^ V » " * °' c\. ' ^1 "I --U- J^-^ > o V V ''»'^' ^^"^ ,.. V *oTo' .V" o_ ^0 0* :%. .Hq, 0° .^^4: ^ '^^o V^ xf. ^. * ^ ' ^<^^ O , « a .^^ Thru He War (MOUIFIT THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT BEING A HISTORICAL NARRATIVE OF THE 107th AMMUNITION TRAIN BY JOHN C. ACKER Former Sergeant-Ma] or of tLe Motor Battalion 107ta A.intnunition Xram COPYRIGHT 1920 By the Author '251, ■At TO "OUR MEN" "I used to think that none were better than our men. Now I think that none were as good. ' ' — Judge James McCuUy, Ashland, Wis., former Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the 107th Am- munition Train. — September 24, 1919. APR 15 1920 ©CU566536 'Wo / to f 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 authoritatively- detailed as to official acts and actions. It is rather a series of more or less connected sidelights on an out- fit which spent fifteen months in the American Ex- peditionary 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 con- ditions and with equipment that ordinarily would dis- courage 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 ma- terial, with enemy shell breaking in such close prox- imity 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^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 Gondre- court 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 Decor- ated By General Pershing — Trip To Cologne — Fraterniniing AVith the Bloom- in' Britishers — Orders For Home Actually Received — Goodbye Deutschland— League of Nations Prelenty, he comes over in force at night in reprisal. The sky was streaked with searchlights in the distance around us, but we Avere in a quiet zone. To the east, west and south we watched the sky and heard the distant whirr of Hun motors, the bursting bombs and A.A. 's. It seemed we were to be passed up for the night for a wonder and finally Avent to bed. It was pretty late, too ; near- ly 10 o'clock. During the ten or fifteen minutes I took undressing the Hun was upon us. There must have been eight or ten machines that our searchlights and A.A.s played on. The crunch of bursting bombs was all about us. First the flash and then the c-r-runeh, simultane- ously as he neared us. Cr-r-runch ! Cr-r-runch ! Two hit so close I tried to dig a hole in ray pillow with my head. The Hun was di- THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 109 rectly over us ! The burning question was : Will the next one get us ? Cr-r-runch ! He missed. Cr-r-runch ! Cr-r-runch ! Cr-r-runch ! Three more and so close I was in a cold sweat, shaking all over; so weak I had a dickens of a time crawling out of bed and lighting a cigarette. Three whiffs of the cigarette and I was out in the open, listening to the disappearing plane and as brave as any of 'em that came from dugouts, holes and from under trucks. Of this whole war here, the worst fear I have is of those darned planes. They do little harm — I don't know of any material damage they did in our vicinity that night — but they sure can whiten up a fellow's hair. * * * * 9 September. It didn't stop raining until late last night but I saw that town anyway. Went down in the rain and got wet ; also got a bottle of Bordeaux red wine and a bottle of Epernay white wine for five francs each from a French commissary, so the rain wasn't so bad after all. But I was disappointed in the town. The Teut had never been there but his shell had. Altho few buildings were destroyed the civilians did not know at the time just what buildings were going to be hit so they very wisely packed up and moved. They are not back yet. One strange sight in the town is a camouflaged river. A green screen fully thirty feet high follows the river bank for a mile or more. This river (Aisne), like the Marue, is narrow but deep and navigable for tow barges and tugs. I cannot imagine why the screen is so high, as the only boats I have seen are without masts, unless it may have been for the purpose of hiding the smoke from the tug- boats. A railroad runs thru the toAvn, too. Saw a long string of prisoners coming in under guard of French Colonials. Our division took a thousand prisoners in our few days on this front. This in- formation was given out in another order telling how good we are — more praise for the 32nd. Today is real nice ; the sun is shining and the rain of yesterday settled the dust which means a nice clean trip for us. We leave at five o'clock in the morning and don't know where we are going. Neither do we care — we enjoy these overland trips immensely. We know only our first destination ; when we reach there, about 10 A.M., we get another destination, and so on during the trip, never know- ing our routing for more than a half-day in advance. When we get our second destination we ought to be able to make a pretty good 110 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT guess as to our final destination and ought to know almost to a cer- tainty whether it is "rest" or another licking for Crown Prince & Co. Tomorrow for the first few hours we will travel roads we passed over in July and