In the 1st place they’s a whole lot of words in French that they’s no difference you might say between them from the way we say it like beef steak and beer because Lee asked him if suppose we went in somewheres and wanted a steak and bread and butter and beer and the French for and is und so we would say beef steak und brot mit butter schmieren und bier and that’s all they is to it and I can say that without looking at the paper where we wrote it down and you can see I have got that much learned all ready so I wouldn’t starve and when you want to call a waiter you call him kellner so you see I could go in a place in Paris and call a waiter and get everything I wanted. Well Al I bet nobody ever learned that much in 1 hour off that bird out to Camp Grant and I’ll say its some speed.
We are going to have another lesson tonight but Lee says we don’t want to try and learn to, much at once or we will forget what we all ready learned and they’s a good deal to that Al.
Well Al its time for chow again so lebe wohl and that’s the same like good by in French.
On the Ship Board, Jan. 22.
Friend Al: Well Al we are in what they call the danger zone and they’s some excitement these days and at night to because they don’t many of the boys go to sleep nights and they go to their rooms and pretend like they are going to sleep but I bet you wouldn’t need no alarm clock to make them jump out of bed.
Most of the boys stays out on deck most of the time and I been staying out there myself most all day today not because I am scared of anything because I always figure if its going to happen its going to happen but I stay out because it ain’t near as cold as it was and besides if something is comeing off I don’t want to miss it. Besides maybe I could help out some way if something did happen.
Last night we was all out on deck in the dark talking about this and that and one of the boys I was standing along side of him made the remark that we had been out nine days and he didn’t see no France yet or no signs of getting there so I said no wonder when we had such a he‑ll of a censor ship and some other guy heard me say it so he said I better not talk like that but I didn’t mean it like that but only how slow it was.
Well we are getting along OK with the French lessons and Bob Lee told me last night that he run across one of the two French officers that’s on the ship and he thought he would try some of his French on him so he said something about it being a nice day in French and the Frenchman was tickled to death and smiled and bowed at him and I guess I will try it out on them the next time I see them.
Well Al that shows we been learning something when the Frenchmans themself know what we are talking about and I and Lee will have the laugh on the rest of the boys when we get there that is if we do get there but for some reason another I have got a hunch that we won’t never see France and I can’t explain why but once in a while a man gets a hunch and a lot of times they are generally always right.
On the Ship Board, Jan. 23.
Friend Al: Well Al I was just out on deck with Lee and Sargent Bishop and Bishop is a sargent in our Co. and he said he had just came from Capt. Seeley and Capt. Seeley told him to tell all the N.C.O. officers like sargents and corporals that if a sub got us we was to leave the privates get into the boats first before we got in and we wasn’t to get into our boats till all the privates was safe in the boats because we would probably be cooler and not get all excited like the privates. So you see Al if something does happen us birds will have to take things in hand you might say and we will have to stick on the job and not think about ourselfs till everybody else is taken care of.
Well Lee said that Doran one of the sailors told him something on the quiet that didn’t never get into the newspapers and that was about one of the trips that come off in December and it seems like a whole fleet of subs got on to it that some transports was comeing so they layed for them and they shot a periscope at one of the transports and hit it square in the middle and it begun to sink right away and it looked like they wouldn’t nobody get into the boats but the sargents and corporals was as cool as if nothing was comeing off and they quieted the soldiers down and finely got them into the boats and the N.C.O. officers was so cool and done so well that when Gen. Pershing heard about it he made this rule about the N.C.O. officer always waiting till the last so they could kind of handle things. But
