| Chapter 1 |
Working in France With heavy packs on our backs we hiked all the way in, scarcely stopping until some of the men fainted and fell out. Our Lieutenant halted a number of trucks and we proceeded on with them to Brest. All through the night, in a cold drizzling rain, we unloaded hundreds of loaves of dry bread and boxes of corn beef from the big government warehouses into funny little French box cars. After completing our work we were shown places in which to rest awhile and possibly get in two hours of sleep before morning. This I managed to do in a half reclining position up against a wall, while every moment I could feel the water dripping all over me from holes in the scanty roof of our shed. It was freezing cold and I was all wet and dead tired. At dawn we were up again and marched a mile in pouring rain to the train. Here again we were put on duty, all through the day distributing rations to the troops on board 35 box cars. We boarded one. There were forty men to each car, jammed in like sardines, with rifles, packs, coats and rations for a three days trip. Worn out, completely exhausted, soaked to the skin and half frozen, I sat on my pack and with water dripping all over me from a leaking roof, I fell fast asleep while the old box car went rattling and bumping on through France to our next stop. It was a miserable trip lasting almost three days, with the old box cars continually knocking and bumping together. On the third day we reached our destination. After eating our dinner consisting of corn beef, cold coffee and hardtack in the open freezing north wind we formed out in a field for a two-hour hike. Part of our men, however, were again sent back to the depot to watch the baggage and to load the rations on the trucks. Thus it was a constant job of load and unload. There were rolls of bedding that weighed four hundred pounds and boxes as heavy as lead. We worked hard and steady until nightfall, then marched back to join our company. We reached them at dusk after plowing for miles through fields of mud. |