will again visit toAvns that were all shot up. Am curious to know whether those towns are again doing business now that the Hun is chased back so far. The French get back to their homes and their land usually before the German is cold in the dis- tance. They are not supposed to return until the government gives them permission but they do. I have frequently seen families work- ing in the field when shell were dropping within sight, and people in towns where shell were still occasionally falling. I remember one old fellow back in Alsace who was as mad as a wet hen. Back there in our time the war was a joke and fields were cultivated up to the line. This old codger was all heated up one morning because during the night the Boche had dropped a dozen shell over in his newly plowed and planted land. He Avas out there in the field filling up holes and mumbling and growling something in French that sounded very much to me like cuss words. A tale I recall from back there is of a particularly "active" bit of front. From the other side came each morning and evening a dozen or so big shell, a little later the rattle of machine gun bullets and shortly after a few volleys of rifle fire. This "heavy" fire be- came monotoneous in its regularity to the newly arrived Americans and one night a half million dollar barrage was put on and the boys went over the top. They put an end to that active bit of front. Storming a trench they captured the enemy "en force." The enemy was an old Dutchman with a wooden leg whom the boys had fre- quently heard stumping along a wooden walk on the other side of No Man's Land in the still of the night. He had been a hard work- er and stumped many a kilometer each day out to the artillery, back to the machine gun position and then to the trenches. He had held the line without loss for a good many days. * * * * 14th September. Time was, when if I happened to get out in the morning before the dew was off the ground and got my shoes damp I contracted a sore throat, ear trouble, a cough, chills and fever, the ague and a few other minor ailments, but now it is quite different. For three days and three nights I was wet to the skin; went to bed wet and got up the same way, traveled all day in rain and slept soaked in it THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 111 all night; it was mostly cold rain, too, and I haven't even got the snifHes. That the kind of a tough guy I am, now. Tuesday morning in a drizzling rain I got up at 3 :30 rolled up my belongings and taking my seat in the side car embarked with our train for an unknown destination. Three hours after my arising hour daylight filtered thru the rain-clouds and about the same time somebody opened up with everything they had up above. It came from the cold faucet, too, and filled up the bath tub which the side- car so much resembles. Then the motor bucked — wet wires— and no shelter in sight. It was not Avhat once could call a propitious start for the trip so pleasantly contemplated. The driver and I pushed the machine up a long hill and coasted doAvn the other side to a town where we found a place to dry out the outfit. Still it rained and the train had left us way behind. We finally made another start— in the rain — and I had made up my mind there was no need to trj' any longer to get dry or keep dry. We just sloshed along and about with that complaining motor and just before reaching our first destination caught up with the train. It rained all day long; sometimes it only sprinkled but the average for the day was a hundred. We were scheduled that night for billets but they didn't materialize and it was pup tents instead. A pup tent, if you don't happen to know, consists of two shelter halves and is for two men. I had one shelter half and slept alone. It rained while I was trying to arrange that protection over my Boche stretcher, which I still possess and cherish. The rain made our supper something I couldn't appreciate. I got my shoes off and into bed. It rained all night long and the roof leaked, as had my slicker all day. I hope the man who made our slickers has to spend the rainy season down below in one of them. Maybe a thousand automobiles and trucks passed within three feet of my head during that night: I don't know. But if they did, and I was told there were, I didn't know a thing about it because I slept like I did those nights in that big French bed down in Alsace, and got up at daylight. It was still raining. Fortified with a cup of warm rain water and uncooked coffee- grounds we started another day; that is, the train started another day. I started forty-six miles behind the train. To find a long, lean, lanky looking, lonesome solo rider, and for other reasons, 1 had to go back twenty-three miles. Still raining and T will stretch 112 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT out this sentence for the whole day — still raining — and I don't want to repeat so will not say anything about the night, nor the next day. Life was getting to be just one rainy day after another, the only variation being