tal, just out of Brest. The ride to the hospital
was a disagreeable one, as it had been raining and the streets were
muddy and wet. The ambulance rocked more like a boat than a motor car.
We were assigned quarters and given food. We met a number of boys in
the various wards who were awaiting their time of departure. We asked
them about how long it was after arriving at Brest before soldiers
were embarked for home, and they said the time varied all the way from
three to thirty days. That was not very encouraging and we were hoping
that in our case it would be three days. The very next morning,
however, a number of our boys received orders to get ready to depart.
I was not included among them, to my sorrow, and had no idea how long
I might be kept at Brest. It was only a day or two later when we were
made happy by the news that our time to depart had come. It was joyful
news and made our hearts beat with the joy that only a returning
soldier knows.

We were loaded on the hospital ship "La France," which is a beautiful,
four-funnel French liner, 796 feet in length. It was the third largest
liner in use in transporting troops at that time. We took our places
on the boat about noon, but the big ship laid in the harbor all
afternoon, and it was not until about sundown that she started to pull
out and we bade "good-bye" to "la belle France." One might think that
there was a lot of cheering when the boat pulled out on the eventful
afternoon of December 17, 1918, but there was not. Some of the boys,
it is true, cheered heartily. Most of us, however, were too full of
emotion to become wildly demonstrative. Our thoughts were on home, the
folks that are dear to us, and our beloved native land, and our
emotions were too strained for expression in cheers.

The vessel was manned by French, who treated us splendidly for the
first two days out. After that, however, they began to skimp on our
food and to give us things of poor quality. For instance, we were
given coffee without sugar or milk, cereals of poor quality without
even salt in them, and no fruit, though it was understood that fruit
was to be a part of our diet. The boys complained bitterly at this
treatment, and finally our officers, knowing that we were not being
properly fed, made an examination of the ship. They found several
hundred boxes of apples that were supposed to be for us, stowed away
in the hold. It had been the intention of the French in charge of this
boat to s