Dijon at 9:00. Got off to get the 1:00 P.M. to Chaumont. Walked around town – chowed at officers’ club & left at 1:00. Hot. Changed at Chalindrey to Chaumont train. (Mt. Saugeon near Prauthoy, scene of Cesar’s fight with Vercingetorix.) – At Chaumont 5 P.M., grabbed R.T.O. truck & to guest house. Bath & shave, & met Gen. Wells, Bjornstad & Lewis at supper. B-ached till 11 in Gen. Wells’ room. Wed June 11: To G.H.Q. at 9. Saw Nolan who wrote note to Eltinge for a car. Tried A.G. on 10-day leave. Nix. Saw Richardson. Saw Elting who said he’s approve Nolan’s request. Saw Gauthier re, route & gas for our trip. Gen Lewis left this A.M. Had Runt for lunch. At 2, left for Langres & Mt. Saugeon (woman at RR crossing who had never been on the hill, 200 yds. away.) Back thro. Nogent by the back roads to Chaumont at 6 P.M. – Evening b-ached around. Thurs June 12: Out to G.H.Q. & got orders. Saw Ulio – b-ached all morning. P.M. to Domréncy & Gondiecourt & back by auto. Shanks, Helwick, Woods & Brewster at dinner. Brewster is a fine rosy specimen of a horse’s ass, covered with decorations. Wells thought he was drunk. Kalloch here – gave me the dope on his tour with the 35th Div. Fri June 13: Pulled out at 6:20 & ran up to Bar le Duc & Verdun, Bras, Consemoyes, Sivry, Dun, looking over the river on the field. Crossed at Dun & was astonished at appearance of town on its little pinnacle. Sticks up like a sore thumb. Down thro. Aincreville to Bantheville & Romagne (Am. Cemetery.). To Cunel & Brieulles, past B. du Fays (4th Div took it & 80th did not get up abreast). Down thro. Nantillois to Cierges & Charpentry. Up to Exermont & scene of Kallock’s fight in front of Montrebeau wood. Open field dominated on 3 sides. Down to Cheppy, Harry Howland’s town & went along 91st’s jump-off line & back to Vanguois. Climbed up & looked over the craters. Extended views over whole field. Out to Varennes & down to Clermont – St. Menchould – past VALMY to Châlons. Seals had hell of a time with tooth.



Went to French dentist & got the “pointes de feu.” Better. I rustled gas & Seals gargled. Chowed, walked around & turned in. – Our chauffeur, McCabe, all in. 209 miles only. Wished for Nevin. Sat Jun 14: Got away from the Hotel Haute Mère Dieu (lady (?) undressing at window) – at 7 & beat it at once to Suippes & on to Souain. Went on almost to Somme Py thro the field of Sept. 15. – A desolate waste. – Picked up old couple from Paris, tramping around looking for son’s grave. Souain looks like a few old teeth in an octogenarian’s jaw. Crossed to St. Hilaire & got on old Roman road. (Poppies everywhere – everything that has been dug up is covered with them – graves included.) Moronvilles heights looked as if covered with snow. Old Roman road was boche front line after July 15 apparently. – Worked along almost to Nauroz & found holes in road. (Dugouts caved in.) Back & cut over to Thingy. (lunch while waiting for train to pull out.) & went to ____ & Fort de la Pompelle. Three tanks nearby knocked out. Pompelle is a sad mess. Commanding views over surrounding flat country. On into Rheims. – All knocked to pieces & saw cathedral. – Looks capable of being repaired easily. – Bunches of rubber necks wagons already. – Dropped Seals – en route to a hospital for his face – & beat it for gas. Sent back & forth; finally got it & shot up to Berryan Bac. All same Souain – just bricks. O.P. hill nearby looks like Vanguois. Went along Aisne to Vailly, past Denilly, Chavoance, etc. Here & there people looking for graves. Back from Vailly came out on AIZY & JOUY & the Malmaison fort. Terrain much rougher than I had imagined. On top of Plateau near Malmaison for wonderful extended views in every direction & sudden distant view down to LAON, standing up on its eminence in the plain. Cathedral plainly visible. Thro. Chavignon & across the AILETTE. On to Laon & up the steep road into town. A second Langres, in appearance & setting – looked all over town & got chow at ECU Hotel. – 15 francs for omelet, ham & chocolate – Pulled out at 6:30 & at 7 were in La Fere. thro. Crépy. St. Gobain forest on left. No such signs of determined fighting as up around La Chesne, Quatre Bras, etc. Probably just a followup. – Annoying stretches of paved road in each town, full of bumps. La Fere of course a wreck. On to Travecy & Vendeuil. Travecy is much nearer La Fere than I had remembered. No signs of hard fighting all the way to St. Quentin. British had not elaborated defense system any. St. Quentin full of “Réouverture” signs. Cleaning up; opening stores, etc. Hotel Moderne gave us a room, a clean bed & something to eat. Boche prison in old market across street. They were laughing & talking till 10 P.M. Fr. hospital in municipal bldg. next to them. Hunted gas unsuccessfully. – Bony – 813 Pioneer has some. Sun June 15: Up & chowed. Lord McCabe rolled out at 6:45. We left at 7:30. Lord McCabe, apparently thought I was keeping expenses on him and changed his tune when I explained matters. Up to Bellicourt, (canal-tunnel entrance) & on to BONY for gas. Cemetery of 27th & 30th Divs. on slope facing east. Wide views over slightly rolling country. Back & down to Le Catelet (old time fort there, all grown up with trees.) Went thro. town & turned off toward Vendhuile. Saw north exit of canal tunnel. Can’t see the “tremendous” difficulty of taking the position except that it had the best of the observation. Thro. OSSUS & Honnécourt & to Villers – Guislain. Gonnelieu due north & Gonzeancourt north west, open & very slightly rolling. Thro. Gonzeancourt & back up to the main Cambrai road. Cambrai from a distance does not look badly, but of course it is like all the others. Got a picture of so. gate & church tower & turned off on Bapaume road. Turned right past Bourlon Wood into Bourlon. Big concrete P.C. & O.P. on ground commanding entire field of battle (Periscope holes). “Remains” of a tank in



