Thru the war with our outfit : being a historical narrative of the 107th Ammunition Train

Front matter

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Foreword

THIS book is of a historical nature, as far as names, dates and places are concerned, yet, its intent is not that of being authoritativelydetailed as to official acts and actions. It is rather a series of more or less connected sidelights on an outfit which spent fifteen months in the American Expeditionary Forces and six months at the Front.

An ammunition train, such as was organized in the late war, was something new in the army. It is probably the least known and least accredited of any department of the service. Working under conditions and with equipment that ordinarily would discourage a regiment of saints the ammunition train did its duty. Perched high up on a truck loaded with a couple thousand pounds of high explosive material, with enemy shell breaking in such close proximity that a truck was frequently riddled with shrapnel, was but a part of the daily routine of the drivers and ammunition handlers of the Train.

This book is written primarily to those men who were members of the 107th Ammunition Train. It is hoped it will take them back over the old routes.

vJj"">C-i^ yQ^ C^<i^cjL^\^

Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

February 10, 1920.

Part I. Training In Texas

CHAPTER I. — Page 7 In Training at Camp MacArtliur, Texas — Rumors of Reorganization of Division

Buddies Fear Separation — Texas Weatlier — Tiie "Bust Up" Comes.

CHAPETR II. — Page 10 lOTth Ammunition Train Formed — Lieutenant Colonel James MeCully in Command Major M. D. ImhoflC and Major Anton C. Martin Commaud ISeotion:? —

Officers and Enlisted Personnel Assigned.

CHAPTER III. — Page 14 Truck Companies But No Trucks — Horsed Companies With Horses and More Work Intensive Training — Camp MacArthur's Dump Commtsuder — Sand

Storms and Gumbo — Sanitation — Drill and Details. CHAPTER IV. — Page 19 Civilian Waco — The Cotton Palace — Football — AVaco Goes "Dry" — Bootleggers — John Barleycorn Shoots Up the Town — Like Texas Nights In the Movies.

CHAPTER V Page 23

More Gumbo and a Dry Spell — Weather Predictions — Thanksgiving — The Artillery Range — Texas a Big State — Theda Baras — Christmas a Lonesome Day. CHAPTER VI. — Page 38 New Years and Signs of a Move — The Order To Move — Everything Packed — That Snow Storm — The Tie-Up — Entraining and Trip to Port of Embarkation — Camp Merritt.

CHAPTER VII Page 32

The Last Night In the U. S. A. — The Orduna — Halifax, and Nearer Home Than When We Left Texas — Scene of the Holocaust — The Convoy — Sea-sick Soldiers — Attitude of the Britishers — In the Danger Zone — Appearance of the "Watch Dogs" — In St. George's Channel — Liverpool — Winchester Hill.

Part II. In The American Expeditionary Forces

CHAPTER I. — Page 41 At Winnal Down Rest Camp — Tuscania Survivors — Winchester — England and Her Food Question — The Pretty Country and Villages — Soldiers' Letters and Mail.

CHAPTER II. — Page 45 Entraining For Southampton — Crossing the English Channel — Rest Camp No. 3 Camp Coetquidan a Real Camp — A Regular Home and the First One In a Long Time.

CHAPTER III. — Page 50 Our Division a Replacement Organization — Fear of Another "Bust Up" — Weather in "Sunny' France and Its Scenery — Market Day In Guer — Getting Fed Up — Camp Activities.

CHAPTER IV. — Page .55

Our Sick Soldiers and Artillery Reach Camo- -Keautifu' Surroundings — Visits

About Camp^A New Camp Commander — Graduating From the "Militia" —

Learning How To Walk Post — Arabian Philosophy.

CHAPTER V. — Page 62

Changes In Personnel of Officers — Weather Similar To That of Texas — Our Algerian Allies and Chinese Labor — Destined For Details — "Service of the Rear" The Hospital ^Vards — St. Nazaire an<l Rennes — Memorial Day.

