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I chose the transport chiefly because one of my best friends was in it and it seemed to be what the French wanted and needed the most. The American field service is a semi-military branch and is made up of Americans serving semi-officially with the French army. Now that there is talk of the American government taking it over, I don't know how it will be. I read of the ambulance being taken over the other day and I suppose we will be included too.
Well, from Paris we were sent out to a training camp and there drilled in the French manual of arms, etc., and given training on the cars, also how to run them in a train or convoy. We had a little bit of time to ourselves there and I wanted to write then, but there were so many things of interest to see around there that what time I did have I used in sightseeing.
Were in camp about two weeks and
then we were split up and sent out to the different sections at
the "front." They usually send a bunch from camp out as a whole
new unit, but they split us up. It made it kind of bad because we
had been together since leaving New York, and were getting fairly
well acquainted.
I am at the "front" now, or rather what they call the front. We are camped about five or seven miles back of the lines. We are close to the big guns and they are going most of the time. Was called out on a trip the very next day after getting here. They routed us out at 4 a. in., gave us some black coffee, (dynamite) war bread and jam for breakfast and sent us out.
Went to a town where there was a concentration camp and loaded up with trench and dugout material, and took it up to the front lines. The unloading camp was just at the foot of a hill and the front line trenches were just over the top. In the morning a Boche plane had come over the lines on a scout and bomb dropping duty. He dropped six bombs within about 200 yards from where we were going. As he was flying around, the French anti-aircraft guns were shooting shrapnel at him. Little puffs of white smoke were breaking below him, above him and all around him, but he kept right on. It's very seldom that one is brought down with shrapnel.
As we were going along the road a machine gun that was hid just behind a clump of bushes opened up on him. It made an awful racket and, not knowing what it was, I was for getting out of there, but the fellow I was with was an old one at the game and he laughed at me. So I thought I would stick it out.