hole in front of entrance apparently blown by a mine. – Pieces 50 yds away. Picked up old fiery Frenchman & carried him out to Arras road. Was in Bourlan 3 yrs. under the Boches. Deported to work in the north. “Ils ne m’ont jamais accepté comme ça.” Made to search his house at point of pistol, for cigarettes. Boche put his hand on his wife & the old boy hauled off to land on him. Bluffed the boche out. “Impossible de vous dire dans une journée ce qu’ils ont fait. Sauvages, bêtes jauves, sale race, etc. etc.” Fire-eater. Shook hands & we turned toward Arras. Rotten, bumpy, paved road all the way. Arras full of gents in on an excursion. Rode around town (remains of colonnaded square, full of lorries. Gang in front of ruined church (to be left just as it is) taking pictures. Gare a wreck, too. Picked up a Br. vet just at edge of town & took him to Favreuil. Usual Somme landscape on way down. This guy says Chinos not good laborers, boches are the best. Bapaume to be left as a memorial. Rode around Bapaume (numerous estaminets in new shacks) & looked over the tanks in the tank dump (about 20 in all stages). Turned down the Albert road & got a most vivid impression of the Somme field. Take away the grass, put the wire & trash back, let it rain & the result can be easily imagined. Stopped for chow between Courcelette & Martinpuich. On past Thiepval & Bagentin to Albert. Took into Albert a Br. capt who had been out hunting (successfully) for a grave. Albert a mess – the 1918 ruée & return did most of it. Taken early in July ’16. Australian div. mon. at Pozières Ridge. East from Albert to Péronne past Fricourt & Mametz – or where they were – no trace. Beyond Maricourt an extended view towards Mairrepas, Trones Wood & Combles to N. & over the Somme Valley to the south. On into Péronne – blocked off at usual entrance so went around. Péronne is flat of course, remains of old time enceinte & moat. Down to “This was Villers-Carbomel” & due west to Amiens. Old lady from Neuville St. Vaast, looking for the “petit garçon” killed at Estrées in 1916. We went past Estrées without seeing it, to Foucancourt. Poor old lady all broken up. Travelling around with a little hand basket – Forgot it – so much used up about le petit garçon. On to Villers-Bretonneux – not badly damaged for such heavy fighting. Good O.P. Only 1 more hill before Amiens is in full sight. Into Amiens & looked at town & cathedral. To hotel near station. Cleaned up, chowed, wrote; to bed. Mon June 16: (Plate covered with powdered glass, last night’s chow.) (Dump blown close by at Malmaison.) (Wood alcohol in the coffee.) Stumbled on a gas station, & out at 7:30 (Frog rat’s nest in a cellar; cooking & sleeping & office.) Down to Moreuil along the Avre. Usual struct. – one line only along heights, on one side of river, other opposite. To Montdidier – & west to Mesuil St. Georges – turned off to Cantigny. – Good command to SW & W. fairly level open approach to N. (C. formed a troublesome salient & was cut off.) Back thro. Montididier & across country to Lassigny thro Conchy les Pots. People are coming back to their old homes & trying to patch up. Rather sad result, in view of surrounding desolation. Crops coming along however. Old line at Lassigny. On to Noyon, now entirely destroyed. One street not badly damaged (where I once had chocolate) rest of it unrecognizable. To PONTOISE & to Coneyle Chateau. Beautiful view commanding situation. Town & Chateau both rubbish. Must have been very solid & imposing. Only parts of towers now standing. (Valley of Arlette) On to Anigy le Chateau. Down in a hollow & all smashed. Pinos forest hard by. On to Pinon & up hill past Vandesson. Here the view extends out to LAON. Old gun positions along road. Over rotten road to Malmaison where we chowed. Horse-fly pest. Fr. corporal looking for his brother, killed in 1918 (classe d ’18). Hell of a hot day. Back to the god damned pavé & in to Soissons; (cathedral towers stick up over the hill as you approach). Beat it for Villers Cotterets, passing MISSY aux BOIS & 1st Div. Cemetery – (middle of adv. of 1st Div.). Little further on,



where north elements of 2nd Div. jumped off. Moroccan div. between. Foret de V. C. a thick stand of fine trees, clear underneath. Went on to Nauteuil & Paris over that bastardly pavé – nearly gave me a stitch all through my chest. At Paris went to Louvre for Seals. No Seals; no word. Beat it for Continental, on account of “white pants brigade”, had a bath & chowed on the boulevard. Saw Robbins; still b-aching about the D.S.M. Tues June 17: Good night’s rest. Left coat, hat, 1 musette, & sack of chow & left at 7:40. To Meaux thro. Nogent & had cool coffee, cheese & bread at country café. Would not accept new 2 fr. note. To near Chat. Thierry & up to TORCY, BELLEAU, & BOURESCHES. Out to VAUX & in to Ch. Th. To Chateau, & then out to Dormans along 3rd Div. line. (4-7-30-38 – Chierry to Mezy) At Mézy, where 38th scrapped, ground is entirely dominated from E, W, & N. across the river. On to Dormans & down thro. gently rolling, wooded farm country via Montmort & Champaubert to Sézanne & the open flat country near the Marais de St. Goord. Arr. 1 P.M. Delay in chow (aviator down at Baye.) From Sézanne (2:30) a shirt-tail shoot thro. La Fère Campenoise – Sommesous – Vitry le Francois, St. Digier – Chaumont, (6:00 P.M.) Got bags to depot & room at Hotel de France. Tearful goodbye from McCabe. Washed up – b-ached with the Plats & turned in. Note: The following notations were spread out in Diary #22. Dope: Dope on what the American girl found out about the American soldier. Americanism – all creeds, nationalities, etc. living together without cutting each others throats or desecrating each others churches. Spectacle of all these nationalities getting together and jumping in to break up the War-Loan poster. When knocking the regular army, stop a moment & consider – who organized & ran the camps, & national army, who instructed, helped & equipped the milish, who org. the A.E.F., & its S.O.S., schools, etc., etc., who supplied the army, corps, div., brig., reg. comdrs & all the staff of the army, etc. etc. etc. Chief Rice sent to inspect Gen. Cole of 26th Div. Found open fraternizing in front lines before any talk of an armistice even. P. Traub’s great 35th Div. In line Sept 26-30 only. In sector south of Verdun afterward. Y.M.C.A. man Allen, elected gov. of Kansas, made the howl about reg. army, lack of art., etc. Unfortunate succession of reg. officers detailed as reg. comdrs. – Americus Mitchell, Alonzo Gray & similar duds. Boche pris. at Brest asked permission to wear service stripes – 9th corps gang made march, St. Mihiel – Nogent, gained 4 on the way – 200 at Chaumont wanted to enlist in U.S. Army. 2 K.P.’s in Hq. Fr. IX Crops, in Am. uniform, came over from French. – Competition between prison camps, – prize, a box of cigars. Howland’s capture of Cheppy – Liaison officer who followed him, wounded in both arms, back & buttocks. – Little frog & his tanks; brought ’em in, walked ’em around, had ’em shot up & went & got 8 more. Then they took Cheppy.