that the night rain was colder than the day. Everything must come to an end. The rain finally stopped. The fact encourages me to believe the war will end some day. Our journey also came to an end. We live in billets now, under roofs that don't leak — and the sun slwnes brightly all day long. While our trip was a continual round of displeasure and dis- comforts I can't say I didn't enjoy it. I had a lot of fun in spite of the weather. I had just enough work to do to feel that I was really busy beating it up and down the column, when I would catch up to it ; the roads were grand after we got out into civilization, and the old bus can make forty-five miles an hour. We made a lot of good towns and cities with real people and real business places in them and I got rid of a lot of francs. And then one night when we were camped near a big town we stepped out and put over a cliaiiipagne barrage. It was "dry" stuff. Besides we saw a great deal new country, places we had never been thru before, many of them very interesting, and no matter if it was raining and nasty I took them all in. We were in Chateau- Thierry again and you wouldn't know the old place now. Every- body is back home and business is booming. We are located now where the Boche can't find us nights, and still not so far away but that we hear of the wonderful victories the Americans are winning. It makes us hanker to get back to the line. CHAPTER IX. On the Meuse Argonne Front — Start of the OfFens-^ ive — Companies Working Night and Day — Bois de Brocourt — Rumors of Peace — Ger- mans Evacuating — Roads ObHterated But Am- munition Must Go Forward — Verdun — In- ternal "Feuds" — Intellectual Barrages — Scenes Along the Old Hindenberg Line — One Night Stands — ^Shelled and Bombed from Pillar to Post — Epionville — Very — Overcoming the Im- possible in Ammunition Hauls. FROM September 11 to 17th the Horsed Battalion remained in Wassy cleaning and repairing equipment and getting the horses back in shape ; also following out a drill schedule and enjoying the first rest in months. The Motor Battalion with Train Headquarters and detachments remained at Lafolie and Ferreres until September 22. Nearly 100 men were received as replacements of which 77 were used in the Motor Battalion companies. Motor equipment was gone over, overhauled and repaired, and the trucks were once more placed in good running order. The day the outfit left Lafolie Regimental Supply Sergeant Wallace R. Olson was sent to the hospital. He had contracted a severe cold and pneumonia was feared. Four days later he died and pneumonia was the cause of his death. On the 17th the Horsed Battalion left Wassy, reaching Prez sur Marne the next day, Robert Espagne on the 19th, Mussey the 20th, Beauzee the 21st and Wally the 22nd. The Battalion was in Dom- basle the 25th on the way to Brocourt Woods and from there moved to the Bois de Hesse, remaining there until the 28th, when it moved to Montfaucon, taking a position north of the town. After suffer- ing a number of casualties from shell and gas and having a num- ber of horses killed orders were received to move to the woods 114 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT south of Montfaucon. The Battalion had just cleared from the old location when an enemy plane hovered over the place and returned to its lines. Almost immediately a heavy shelling of the old loca- tion started. A small arms ammunition shed was blown up and burned. The trip to the south of the town was made without mis- hap but nearby a field hospital of the 79th Division was shelled and wounded inmates killed. The roadside was strewn with wounded and dead, traffic was congested and numerous trucks were in the ditches. Until the Battalion left Montfaucon on October 16 there was continual shelling of the vicinity and enemy bombing planes came over every night. Traveling nights and laying up days the Motor Battalion had passed thru Bar le Due to Brocourt Woods, arriving there at 2 -.30 o'clock the morning of September 24. Enroute the day previous orders had been received transferring the entire Ammunition Train to the 79th Division. While the Argonne offensive did not start un- til the 26th the Motor Battalion started work the very minute it arrived at the front and four men of Company B were wounded the first day. Every truck in the outfit was engaged night and day hauling for the 57th Brigade which had also been transferred to the 79th Division. Forty more replacements were received and there was no let up to the strain. Night and day the men were on the road. "I can't see how they stand it," remarked Colonel Mc Cully, when one convoy came in to camp for a hot meal after hav- ing been out 72 hours. The 32nd Division was in reserve until the 30th when it went into the front line and remained in until Oc- tober 20th. The 107th Ammunition Train hauled continually for whatever division happened to be in front of it, without rest, scarce- ly without sleep, except when the drivers hunched up on the front seat of their truck in the rain and stole a few winks while