CHAPTER VI. — Page 71 A Trip Across France — Itinerary — "Many Dust" — Alsace — Billeted in Roppe — With the Cows and Pigs and Chickens — Ammunition Hauls — Night Work — Anti-Aircraft Bombardments — July 4, 1918 — Baseball — Sunday in Alsace — The Flu — No Cooties But Plenty of Fleas.

CHAPTER VII. — Page 84

To the Chateau Thierry Sector — On a Real Front and Real Rattles — Wonderful

Work of Our Division — Burj-ing Details — Hun On the Run — Americans Fight

Dift'crent — Dangerous Souvenir Hunting — Gossoncourt 'W^oods — Shelled and

Bombed — Resting On Laurels — Q,uentin Roosevelt's Grave — The Coast Artillery

CHAPTER VIII. — Page 98 Victorious Divisions — To Another Front — Town of the Glass House — Pierrefon<l's Woods — Juvigny — Wonderful AVork of the Infantry — Boche Planes Get Ob servation Balloons — Boche Bombs Come Close — Relieved — In Clviliieation Again — Back To Rest — Join-i-ille Area.

CHAPTER IX. — Page 113 On the Meuse Argonne Front — Start of tlie Offensive — Companies Working Xight and Day — Bois de Brocourt — Rumors of Peace — Germans Evacuating — Roads Obliterated But Ammunition Must Go Forward — Verdun — InterH»>l "Feuds" — Intellectual Barrages— Scenes Along the Old Hindenberg Line — One Night Stands — Shelled and Bombed From Pillar To Post — Epionville — Very — Overcoming the Impossible In Ammunition Hauls.

CHAPTER X. — Page 134 Those Last Pew Days and Nights in Very — "Finis le Guerre" — Negro Pioneer In a Tree — Bois de Placy — AVhen Do We Go Home? — Deloused Again — Metz and "Beaucoup" Souvenirs — Forgotten? — Cruel, Cruel War — Russian Poles of Bois de Nixeville — Bar le Due Horse Meat — The Move At Last — The Gondrecourt Area and Still Plenty of Work.

Part III. Beyond The Rhine In Germany

CHAPTER I. — Page 157 Additions and Changes In Personnel — The Trip Into Germany — The Beautiful Moselle — Heimbach — Surrounded by Comforts — Attitude of Germans — Real Service — German Cooking — German Consideration — Embarkation Orders No. 13 — Going Home? — "Down the Rhine" — Fooled Again — A Trip Up the Rhine — The Kaiser's Castle — A Football Game.

CHAPTER II. — Page 170 Theatricals and Athletics — Motor Shows — Details To France — More Details — Swanson and Remich In A.E.F. Finals — Divisional Review — Co. A Men Decorated By General Pershing — Trip To Cologne — Fraterniniing AVith the Bloomin' Britishers — Orders For Home Actually Received — Goodbye Deutschland— League of Nations Pre<licte€l a Bush League.

CHAPTER III Page 181

'Homeward Bound — Sea-Sick Soldiers — A Fourth-Class Battleship — Dizsey Bunks — Incident of the Rolling Ship — Navy Sutfers In Comparison With Army — Everything Going Out; Nothing Coming In — Details of the Trip Out of Germany and Life At Brest — The Hurry To Get Home — Over the "Hump" — Amusements Aboard Ship — New York Instead of Newport News — End of Voyage and Out of the Army.

Appendix — Page 191.

Chapter I

In Training at Camp MacArthur, Texas — Rumors of Reorganization of Division — Buddies Fear Separation — Texas Weather — ^The "Bust Up*' Comes.