Indications in front of 3rd Div. for attack of July 15: 1. 4th Cl. Ldiv. div. in line over 16 kilom. 2. Pris. knew nothing of anything behind them, not allowed to go back of their lines. 3. Art. registered in spots till entire area covered then dropped from 4000 to 200 daily. 4. No reaction to heavy gas shelling (20,000) (Am.) 5. Boches began to work at night – no earthworks apparent as result. 6. Ambush picked up a pioneer off. of outfit last heard of on Somme. A “mouton” found he

was a specialist on river crossings. 7. One week later, a plane shot down, with a blue point map, covering ground behind our lines. 8. Artillery fire began to get a dump occasionally. 9. O.P. from 2 diff. regts. reported sounds like metal cylinders being unloaded. (Passerelle)

(Bridges built on shore & pivoted across, others sunk & lifted for use. Cylinders hooked together.)

Dope. 79th Div. “We have paid our debt to Lafayette; – who the hell do we owe now?” (Chalked on trains.) Tune “Where do we go from here?” Mother, take down the service flag, Your son’s in the S.O.S. He’s S.O.L., but what the hell? He’s safer than the rest. He’s gaunt & pale, from too much tail, Or else I miss my guess – So, mother, take down the service flag Your son’s in the S.O.S. Buttons Walker’s rating!!! Excellent – 1-2 Very Good – 3 –32 Good – 42-89-90 Fair – 4-30-33 Poor – Others Very Poor 5-35-26-79-92 35 – Succession of rotten colonels 79 – Skulkers at jump off, Sept 26; thought their stragglers were casualties. The 42nd stopped in front of Landres et St. Georges, caused cessation of the push until the 1st of Nov. MacArthur went forward, Leinhan stopped. Summerall canned them all right down to co. comdrs. – Very small gains by the 42nd while they were in. – The 82nd, coming up thro. 1st Divs. area & facing west, cleared up Chatel Chebery & the ground west of the Aire, & allowed line to be straightened through St. George etc. (in front of it.) – 508 guns in 5th Corps to open the way on Nov. 1, Barrage 1000 yds. deep. Counter battery guns were picked up as the barrage reached their targets & walked along.



Spencer’s estimate of Stebbins, = 1 dud; a sort of ½-assed map distributor – Always asked Spencer what to do when he passed in dope. Never could, or would, get extra or special maps. – Spencer reported “nothing in front of 3rd Div.” on Oct. – but Stebbins did nothing to stir things up & the boches put in a div. by truck all the way from Metz. Reason for Reserve off. grouch Lack of promotion! Due to fact that after the regulars showed them how, they forgot who had taught them, began to think the regular a boob because they had learned everything so quickly & at once wanted the instructor’s job. – Summerall called in 2 off. In 82nd (?) (Roosevelt & ______ ) & they said the regr. were promoted & the reserves weren’t. (Jesus Christ.) Well – all the junior off. who fit & bled were N.A. and N. G. Of course; why? Because reg. Army not made big enough to supply them. Regs had to be used as instructors & directors. – O’Ryan, 1st to plan reg. Army, was also 1st to go to Wash. & pester the W.D. for 100 reg. instructors! What kind of officers do the Americans want to lead their sons? Incident of young Roosevelt & Squirt Rozelle. Squirt used to relieve him. “Here are the orders; but I don’t pay any attention to them.” “Your name is Roosevelt & mine is Rozelle; I’m going to obey them.” Squirt normally had no losses practically; Roosevelt always 20 or 30 – from unnecessary exposure. (The trained and the untrained officer.) Recipe of success: 1/6 common sense, 1/6 technical knowledge, 1/6 calm, 3/6 character, a la Buttons Walker. Impressions of Argonne field. Dominated from E. of Meuse & W. of Aire – Extended views down long, straight gullies – Ridges always wooded, on each side of these gullies. – Small distances in a day’s gain or between our positions & the boches. Difficulty of supply, everything in the open and visible from everywhere. May Mon. night 26 Bed at Cochem Tues. night 27 Metz – Verdun Wed. “ 28 St. Florentin – Bourges Thurs. “ 29 Saumur – St. Nazaire Fri. “ 30 Nantes – Bordeaux Sat. “ 31 Bed at Biarritz Sun “ June1 “ “ Biarritz Mon. “ 2 “ “ Toulouse Tues. “ 3 “ “ Carcassonne Wed. “ “ 4 “ “ Arles Thurs. “ “ 5 “ “ Marseille Fri. “ “ 6 “ “ Nice Sat. “ “ 7 “ “ Nice Sun. “ “ 8 “ “ Nice Mon. “ “ 9 Marseille – Lyon Tues. “ “ 10 Bed at Chaumont



