Southern Illinois Record

              The Southern Illinois Record
A Good  Newspaper is a Power in  tbe ^ome. School, State and Nation
VOLUME vir.
FLORA. ILLINOIS. THURSDAY. DECEMBER 26, 1918
NUMBER 14
We offer you Ostrich, Kaw's Best and Cabinet Patent Flour,
.48 Pound Sacks, $2.85
We have just received a car load of Bran and Shorts. Oil Meal, Etc. Both Phones.
Call us for Hen Feed, Cracked Corn, Cotton Seed Meal,
JAY VALBERT COMPANY
LORA BOY AT CHATEAU THIERRY
lie Wood, of the 130th, Tells of Chateau Thierry Drive and Bat¬ tles Following Till He Waa Wounded Oct. 14.
\merican Expeditionary Forces, V November 24. 1918.
RiMANcouKT, France. ¦.Ed Allen.-
>ear Dad: by reading the paper a V minutes ago I find that I am al- ved to write and tell you all   about
experiences here. Dad, I am well, and I hope you J all the family are feeling )d. I am in a Base Hospital at oiancourt, Krance, and I am get- g along fine. Well, I will tell you 1 story of my life In France which ave always wanted to do. When were in Camp Logan we got orders move and we were not allowed to i any one where we were going, yway we left on the 3rd day of y and landed in New York on the Jl. From there we went to Long 'tnd at Camp Upton, only a few s, naore to get equipped than any- ng else. We pulled out of there the morning of the 15th and got a In for New York. From New York marched to Hoboken where we had iner on the U. S. S. Agememnon. stayed around at Hotwken all day
all night,  then  we  marched  on
hciat about 11 o'clock. As we stil on we were given a card say- , "I arrived safely in F'rance." at once mailed them In mail bags joard the shlp,then they were taken Jie boat and held until we reached nee, and then sent home to our .s. Our boat left Hoboken around Lr In the afternoon and we watched
New York uptll we could see her hnore. Then we were off. I slept time and night on deck, and Dad, \ie waves sure did roll. Our boat •i pretty all the way over. We er saw a submarine until we were e to Hrest harbor. There was an rmous bunch of men and luggage ooard. We were seven days on water, and before I was my rth day out I was feeding the tish
I tell you I was glad when we got
our convoys with us tlie siith day for I realized we were then only a short way from land. They met us in the danger /.one. and took us into shore. We stayed aboard till about noon, and then we were taken In small boats to the shore. On shore I pur¬ chased my first stuff In France which was some oranges. I gave V^ franc, or a dime In our money, for two and they were swell. 1 got them of a girl about 1« years old. The French do tishing at Brest for their support. Their laws are very strict about their crops. You are not allowed to walk through a grain field. When we got off the boat we marched about .'i miles to a rest camp. Needless to say we were worn out, because we had had no exercise for " days, and we were tired. Well, anyway, we reached a place where we pitched tents In a large Held taken Qver by the govern¬ ment. We staid here for about two weeks, and during our stay there we had a nice time—that Is as nice as you could expect In France. Water was very scarce, »nd It Is not only scarce where we were, but It is scarce all over France, and you are supposed to boll It before it is drank. But rum, beer, wine and Scotch whiskey are plentiful, and saloons are wide opgp to all soldiers but there was no bath houses. One of the boys went out to find a creek or something, and sure enough about two miles away he found a little creek, and we went tliere to wash our clothes and take a bath. Well, orders come In to pull down our tents and pack up. We did and marched to Brest city and boarded a train. The trains here were nothing like our American trains. They are about 4 by 8, and about H foot high, and have H boards in them for seats. About 40 of us packed into a car with our rifies and baggage. Tlius we rolled along, oc¬ casionally striking a large city wliere there were always plenty of people to welcome us. We were three days and four nights on the train. About .'i o'clock one morning we heard some one yelling outside, "all off," and soon our battalion was In a column and we were started for camp. We thought this was to be our camp for a while, and we also thought we were near the "fighting line," but when morning came   we   were  given   tea.
nPHANKING ALL   WHO  have
¦¦¦ contributed in any way to have made the closing year one of the greatest, if imt the greatest year in the nearly fifty years of our history, and one in which we hope to hai((e contributed the most to the mutual and material prosperity of the ¦ommunity. as well as by your willing assistance and hearty co-operation in J'DoiQgi^r Bit" for the Great Cause of Liberty and Freedom, we wish one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year
Sincerely.
