C.D. House Jr. Writes From France, 1919

Mr. C.D. House Jr. Writes to His Mother at Thelma

Jan. 22, 1919

Dear Mama:

I am at Menton in the Riviera Cave area. This place is only a short distance from Monte Carlo. It’s an hour’s ride from Nice. My hotel is only about 15 minutes’ walk from the Italian border. My room fronts on the Mediterranean. Caravan Palace is the name of the hotel. It’s a nice place all right.

The best part of it all is its nice and warm sunshine. That’s what suits me best of all. The war sunshine. We hadn’t seen the sun in Dijon for a couple of weeks.

There are oranges growing everywhere here. Trees hanging full. Palms all about everywhere. The town is built between the mountains and the sea. Mountains on one side of the hotel and the sea on the other. It’s much the prettiest seaside resort I ever saw.

There was a dance at the Y.M.C.A. last night. There were at least 50 men to each girl dancing so that it pretty soon developed into a rough house almost. Everyone seemed to be having lots of fun.

The Y.M.C.A. is in the Casino here. It’s a swell building. It has a theatre, dance hall and numerous reading and writing rooms.

The only thing I don’t like here is that we don’t get any sugar. There is a commissary here run by the U.S. where the officers can go and buy sugar but the enlisted man is not supposed to use sugar I suppose. Anyway we can’t buy any at the U.S. commissary. So will just have to go without for the rest of my leave.

Believe me it’s some trip down here on these French trains. I left Dijon at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and got to Lijon at 7 o’clock. Intended staying over night in Lijon but there was nothing doing. They wouldn’t let us off the train. The American M.P. made us stay on and go through to Marseille. We arrived in Marseille at 2 o’clock in the morning. The A.M.P. gave us a pass out of the station to get something to eat and told us to come back at 11 o’clock a.m. and take another train out for Nice. We could not get a room at that hour of the night and nothing to eat. Went back at 11 o’clock to take the train and were informed that only officers and Red Cross nurses were allowed to ride on it. They told us to come back at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and take another train out for Nice. Well I didn’t do any such thing. Went down town and found us a room and went to sleep until after 6 o’clock. We got a train for Nice and Menton at 5 o’clock in the morning. Saw lots of Marseille. It’s almost as gay as Paris. But believe me there is nothing enjoyable about a long ride on a French train.

There are six nurses here that I knew when I was in the hospital at Dijon. I danced some with them last night. They looked like old friends to me when I saw them.

Give my love to everyone in both families.

Probably I will be home by the first of June.

Your loving son,

Charles Jr.