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Attacked by German U-boats
Roy climbed out of his hammock one morning and discovered four American destroyers convoying them while being well camouflaged. He described the water as pale green which is how they camouflaged so well. The German U-boats then attacked them and dropped depth bombs. The 6in stren gun on Roy’s ship was fired and sunk a U-boat and left a huge oil spill on top of the water. -
Train ride
Roy and others were moving south on a slow train. They rode the train to avoid fragments of shells and shrapnel. Roy got very little sleep because of the distant sound of explosions far into the distance. Roy and the others with him basically lived off of hard-tack cheese and beans. -
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Resting quarters
Roy reached Hotel Carlton and was moved directly to his room. His room was very pleasant, it had a large closet and an outside balcony looking over quadrangle. Sergent Feather and Corp. Lodar bunked with Roy. The next day after Roy arrived he had detail to clean up the office at the hotel. After that day Roy stayed in his room reading, writing, and studying French. That evening he took a walk at a rive, later played billiards at a cafe, and then was ordered back to the quarters at 9:30. -
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All hell breaks loose
Roy had breakfast and then reported to the commanding officer. He went to the quartermaster and got a helmet and gas mask. At midnight hell broke loose, there was firing along the front, constant explosions. The sky was red with glare because of the gunfire. Germans were firing 900 shells into the valley. Nobody got to sleep, a few wounded came in, always heavy firing from both sides but mostly from their guns. -
signed off
It was much quieter on the morning of May 3rd. Only a few shots were fired at times. A small raiding party went across and found no German soldiers for 4 miles along the line. The day after, Roy got orders to no longer write in his diary so that if he were to be captured the enemy wouldn't have info on the Americans. -
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Armistice
On Nov 10th, a German plane overtook Roy and Captain Unger, they took shelter in a cellar of an old lady's house. a bomb was dropped and killed 4 French soldiers and wounded the old lady's cow. On Nov 11th, the Armistice was signed at 11 am. Everyone was happy and had a great rejoicing, bells rang and the town was decked with flags and lots of crowds. That evening, Roy was invited to the French Officers Club, they had lots of champagne, and there were many speeches.