Diary, June 13-15, 1918

June 13 - Thu - Left Camp Pontanezen this mo[r]n at 10 am. marched past Pontanezen garrison at 10:30 am. Marched at big Depot at Brest and loaded into cars at 1:30 PM. Left a few min later. our train is of a great number of cars - box cars - little ones for 40 men or 8 horses. having 4 wheels under them - are pulled by a U.S. Engine. 6 PM. went thru 2 tunnels a few yds apart. 8:00 PM pulled int[o] St. Breboc - saw some real nice looking people - one beautiful lady I saw. we were served coffee - fine too. saw nice looking French soldiers - clean fellows. was there a short time then went on. passed close to a gulf of the sea. so we must be close to the coast. Country very rolling. almost mountainous in places. Far more beautiful country than I ever imagined existed. Roads wonderfull. fields irregular and fences green & beautiful. Old cathedreals all along the country. Saw one immense one with two towers.

June 14 Fri. Been riding all morning - going thru a town every few minutes. Country now more modern looking. Better class of people. Buildings newer & more modern. 10 am. stopped for coffee. Many women dressed like men doing mens work around railroad yds. This afternoon country looks like Ill. fields larger - wire fences and very modern houses. & this evening we are passing thru parts more hilly[.] we've gone th[r]u a dozen tunnels. crossed 1 river 3 times - country wonderful. many small camps to be seen. passed thru one real long tunnel. 6 PM we stopped at a British junction - got coffee. all thru here opperated by English. Not far from front lines. next came very broken country - we followed thru a ravine all the way. many lime mines to be seen. railroads along here most active Ive seen. country very beautiful thru here.

June 15-Sat- 1:30 am. unloading at camp Oisemont - a little vilage here. we were cautious - german air raid bombing a town 3 miles farther on. could see the flair light bombs. We had tents to go into. got to sleep at 2 am. Big loaf of Bread I saved came in fine for morning mess. 9:30 am. french air plane went over - large one. 11 am. left camp- passed thru a number of towns. Had a march of 30 Kl. - the last 9 miles my feet were blistered. Sure was hell with those heavy packs & full equipment - we arrived at 7 pm in Bethencourt and are billeted here.