THOSE few weeks in the autumn of 1917 at Camp MacArthur, previous to the actual reorganization of the Thirty-Second Division were trying times for the men who had come down from the North — from Wisconsin and Michigan — to be made into soldiers under plans then recognized as most approved and modern. Speculation was rife; everybody was down in the mouth; no on€ knew where he was at when the first rumors of the reorganization started circulating. The home town companies, until then, were quite w€ll satisfied with conditions as they were. Then came that fear of the companies being broken up and their members scattered to the four corners of the camp into every branch of the service from aviation to mule drivers

At the same tim€ the daily schedule was such that there was not a great deal of time in which to worry. The daily workout was a "pippin." Scarcely a fleeting moment got away. There was not a minute from Earliest morning until late at night which was not being used to make regular soldiers of us. What previously required a couple of years to perfect was to be condensed into a sixteen weeks' training period. First call for reveille was at 5 :30 A.M. with 15 minutes setting up exercises immediately following. A little doubletiming-it was usually included. There was an entire five minutes in which to make up cots, wash and clean up and fall in for mess at 6 o'clock. Aft€r washing mess kits there was police and sick call and at 6 :45 it was fall in for drill, which continued until 11 :45. Afternoon drill call came at 12 :55, with recall at 4 o'clock. From then until 5 'clock was non-com school, with mess at 5 and retreat at 5 :35. A fairly busy day. Nights were for study, French lessons and sleep with nothing to do until tomorrow. To the embryo soldiers it was a case of cheer-up-the-worst-is-y€t-to-come, with that dread of being separated at any time from the old home town bunch.

Between the drill schedule and the gumbo it was not exactly an ideal life. Besides th€ old squads-east and squads-west, in which the men were becoming so proficient that they could execute the commands with their eyes closed and one hand tied behind th€ back, there were rudimentary instructions in gas warfare, grenade and bomb throwing, trench digging, target practice, bayonet drill and various other new stuff of which th€ officers were as destitute of knowledge as were the men.

But the climate of Texas was something about which to wonder and marvel. How Texas endured thru the ages was a question which no one could answ€r. It was difficult to conceive how there could possibly be anything left of Texas. Either the wind was blowing or else it rained in Texas. If one could choose one of the two — rain or wind — he would be up against it for a decision. It would simply be a choice between gumbo, which is a subject in itself, and dust, which is another subject.

Why Texas wasn 't blown off the map was a mystery. Where the continual clouds of dust, sand and dirt came from was really mystifying, and it would seem that what was left of Texas after a wind storm would be lugged away on the feet after a rain storm.

Gumbo, to do it justice, is beyond description. It is native to the soil of Texas and resembles nothing so much as a great sea of the stuff that makes Tanglefoot hard on flies. It is strong as well as sticky and does not stretch. A person's hobnailed No. 10 's became the size of a ham after the first two or three steps and to travers6 the width of the company strSet was hard work even for men whom four months of hard training had mad^ fit. With each step forward it was necessary to t€ar from the dry earth six inches below the surface a chunk of gumbo a foot in diameter.

Following the wet spell would come dry weather and dust and sand. Some weeks the wind would blow from ev€ry point of the compass, bringing temperatures ranging from 31 degrees above zero to 80 degrees in the shade, and there was no shade, but no matter what the temperature or the direction of the wind the atmosphere was filled with sand. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hair all continually filled with dirt; sand even penetrated the clothing and it was one continual disagreeableness. Frequently drill was suspended due to sand storms which at times bl€w down tents. With some storms came nearly-freezing temperatures ; with others came the breath of the tropics. Variety in direction of wind was the spice of life in Texas. And with all the unpleasantness, underlying it all in the hearts of the men, was that dreadful feeling of impending fate — of being assigned to some outfit where you wouldn't know a soul and where you were positive you wouldn't like your officers.

Then the "break" came. October 15, 1917, the reorganization of the Thirty-Second Division took place and the 107th Ammunition Train was formed with Headquarters, a Motor Section and a Horsed Section. There were certain outfits in the old Second Brigade of the Wisconsin National Guard that were assigned to the new organization almost in their entirety.

After all those \^"€eks of worry and fretting over a possible disruption that would rend the souls of pals, and separate brothers, after thoughts as sorrowful as the parting of Uncle Tom and Little Eva, these certain outfits simply moved from Section F of the camp to Section E. There was nothing to it. Why, it was absolutely painless. In fact, it was a move for the better. It was to be simply fine in the new outfit.

