TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHARP COUNTY RECORD APRIL 25, 1919, P. 4
Editor Record: - After a few months’ absence from Sharp county I often find my mind drifting back to some old familiar scenes around Evening Shade and Ash Flat, which invariably causes me to yearn for the “home going trail.” But, realizing that I’ve only had a light “dose” of the European war, compared with what others have had, I shall be patient and possibly I shall be back before the leaves begin to fall next autumn.
So far I have seen quite a bit of country over here. We landed at Liverpool, England, and remained there three days. Then we crossed the English Channel and landed at LeHarve, France. From there we went direct to LeCave, France, and it was here that our old Division scattered, and we were shipped north in box cars to a little place north of Toul. Our long hike into Germany was a hard proposition. It was, by no means, like the fairy tale you read about. My thanksgiving dinner consisted of bully beef, hard tack and coffee, and not very much of that.
I have never met one Sharp county boy and only one fellow from the state. I would like to know if the Boothe boys, Causbie boys, Howell boys and many others from around close to my home pulled through O. K.
We are doing guard duty here, and have quite a bit of it to do, as there are many things to guard. We are billeted with German families and have very good places to stay and good “eats.” Can you imagine such a thing in the army? We have one “Y” girl here and a Y.M.C.A., which enable us to buy tobacco, chocolate, etc, and at times we are entertained by troops from different outfits in the form of shows. I got a letter today. They have a trick of coming this way once in a while at that. I got a letter one day and the next day I got another dated about a week before the one I got first. Possibly one came by aeroplane and the other by mule.
The “flu” must have killed more in the states than we had killed over here in action. I figure that we have been pretty lucky in a way providing we get home soon for we have certainly seen a lot of the world and have had a chance to serve, too.
I was in Coblenz a short time ago and was on the move all the time while there seeing some of the interesting sights of the city. I crossed the Rhine on the pontoon bridge. It is a beautiful old riiver, about 300 yards wide. I was down at the confluence of the Rhine and the Massele just at sunset and stood in the shadow of the monument of Wilhelm the First, which is a magnificent piece of work in heroic size, and gazed upon the heights crowned with castles, forts and fortifications while the long shadows of spires and steeples of the city now so calm and quiet, fell in somberness across the Rhine. Restless Germans wander hither and yon along the many walks and, as if to make the poetic setting complete, just across the swift current a big white swan swam and was calmly and unconcernedly making an early supper and bidding farewell to the day that had been bright. I walked down by the Kaiser’s palace and on the wall that surrounds it I stood in front of the sentinel of the Rhine, and old armoured knight carved in granite with the words “Die wacht am Rhine” beneath it. I did not go far until I came upon a real sentinel in khaki, keeping the new watch by the Rhine.
About all of the glory there is in Germany is that which is carved in stone, born of her own imagination and dedicated to her self praise. The old fortifications, the strongest in all Europe, are now occupied by the American army. The imperial palace is used for records and the barracks for American soldiers, while the Rhineland building, a magnificent building, is used for the American headquarters.
John A. Frazier
Cochem, Germany
NOTES: Frazier was born on August 26, 1893 and died on November 11, 1921. He is buried in the Ash Flat Cemetery in Sharp County.
TRANSCRIBED BY SHANNON SOUTHARD
Editor Record: - After a few months’ absence from Sharp county I often find my mind drifting back to some old familiar scenes around Evening Shade and Ash Flat, which invariably causes me to yearn for the “home going trail.” But, realizing that I’ve only had a light “dose” of the European war, compared with what others have had, I shall be patient and possibly I shall be back before the leaves begin to fall next autumn.
So far I have seen quite a bit of country over here. We landed at Liverpool, England, and remained there three days. Then we crossed the English Channel and landed at LeHarve, France. From there we went direct to LeCave, France, and it was here that our old Division scattered, and we were shipped north in box cars to a little place north of Toul. Our long hike into Germany was a hard proposition. It was, by no means, like the fairy tale you read about. My thanksgiving dinner consisted of bully beef, hard tack and coffee, and not very much of that.
I have never met one Sharp county boy and only one fellow from the state. I would like to know if the Boothe boys, Causbie boys, Howell boys and many others from around close to my home pulled through O. K.
We are doing guard duty here, and have quite a bit of it to do, as there are many things to guard. We are billeted with German families and have very good places to stay and good “eats.” Can you imagine such a thing in the army? We have one “Y” girl here and a Y.M.C.A., which enable us to buy tobacco, chocolate, etc, and at times we are entertained by troops from different outfits in the form of shows. I got a letter today. They have a trick of coming this way once in a while at that. I got a letter one day and the next day I got another dated about a week before the one I got first. Possibly one came by aeroplane and the other by mule.
The “flu” must have killed more in the states than we had killed over here in action. I figure that we have been pretty lucky in a way providing we get home soon for we have certainly seen a lot of the world and have had a chance to serve, too.
I was in Coblenz a short time ago and was on the move all the time while there seeing some of the interesting sights of the city. I crossed the Rhine on the pontoon bridge. It is a beautiful old riiver, about 300 yards wide. I was down at the confluence of the Rhine and the Massele just at sunset and stood in the shadow of the monument of Wilhelm the First, which is a magnificent piece of work in heroic size, and gazed upon the heights crowned with castles, forts and fortifications while the long shadows of spires and steeples of the city now so calm and quiet, fell in somberness across the Rhine. Restless Germans wander hither and yon along the many walks and, as if to make the poetic setting complete, just across the swift current a big white swan swam and was calmly and unconcernedly making an early supper and bidding farewell to the day that had been bright. I walked down by the Kaiser’s palace and on the wall that surrounds it I stood in front of the sentinel of the Rhine, and old armoured knight carved in granite with the words “Die wacht am Rhine” beneath it. I did not go far until I came upon a real sentinel in khaki, keeping the new watch by the Rhine.
About all of the glory there is in Germany is that which is carved in stone, born of her own imagination and dedicated to her self praise. The old fortifications, the strongest in all Europe, are now occupied by the American army. The imperial palace is used for records and the barracks for American soldiers, while the Rhineland building, a magnificent building, is used for the American headquarters.
John A. Frazier
Cochem, Germany
NOTES: Frazier was born on August 26, 1893 and died on November 11, 1921. He is buried in the Ash Flat Cemetery in Sharp County.
TRANSCRIBED BY SHANNON SOUTHARD