Letters From Verdun: Frontline Experiences of an American Volunteer in World War 1 France by William C. Harvey & Eric T. Harvey

Author:William C. Harvey & Eric T. Harvey [Harvey, William C. & Harvey, Eric T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, History, Personal Memoirs, Non-Fiction, World War I
ISBN: 9781932033946
Amazon: 1932033947
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2009-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

Argentine beef at Rembercourt.

Potatoes, cabbage and bread are also purchased from the French commissary, but this leaves a nice balance to purchase fresh vegetables, cheeses, jams, butter, eggs and other delicacies in the towns behind the lines. Of course, we still get our rations of pinard and vin ordinaire from the French. We have gotten so used to this beverage by now that it will be hard to get along without it if they do decide to take it away as they may. We get sugar from whatever sources we are able. It is the scarcest article on our menu.

The packages were wonderful. I had to make another box to hold all the presents. Will do my best to thank each kind friend, but mail restrictions makes this a rather difficult matter. Glad that the picture of Spencer is coming. So, my mustache makes you laugh. Well, what will you think when you get my latest picture showing ARW sporting a healthy bunch of chin whiskers? Yes, they are red, but I think that they will have to be done away with as they seem to have become the favorite abiding place of numerous cooties.

Good news! Our division has at last gone back en repos. The 14th D.I. has received orders to go to the Vosges and we are evidently going along with them. We were relieved by S.S.U.4 on the morning of January third, and during that afternoon made our way south through Érize and Bar-le-Duc, finally stopping at the town of Velaines near Ligny-en Barrois. No adequate provision had been made for our quarters so we all spent the night in our cars. As it was way below zero that night, you can imagine that we did not spend a very pleasant night. When I woke up in the morning, I found ice had accumulated on my beard, and there was a quarter of an inch of frost formed on the inside of the car by my breath. We are all hoping that we will not have to stay long here and that we will be sent south to a more pleasant climate for our much needed rest.

This is the best news I have been able to write in a long time. We have been up at the front now for three months lacking one day, and believe me, we are a some discontented bunch. It is customary to keep a section on active duty only about six weeks, and when you get a three months’ stretch you get fed up with the discomforts for such a long time. It did seem good to get back to civilization once more. The civilians that we see look very funny, after seeing nothing but soldiers for such a long time. The town that we are cantoned in is rather small, but Ligny, a much larger town, is only two kilometers down the road. This is where this letter is written from.

Our officers were negligent about securing quarters for us, so when we arrived we had nothing but a dirty old barn to sleep in.

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