TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DAILY ARKANSAS GAZETTE FEBRUARY 9, 1919 P. 3
After the armistice was signed my organization was put in the Third Army and we started for the Rhine. Passed through Belgium, Luxemburg and into Germany. Crossed the border at Trier. This is a beautiful city on the German side of the Moselle river, which separates Luxemburg from Germany.
As we sauntered across the line and on to the Rhine we found children always under foot. Flaxen haired youngsters on every fence, at every window, on every curb. Little boys wearing the red and gray caps of the German soldier and saluting us soldiers like a lot of undersized internationalists. Little boys and girls without waiting for Mr. Hoover to investigate their tummies, demand chocolate on all possible occasions. The German stores have some candy but it costs two marks to buy as much as five cents would buy in the States. For chocolate the enemy infants or Hunlets, as we call them—bring souvenirs in abundance. If a field kitchen pauses to do business by the roadside, if a car halts at city curb, the children surround it, like bees around a honey cup and always souvenirs to swap.
The Germans have no soap and they will swap most anything for it. Supply officers have had their kitchens and supply wagons stripped of soap and certain boys who seemed unusually burdened with handsome souvenirs are under suspicion. Soap is legal tender in Germany, and with a musette bag full of small bars of issued soap, a soldier could travel like a king from one end of Germany to the other. Soap boxes are under triple guard.
The kids were not the only ones who acted friendly, very often a big fat girl would come to the door and smile. Of course, all come out to watch us go by, some of the old folks to stare incredulously, some to wave hospitality. The Americans have no quarrel with the German children, of which there seems to be an abundant output.
The trip across Rhenish Prussia, is one of unforgettable beauty. So lovely is the winding Moselle, so towering the vine clad hills between which it winds its way to the Rhine. There is the four-kilometer Kaiser Wilhelm tunnel to go through. It is all too beautiful for me to describe. The fact that the Germans were not satisfied with all this beauty and grandeur shows their brute hoggishness.
NOTES: Sergt. Arthur Bailey from White County, Arkansas was serving with the 153d Field Hospital in the Army of Occupation in Germany.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
After the armistice was signed my organization was put in the Third Army and we started for the Rhine. Passed through Belgium, Luxemburg and into Germany. Crossed the border at Trier. This is a beautiful city on the German side of the Moselle river, which separates Luxemburg from Germany.
As we sauntered across the line and on to the Rhine we found children always under foot. Flaxen haired youngsters on every fence, at every window, on every curb. Little boys wearing the red and gray caps of the German soldier and saluting us soldiers like a lot of undersized internationalists. Little boys and girls without waiting for Mr. Hoover to investigate their tummies, demand chocolate on all possible occasions. The German stores have some candy but it costs two marks to buy as much as five cents would buy in the States. For chocolate the enemy infants or Hunlets, as we call them—bring souvenirs in abundance. If a field kitchen pauses to do business by the roadside, if a car halts at city curb, the children surround it, like bees around a honey cup and always souvenirs to swap.
The Germans have no soap and they will swap most anything for it. Supply officers have had their kitchens and supply wagons stripped of soap and certain boys who seemed unusually burdened with handsome souvenirs are under suspicion. Soap is legal tender in Germany, and with a musette bag full of small bars of issued soap, a soldier could travel like a king from one end of Germany to the other. Soap boxes are under triple guard.
The kids were not the only ones who acted friendly, very often a big fat girl would come to the door and smile. Of course, all come out to watch us go by, some of the old folks to stare incredulously, some to wave hospitality. The Americans have no quarrel with the German children, of which there seems to be an abundant output.
The trip across Rhenish Prussia, is one of unforgettable beauty. So lovely is the winding Moselle, so towering the vine clad hills between which it winds its way to the Rhine. There is the four-kilometer Kaiser Wilhelm tunnel to go through. It is all too beautiful for me to describe. The fact that the Germans were not satisfied with all this beauty and grandeur shows their brute hoggishness.
NOTES: Sergt. Arthur Bailey from White County, Arkansas was serving with the 153d Field Hospital in the Army of Occupation in Germany.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT