TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHARP COUNTY RECORD APRIL 4, 1919 P. 1
Editor Record:
If you will give me a little space in your paper I shall try to write a few lines telling of a pleasure trip, if there be such a thing in the army, which I took on, a three day pass. I put in for a pass to Coblenz, the third army leave area, and was told by the “top” that I could go the following Wednesday.
Though I have traveled across England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg and part of Germany, yet I wanted to see the Rhine river, and also wanting to get away from the grind of military life for a few days. I gladly took advantage of the pass. On Wednesday, six other boys from the corps, I was taken in a truck to leave train at a little town on the main railroad. I didn’t know there were any other kind of coaches in Europe except the box car type with “Hommeo 36 40. Chennaux 8” marked on them, but to my surprise this train had 3rd class coaches, which were for privates, too. Each car was divided into two or three compartments with seats all facing, leaving a space of about five feet square in the center. They seemed to have been built expressly for the American soldier, because we had not been on the train a minute when one could hear a noise like two little square blocks hitting the floor. A fellow sitting next to the remarked. “They’re at home already.”
The train soon pulled out, and we began to stick out heads out of the windows in order to see the country. It was about ninety kilometers to Coblenz, and the road runs right along the banks of the Moselle river nearly all the way. There are mountains rising from the river for thousands of feet. In some places they are very steep, so steep that the Germans are not cultivating the sides, and I can tell you that a mountain side has to be very, very steep if those Dutchmen fail to cultivate it. In most places it appeared that there were huge steps up the mountains, for the roughest places have been blasted down and all is terraced and concreted up, making enough space to set out a few grapes. The grape vines are set about three or four feet apart each way, about as corn is checked in Arkansas, then stakes are driven so as to hold up the vines. The vines are not allowed to grow very large. It certainly is a beautiful sight to see a mountain side terraced and covered with grapes. Moselle wine, made from grapes of the Moselle river valley, is famous all over Germany.
We reached Coblenz about eleven o’ clock, and were marched to a big barn, where we were to be billeted during our stay. In the evening two or three hundred soldiers walked about three miles to see the royal castle of Stolzenfels. This castle is situated about 300 feet above the Rhine on a wooded mountain side, just across the river from the villege of Copellen. The castle was built in 1250 by Arnold II of Elsenburg, archbishop of Fredes. It was destroyed in 1689 by the French and remained in ruins until rebuilt by Crown Prince Frederick William, afterward King Frederick William IV. It was built on the style of the old castle, except on a larger scale, and was completed in 1842. It is the property of the “Kaiser Bill,” though he never lived there. On the way through we had to put on felt slippers twice. You can imagine what we soldiers with hobnail shoes would do to a highly polished floor of oak, maple and walnut.
The castle contains many fine paintings, and wonderful frescoes and richly carved furniture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a fine collection of old arms and armour and many other things of historic interest and artistic merit. In one room there is a clock made in 1595, which is still keeping good time. Just on the inside of the wall I noticed several round stones weighing seventy-five or eighty pounds each. The “Y” man explained to us that these were thrown from the catapult at the enemy. One of the boys said he would have hated to have been on the ammunition detail in those days.
The next day we spent on a boat in making a trip up the Rhine, going up the river about forty-five kilometers. The Rhine, or at least that is what the Germans say, is the most beautiful river in the world. Perhaps you who have not seen it will dispute the assertion, but after you have once seen the river I am sure you will agree with the rest of us who have seen it. Every German loves his Rhine, and in his love attributes to it the highest qualities Longfellow, who visited so many lands, says “O, the pride of the German heart is the noble river and right it is, for of all the rivers of the beautiful earth there is not so beautiful as this.
The Rhine is a romance itself. Castle after castle fit so beautifully into the lines of the landscape, just as if they had originally been placed there for the purpose of artistic effect. The Rhine is 1143 kilometers long, or about 700 miles. The width of the stream varies, but at Coblenz is about 200 meters, and, if I am not mistaken a meter is 39 inches. Millions of marks have been spent in improving the channel, and I guess traffic on the stream is as old as the knowledge of the river itself. There are 11,000 boats on the river. Just across the Rhine from Coblenz is a big fortress, the strongest before-the-war fortress in Germany. It commands the highest point near the city, consequently all the surrounding country can be seen from there. On a tall flagstaff a twenty-foot flag–Old Glory-can be seen for a long distance, whereas only a few months ago the German Imperial was proudly waving there.
At a point where the Moselle empties into the Rhine is a statue of Kaiser William I, great grandfather of “Kaiser Bill” It is the largest equestrian statue of the world. It is made of bronze and is a wonderful piece of work. It was unveiled in the presence of “Kaiser Bill” in 1895.
The Rhine trip is a fine one to make; at least I found much to interest me. I am in the army of occupation, and do not know when I can go home, but am hoping it will not be long until I can travel westward until I reach Sharp county.
With best wishes for the people of my home country.
Earl E. Andrews
NOTES: Andrews was from Scott Township in Sharp County. He was writing from Germany as part of the Army of Occupation.
