TRANSCRIBED FROM THE NEWPORT DAILY INDEPENDENT OCTOBER 22, 1918 P. 2
Somewhere in France,
9-28-1918
Dear Mumsy:
Received your letters O. K. and only wish that they had been longer, but I won’t kick. I am as fat and sassy as ever at present and have gained some flesh. We are stationed (billeted) in a small town about the size of Tuckerman, but with about twice as many people. The sreets are small and all the houses are made of stone (concrete) with walls about 18 inches thick. The majority of them join each other and are right on the street, saving the space that a yard would take up for barns. We are billeted in a loft and must say that we are pretty comfortable, even if we are crowded. Part of the company have a hotel to stay in. Couldn’t get all of them in, so they put some somewhere else. The town is full of young girls and kids. The girls can all say “marry” in English and I do not understand. It would tickle you to death to see us carry on a conversation with them. A deaf and dumb, man would be in luck here. You see one of us talking to one of the “Joli Mademoiselles” it is a sign language one minute and a dictionary the next. One hardly sees any one (French) until after 8 o’clock at night. They promenade until 11 or 12. They must sleep in the morning.
At the present time they are making wine. They gather their grapes one day and put them in barrels. The next they crush them, stems and all. They strain the juice and put it in barrels for fermentation. Yesterday during drill one of the French women came out of a house and called another sergeant and I. Of course we didn’t know what she wanted, but she kept saying wine, wine, wine. We wasn’t thirsty, but decided to see what she wanted. When we got there she carried us around the house to the barn and put us to crushing grapes.
How is Rene? What news of Chicot? The weather here has been pretty chilly for the last few days.
Love to all and write soon,
JAIME.
My address: Sgt. Jaime Diaz, Co. B.
153 Inf., American Exp. Forces, A. P. O. 904.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY
Somewhere in France,
9-28-1918
Dear Mumsy:
Received your letters O. K. and only wish that they had been longer, but I won’t kick. I am as fat and sassy as ever at present and have gained some flesh. We are stationed (billeted) in a small town about the size of Tuckerman, but with about twice as many people. The sreets are small and all the houses are made of stone (concrete) with walls about 18 inches thick. The majority of them join each other and are right on the street, saving the space that a yard would take up for barns. We are billeted in a loft and must say that we are pretty comfortable, even if we are crowded. Part of the company have a hotel to stay in. Couldn’t get all of them in, so they put some somewhere else. The town is full of young girls and kids. The girls can all say “marry” in English and I do not understand. It would tickle you to death to see us carry on a conversation with them. A deaf and dumb, man would be in luck here. You see one of us talking to one of the “Joli Mademoiselles” it is a sign language one minute and a dictionary the next. One hardly sees any one (French) until after 8 o’clock at night. They promenade until 11 or 12. They must sleep in the morning.
At the present time they are making wine. They gather their grapes one day and put them in barrels. The next they crush them, stems and all. They strain the juice and put it in barrels for fermentation. Yesterday during drill one of the French women came out of a house and called another sergeant and I. Of course we didn’t know what she wanted, but she kept saying wine, wine, wine. We wasn’t thirsty, but decided to see what she wanted. When we got there she carried us around the house to the barn and put us to crushing grapes.
How is Rene? What news of Chicot? The weather here has been pretty chilly for the last few days.
Love to all and write soon,
JAIME.
My address: Sgt. Jaime Diaz, Co. B.
153 Inf., American Exp. Forces, A. P. O. 904.
NOTES:
TRANSCRIBED BY LARAE SHURLEY