Wed. “ “ 11 “ “ Chaumont Thurs. “ “ 12 “ “ Chaumont Fri. “ “ 13 “ “ Châlons Sat. “ “ 14 “ “ St. Quentin Sun. night “ 15 Bed at Amiens Mon. “ “ 16 “ “ Paris Tues. “ “ 17 “ “ Chaumont Wed. “ “ 18 “ “ Paris Thurs. “ “ 19 Paris – Bruxelles Fri. “ “ 20 Bed at Ostende Sat. “ “ 21 Hazebrouck – Paris Sun. “ “ 22 Bed at Tours Mon. “ “ 23 “ “ Paris Tues. “ “ 24 Paris – Paimpol Wed. “ “ 25 Bed at Paimpol Thurs. “ “ 26 “ “ Bréat Fri. “ “ 27 “ “ Bréat Sat. “ “ 28 “ “ Paimpol Sun. “ “ 29 “ “ St. Malo Mon. “ “ 30 “ “ St. Malo Tues. “ July 1 Pontorson – Paris Wed. “ “ 2 Bed at Paris Thurs. “ “ 3 “ “ Le Hâvre Fri. “ “ 4 “ “ Le Hâvre Romans incinerated their dead till time of Antoninus – then buried. Revised formula for success: Decision 2; Common sense 1; Technical knowl. 1; Calm, 1; Character 5 =10. Bjornstad & the org. of the Staff College, for which G.H.Q. takes so much credit. No help except 1 reserve lieut. (Promised 12 off.); no materials, (bought ’em in Paris, stole ’em in Malone’s office in G.H.Q.); no subject matter or books or anything. (Wrote it up himself.) Bjornstad, in org. O. T. camps in 1917, when he sent out the wires to Dept. Comdrs., calmly boosted the no. per camp from 1500 to 2500!! The old fossil gang said 8000 stewds were plenty; get 5000 off. from them. 40,000 were not enough! A.G. G.H.Q.!!! Field clerks to capts. in 3 mos. Case of 2 Lt., Q.M.C., at Brest (?) who had organized & conducted the shoe plant. Never promoted – (Corky Davis grabbed off the foreign decorations in bunches for his crew of trained paper shufflers.) 35th Div: A hopeless mess. In 5 days – 500 killed, – claimed 7000 casualties. P. Traub & C. of S. always out of P.C. Bugge sent by Army to find out. Kalloch, G-2, sent by Traub with adv.



O.P. Kalloch had 138th turned over to him by the Col. (Hamilton) & told to attack at 5 A.M. This at 4:20. Got together about 100 men & 2 auto rifles (4 clips each) & attacked at 5. (“Acv, who got out this order, anyway?”) 6 officers in wood let Kalloch go forward alone, with 2 lieuts. – From Montrebeau Woods he got to edge of Exermont, held on 2 hrs. & fell back. Right flank completely turned. No support. Shot up by a boob who came out behind – said he had orders from someone “to attack NW.” Result – loss of ground from Exemont back thro. Montrebeau Wood; 1st Div. retook it with 9000 cas. – Skulkers everywhere. Excellent material; bum officers. Bjornstad, C. of S., III Corps, would allow no troops to go into Brieulles basin. Heavily harassed. – Pulled out 80th, put in extra brig. (King’s) of 33rd, put 80th near Cuisg, reported to Army, – & lost the 3rd. – Sent the attack around the Bois de Foyes, pinching out all the boches. Kept his reserve (3rd) back of nomansland – in line of columns, closed up, ready to move across. Burtt got them & at once moved them up. – Hell of a time. Impressions of the Somme: Wide distances – very large field. Absence of hills, all gently rolling. Succession of valleys & hills all just alike, so many as to make small advances seem hopeless. No woods, fences or buildings, everything flush with ground. Occasional discouraged tree stump or chimney. Imagine no grass, wet, mud, trash, wire, gunfire, wounded & killed, transport, men, etc. etc. and easy to recall scene. Very strong feeling of respect for determination & guts of Fr. & Br. in biting it off, bit by bit. Dope. Old T.M.’s made of wood & wire wound. Br. “footballs” lying around. Favorite occupation – hunting the grave of some poor fellow. Numerous tanks – one pointed toward Gonnelieu as if expecting to go on some day. Trash, trash, trash everywhere. 1st Marne Field. The 1st Marne battlefield almost absolutely flat between Sézanne & and Vitry le François – very gently rolling, no natural line of defense. Open farmland – here & there a wood. More woods than on Somme. La Fère Champenoise is a little sleepy one street town, while Sommesons is simply a group of houses at a cross-roads. – Vitry is quite a town; so is Sézanne, but not so big. View from the hill just N.W. of Sézanne down over the field east to Vitry. – Connautre just before La Fère Champenoise. Connautry just before Sommesons. No marks of battle except occasional grave in the fields. Wed June 18: Slept from 7:40 P.M. to 7:40 A.M. Business stopt in Plat’s joint yesterday while we gossipped about Catron’s gray hair & pod, Morris’ tightwad ways, Bugge’s gang playing cards till 5 A.M., “le petit juif”, the club device etc. Went out to the almost defunct G.H.Q., got haircut & D.S.M. Saw Moreno, & after finding everything closed up, piked back to town. Chowed, said goodbye to the Plats & got 2:30 for Paris. – Slept most of the way in, arr. 7:00 P.M. Seals was at the Louvre with a room, tooth out after a hell of a time, & feeling better. – Walked around, bought some aquarelles and eaux-fortes, & got attacked in a café. One dame



had recognized Seals & pounced on him. Shook ’em off & went to bed. (Attila’s camp just NE of Châlons. A hillside with scrubby growth of pine on it, nothing in the way of markers, etc.) Thurs June 19: Bum bed; fake generosity of Red Cross. 10 fr apiece for a cot in a tiny room; no bath. Went to mint & loaded up on junk (médailles). Went to station for reservation & to Hqrs. Paris District ref. Seals’ court (Snappy sentinels). To P.O. & cashed some checks. Made 97 fr.; great reluctance of P.O. man to turn loose the dough. Etoile & Champs Elysées & Place de la Concorde lined with boche guns. Had chow in little restaurant on a chicken who hadn’t been wiped. Seals reneged on his & made mine taste good by assuring me I’d be dead in the A.M. – P.M. went out to Pantheón de la Guerre. Fine big thing – all France of course; the U.S., Panama, Cuba, etc. occupy, together, one small panel. Went up on the Eiffel Tower & Seals wouldn’t go near the edge. Walked back to the Invalides & I just walked him, too, keeping just ahead so he couldn’t continually body-check me. We had a nap from 4 to 6. – Saw Worsham, 1916 in lobby & Johnny BUBB came up to the room & b-ached about 5. Chowed in room & moved downstairs. I beat it at 9:30 & got 10:40 out of Gare du Nord. Two Red + girls took up most of the compartment & tittered & chewed the rag till midnight. I choked off the jew majical doctor by dousing the glim. – Woman & 5 kids, one a little baby, with bags, trying to get on a moving train. Crowd shoving kids getting separated, no one to give her any information. Helped her on with her crowd & she got a good place, 2d class. Fri. June 20: Waked up at 5 by the tittering Red + beauties. Got coffee & peed back of the station at Quévy, frontier. In Brussels at 7. Went to Gare du Nord & got a 3 franc box of the best fraises I ever ate. Great big boys, – fresh, juicy, tasty. Crowd of Red + nurses piled in for Ostend & a Boche-Belgian “man” tried to push in on our seats. I called in a guard & told the boche where he got off. – Uninteresting flat country. Practically no damage except R.R. Rebuilding everything even now. Got off at Bruges by mistake but got back on & made Ostende at 12. Rainy. To Hotel Royal du Phare. Awful water here; can’t get a lather from it. Had lunch of mineral water, shrimps, smelts & fried potatoes (12 fr!!). Same as room. Walked all along waterfront, saw Vindictive & other Br. ships sunk here; also boche batteries on the beach in front of the Palace Hotel. Fooled with a lot of kids. Went down to the basin, & at 5 turned in for a nap. – Out at 7, walked, bought lace etc. Found a good little chow place where for 5 fr I had a better meal than the Royal Phart would put up for 20. Walked out on pier & saw Vindictive – never really blocked channel. Boches pulled her nose around, pivoting on her stern, & she is entirely out of the way. Sat June 21: Een, Twee, Dree, Vuf. “Dree eggas in our elata” (Ypres) – Up at 6:15 and at 7 had coffee & roll. Marvelous crap immediately after. God damned clerk misdirected me to the gare, deliberately, I believe. Didn’t tip ’em enough. Fooled the baron head waiter, by palming my change & putting 1 fr. and 1 cent in the “Service” box. Off at 7:40, 2nd cl. on a 1st cl. ticket. At Courtemarck, changed for Ypres. – Fake tanks made of wood & camouflaged. – At Westroosebeke, got into the battle area – Houthoulst forest to the west. Profusion of pill boxes to beyond Langemark. No marks of any regular positions till close to Ypres. Organized shell holes, pill boxes, wire & mud, principal defenses. Not quite as rolling as on the Somme & more somber, on account of marshy ground, shell holes full of water, destroyed pill boxes – (hastily made). Same scene as far as eye can reach. Got to Ypres at 10:30 & walked all around. Old defenses & moat on east side of town. Town dominated by Mt. Kemmel & heights beyond, but



directly east & north east there is nothing that looms up much, even from the highest point in town. – Belgian family at Courtemark going back to Poperinghe, – 2 canaries in a box, bottle of wine, pair of shoes, etc. etc. One husky boy, 2 little kids, 1 girl, 2 women & an old man. All cheerful & laughing. – Chowed in the Villa Ypriana; bunch of Eng. soldiers, – one a ringer for Old Bill. No pill boxes close in, apparently British either had no time or didn’t think enough of them to put them in. – Heavy rain about 3 P.M. – Saw old Colwell (U.S.N. retired) at train, & on piled Mr. John Dean, 68, of Victoria B.C. with a bag of junk, boche shovel, axe, helmet etc. Good scout, had 2 cans of earth from grave of friends’ sons. Pulled out a bottle of brandy & he & Colwell & a Canadian capt surgeon (Hi Taylor) polished it off. – Br. have an idea they won the war, kept the French in & broke up the German army & that the only assistance the U.S. gave was morale. – (use of reserves.) Tremendously ignorant (7,000,000 men!) (Weftschaete ridge), etc. Poperinghe, (1st sta from Ypres) to Hazebrouck (French side) at 6:00 P.M. Had tea with the two old geezers, helped Dean at station & stood up on the 7:12 Paris express to St. Omer. Had compartment to myself till 11 when a drunk frog came in. Between him & 2 Chinks had a bad night. Threatened to throw frog out of the window. Sun June 22: In Paris at 8:05. To Hotel du Louvre – washed – chowed (Byrne, Van Vlieb, Robertson ’13 & ’14). Saw Ralston. Walked with Seals till noon. Chow at little restaurant. Left stuff at hotel, checked & got 2:30 for Tours Last car, nearly whipped off the track. – Fast run. Tours at 6:50. – Walked out to H.Q. Had chow, turned in. Scared stiff about running into the Bastard. Mon June 23: Up at 8 & out to H.Q. Saw Garr & had everything I wanted at once. Sail from Le Harve on July 5 – (report on 4th). (Leviathan 4-5000 officers on June 28!) – Marseille on July 1 by Pres. Wilson if desired. Back to Paris, on 2:17 – arr. 4:30. To Louvre & saw Seals. Bummed around – chowed – went to movie (Charlot Voyage) & saw performance on blvd. Crazy Americans much in evidence. People all over autos, buses, etc. Gangs charging around. Got “investigated” by A.P.M. Tues June 24: Chowed at Louvre. Killed entire day doing odds & ends. To court with Seals – to comsy – big lunch at Louvre – bus riding – walk around Montmartre & Boul Clichy – Bal Tabarin – Façade – boche with his buttocks out & 2 snakes coming out of his hole – boche helmet perched on his ass. Chowed in Seals’ room, left stuff with him & to Gare Montparnasse & out on 8 P.M. train. All seats taken. Fresh 2d Lt. next to me. – Drunken sailors & heedless naval officers – The navy must have some fine discipline. Not much sleep. Le Mans, & a madhouse at midnight. Wed. June 25: Woke up at Lamballe & the goddam train went right through Guingamp without stopping. Went to Morlaix, back to Guingamp – en panne for an hour on the way & caught the freight train to Paimpol. Three hours lost, only. Chow at Rest de la Gare – good chow, too. Walked all over town & to port & got wet & went to Grand Hotel. Cleaned up & napped. Rotten drizzly rain. Woke up at 8! Talk about sleep. Excellent chow; best long goose I ever et. Walked (cleared up) in evening – met 3 drunks & had to go home with one of them before I could duck them. He was a Fr. skipper with American licenses – spoke Eng. well. Going to be naturalized. Turned in at 11.



