James E. Henschel letter to Folks - February 4, 1919

Transcript

Lt. J.E. Henschel. Motor Section, Advance P.C., G.H.Q., A.P.O. 930 A.E.F. February 4th, 1919. Dear Folks: A whole enormous pile of letters came in for me this noon, and I felt that I ought to acknowledge those from home, even if I did not have time to write very m much. There were three letters from Mother, two from boys who have returned to the States, one - very unusual - from friend Seth, and three, no five, from people in France. No so bad, eh? The rest of the people around here were all envious. One of these letters was from Mr. Hoopes, who had received my address, and probably Ramsey's and Harvey's, from Dad. Also, he mentioned the fact that Dad had been elected Master. Congratulations; Ivanhoe never had a better. My work now involves the confiscation of motor material from the Germans. It seems that when the armies of the Bosch were retiring through here they sold all manner of cars to the civilians, or else simply abandoned them on the road. As a result, this sale being in direct violation of the terms of the armistice, we have to gather in these cars as best we can. They have given me that work for the Treves district, and some of the experiences that I have are rather funny, in a way. They would be funny, that is, if one had to deal with any sort of people but the Germans. I had a German for an interpreter this morning, who did not think that I could understand any of the language. As a matter of fact, I can understand any thing they are likely to say, provided they don't talk slang, but need an interpreter because it is beyond me to talk the stuff. Well, this German friend helped out a lot, because he showed all the more clearly just how much one could count on him. Just as we were returning to the barracks, I told him that I could understand German pretty well, and you should have seen the fellows face. He's one of their officer's, too. It's rather hard at times to have to take trucks from people who paid good money for them in good faith, but in most instances, the whole proposition was one of double dealing on all sides. Everyone thought he was "doing" someone else, but strange to say, none seemed to think of the Americans, and the fact that all military property belonged to the army occupying the region. So much for all that. Have not time to say more than that I have received a large amount of mail and so am happy as the over worked lark. Love to all.