waiting for congested traffic to be relieved. Every company had trucks on special duty with the artillery. Company C had the small arms ammunition dump near Montfaucon. Corporal Richard Rothemal, of Train Headquarters, was killed by shell fire at 3 :30 o 'clock on the afternoon of October 3 near Brig- ade Headquarters between Montfaucon and Cuisy. The Horsed Battalion moved to Epionville October 16 where it remained in the woods until November 8, working all the time, when it moved back to the Bois de Corapte. The Motor Battalion luoved THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 115 to Epionville October 24 and back to Very the next day where Train Headquarters had been established the previous day. France, 30 September. We are camped in another woods on another front. It is rain- ing almost continually and it is cold. There is mud all about and the soggy turf is like in some southern river bottoms. We haven't seen the sun for days, except for an occasional fleeting peep be- tween rain clouds. We are tired, overworked and wet. This sounds rather forlorn but actually it isn't. We are not in the least depressed. The Hun is on the run again and all roads from the front carry column after column of prisoners. I saw one string of 700 yester- day, another bunch of 300 and another nearly as large, all goose- stepping back to the rear. In the stockade here are several thous- and more and this pen is being continually emptied and filled again. They are all from the drive which started night before last. The enemy surrenders whenever opportunity affords but in the mean- time he must fight. They are being driven back and back, always back, to Hundom. They are whipped and only awaiting the end which must come soon. We just heard of Bulgaria's peace maneuver and of the terrible wallop the British gave the Turk. Wish we could get hold of a newspaper. You over there know more each night what is happen- ing than we who are right on the spot. Saw the start of this drive, knew it was coming and knew the hour. We traveled nights coming up here and kept under cover during the day. Our troops were simply poured into this sector, secretly, and I believe the surprise was complete. During our last night's run we passed innumerable tanks and guns of all descriptions. During the afternoon preceeding the night of the start of the drive I met an artillery captain who was cussing for fair and the subject of his highly spiced remarks was tanks. Three hundred of them came crawling up behind his battery and like big blind monsters kept right on traveling regardless of obstruc- tions, finally spreading out and stopping directly in front of the cap- tain's battery. In their course laid pup-tents and dugouts and these had been flattened out, and "the damned Frogs" (they were French tanks) had run right over the captain's tent, flattening out ever>i:hing and breaking his shaving mirror. 116 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Tanks look just like big, lazy, sluggish box tortoise. They lay around in ditches and fields tipped over on their sides or in some position that resembles nothing except broken down machines shoved out of the way of traffic. Upon my first encounter with them I thought they were wrecked, some that were put out of commission in battle. One tank lay on its side in a ditch as tho it had slid off the muddy road-bed. I stopped to examine it and found two French- men asleep on their rubber coats alongside. The visors of the men's helmets were cut straight off and a band across the front of the hat bore the insigna of the cross-bones. How the Hun does fear the French tanks ! My presence evidently awoke the men. One looked at his watch, said something, and both scrambled aboard as the tank lay. One took his place at the wheel, sitting with his legs spread ahead of him, and the other, the gunner, astraddle the driver's neck, a small seat being arranged just over the driver's head. The tank was of the smallest make, with not an inch of surplus space. The engine started, and say, that little old tank hopped over on its belly like a turtle and crawled out of the ditch as tho it was level ground. We all knew the drive was imminent and when the captain told of the tanks being up as far as the battery positions I knew it was only a question of hours before the big barrage would be on. From other remarks I heard I was certain the hour was to be before midnight. I went up toward the front during the afternoon and picked out a hill, the highest one for miles around. To the north lay a dead man's land for miles and miles and the old Hindenburg line ran thru it. Not a tree or a sign of habitation in all that stretch of country — not a wall standing — yet I knew there were hundreds of thousands of soldiers within range of my vision. And guns ! — thous- ands of them, all cunningly hid away in holes in the ground. The Boche kept up his habitual, desultory fire with scarcely a return from the Yanks. He didn't know of the thousands of guns that might have answered. They were waiting the hour. At nine o'clock