Thurs June 26: Up at 8 & chowed. Walked to Ploubazlanec & Larcouest. Stopped at shrine in pine grove near Paimpol. Pretty panorama. Old woman who had written to Wilson “just to thank him you know.” “At the bottom I put ‘vive la france’. Was that all right?” Very appreciative of U.S. help like all the old Fr. people. (Of my trench coat she said “yes I see it’s dirty” when I said it was an old one. Thought the leather buttons were of wood.) At Larcouest had a chow of artichoke, best fish I ever et, peas, veal & new potatoes, lettuce, salad, confiture (4½ fr.). Crossed on ferry 12:30 & walked around Bréhat. Ran across Fr. artist for Ill. London News. He & wife had adopted a 3 yr. old war baby; very cute little kid. Going back in his vedette at 6 P.M. – Bunches of little islands – good deal like Long Island Sound. Pretty views of country side, villages, cottages, fields of grain, pines, etc. Weather still clear. Back to Paimpol by vedette – had to run to catch it – at 2:30. Wrote. – The old artist came at 5 & we went back in his motor boat, – a beauty with the old Breton skipper tickled to death to dévancu the others. Beautiful outlook over whole island from rocks at west end. After chow, called on the artist & his wife & chewed the rag till 10. His place is best location on island. Old Breton beds with shutters, for wainscoting (900 hand made spindles on one). Queer glazed jug-like things to keep projecting joints dry, – on rafter corners. Invited for tea at 4 tomorrow. The island celebrities will be present. Old boy hates the Italians as much as I do. Fri June 27: Up at 7. La Croix des Venves near Ploubaglanec. Annual procession, Mar. 20, men in nightshirts & barefoot – to cross & chapel & then off to Iceland. – Walked all over the island. Everywhere little houses with garden, patch of potatoes & wheat, cow, some sheep & occasional chickens. Everybody happy & well off. No pretension, no rich people. – all alike. – 13 lighthouses in sight of the island. – Old lady tapped me for 5 sous – “Last one I’ve got” – “O, that’s all right, je suis contente; you can’t give one to everybody in the world.” – Lunch, 1 fish – 1 lobster – 1 omelet – 1 chop with potatoes, 1 dish strawberries. Drying cow-turds (for fuel) on the rocks, like pancakes. – Seaweed for fertilizer. – New potatoes in June, 1 fr per lb. here. Old woodchuck working in potato patch, a very rich man selon de Haenen. – The “prison”, one inmate in 30 years. Workman, 75 cent. per day, 30 years ago; now 10 fr. – Cabaret des Décapités – artists’ heads on glasses in wine shop – row after row of celebrities. – Old lady proprietress with one tooth; hadn’t been 100 yds. from the house in 10 years. – De Haenen’s studio, full of models of ships, old carvings, his own drawings, musical instruments, etc. etc. A great old card; draws for Illustration & Ill. London News. Been at all the wars for last 50 yrs. Russo-Jap war drawings, Madagascar, etc. – Goes around, dirty as hell, in an old sweater, & has a fine time. - - - Walked in P.M. & went to de Haenen’s for tea; Mme. Lemounier (Maire’s wife), & daughter Mme. Vibert & Mme. De H. Three kids. (Usual appreciation of U.S. by the women). de H’s description of King of Madagascar, who received him sitting on his wives. Had 3,000 & gave away the oldest to his friends as a present. (“Vous l’avez dessiné couché sur ses femmes?” “O no jusqu’ice” showing waist.) Big laugh.) King sent him present of 2 girls who were waiting outside his tent. Fr. off. said “Ne les touchz pas, elles sont toutes malades”. Ha, – Ha – Ha. – King asked if picture were a horse. Turned it round & round. Much pleased when told it was. – At 8:30 went over to Vinberts. The old bugger has about 4 million francs & runs a great dump. Chewed the rag & drank wine & kirsch till 11. Plain unpretentious people; do their own work, de Haenen turned out in his sweater & pants with the bike clips on. Sat June 28: de Haenen dated me up for the Tréguier trip to-day; wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Dull morning. Out taking pictures; bummed around. Cleared toward noon. Chowed &



went to de Haenan’s for coffee, then to lower landing & with the Vinberts sailed to Larcouest in de Haenen’s sailboat. Got Vinbert’s old Peugeot – 12 yrs. old – never a repair & drove over to Paimpol (essence) & on to Tréguier – over suspension bridge & Trienx River. Everybody taking new potatoes in to boat & train, roads crowed with them. Stone crosses everywhere, cross near Paimpol with sponge, hammer, spear, ladder, etc. hanging from it. A painting in one little church of the virgin Mary making pancakes for Christ. Ate cakes in the Tréguier pâtissserie & looked over the old church (13th cent.) & cloister. – Bunches of unhappy boys sitting around in front of altars & others being confessed. Another gang raising hell in the cloister. Had a vermouth & citron & came back to Paimpol. – Everywhere people getting ready to celebrate tomorrow. Said goodbye to de Haenen & the Vinberts at the hotel. Walked, chowed & to bed. Sun June 29: Up at 5:30 & after coffee went to 6:30 with a very pleasant Frenchman of 50. Two decorations. Train carried 14 carloads of new potatoes to Guingamp – yards full of them. Got Paris express thro. St. Brieuc to Lamballe. Br. naval off. aboard “We had 5,000,000 soldiers!” Poor mouth about sinking the German fleet; Br. Admiral asking permission from Boche to go aboard the boche ships! Shit. At Lamballe got a train to Dinan at 11:10 & had lunch at Dinan near station. Went to get 2:30 vedette – none till 5:30. Was glad of it after seeing the town. – Du Gueschins statue – (Tom Sharkey type) Anne de Bretagne’s tower – The old walls & towers, 15 left out of 24. – Ran out in the country & left a smooth bronze under an apple tree. Probably every O.P. in town was on me. Back & ate pâtisserie – 9 & a cup of chocolate. Old woman whose daughter married an American. She didn’t like it, but had swallowed it, after careful examination of the Am. & his family. – Great “combat a-charné in 1351 (?) between 30 Breton & 30 Eng. knights. Eng lost 2 killed! Some combat. – Wonderful old town especially the old houses on Rue de Jersual going down to the river. – Big preparations for a fiesta & procession – floral designs mingled with horse turd in street – Embroidered sheets covered with flowers on the walls – decorated shrines here & there. – Big reposoir on one corner & another at end of route at the city gate. – Left at 5:30 & a little gamin ran alongside to the locks seven kilom. down river. Did it in 30 minutes – for the 3rd time to-day. 42 kiloms, half of it on the run. He got a shower of coins, (8 fr. 50) – 21 sous on his 2nd trip & 0 on his first. Gives it to his mother. Fine trip to St. Malo, but cold as hell. A couple of frog officers had a hell of a time keeping warm, snuggling up to their flusies. Some fat good natured Fr. tourists aboard. Trip something like Hudson if banks were low, – or Long Island Sound. Landed at St. Malo pitching some, & the first thing I saw was a “Y” man (?) Christ, the town is lousy with them. Asked one of them about a hotel. He said “Well, which one do you want to go to?” – Another said “Huh? Well, I guess you got me!” Went to Hotel Anivers, chowed, bathed, washed, kicked, wrote, turned in. Mon June 30: (Cherry farting the poor old lady on the vedette. Tears in her eyes.) Out at 9 & walked all around the walls & afterward all thro. town. – Sent some chewing tobacco to de Haenen. Went up on the church steeple for the view. Clear at noon & until 4 P.M. Windy & cold. Out to Grande Bey & lay in the sun, then bummed on the walls. – Bow-legged kid on the beach, running away from his mother. He sure could leg it. These god-damned “Y” men (?) are insufferable. Blasé, fresh, self-satisfied, loud, sissified muts. They simply own the town & they make you realize it. Waiting here for transportation to U.S. Took a nap, chowed & turned in.



