Camp Devens, Mass. 4/29/1919

Camp Devens, Mass., April 29, 1919

Dear Mother and Father:

You probably got the Salvation Army telegram yesterday afternoon. I had intended wiring to you but when we got off the boat the Salvation Army took our names and addresses of those we wanted notified and sent the messages.

We had a very fine trip across. We left Prum March 27th and got to Brest April 1st. We found the camp at Brest much different from what it was when we went through a year ago. At that time there was nothing there but some old stone barracks that were built in Napoleon’s time. Today there is a camp of tents and wooden barracks about two miles long. There may have been a lot of criticism of the camp while it was being constructed but no fault could be found with it now. I don’t believe there is a camp better kept up or better organized anywhere. We had iron beds, springs and mattresses and plenty of blankets. The food was good. There was entertainment of all sorts at the various YMCA, K of C and Salvation Army tents in the camp.

We left Brest the 17th of April on the SS Breton, a German passenger vessel which has just been taken over. It is an old slow boat but not made to carry so many thousand troops as the regular transports are. We sergeants had second class cabins which were a treat to us. We had our own dining room and mess so we felt that we were traveling in style. About 2200 men were on the boat altogether. There were several French brides going over to their husbands and YMCA women going back home.

We had very fine weather all through the eleven days. There was hardly a real wave on the ocean the whole time. I don’t know of anyone who was seasick. The trip was very long and tiresome, partly because we were so anxious to get back.

We landed yesterday morning about ten-thirty. Trains were down at the docks and we got right on and were brought out here. The camp is about thirty-five miles from Boston. I am going to try to get in to see Boston if I can. We have no idea of what is going to be done with us or how long we will be here. We suppose, though, that the company will be broken up and the men sent to the camps nearest the point of their enlistment. I am elated to go to Camp Dodge, at Des Moines, Iowa. I want to stop in Cedar Rapids a day or two on my way home. I want to look after the car and the money I have invested there and also find out what the college is expecting me to do.

It is good to be back again, so far we have not seen many civilians. We saw nothing of Boston and passed through just a few small towns on our way out here. When we got into the harbor all the boats blew their whistles and kept them going for about five minutes. Then a boat came out with a band and a lot of Bostonians on it. The band played and the boat circled around our ship. At the dock the Red Cross served us coffee and rolls, the YMCA gave us candy and postal cards, the K of C gave us cigarettes and the Jewish Welfare Board gave us handkerchiefs. I needed that more than the others as I have had a bad cold for a couple of weeks. The thing we appreciated most of all was the sending of the telegrams by the Salvation Army.

This is a miserable camp. I never saw such a dirty place and I can’t understand it. It doesn’t look as if the army over here is as strict as we have been used to on the other side.

I hope that there will not be any delay in our getting discharged. The time seems so long when we have nothing to do but wait to go home.

Several thousand 26th Division men are here now. Their homes are in New England and they are being discharged here. A good many of them are from Boston and other towns near here and their friends and relatives come out to see them.

Will write again tomorrow or sooner if we get any news.

Love from

Joe