or a little after a party of five of us drove to the foot of the hill and climbed to its top. It was pitch dark but the rain had stopped during the afternoon and the sky was quite clear. The moon was due at 10:30. We waited and waited. A few shells came over, bursting in our vicinity, but they didn't draw the cour- tesy of an answer. They were ignored completely. It was deathly still on our side, simply the creak and rumble of traffic for the re- THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 117 serves were already coming up in the dark, crowding right on the heels of the organizations that were to start the drive ; and then there were the Allied planes beginning to be numerous on their way to bomb the enemy's back lines. Exactly at 10 :30, just like it said in the almanac, the moon peep- ed over the horizon. The heavens favored us in all preparations for this drive. Rain and cloudy skies stopped all observation of our movements in coming into this sector, and now the old moon came out in all his waning brightness just at the right time to show us the way. For five minutes as the moon's arc grew larger we could gradually make out the scene before us. A cloud passed over and when the moon came out of that ten minutes later the world lit up. The signalling flares and skyrockets started and run a course way down the line and for miles and miles to our left. We awoke to the fact that the drive was not to be confined to our salient. And then Hell tore loose ! There was a blur of shadows up ahead and around us, the re- serves hurrying up, but that was the only visible troop action I could see. My hair stood straight, and not from fear, in that stupendous display. The sky was lit up like day from the flash of the thous- ands of guns; and the noise was stupefying. The barrage started miles away to our left and came rapidly up the line, each battery taking it up in succession until all were in action — the 75 's up ahead, the 155 's around us — and the railroad guns behind, all belching shell on the enemy. It wasn't only for an hour or two, either, but continued all night long and all day, creep- ing just ahead of the advancing Infantry and tanks until the range became too great. Then the artillery moved up while the infantry held the line, and another barrage started. That operation continues. Reports, unofficial, keep coming back all the time but we do not know the extent of our successes. We can only judge from the num- ber of prisoners we see and of the total number only a small part pass along here. We hear of other Allied successes all along the front; of Allied victories in the Orient and wherever else there are enemy, even in Russia. We are doing our share and I can't see anything but the end, and I wish it would hurry up. Our ammunition train is about tuckered out. For three days and nights now the truck drivers have been on the go. I don't see how the men stand it. In pouring rain and pitch black nights they 118 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT drive the loads of ammunition without lights of anj^ kind over roads deep in mud, where a civilian driver would halt in bright daylight. The way they follow the roads is almost uncanny. They have been out three days and nights now without sleep or a warm meal, not even hot coffee, only the "iron" rations. The worst part of all is the congested traffic. Roads are so bad and traffic so great that at times it takes two or three hours to make a kilometer. The drivers fall asleep when the column stops and awaken when it starts. Sometimes one sees a break of a hundred yards or so in the line — some driver failed to awaken when the colunui started. Our men are on the road all the time traveling from the dump or railroad to bat- tery positions. Thej' are in immediate danger the greater part of the time ; trucks are frequently hit by shell or shrapnel and some- times one is blown up. I verily believe our men to be the hardest worked in the army. In this "bois" where we are located is a camp formerly occupied by the French in which are barracks and numerous dugouts. There is a "Y, " a French canteen, a telephone office, a "bureau," poste des police," and a bathhouse, a complete cantonment according to the signs on the buildings, but it is a long time since these places Avere doing business. The buildings are dilapidated, every roof leaks and the place is overrun with rats; still it isn't half-bad — much better than any other place we could possibly find for miles around. Oui' headquarters detachment has a whole long barrack and 1 have the office and my "bed" in one end. I have a stove, plenty of wood and best of all we can close up everything at night and have a light. We don't have to go to bed as soon as it gets dark. My first night here was far from being pleasant because I failed to take the rats into consideration when I made my bed. I set my Boche stretcher on the dirt floor, put straw under it to make it nice and dry and warm, fixed up that bed so that it was as comfortable as your own, altho maybe not as wide, and I was so tired. We started on ovir trip to this place one afternoon at 5 o'clock and traveled until 7 o'clock the next morning. This trip I traveled in the Major's closed car but at that it was cold and no chance to sleep. We laid up for the day but instead of putting up my tent and getting some sleep (it was raining) I took in the big town nearby. The next night and day was a repetition of the first 24 hours out and we pulled into this camp at 3 o'clock the morning of tlie third day. