MARCH -APRIL
March - April
1. Up at 8. Walked through town. Quite a town. Visited cathedral Notre Dame de Sable. Met Lt. Ginter and McGannon and Fitch. Letter home. Rain.
2. Up at 3:30. Caught 4:45AM train and arrived at Brulon 6AM. Letter from home.$25 from Frances. Chicken for supper. Paid off debts and bought 3 ???. Got paid for wartime in 7 months & 58.50.
3. Rain., Up at 8:30. Got a bath. Letter from home. Leut. Smith returned to company.
4. Rain in morning. Cleared up in afternoon. I.D.R in morning. Hung around all afternoon. Nothing special to report. Movies at night.
5. Rain and cloudy all day. I.D.R. in morning. Letter to Frances. Nothing special.
6. Up at 6. Went to guard 1st relief 9:30AM. Signed payroll. Cold as hell all night. Nice day.
7. Cold. Nice day. Off guard 9:30AM. Moved company around again. Inspections in afternoon. Movies at night. Reville 7:15. Inspection in morning. Hung around all day. Paid off at night 101 francs. Paid Miller 34, Movies at night. Huber and Beham on pass.
8. Up at 8. Went to church, PE.
9. Hung around all day. Nothing special to report. Rain.
10. Up at 7. Rain. Hike and monkey exercises in morning. Issued rifles(1162140). Inspection in afternoon. Finish of 1 year of MISERY.
11. Pass. This diary was started on March 11, 1918 just to remind later on of some of the little things that happened during the time I spent in the army of the U.S. Pvt. Paul Sluk.
12. Pass.
13. Painted boxes. Received new hiking shoes & stove guard. Nothing special. Rainy evening.
14. Guard all day. Rained like blazes all day. Boxing bouts at auditorium.
15. Painted boxes again. Got paid 2.99 and went to YMCA show.
16. Went on pass 8:00AM. Had a good time.
17. Home on pass.
18. Packed blue bag. Washed overalls. Lounged around all day.
19. Inspection of equipment. Issued razor and shaving brush. Lounged around.
20. Hung around all day. Nothing interesting.
21. Inspection of equipment. A hike of about 7 miles. No excitement.
22. Moved around from one end of barrack to the other.
23. Inspection early in the morning. Fire call. Home on pass 4:00.
24. Home on pass. Good time. Back on 12:08.
25. Oh what a head! Drilled all morning. Hike with packs and pitched tents in afternoon.
26. Inspection of equipment. Nothing special.
27. Inspection of equipment. Packed blue bag for final inspection.
28. More inspection. No work.
29. Muster. Signed payroll. No work in particular.
30. Bummed around all day. Ate at Merrills. Went to show at night. Pushed clock ahead 1 hr.
31. Got up 7:30. Went home 12 hr. pass at 12AM.
April
1. Tired and sleepy. Worked in morning. Loafed all afternoon. Physical inspection. Paid off.
2. Hike and inspection of equipment. Went shopping and bought some tobacco, soap, etc.
3. Pack and blue bag inspection. Loafed all day. Show at night with Meyer.
4. Pack and blue bag inspection. All mail, phones and telegrams censored. Show at night.
5. Shipped blue bag. Hung around all day. Under guard at night. Raised particular hell.
6. Up at 4AM. Moved on 7:30 train. Reach boat at pier 61 -12 o'clock. Left pier at 5:30. White Star liner CRETIC. Postcard home.
7. On our way. Stand in line for 2 hrs for chow. Good eats & plenty of fresh bread.
8. Still sailing. Nice weather. Plenty of fresh air. Arrived Halifax late at night.
9. Anchored in Halifax till 6PM then left. Weather getting stormy. Boat drill.
10. Rolling like a log but not seasick yet. Living in hopes of getting sick. Boat drill twice a day. 7 months in Army today.
11. Nice day. Calm sea. Good eats and feeling fine. Rain late at night.
12. Rough sea again. Rain all day. Kind of gloomy but otherwise OK. Getting sick of the eats. They're getting rotten. Embalmed fish.
13. Nice day. Calm sea. Took a nice saltwater bath and went to bed. Cooties and Scarlet Fever discovered on board. Bum eats. They soak you a mint for an apple or a sandwich.
14. Lounged around all day. Weather fine and feeling like the weather. Sleep with all clothes on from today on.
15. Nice day. Lounged around all day feeling fine. Submarine sighted. Slept with all clothes on.
16. Nice and clear day. Fired cannon for practice. Very restless night. Couldn't sleep. Somebody got a few bottles of booze.
17. Up at 4:30AM. Went on U-boat guard from 5-7. Picked up convoy of 7 destroyers. More Scarlet Fever on board. Sick of looking at nothing but water. Starting to roll again.
18. Got up to view the sunrise at 5 o'clock and hung around all day. 1 day more and we'll see land. Guard 1-3PM. Rotten eats.
19. Land sighted 5AM. Landed Liverpool harbor 6PM. Some dump. Nothing but docks and factories. Rotten.
20. Docked 7AM. Raining. 4PM and no eats. Entrain for Dover 5:30PM. Stop at rugby for eats & ride all night. No sleep.
21. Arrived Dover 5AM. Good breakfast. Pretty place. Left Dover 11:30AM. Arrived Calais, France at 2 o'clock. Seen German prisoners. Went to town at night and got drunk. Air raid. Slept on floor of tent, 12 men.
22. Hiked 15 mile. Got tin derby and gas masks. Went to town at night. Came back early and went to sleep. Air raid and gas. Seen Mick.
23. Broke camp Calais 11:30AM. Took train for 2 hrs and hiked 7 miles with pack. Arrived Northenlinghem 7:30. Sleep in barn, hole in roof. 10 miles behind firing line.
24. Nice day. Walked around town. Bombarding all night. Rain. Fairly good eats so far. Blue bag arrived. Sleep in barn on floor with horses. Terrible dump.
25. Gas mask instruction. Walked to Northbecount and La Wattein. Had a couple of bottles of Champagne and came back to sleep. Rats galore all over the damn place.
26. More gas. Walked around town and cam back. Hung around. No excitement outside of a few aircraft.
27. Gas drill. Aireoplane dropped. Lost in fog. Took a walk and had a few drinks. No excitement.
28. Sunday rain. Seen the plane that dropped yesterday. Started bombardment again. Visited Nordansquas and Wolphus. Seen Mick. Rain late at night.
29. Rain all day. Machine gun drill 6 hrs. had a nice walk in mud and went to sleep. Still bombarding.
30. Rain morning. Machine gun drill to 4PM and gas mask drill 8-9PM. Rotten chow. Going broke soon. Funds very low. Mud all over the damn place.