Diary, May 11-17, 1919

May 11. Sun Rainy. up & shaved at 9. Played church for Capt. Clynch. He remarked that most officers was as good soldiers as the enlisted men. Rec letter from Mother Apr 23. This is mothers day. wrote to Mother. Col Myers got 11 votes in Reg Society. Capt Core went away in the Majority. Div society is $25 for life or 3 per yr. officers orgonazation for Chicago political use. Met Hackleys sailor, adopted brother. Nice fellow. Lieut Wiseman has proven a traitor & is not worthy of being a mason. Played concert at Y. It was built by money donated by Eastern Star. Had chocolate & cakes. Saw picture played - Tom Sawyer.

x May 12-Mon. Got up at 10 am. Shaved Cleaning up to be Ready to Move on the Harrisburg - old battler Pennsylv[ania.] PM in Brest again. Imperator, Kaiserine, Harrisburg & Mississippi in Harbor. Visited old fort in Old Brest across the river. Went thru dry docks where Cruiser Gliore -Fr. Is being overhauled. Has 6-6 in guns. sure a big thing, 3 propellers, 4 stacks, was under it. Met [ ] Mills. then went thru dungeons in the old Castle Fort on this side. Majir Hemmingway was in crowd. Dungeons below sea level. dark & Musty, Roman architecture, started by caesar & Nalopeon finished the works. Sub. Passage closed 1638. Another out let in death chamber closed in 1871. Great iron balls to fasten to feet. Iron crown for head that twists close & crushes head. passages just high & wide enough for me to walk. Romans, Spaniards English & French have been tortured to death here. In 1447 a prisoner attempted to dig way out thru 20 feet of Roman masonry. One Chamber has entrance from top only. Prisoner droped in from this hole & fall 25 ft on to bayonets, stay there till tide flushes them out - In segregation Camp they have a[ ] as high as majors confined as well as nurses & YMCA women for Veneral. Saw 15.2 in. Naval gun 38[ ] 89th still coming in, 80th coming in. Band plays dance at do[cks] tonite. Perry was with me today.

May 13 Tue Fine day. troops coming in all the time. Rolled our packs ready to move any minute. girls at the dance last night made you think of a bargain counte[r] after a days rush sales. Sure not the class that comes to the officers dance. They are too nice for enlisted men. Tonite played concert for the officers. What few were there were of the attitude of Duchess Adelaide, like they thot we were having a privelege, playing for them. What enlisted men were outside gave us a hand. Have noticed activities of K.C. in France. What little they give away is branded K.C. Nothing more or less than a big advertising Medium of the Catholic church. For real service the Y's are doing it. The Salvation army advertises none yet does more than any KC I've seen. Its disgusting for organizations doing so little of real benefit trying to claim so much.

May 14 Wed Ate first breakfast in No 12. Put in squad. Played concert in Y. got Chocolate & cakes. good pictures tonite. Rainy.

May 15. Thur. Revielle at 4:45, early breakfast, fell in with packs, at 7:30 left Pontanezen by Old Brest Road. was half hour loading onto the tug boat & taken past the giant Imperator to the Leviathan & loaded onto it. Ferry Codnor brought us out. Imperator left at 12 oc. and we has mess at 4 then I went on deck. tugs came out & fastened on to us. at 8:15 we started. not a quiver, soon we were out of Harbor and no motion is felt, only sensation of moving is seeing the landscape pass. At last we are realy started home. On the largest boat in the world and forward end. Watched her nose away the water in great waves. 3 light American cruiser and a 2 skeleton mast battle ship of the New York type in the harbor - they fired continualy for 10 min. on our leaving.

May 16 Fri very rough - good breakfast. Played Concert in large dining hall. Passed a tank ship. was doing some fine dipping. went to supper; threw it all up. was very sick. all nite.

May. 17-Sat feel very bum. ate at bite, it stayed down. played for 89 Div on rear end of boat. got pictures of boat at Canteen. stayed on deck quite a bit, to our right could barely see the 2 stacks of a vessel - it soon dissapeared. sea very smooth riding fine. feel pretty good. KC gave us a kerchief. Shaved. Sun out quite a bit today.