Instead of that everlasting "Squads Right" and "Squads Left" it was to be "Quads Right and "Quads Left," and there would be a nice new line of work for Caisson companies and the Wagon company. Everybody loves an automobile or a motor truck, especially aft^r he has been in the army awhile, and everybody enjoys tinkering around a motor and talking about one. And who doesn't love horses? What is more romantic than an outfit of horses? Can yoxi imagine a picture of the Civil War, for instance, without horses in the picture?

Anyway, it was to a whole lot better than going thru that neverending "Right by Squads" — "Squads Right" — "Comp'nee-€-e, Halt," forever and ever, day in and day out. Why, it Avas even rumored there would not be any guard !

Chapter II

1 07th Ammunition Train Formed — Lieutenant Colonel James McCully in Command — Major M. D. ImhofF and Major Anton C. Martin Command Sections — Officers and Enlisted Personnel Assigned.

IN THE organization of the 107th Ammunition Train the personnel was chosen with a view of obtaining the services of men who were experienced in the crafts necessary to a successful conduct of a branch of the service which had as its duties the transportation of ammunition from the railheads, or dumps, to the front — to battery positions and to th€ infantry — by motor trucks and by horse-drawn vehicles. Trucks drivers, motor mechanics, machinists, wagoners, saddlers, blacksmiths and many other specialists were required. The entire organization was selected from Wisconsin regiments— from the 4th, 5th and 6th Infantry,

PERSONNEL

Th€ personnel of the various companies and detachments in the train, and the former organization, follows.

TRAIN HEADQUARTERS

Lieutenant Colonel James McCully, Ashland, 5th Wis. Inf., commanding.

Captain Fred E. Theilacker, Milwaukee, Co. K, 5th Wis, Inf., Train Adjutant.

Enlisted personnel of 9 men*, 5th Wis, Inf,, 6 from Co, L, Wautoma; 2 from Supply Co., Port Washington; 1 from Hq. Co,, Madison,

MOTOR SECTION HEADQUARTERS

Major Martin D. Imhoff, Milwaukee, 2nd Battalion, 5th Wis. Inf., commanding. (*) See appendix.

1st Lieutenant Jeroni€ H. Coe, New Richmond, Adjutant 2nd Battalion 5th Wis. Inf., Adjutant.

Enlisted personnel of 10 men*, 5th Wis. Inf. — 5 from Co. L, Wautoma ; 2 from Co. D, Hartford ; 1 from Co. H, Chilton ; 1 from Co. G, Berlin ; 1 from Co. F, Sturgeon Bay.

COMPANY A

Captain Richard T. Hill, 1st Lieutenant Wilbur R. Winch, 2nd Lieutanant James P. Christofferson, all of Menasha and from Co. E, 4th Wis. Inf.

Enlisted personnel of 92 men*, 4th Wis. Inf. — 86 from Co. E, Menasha ; 6 from Co. F, Shawano.

COMPANY B

Captain Harold G. Rogers, 1st Lieutenant William J. Veling, 2nd Lieutenant Nicholas M. Schantz, all of Hartford and from Co. D, 5th Wis. Inf.

Enlisted personnel of 92 men*, 5th Wis. Inf., all from Co. D, Hartford.

COMPANY C

Captain George B. Jensen, 2nd Lieutenant George D. Nelson, both of Black River Falls and from Co. D, 4th Wis. A first lieutenant was not assigned to the company.

Enlisted personnel of 92 men*, 4th Wis. Inf. — 85 from Co. D, Black River Falls ; 1 from Co. A, Chippewa Falls ; 3 from Co. C, Waupaca ; 2 from Co. L, Waukesha ; 1 from Supply Co.

COMPANY D

Captain William W. Wismer, 1st Lieutenant Robert W. Harness, both of Hay ward and from Co. H, 6th Inf. No Second lieutenant was assigned to the company.