Tues July 1: Home this month!! Left St. Malo at 6:30. To Pontorson, change at Dol. (fertile, fruit trees. Marais & mont de Dol). Arr. about 9:30 (3/4 hr. late.) Rainy. To Mont St. Michel by auto along the dike. – First glimpse thro. the mist exactly as pictured. Left junk at “Omelette” Poulard’s & went up to Abbaye. Tiresome trip thro. a wonder bldg. “Delsarte” the guide impressed the crowd with his wonderful knowledge of which stone was put in or taken out in June, 1037, etc. – The old Caehots – the ‘squirrel’ wheel to pull chow up the hill. The fine old réfectoìre & knights’ hall, Louis XI presided here at 1st meeting of K. of St. M. Sent photo off by mail. Also 2 cats, 1 rabbit, & Jumbo’s mirror. The fist dish 3’ long I almost bought for mother. Took Miss Harlow to lunch at Poulard’s & we saw the ceremony of the omelette making. Old dame pointing to the pan with her fork & saying “Ici” to the garem who poured the egg in. It sure was a wonderful omelette. Rained to beat hell. Bummed around till 5 before Miss H. left & I could get to other things. Poke around till 7 having a religious discussion with a femme who had a little buvette on the wall. Back to Pontorson & got the 8:10 at 8:30 – Couchette 25 fr. 20 c. Jesus. Got one anyway & had whole compartment to myself. Had to pee out the window, no other facilities. – Mt. St. Michel is like Guam, you don’t have to go again, but it is well worth the visit. Wed. July 2: In at 7 & to Royal Palace & woke Seals up. Trouble getting a room. Chowed & bummed till 10. Walked to St. Lazare station; reserved a seat – bought crabs & patisserie for to-night & chowed at BISSON’S (Rue Faub. Montmarte off Boul. It.) Fine chow for 5 fr. Got tickets for opera, & washed clothes & packed till 4 P.M. Walked till 6 & chowed on SOUP – CRAB – COFFEE – & CHERRIES. To opera. Salomé with a big fat be-tited woman in the title role – ridiculously sensuous in front of John the Baptist. – Then a beautifully danced pantomime. Copélia. 2 acts of wonderful dancing. Met Seals’ girl. Balatchiconis or something like that – a Lithuanian. Turned in at 12:30. Thurs July 3: Cold & rainy. Out at 10. Repair on blouse – walked. Got history. Chowed next door to hotel – good chow for 5 francs. Packed till 2 P.M. Got up to station early – got stuff on, – ate pâtisserie & left on time at 5 P.M. Clear weather & nice trip down. In at 9:30 – to R.T.O., & got a kid to carry bag to hotel (Moderne) – took the meusettes & hiked – usual flock of exorbitant drunk cochers. Got the last single room at the hotel. Mathews the hand-shaker (1906) here. Washed stuff & turned in at 10:30. Fri July 4: Up at nine – had some chocolate full of pig swill. Walked around town – no one in baggage office, of course. Read. Chow at hotel at noon & then walked out to the outer basin. Br. troopship just leaving (WAACS & French wearing American colors. Got 2 films – 2 fr 30 each. Read & wrote. Took a nap. Had a bath. Chowed & turned in. Sat July 5: Last day in France. Up at 8, & after chow walked. Got 2 bottles of Médoc & some éclairs (!) & went down to 1 Rue Dubocage de Bleville. (R.T.O.’s Bougage de Bleuville!) No system or organization anywhere. Signed up some certificates & cooled my heels till the medico rolled in at 11. “Just to see the belly wall.” Gave me the once over & I beat it up town to the P.O. No money order dept. Of course not. No comsy. in town. Of course not. Got a skin tight haircut & had a chow on a luscious big langouste. Went down to boat at 1:30 with a crowd of A.F.C.’s & stood around for an hour & a half till somebody came with the tickets. On board at 3. Got room & deck chair & seat at table, & money changed. Bummed around deck –



listened to Johnson spiel – he hates himself. Ran the personnel bureau at G.H.Q. for 5 minutes. – At table with Mathews & a fat dame who apparently is a buyer in Paris for some N.Y. firm. Turned in at 10. Sun July 6: At sea. Rainy but smooth. Up at 8 & had a real breakfast. Read & wrote & walked till noon. There is the God damnedest motley crew of sons of bitching “Y” men and K.C. Micks & red cross johnnies & wop aviators & fart frog lieuts. in red pants & discharged soldiers & Pa. auxiliaries & Spanish mutts that were ever gotten together. They own the deck, too, bejesus, Christ Almighty. Me for the P.I. or Panama. – Walked & slept all P.M. Turned in at 11. Smooth – foggy. Mon July 7: Slept till 8. Out on deck till 10. Two whales spouting about ½ mi. off starboard. Passed 2 freighters going our way; also 1 3-masted schooner. P.M. bummed around & slept. Turned in early. Tues July 8: Rolling, with a list & as a result there are faces missing everywhere. Out at 8 – & after adding 2 more tennis ball pills at breakfast, finally had a blast – (9 big meals in me – high time to explode.) – Everybody on the watch for R-34. More blasts; beginning to feel the way whiskers used to look. Wed July 9: Doing about 380 a day. May get in on Monday. Up early crapping, – had a bath, sat in the sun all A.M. After lunch on deck, walked & read. Sat on deck chewing the rag till 11. Thurs July 10: Getting along. My chinless Y.M.C.A breakfast companion turned up as usual with his bright remarks on things in general. Walked, read, sat, slept, ate. Beautiful moonlight night. Yesterday’s whale, close in to the ship. Rose not 50 feet away – about 30’ long. Fri. July 11: Fine weather. On deck all A.M. chewing the rag with Miss Gallagher & Mr. Rawak (hate) P.M. read & slept. Walked, ate, read, etc. etc. etc. – Kramer (Lt. Col from Tacoma) all worked up about the bazoo artists who are knocking the regular army. Turned in early. Sat July 12: Up at 7 for luke warm bath. Foggy, rainy weather, slow speed. Whistle going. Much rougher. Iceberg in sight yesterday. It now seems sure we can’t make port before Tuesday. Dubbed around, slept, walked, exercised. – The aloin pills produced results. Sun July 13: Up at 6, sewed my leggings – walked & read “Chevalier de la Maison Rouge.” P.M. Short-arm inspection. Read. (– I find the inspecting was to nail a son of a bitch who has been using the baths – The majical doctor caught him, luckily, & had the tub scrubbed.) Prowled around and turned in. Fog again. Mon July 14: Whistle tooted all night. Heavy fog. Read all A.M. (Chevalier de la Maison Rouge) Johnson’s adventure with the eggs – too hard, too soft, just right & bad. At noon 139 miles out. May get to quarantine to-night. WE DID. Got there about 10 P.M. – Lights of Coney Island & Staten I. resorts. Ships going & coming. Cannot realize I may see Win tomorrow!