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 119 i finished up tlie rest of that night on a truck and was up at day- light fixing up an office and spent the day catching up with my work. When night came and my bed made up I want to say I was ready for some sleep. I was so sleepy I was actually dizzy. I guess I just became un- conscious instead of "going to sleep.'' It w^as cold (I didn't have my stove yet) and my head was under the quilts. I suppose I was so tired I was restless and the back of my neck got uncovered. I awoke suffocating with my mouth and nose in the blankets as something "furry" with a long, cold tail, passed slowly over my exposed neck. Goodness knows, I was scared enough of Hun planes ; I have shivered, and froze my bare legs many a night under a truck when Hun planes came around and they made me sweat, as cold as I was, but I am more scared of one rat than of all the planes the Hun ever thought he was going to have. They simply make my flesh creep ! I let out one screech and left there ! I made the door, in the dark, in two seconds less than nothing and the cook house in noth- ing flat. There was a light in the kitchen and I met the guard at the door. He had been having his midnight lunch and had heard my gentle voice. He was almost as scared as I. We finally gathered up some candles and came back to the barracks. As near as we could figure it out in my leap from that bed to where I first lit — -from a prone position to where my heels struck the dirt floor — measured fourteen feet five inches, and I must have hurdled a table with a typewriter on top of it. I guess that will stand for awhile as an A.E.P. record and I would like to hear from any athletes that maj- be left in the States, if there are any that are not in the navy. I finished that night like the corpse at a wake — three brightly burning candles on each side of the bed — and the guard had instruc- tions to see that there were other candles in reserve. The next day I suspended my bed from the ceiling with four wires, like the old porch swing, and the rats have to do a tight-wire act to get at me. But it made them mad and the next night I could liear them hollering and squealing whenever I woke up. They ran all over the place, chewed up my "iron rations" (the three-day re- serve rations we carry— hard bread and "willy") gnawed a hole in my haversack and left a trail of chewed up paper on my table. A newspaper I had spread on the ground near my bed for a rug when I undressed they lugged off and tried to pull in a hole. But I got 120 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 'em cheated now. Today I bought a eat for ten francs from the French kitchen and tonight I got that cat on a 12-foot string tied to the head of my bed. As we say in the army, I am "jake" now. * * * * 13 October, 1918. Sitting here tonight in my little old "tin" shack-dugout con- templating this letter and listening to the fellows grouped around the little red-hot stove dope out the latest peace rumors, home seems very, very close. It actually seems "safe" to talk about home and the possibilities of seeing it once more. I am even trying to recollect how I formerly managed to keep my legs warm in civilian trousers. We are floating a couple of feet from the ground in a sea of optomistical rumors, fearful that they are only bubbles, and, 0, wanting so to believe them all. The Bulgarian rumor materialized : so did the one about the German peace note, and since then we believe almost everything we hear. We have heard that Hungary wants a separate hearing; then that Austria-Hungary wanted separate peace, and that Turkey would take the same; the kaiser "abdicated" yesterday and left ev- erything to Oscar; tonight this hot stove bunch of ours have the Germans voluntarily evacuating all Allied territory, and so it goes — foundation more or less substantial for all of it — with home just in the distance. It takes so long before we see a paper and get the official "pro- ceedings" that we have plenty of time to get into arguments over each new bit of news that comes along the line. Included in the "gang" around the stove tonight are, of course, both optomists and pessimists — those who are dead certain that we will be home for Christmas and those who think we will become an army of occupation in Germany for months, maybe years, after the war is over. The crowd is as varied in their opinions as they are in the states they hail from and call home. Our Headquarters outfit, tho small, is certainly cosmopolitan. At one time those of us in the outfit were all from Wisconsin. When