Enlisted personnel of 92 men*, 6th Wis. Inf — 90 from Co. H, Hayward ; 1 from Co. E, Spooner ; 1 from Hq. Co.

HORSED SECTION HEADQUARTERS

Major Anton C. Martin, Neilsville, 2nd Battalion, 4th Wis. Inf., commanding.

1st Lieutenant Robert L. Wiley, Chippewa Falls, Battalion Adjutant, 4th Wis. Inf., Adjutant.

Enlisted personnel of 19 men*, 4th Wis. Inf. — 10 from Co. B, Stanley ; 5 from Hq. Co., Chippewa Falls ; 3 from Co. H, Crandon ; 1 from Co. E, Menasha.

-(*) See appendix.

COMPANY E

Captain Harvey D. Weidman, 1st Lieutenant Scott A. Cairy, 2nd Lieutenant Earl Y. Sangster, all of Platteville and from Co. I, 4th Wis. Inf.

Enlisted personnel of 189 men*, 4th Wis. Inf. — 135 from Co. I, PlattevilM; 33 from Co. L, Waukesha; 10 from Supply Co., Water loo ; 1 from Hq. Co., Chippewa Falls ; 1 from Co. A, Chippewa Falls ; 1 from Co. C, Waupaca ; 1 from Co. E, Menasha ; 2 from Co. F, Shawano ; 1 from Co. M, Kenosha ; 4 from Co. I, 6th Wis. Inf., Baraboo.

COMPANY F

Captain Joseph B. Zawodny, 1st Lieutenant Arthur D. Weiher, 2nd Lieutenant John W. Blechacz, all of Milwaukee, and from Co. C, 5th Wis. Inf.

Enlisted personnel of 189 men*, 5th Wis. Inf. — 148 from Co C, Milwaukee ; 41 from Co. I, Milwaukee.

COMPANY G

Captain John A. Bonin, 2nd Lieutenant Martin F. Blenski. of Milwaukee, the former from Co. C and the latter from Co. A, 5tL Wis. Inf.

Enlisted personnel of 150 men*, 5th Wis. Inf. — 95 from Co. B, Milwaukee ; 55 from Co. A, Milwaukee.

Within a few we€ks after the organization of the Ammunition Train there were several changes in the personnel of the officers.

2nd Lieut. N. M. Schantz was appointed Motor Section supply of ficer and transferred from Co. B to Hq. Motor Section.

S€rgt. George Russell Co. C, was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to Co. C, 2nd Lieut. George Nelson having been promoted to first lieutenant.

Sergt. Earl W. Foizie, Co. D, was also commissioned a second lieutenant. He was assigned to Co. D to fill the vacancy. 1st Lieut. Robert Harness, Co. D, was on special duty at the Divisional Gas School.

1st Lieut. Clarence J. Wessely, formerly of Co. L (Rhinelander), 2nd Wis. Inf., was attached to the train as motor instructor.

Captain Edward Dayton, formerly of Co. M (Kenosha), 4th Wis. Inf., was attached to the Train as bayonet instructor and for a time was also supply officer.

Captain J. C. Hanley (Stanley), formerly of Co. B, 4th Wis. Inf.,

( * ) See appendix.

was assigned as Adjutant of the HorsM Section. 1st Lieutenant F. C. Fitzwater was assigned to Horsed headquarters as veterinarian.

2nd Lieutenant S. H. Matuszewski, of Milwaukee, was assigned to the Wagon Co.

The only other change in the officers was in November when Major Imhoff was s6nt on detached service to Kenosha, Wis., to the Nash Quad plant for instructions in the mechanism, and operation of motor trucks. During his absence, which was about five weeks, the Motor Battalion was commanded by Major Robert Connor, Marshfield, formerly of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Wis. Inf.

There was also organized a detachment of Enlisted Ordnance Personnel* which remained with the Motor Battalion thruout the war. Men were selected from the companies of the Train and others were transferred in to this detachment from regiments of the division. The duties of the organization w€re the care and repair of ordnance, motor equipment, caissons and the like. No officers were assigned to the detachment, which was put in charge of Supply Officer Lt. Schantz.