Finis de la Grande Guerre. (Note: The following notes are spread out in Diary #23.) (MATHEWS claims that Bulgaria was bought off for 50,000,000 (Remember the little jew at G.H.Q. who was up there proposing this very deal in May 1918.). In the A.E.F. there was never any question of Reg. Army, N.G. or N.A. It was always the best man available who got the job. Not only reg. off. passed on milish, but milish, also passed on reg. off. (Case of Kramer at St. Aignau. Tel. frl C.G. SOS “Dispose of off. as you see fit. No further recommendations to this office”) Let’s have justice all the way around – not only for a few canned soreheads but for the people who put over the big job. (etc.) Losses – Off. 507 out of every 1000 K. or W. E.M. 446 out of every 1000 K. or W. (In Inf. of 30 combat divs.) (whether in battle or not.) (1st Div. 400 off, 800 casualties)

1. Inf. 2. M. G. 3. C.W.S. (?) 4. Tanks 5. Air Service 6. Artillery (mostly gas) 7. ?

Margaret Wilson was PAID by the Y.M.C.A for singing!! My God. She had a Locomobile limousine, a chauffeur, a lieut, a terrible gall. Was in Mathews’ mess at Le Mans for a week, had mess allowance from Y.M.C.A. Paid nothing. Had to have breakfast at 9, lunch at 2, dinner at 10:30 Motored over to Gievres to ‘sing’. Old Carlos of Portugal painted nudes of all the women of the court – Pretty good painter. De Haenen and some Eng. artist got him dead drunk & they went careering around on a yacht shooting champagne bottle at the King’s yacht, (out of a saluting gun.) Out of 900,000 francs of worthless checks passed by “army” officers – so called – over 50 percent were by aviators. Bank of Issoudun had a stack 6’ high. YMCA guy who drew no pay from Aug to Mar. & had wine dinners every night. Another (at St. Aignau) doubled all prices & pocketed 100%. etc. Inf. losses (“Did officers lead men?”).



44

There is about 1 off. to 31 e.m. in Inf. Brig., (1 to 27 in div.) Killed 1 off. to 21 e.m. D. of wounds 1 off. to 23 e.m. Average 1 off. to 22 e.m. where normal would be 1 to 33. 96.5% of all losses were in the combat divisions. 81% were in the Inf. In the air service 165 off., 220 e.m. were killed or died of wounds. Mathews with Br. 33rd Div. Plumer’s IInd Army contained 16,000 men in June, 1918. (Just south of Ypres.) If Boches had come again, they were all packed ready to go. Haig got word in April or May to accept any offer of peace that might be made by the Boches. Mathews’ dope is that Br. were damn glad to accept the armistice. -- (Ref. Wells’ dope on Lloyd George’s condition to Foch that he guarantee further losses to be < 10,000 men.) Two nurses from Serbia say Serbs won’t work. Why should they? Fr., Eng. & Am. missions all giving them clothes & chow! Hooray for foreign missions. (& the poor, starving Belgians.) Serbs came in every morning to watch the girls dress – whole family. The Fr. captain that Johnson ran out of Trier for doing business with a boche & then lying about it. (Fr. liaison off. with our economic mission.) Arr. U.S. July 15 – Lorraine – 15 days leave extended 15 days. To Wash.; heard of language detail – Japan & China. – Chose China rather that detail in M.O.D. in Washington. Left Syracuse Wed. night Aug. 20 – arr. Chicago, next A.M. 21st. – 10:00. Left Chicago 3 P.M. at St. Paul next A.M. Left St. Paul about noon (22nd). At Moose Jaw next noon (23rd). At Banff next A.M. at 8 (24th). Up the Bow River thro. the spiral tunnels – down the Kicking Horse River. – Down the Columbia, up the Bear, thro. the long (5 mi.) tunnel. Down to Illicilliwalt, across the Columbia, over the pass to Sicamous. Overnight at Sic. Left at 9 (25th). Down Thompson River to Fraser, down Fraser R. to Vancouver. Town crowded, got 1 room. A.M. 26th, boat to Victoria & Seattle. Arr. 8 P.M. No connections. Cpl. Marks in ticket office. Spent 27th in Seattle – left on 11:15. In Portland A.M. 28th. Saw Carrie Wilson – Passed Shasta A.M. 29th. Arr. Berkeley 6 P.M. 29th. Carlton Hotel till Sept. 2. then the Mick house at 1540 Milvia St. Kids wonderful travellers – Nance’s ice-cream cone at Moose Jaw. Trips: Raymond & Fricke to Petrified Forest via Muir Woods & Napa Valley. – With the J. Wm’s to Monterey & back via Santa Cruz & big trees. – Martinez & Walnut Creek – Skyline boulevard – To Muir Woods for picnic, New Year’s – H.P’s party, Orpheum & Palace – San Mateo with Pep. Dinners – St. Francis, Palace, New Frank’s – Movies at T & D & U. C. – Picnics – Horsefalls & Rices – Miss Wilson & waffle parties. – Crab dinners on back porch. – Teeth soirées



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