The First National Bank
Flora. Illinois
That is what the allied armies drink -they never have coffee—and we en¬ joyed a hot cup of tea. We later learned the name of the city was Olsmont. We got ready to start for another camp, and we sure did do some marching. We marched until 2 o'clock that afternoon, when we came to a town by the name of Duda -LalnvlUe. Tliere we were quar¬ tered In old French barns for 2 or ,1 weeks and there I saw the skies lighted up by air raiders dropping bombs on ammunition factories. Finally one day there came an order to move, and we got our equipment on and moved to Rmbreville. Atthat town we stayed for several weeks. One day orders came that IS men and one non-com missioned ottlcer from each company were to go to Ols¬ mont in trucks to load quartermaster property, and 15 men and myself were picked to go, and we started that night for Olsmont, reaching there the next day. We at once went to work. We stayed there and had a good time for 6 weeks and then we got on a train and went to 6 kilometers from Abe- vllle, and there we Joined our Bat¬ talion. They had moved since we left.
On the Fourth of July our division went "over the top" at Chateau- Thierry, and we were successful. Now our battles begun,and from Cha¬ teau Thierry we went to Albert and held the llnesthere. We wereshelied heavy, and expected Fritz to attack, and, oh, if he had he would not have lived to tell it, for we were prepared. We had plenty of bombs and am¬ munition, and I sure had my share of them. Every man in my sijuad was anxious to get a wliack at them once more. Well, every thing went peace¬ ful and we were finally relieved by the British, and they "wentover the top" the next morning with great success. From Albert we carrie to Wolen, and from Wolen we came lo V'Ignacourt, and boarded a train for Bar le Due, and tliere we stayed for a week, and marched to some town 1 have for¬ gotten. From there we came to the Verdun sector, up al Bllercourt, and was there for .some time, when we went to the front line In the Verdun sector. We took the Hill that the Germans had held for three years, and we were relieved from tiiere-to another sector on the Verdun front over the Meuse River. My company was picked from the battalion to do a flangerous task, and that was to get ammunition and rations to our tx»ys in the front line. And now I have told you up until the 15th of October my experience in France, for at this place and date I was wounded. I was sent to Sollly and from there to Rimancourt by train, and I have been here now for over a month. Well, Dad, I will close wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New- Year. 4 Your son.
Coup. Ollib K. Wood, Base Hospital »9,   Ward  ti. A. P.   O. 919.   Original address Co. L, 130  Inf. U. S.
Holiday  Trade Fine
The Chrl.stmas trade In Flora this season has never been excelled, .so our merchants say, and never have the stores and shops l)een so liile,] with ready customers willing ami anxious to spend their money for Holiday gifts.
The sales began, the merchants say. with the day peace was signed, and they continued riglit up to Tue.sday night-Clirlstmas Eve. The demand for useful gifts this year was greater than usual, they also assert, and many of the stores would have sold even much more largely than they did had such a trade ,been antlci- pateOi'fot the war was on at the time many 4r the orders were placed, and Flora^as struggling through a dead¬ ly siege of Influen/.a. Nevertheless, It was a good (.'hrlstmas to most of our people, and optimism and good¬ will hae prevailed.
And it bas been a good Christmas to the Record, too. We have added several new "Cliristmas Gift" sub¬ scribers to our list of readers, and the paper for weeks has enjoyed a fine Holiday advertising patronage, for which we hope we are duly appre¬ ciative.
Beautiful Chriatmaa Gift
Victim ot Influania
Claude Bu/.an succumbed to an at- sack of intluenza at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Bu/.an, on Second St., last Friday morning. The body was taken to Washington, Ind., Saturday, for interment.
Mrs. Bu/.an. the wlfeof the de- cea.sed, at the time of Claude's death, was sick with intluenza at the home of a relative in Washington, Ind. Besides the young wife. Mr. Bu/.an Is survived by a small child, his father and mother