Letter from John Douglas

Mayenne, France

Christmas Eve, 1918

Dearie and Dots:
I sat next to Surgeon Evans at dinner tonight and we both remarked that if we were home we would be trimming Christmas trees tonight. Of all the nights in the year, this is one night home loving folks like to spend with their families. I am homesick and lonely tonight - and want my wife and baby - Dots may resent being called a baby - but you tell her for me that she is my baby and always will be. - Now for some items other than strictly personal. The Supply Train left Belleville on the 18th and arrived in Maron on same date. The Train was scheduled to leave at 7:00 am Dec. 19th. Late in the afternoon I was told that the train had been delayed and would not leave until 3:00 pm on the 19th. So I spent the night of the 18 - 19 in Belleville - the troops spending the same night in Maron. I arrived in Maron about noon on the 19th - and we waited there at the station until 10:30 am of the 21st before the train came. It rained continuously - the mud was 2" to 6" deep - there was no place to sleep - no fires - no water to drink - and verry little warm food. - We had one stove to cook for 500 men and officers - and very little wood for fire - and. - the stove was out of doors - in an alley - Capts. Brandon, Welsh, Wilmot - and the Major slept in two dirty French beds - I slept with Wilmot - and it will be surprising to me if I do not break out with scabies. We searched for cooties but they hid so well we failed to find any - I forgot to tell you, that we were also "sans" lights. In France at this season of the it gets dark very early - about 4:00 - and as there is practicallly no kerosene - and candles being very high - everybody goes to bed at dusk - in fact by 6:30 everybody in the small town is asleep - we turned in at 6:00 - It was miserable - wet - cold - no lights - no fires - Oh hell - Finally the train came - it contained 35 cars: - 33 boxcars and two passenger cars - There were scarcely any glass left in the passenger cars and the boxcars were merely empty boxcars - We loaded the men - like so many animals - 70 to each boxcar; giving each man a can of corned beef - and bread sufficient for two days - There was an inch of wet mud on the floor of each car - And they were damp and cold. - Just as I got all mine loaded the Maron "Town Major" - came down and told me that in the billets recently occupied by my men, there was much fecal matter - and I had to send a detail back to clean the place up - This usually happens at all one or two night stands - The two cars for the officers were these little European cars - one had all 3rd class compartments - of which there are three to a car - each compartment seating ten; and the other car had one 3rd class, one 2nd cl, one 1st class compartments - The 1st and 2nd class compartments each seat eight - The upholstery in the 1st cl. compt. is better than the 2nd. But there isnt much difference - I drew the 2nd class with five other officers to be selected by me - so I invited my company commanders in - so that there is six of us there - Capt. Brandon having elected to ride in one of the boxcars with the baggage - A Colonel had the 1st class compt. with two other officers and as there was room for four nicely he invited me over - I went. There was no heat and the cars were damp and cold - but we had traveled before and had a supply of blankets - The Colonel's name is Hyland - and he hails from Rutland, VT- and the other passengers were a major doctor from Phila. - named Bernd[?] - and the colonels Adjutant, a Captain Stoog from Junction City. We were a [?] quartet and in spite of the physical discomfort - had a fairly pleasant trip. The Doctor had a small alcohol stove - and we made coffee and heated a can of beans and a few cans of soup - At night he and I curled up on one seat and the Col. and his adj. on the other - The seats a short so we lapped over in the middle - "comme �a" [drawing by Douglas] - Comme �a is a very common French expression - pronounced come sa - and mean I have not much of an idea how long we shall stay here - some say six weeks - We are to be "deloused" and cleaned up - and the delousing plant isnt here yet. - We are the first American troops in this area.

It is after eleven and the cold chills are chasing up and down my back - so I'll quit and get into bed. - I think tomorrow I shall send Willie out to look up another billet with a bigger grate. I haven't had any mail for a long time - Good night -

Dad

OK
Major J. N. Douglas Q.M.C.

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