The Medical Detachment* was in charg€ of Major Robert H. Gray, of La Crosse, who had been in the 6th Wis. Inf. 1st Lieutenant Thomas E. Mackedon, Cedarburg, of the 5th Wis. Inf., and 1st Lieutenant Fredrick Vater, Milwaukee, of the Dental Corps, w^re also assigned to the detachment. Lieut. Mackedon was transferred out of the Train before it left the United States, and 1st Lieutenant Carter was assigned in his place.

■(*) See appendix.

Chapter III

Truck Companies But No Trucks — Horsed Companies With Horses and More Work — Intensive Training — Camp MacArthur's Dump Commander — Sand Storms and Gumbo — Sanitation — Drill and Details.

IN the organization of the Train the companies of the Motor Section wer€ called "First," "Second," "Third" and "Fourth" truck companies; the Horsed Section companies Avere "First Caisson," "Second Caisson" and "Wagon" companies. A short time later an order was issued by Division Headquarters changing the designations from numbers to letters and the "First Truck Company" became "Company A," with the other companies in their order changed to lettered designations alphabetically.

There was much speculation as to why the names of the companies were changed and the more pessimistic prospective chauffeurs claimed it was because "there ain't never going to be no trucks in the outfit."

There is no doubt but that at the time the "truck" part of the designation was a misnomer, like a certain railroad down South, as one of our replacements from Alabama later explained. This railroad, the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City, operates from Mobile, Ala., to Jackson, Tenn., but is a long, long way from Kansas City. Our friend from Alabama said that the only reason the "and K. C." M^as tacked on the "M. J." w^as because the road was headed in the general direction of Kansas City. In reality the Motor Section had to travel a much longer distance than from Jackson to Kansas City to realize the "Truck" part of the name it bore for a short time.

While the men of the Motor Section complained because they did not have their motor equipment, the men of the Horsed Section complained because th€y did have their 's. Taking care of all those horses and harness caissons and wagons was far from being an easy life.

and just because the Horsed Section had its equipment the fact did not let up on the drill to any noticeable extent. Wh€n the outfit was not drilling it was caring for the equipment.

No sooner had the men of the Motor Section became settled down in their new quarters in Section E than they began looking around for the trucks on which they would thereafter ride, while the poor old infantry outfits, from which we supposedly had gi-aduated, tramped half over McLennan county each day.

The trucks did not materialize and \M same old Squads East, Squads West continued without interruption and without variation or any let up. The only sign of motor equipment in the Motor Section was an automobile which Major Imhoff and Captain Coe acquired, a motorcycle which had been assigned for the use of headquarters, and a poor old dilapitated truck which Lieut. Wessely had somehow managed to pick up somewhere about the camp — maybe down at the dump — and which was loaned to the companies for driving practice a few hours each day.

Mention of "the dump" recalls the guardian of Camp Mac Arthur's dump, whom some of you may have encountered while searching for "lost" property which you might have surveyed and requisition n€w property in its place. This particular encounter took place while a search was being made for an old piece of junk which at one time had been an incinerator pan but having been burned out was thrown away when it should have been preserved and surveyed according to army regulations before being completely destroyed or consigned to the dump.

An old Civil War veteran presided ov6r the dump. He was quaint and ragged and his shoes and leggins looked as tho he had been working around the stables. He wore an old broad-brimmed Texas Stetson, a G. A. R. coat with brass buttons, frayed sleeve' cuffs and elbows sticking out, a pair of khaki breeches and an old pair of army shoes and leggins. He was 78 years old, his face hadn't seen a razor for half that number of years and he "chawed" tobacco as tho h€ loved it and didn't care who kncAV it, judging from the way he displayed the "juice" stains on his whiskers.