TRANSCRIBED BY KATHY GRIMM AND JORDAN HOLYFIELD
Editor Record:
If you will give me a little space in your paper I shall try to write a few lines telling of a pleasure trip, if there be such a thing in the army, which I took on, a three day pass. I put in for a pass to Coblenz, the third army leave area, and was told by the “top” that I could go the following Wednesday.
Though I have traveled across England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg and part of Germany, yet I wanted to see the Rhine river, and also wanting to get away from the grind of military life for a few days. I gladly took advantage of the pass. On Wednesday, six other boys from the corps, I was taken in a truck to leave train at a little town on the main railroad. I didn’t know there were any other kind of coaches in Europe except the box car type with “Hommeo 36 40. Chennaux 8” marked on them, but to my surprise this train had 3rd class coaches, which were for privates, too. Each car was divided into two or three compartments with seats all facing, leaving a space of about five feet square in the center. They seemed to have been built expressly for the American soldier, because we had not been on the train a minute when one could hear a noise like two little square blocks hitting the floor. A fellow sitting next to the remarked. “They’re at home already.”
The train soon pulled out, and we began to stick out heads out of the windows in order to see the country. It was about ninety kilometers to Coblenz, and the road runs right along the banks of the Moselle river nearly all the way. There are mountains rising from the river for thousands of feet. In some places they are very steep, so steep that the Germans are not cultivating the sides, and I can tell you that a mountain side has to be very, very steep if those Dutchmen fail to cultivate it. In most places it appeared that there were huge steps up the mountains, for the roughest places have been blasted down and all is terraced and concreted up, making enough space to set out a few grapes. The grape vines are set about three or four feet apart each way, about as corn is checked in Arkansas, then stakes are driven so as to hold up the vines. The vines are not allowed to grow very large. It certainly is a beautiful sight to see a mountain side terraced and covered with grapes. Moselle wine, made from grapes of the Moselle river valley, is famous all over Germany.
We reached Coblenz about eleven o’ clock, and were marched to a big barn, where we were to be billeted during our stay. In the evening two or three hundred soldiers walked about three miles to see the royal castle of Stolzenfels. This castle is situated about 300 feet above the Rhine on a wooded mountain side, just across the river from the villege of Copellen. The castle was built in 1250 by Arnold II of Elsenburg, archbishop of Fredes. It was destroyed in 1689 by the French and remained in ruins until rebuilt by Crown Prince Frederick William, afterward King Frederick William IV. It was built on the style of the old castle, except on a larger scale, and was completed in 1842. It is the property of the “Kaiser Bill,” though he never lived there. On the way through we had to put on felt slippers twice. You can imagine what we soldiers with hobnail shoes would do to a highly polished floor of oak, maple and walnut.
The castle contains many fine paintings, and wonderful frescoes and richly carved furniture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a fine collection of old arms and armour and many other things of historic interest and artistic merit. In one room there is a clock made in 1595, which is still keeping good time. Just on the inside of the wall I noticed several round stones weighing seventy-five or eighty pounds each. The “Y” man explained to us that these were thrown from the catapult at the enemy. One of the boys said he would have hated to have been on the ammunition detail in those days.
The next day we spent on a boat in making a trip up the Rhine, going up the river about forty-five kilometers. The Rhine, or at least that is what the Germans say, is the most beautiful river in the world. Perhaps you who have not seen it will dispute the assertion, but after you have once seen the river I am sure you will agree with the rest of us who have seen it. Every German loves his Rhine, and in his love attributes to it the highest qualities Longfellow, who visited so many lands, says “O, the pride of the German heart is the noble river and right it is, for of all the rivers of the beautiful earth there is not so beautiful as this.
The Rhine is a romance itself. Castle after castle fit so beautifully into the lines of the landscape, just as if they had originally been placed there for the purpose of artistic effect. The Rhine is 1143 kilometers long, or about 700 miles. The width of the stream varies, but at Coblenz is about 200 meters, and, if I am not mistaken a meter is 39 inches. Millions of marks have been spent in improving the channel, and I guess traffic on the stream is as old as the knowledge of the river itself. There are 11,000 boats on the river. Just across the Rhine from Coblenz is a big fortress, the strongest before-the-war fortress in Germany. It commands the highest point near the city, consequently all the surrounding country can be seen from there. On a tall flagstaff a twenty-foot flag–Old Glory-can be seen for a long distance, whereas only a few months ago the German Imperial was proudly waving there.
At a point where the Moselle empties into the Rhine is a statue of Kaiser William I, great grandfather of “Kaiser Bill” It is the largest equestrian statue of the world. It is made of bronze and is a wonderful piece of work. It was unveiled in the presence of “Kaiser Bill” in 1895.
The Rhine trip is a fine one to make; at least I found much to interest me. I am in the army of occupation, and do not know when I can go home, but am hoping it will not be long until I can travel westward until I reach Sharp county.
With best wishes for the people of my home country.
Earl E. Andrews
NOTES: Andrews was from Scott Township in Sharp County. He was writing from Germany as part of the Army of Occupation.
TRANSCRIBED BY KATHY GRIMM AND JORDAN HOLYFIELD