TRANSCRIBED FROM THE NEWARK JOURNAL MARCH 17, 1919 P. 5
Weis, Germany, Mch. 1.
Dear Friend:
How are you coming old sport? I am doing fine. We have been in Germany since December 1. We crossed over into Germany December 1, and are on the Rhine river right now. Have been in this town two months.
This country is hard hit. The people are short of food and clothing is scarce. I see a good many of the women wear wooden shoes, also a good many of the kids. Lots of the shoes are made with cloth tops and wooden soles. Most of the country I have seen is rolling but the soil is fertile. They spray the land with drainage from manure piles. They plow oxen more than horses; guess they have been killed in the war. I saw many dead horses at the front.
They used horses more than trucks for hauling ammunition. The trucks that I have seen have steel tires and are low geared, from the way they sound going down the street, I think would ride pretty rough.
The houses are all built of cement or stone. The house and barn are built together. The family sleeps in one end and the horses and cows in the other.
The streets are narrow; no sidewalks and most of the houses joined together. They use the gutters for sewers. Most of the streets are paved.
You don't see farm houses scattered out through the country like you do in the states. The people all live in villages and towns. The farming implements they use are 50 years behind ours. They don't have many threshing machines. I saw some of the farmers beating the grain out of the straw with clubs. I saw a guy driving a cow and horse hitched to the same wagon--horse on one side and cow on the other.
These Boche people pull some funny stunts. The women do most of the work. I see them carrying poles for wood on top of their heads. They tie them together and have a pad on their heads so it won't rub the skin off.
We stay in the house with a German family and they treat us fine.
I was in the Muese-Argonne battle. Part of our division were inside the lines when the armistice was signed. I heard some of the last guns of the war. We had a hard battle in the Muese-Argonne drive but we put the Germans to flight.
I came out without getting scratched--well, I did tear the knee out of my pants going through a barbed wire entanglement, but I got through O K.
Well, I just throught of you and I had a little time off and decided I would write you. Has old Porter Crow got home yet? The 39th Division has gone home. He was with the 39th. I saw in the paper the other day that we would go home in May. I am ready to go. I have seen all of this country I care to see. It is about the same all over. We have shows two or three times a week, put on by boys of the different Divisions of the Army of Occupation. I am in the 32nd Division.
Write me when you have time. I am always glad to get a letter from home.
Private Fred W. Herrington.
Co. K. 126th Inf. A.E.F. A.P.O. 734
NOTES: Herrington was from Newark, Arkansas and was writing to his friend Clarence Fields. He was born in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas on April 8, 1892 and died on January 12, 1977. He enlisted on May 25, 1918 and was discharged on June 3, 1919. He departed Montreal, Canada on August 13, 1918 onboard the Bhamo. He was serving as a Pvt. in the July Automatic Replacement Draft Co. 7 Infantry.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD
Weis, Germany, Mch. 1.
Dear Friend:
How are you coming old sport? I am doing fine. We have been in Germany since December 1. We crossed over into Germany December 1, and are on the Rhine river right now. Have been in this town two months.
This country is hard hit. The people are short of food and clothing is scarce. I see a good many of the women wear wooden shoes, also a good many of the kids. Lots of the shoes are made with cloth tops and wooden soles. Most of the country I have seen is rolling but the soil is fertile. They spray the land with drainage from manure piles. They plow oxen more than horses; guess they have been killed in the war. I saw many dead horses at the front.
They used horses more than trucks for hauling ammunition. The trucks that I have seen have steel tires and are low geared, from the way they sound going down the street, I think would ride pretty rough.
The houses are all built of cement or stone. The house and barn are built together. The family sleeps in one end and the horses and cows in the other.
The streets are narrow; no sidewalks and most of the houses joined together. They use the gutters for sewers. Most of the streets are paved.
You don't see farm houses scattered out through the country like you do in the states. The people all live in villages and towns. The farming implements they use are 50 years behind ours. They don't have many threshing machines. I saw some of the farmers beating the grain out of the straw with clubs. I saw a guy driving a cow and horse hitched to the same wagon--horse on one side and cow on the other.
These Boche people pull some funny stunts. The women do most of the work. I see them carrying poles for wood on top of their heads. They tie them together and have a pad on their heads so it won't rub the skin off.
We stay in the house with a German family and they treat us fine.
I was in the Muese-Argonne battle. Part of our division were inside the lines when the armistice was signed. I heard some of the last guns of the war. We had a hard battle in the Muese-Argonne drive but we put the Germans to flight.
I came out without getting scratched--well, I did tear the knee out of my pants going through a barbed wire entanglement, but I got through O K.
Well, I just throught of you and I had a little time off and decided I would write you. Has old Porter Crow got home yet? The 39th Division has gone home. He was with the 39th. I saw in the paper the other day that we would go home in May. I am ready to go. I have seen all of this country I care to see. It is about the same all over. We have shows two or three times a week, put on by boys of the different Divisions of the Army of Occupation. I am in the 32nd Division.
Write me when you have time. I am always glad to get a letter from home.
Private Fred W. Herrington.
Co. K. 126th Inf. A.E.F. A.P.O. 734
NOTES: Herrington was from Newark, Arkansas and was writing to his friend Clarence Fields. He was born in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas on April 8, 1892 and died on January 12, 1977. He enlisted on May 25, 1918 and was discharged on June 3, 1919. He departed Montreal, Canada on August 13, 1918 onboard the Bhamo. He was serving as a Pvt. in the July Automatic Replacement Draft Co. 7 Infantry.
TRANSCRIBED BY LAEL HARROD