Grant and his friend, Allen "Happy" Ahlers, have a reunion with comrades in arms from the year before in Verdun. 

Monday, September 2, 1918:

Changed a front spring for Mark Kerr right after breakfast. At 10 A.M. Risley and I took Hap [Ahlers] and McCrackin into Nancy where they board the train tomorrow morning for [a permission in] Cannes. We also took parts in to be exchanged at the Auto Park. 

While at the Park I learned that [S.S.U.] 558 was in our vicinity. They replaced us last Sept. at Trondes. They are still with the 42nd French Division so Hap and I were particularly anxious to find them. After dinner Hap and I took the car and beat it for Eulmont where 558 is stationed. The first man we saw was Langelier. We fell all over him and he was quite as glad to see us. He ushered us in to the officers mess room, set a bottle of brandy, a box of chocolates and cigarettes before us and we visited and visited. Campelo, our old cook, is still with them cooking for the officers only. Well, we did have a good time talking over the old days and swapping yarns of the present. They haven’t seen much more action than we have in spite of their being on the western front during the Boche advance in April. They took part in the crisis and the turning point of the advance, but were immediately withdrawn and sent back en repos. The section has had no casualties nor many cars lost. They turned their Fiats (or rather, our Fiats) in for Fords last May. Langelier expects another baby in his home which makes two since the war broke out. He is very happy. Campelo is at last a happy and contented cook. Lt. Morau has left and a new American Lt. has been acquired. Langelier is acting French Lt. Campelo does nothing but the officers’ cooking. After inviting them all up to visit us and their inviting us to return with a mob for a meal sometime, Hap and I left for Nancy. 

We ate at the Café Lorraine--a very good meal for 8 francs. Risley ate elsewhere with some Nancy friends. We were to meet him at the Angleterre at 7:30. We got there about 8 o’clock but no Risley. Then the air-raid signals sounded and we all went down into mother earth for protection. Nothing very exciting happened. The Angleterre is near the depot--a section most often bombed in Nancy. The buildings on all sides have been hit, but the hotel itself remains untouched except for minor scratches. Until then 10 o’clock the planes hummed over-head dropping their hardware and the anti-aircraft were making a terrible racket. At 10 P.M. things quieted down and Risley showed up. We bade Hap & Mac a fond farewell with wishes for a perfect permission and started for Millery in pitch blackness. After leaving the city it wasn’t half bad driving and we made Millery shortly after 11 P.M.

A very successful day.