In France, June 28th, 1918
My dear Mother & Dad:
I've been waiting in vain for a letter form you since I first arrived overseas, but then I presume that you've been waiting to hear fro mme as to my whereabouts before you write.
I received a couple of letters from Ina and also one from Al and they were more than welcome. The description of the party you had at Lyons, made me homesick and wishing that I could have been there.
Other than a slight attack of indigestion yesterday, all is O.K. with me. We moved to another billet since I last wrote you.
Continued from last night....
I had to stop writing this note last night for we had to move again. Seems like the farmer who owns this place wanted to use our billet to store hay. However, we're comfortably settled once more in an old combination residence and barn which has a stone above the doorway bearing the date 1832, and I've been told there's a place further down the road that's 220 years old! But everything about this village seems to hark back to the middle ages -- even all the people are aged. Of course this is only natural - for all those of military age are at the battlefront defending their homeland. Housewives do their washing in 3 sided stone buildings, (in ice cold water) scattered throughout the village - perhaps just as they've done for ages past. And twice daily, an old soldier - presumably from the war of '71 - comes thru the village then stops and beats upon his drum until he has a sufficient audience of villages, then pulls out a sheet of paper and reads the town gossip and what news there may have come from the front. I'm glad we don't have to depend upon him for our news source, for we have access to copies of the Paris editions of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Herald. And speaking of Paris reminds me that the box cars in which we rode for 3 nights from LeHavre, stopped in the outskirts of Paris and it gave us quite a thrill to view the Eiffel Tower looming up in the background some miles away from the freight-yard. And earlier still when we landed in Liverpool, you may recall that I wrote a letter wherein I mentioned our late English-born tenant, Mrs. Owens, hoping that you would thus know that we landed safely in England. Later on, when we moved to Winchester, Lt. Field took 3 of us on a guided tour of Winchester Cathedral - one of Sir Christopher Wren's masterpieces of architectur. England proved to be just what I had imagined it would be like from the descriptions I had read about it. Most of the houses in Liverpool seemed to be constructed of red brick with each housetop bristling with a half dozen chimneys - due no doubt to the lack of central heating systems - and I never saw such a similarity in the style of architecture! There were rows of houses that were all similar in style. We remained in Winchester for several days, enjoying the rest immensely. When Lt. Field took the 3 of us to visit Winchester Cathedral, the sexton, a kindly old Englishman of uncertain vintage, went into detail in describing the history of this venerable building. The interior of the church was wonderfully neat and clean, but the exterior appeared to be in decay and near ruin. We saw the caskets containing the bones of King Egbert and some other old Saxon kings who reigned during the first millenium of England's recorded history! We also saw a magnificent hand-carved screen -- inlaid with figures of the different kings and saints, reaching from the floor half-way to the arched dome of the church! We all felt well repaid for our walk to town after seeing that wonderful old historic edifice and I believe the experience will remain in my mind for the rest of my life.
From Winchester we rode on a train to Southhampton where we embarked for France on an English transport. The trip across the channel was uneventful and next morning we sighted our port, but had to wait till 2:00pm to land because of the tide. Followed another 6 mile hike to our camp where we arrived at around 6:00pm, tired but in good spirits. It was at this camp we could hear the distant booming of big guns on the front at it was quite thrilling to us. An English "Tommy" told me it was the heaviest bombardment since February.
I believe that I have informed you in a previous letter that we have received our French "75's" - the field pieces that we shall use during our participation in the war. Our gunners are attending school daily to familiarize themselves with the mechanism of the French guns as they differ in some respects from our American 3 inch field pieces. And since our boys have had considerable training in handling our ordnance, it shouldn't be long before we'll be battle ready to do our share at the front.
There are 28 of us quartered in this billet and we're all fairly comfortable. Each day one of us takes his turn at being "billet orderly" - whose duties are to watch the equipment, sweep up and keep things tidy and the rest of the day to take things easy, which is a wonderful way to catch up on one's correspondence. Today, I'm "billet orderly" and making the most of it as you can see. I must also write the Fishers' today. I wish you'd send me Henderson's address for I've been wanting to write them for some time. It's difficult to believe that this country is engaged in such a terribly desctructive war, for this village presents the choicest bit of peaceful scenery one can imagine.
I wonder how all of you are back there at home. Are you making a war garden this summer, Dad? Over here every available bit of ground is utilized for the growing of crops and vegetables.
And now it's time to bring this long letter to a close, for I hear recall being blown by the bugler, so the boys will soon be coming in from drill. Please remember me to Mr. Conrad and Helen - also the Schwartz's and any of our other neighbors I may have unwittingly omitted. With love to you all, -
I've been waiting in vain for a letter form you since I first arrived overseas, but then I presume that you've been waiting to hear fro mme as to my whereabouts before you write.