He simply oozed sour philosophy and opinions. He called the airplanes we were w^atching "casus belli," and he had to explain what that was before it was understood. He said he had helped fasten the anchor rope of Zeppelin's observation balloon in the Civil War and until Zeppelin's death the Kaiser had depended on the big dirg ibl€s to win the war. He said it was air machines that caused th^ war and they would end it, explaining that the Kaiser's confidence in the beginning was the result of his faith in Zeppelin. Oh, the old man knew it all. He said the trouble with this world was that it was being killed by improvements, like the Irishman 's wife, and that every invention instead of being turned to help mankind was first adapted to killing men and its efficiency judged by its deadliness.

Gee! but the old man was sour. He sputtered away for an hour and come to find out the cause of his whole grouch was Waco. He didn't like Waco and he wouldn't move away, preferring to nurse his animosity where he could continually feed it and ke^p it alive He liked to sit around and talk to strangers, especially Northeners. and cuss things in general and Waco in particular. He was "run ragged" out of Waco forty years ago and he had been getting eveti ever since, mostly by cussing.

He was born in Waco and will die there, and with his boots on, he said. He was working on a Mississippi river boat that ran as far north as Dubuque when the Civil War broke out and he enlistM in the Northern army, happening to be on the northern end of one of the trips when Sumpter was fired on. Had the old packet been running on schedule time it would have be€n in Memphis that day and the presiding official of Camp Mac Arthur's dump would have fought in General Robert E. Lee's armies. When he joined the army he enlisted to fight, and he didn't care who, not being troubled with any slaves or slavery problems except his own daily grind which he classed as nigger work and the opportunity to fight was an excuse to "git shut of it."

After the war he served four "hitches" in the regular army and then in his brass buttons and blue army uniform he very foolishly thought the South had forgotten the war and he came marching back home to Waco. His reception was such that he hadn 't forgotten it or forgiven it. He didn't mind the abuse or the fact that he was "run ragged out of town," or any of the names he was called, except "a damned Yank," and that is what he had been mad about all those forty years.

Intermittently dust and sand storms and gumbo were still with us. There would be an occasional reminder of winter and everybody was getting set. There were frequent rumors of a move to a port of embarkation but it was no longer believed that we would spend

"Christmas in France," the slogan which followed us from Camp Douglas.

Pyramidal tents had wooden floors and wooden sides and more than likely wooden doors nicely fitted in. There were electric lights, baths and conical shaped stoves which threw out a lot of heat. When it was not for fear that the tent would blow down sleeping was very comfortable. The winter issue included plenty of clothes and there were many sweaters, wristlets and woolen helmets knitted by the folks at home. Every indication was that preparation was being made for a period of training to be uninterrupted by cold weather.

Camp sanitation was strict and the health of the outfit very good. Comparatively there was but little illness. There were numerous eases in the hospital but measles was the principal trouble and considered more of an excuse for not drillng than anything else. The S. C. D. board was working and there were quite a few cases under observation for heart and lung trouble. Th6 absence of throat disease was remarkable.

Six or seven soldiers were in the regimental infirmary one morning at sick call, all feverish and with flushed faces.

"Ah ha!" says 'Doc,' "been sleeping with your tent flaps up in all the cold air, I suppose."

"No sir, Lieutenant, we close up our tent tight every night," came back the protest to such an unfair accusation.

An order was issued that very day to the effect that tt^nt flaps must be raised every night and there was an inspection after taps to see that the order was obeyed.

All the talk about the war being over ' ' pretty soon ' ' and that we would "never see France" was not believed for a minute by anyone in the outfit. Aside from the army of 25,000 men drilling on the parade grounds daily, there was another army of approximately 4,000 men engaged in construction work, building a cantonment at which to train others after our division was gone. All that labor, and drill, and expense had not been ordered by the War Department with the expectation that the war would ' ' soon be over. ' '

Our ammunition train was a popular branch of the service. Every man in the division who ever ran a flivver wanted a job driving a truck, or a car, and every man who was ever around horses wanted a transfer. The impression seemed to be abroad that it was "pretty soft" in the ammunition train, but anyone that found a soft berth in the outfit could write his own pay check, because there was no such thing.