I received a couple of letters from Ina and also one from Al and they were more than welcome. The description of the party you had at Lyons, made me homesick and wishing that I could have been there.
Other than a slight attack of indigestion yesterday, all is O.K. with me. We moved to another billet since I last wrote you.
Continued from last night....
I had to stop writing this note last night for we had to move again. Seems like the farmer who owns this place wanted to use our billet to store hay. However, we're comfortably settled once more in an old combination residence and barn which has a stone above the doorway bearing the date 1832, and I've been told there's a place further down the road that's 220 years old! But everything about this village seems to hark back to the middle ages -- even all the people are aged. Of course this is only natural - for all those of military age are at the battlefront defending their homeland. Housewives do their washing in 3 sided stone buildings, (in ice cold water) scattered throughout the village - perhaps just as they've done for ages past. And twice daily, an old soldier - presumably from the war of '71 - comes thru the village then stops and beats upon his drum until he has a sufficient audience of villages, then pulls out a sheet of paper and reads the town gossip and what news there may have come from the front. I'm glad we don't have to depend upon him for our news source, for we have access to copies of the Paris editions of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Herald. And speaking of Paris reminds me that the box cars in which we rode for 3 nights from LeHavre, stopped in the outskirts of Paris and it gave us quite a thrill to view the Eiffel Tower looming up in the background some miles away from the freight-yard. And earlier still when we landed in Liverpool, you may recall that I wrote a letter wherein I mentioned our late English-born tenant, Mrs. Owens, hoping that you would thus know that we landed safely in England. Later on, when we moved to Winchester, Lt. Field took 3 of us on a guided tour of Winchester Cathedral - one of Sir Christopher Wren's masterpieces of architectur. England proved to be just what I had imagined it would be like from the descriptions I had read about it. Most of the houses in Liverpool seemed to be constructed of red brick with each housetop bristling with a half dozen chimneys - due no doubt to the lack of central heating systems - and I never saw such a similarity in the style of architecture! There were rows of houses that were all similar in style. We remained in Winchester for several days, enjoying the rest immensely. When Lt. Field took the 3 of us to visit Winchester Cathedral, the sexton, a kindly old Englishman of uncertain vintage, went into detail in describing the history of this venerable building. The interior of the church was wonderfully neat and clean, but the exterior appeared to be in decay and near ruin. We saw the caskets containing the bones of King Egbert and some other old Saxon kings who reigned during the first millenium of England's recorded history! We also saw a magnificent hand-carved screen -- inlaid with figures of the different kings and saints, reaching from the floor half-way to the arched dome of the church! We all felt well repaid for our walk to town after seeing that wonderful old historic edifice and I believe the experience will remain in my mind for the rest of my life.
From Winchester we rode on a train to Southhampton where we embarked for France on an English transport. The trip across the channel was uneventful and next morning we sighted our port, but had to wait till 2:00pm to land because of the tide. Followed another 6 mile hike to our camp where we arrived at around 6:00pm, tired but in good spirits. It was at this camp we could hear the distant booming of big guns on the front at it was quite thrilling to us. An English "Tommy" told me it was the heaviest bombardment since February.
I believe that I have informed you in a previous letter that we have received our French "75's" - the field pieces that we shall use during our participation in the war. Our gunners are attending school daily to familiarize themselves with the mechanism of the French guns as they differ in some respects from our American 3 inch field pieces. And since our boys have had considerable training in handling our ordnance, it shouldn't be long before we'll be battle ready to do our share at the front.
There are 28 of us quartered in this billet and we're all fairly comfortable. Each day one of us takes his turn at being "billet orderly" - whose duties are to watch the equipment, sweep up and keep things tidy and the rest of the day to take things easy, which is a wonderful way to catch up on one's correspondence. Today, I'm "billet orderly" and making the most of it as you can see. I must also write the Fishers' today. I wish you'd send me Henderson's address for I've been wanting to write them for some time. It's difficult to believe that this country is engaged in such a terribly desctructive war, for this village presents the choicest bit of peaceful scenery one can imagine.
I wonder how all of you are back there at home. Are you making a war garden this summer, Dad? Over here every available bit of ground is utilized for the growing of crops and vegetables.
And now it's time to bring this long letter to a close, for I hear recall being blown by the bugler, so the boys will soon be coming in from drill. Please remember me to Mr. Conrad and Helen - also the Schwartz's and any of our other neighbors I may have unwittingly omitted. With love to you all, -
Your loving son,
(signed) George
(signed) George
PS: Please use this address:
Pvt. Geo. W. Tomek
Battery F. 122nd F.A.
American Exp. Forces,
Via New York.
Pvt. Geo. W. Tomek
Battery F. 122nd F.A.
American Exp. Forces,
Via New York.
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