the reorganization of the Division took place in Texas this Headquarters was much smaller than it is now and the men were all from Wisconsin. New tables of organization increased our personnel and to this day we are occasion- ally adding new men and are not yet quite up to authorized strength. Besides we have lost quite a number of the originals thru various causes and now there are only a very few of the old Wiscon- THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT l2l sin men left. I suppose that condition is niucli the same thruout the entire Division, altho not so noticeable as in our own little unit where we have men from all over the Union. Our first replacement was from Michigan and the next from North Dakota. We were still of the northern middle West. Then {hey came from Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Montana. Then we have "Mike" from Potradelfo, Adona, Italy, and "Jimmy" from Athens, Greece — and we are less than thirty strong. Wisconsin pre- dominates but is a dinky majority. When any of our men, no matter Avhere they hail from, are asked, "Where's your outfit from?", it is always, "Wisconsin;" but whenever the bunch is alone and together, like tonight, right there is "wdiere one can find the darndest paroxysm of argument it is poss- ible to imagine. It's Wisconsin vs. Michigan; Wisconsin vs. North Dakota ; Wisconsin vs. California ; Wisconsin vs. New York or North Dakota ; Oregon vs. Texas ; Massacliusetts vs. California and Ala- bama vs. Mississippi, etc., etc. Just think of the awful possibilities for argument ! It has no end and can go indefinitely, which it does. There are two fellows from California, and when they get going at eacli other it is quite easy to understand why Hughes is not our war president. "What you-all want to go home fo' is mo'e than I can see," just struck me in the left ear. It came from Alabama directed towards G.H.G. or any other place north of Alabama. "Yo' all don' mean you wants me to construe yo' all cares to go back to them bli/zards and snow piles up no'th, does you? Yo' all aint got no home fitten to hanker after no-how. Now, me, I got a home what I calls a home to go back to. There's folks back in Alabama writtin' to me ev'ry day tellin' me — " He just went out of the door — rather forcibly, but out — and, disgustedly. "Can yo' beat it? That guy talking about a home! That Alabama cracker talking about folks writin' him letters! He never did have anything to eat 'til he got in the army and now he's talkin' about a home. He's got the best home right now he ever did have." All that from Alabama's next door neighbor, Mississippi. That wasn't all either, by any means. Listen to the rest of this from Mississippi. "Ah knows right where that boy comes from, an' Ah'm tellin' yo' the truth. Where he comes from there ain't no- body lives, not anybody a-tall. One time his father saAv a funny 122 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT track in the back ya'd and didn't know what it was but he was mighty sii'e it was meat an' he got him his gun and some niggers and follered that track all day long. Along in the evenin' they comes on that critter and it's a man with shoes on. Yes sir, that's the truth, and that boy trying to tell me his folks writtiu' him letters." And that is a fair sample of our internal "feud." Every subject under the sun brings forth an argument, and such arguments! Such worldly-wise remarks and such wisdom! They know everything — when the war will end and that the President holds over while the country is at war, even if the war continues for twenty years. With the information available and the misinforma- tion obtainable this bunch can easily hold out on this "line" if it takes all winter. A couple of trucks just came from the front and the drivers were full up with the tale of the retreating Huns and how they were "evacuating." There is a bombardment going on that is as furious as a barrage and the door latch jingles continually from the vibra- tion, so we are somewhat skeptical regarding the "evacuation" when so much persuasion is being used. "Maybe," says someone to the returned drivers. "Maybe, you ought to hot-foot it back up there and slip the news to the artillery and infantr,y. They ought to know about it," "Lights Out!" This shack is just about light-tight and is bomb-proof but not fool-proof, so we can't take any chances on an opening door when the Hun is around so the candle went out at the guard's alarm. For nearly an hour we sat here by the light of our little heater while the Hun planes and the AA guns had a little skirmish. This shack is of corrugated, eighth-of-an-inch, sheet iron, half below the surface of the ground and is "bomb-proof" from splinters but not from a direct hit. It is the safest home I have had yet and this is just the stage of the game when I want to play it safe. Home seems so near and so certain itwould be putting it mildly to say that I would dislike extremely anything to happen now after going thru it all safely so far. Whether or not all this peace talk gets anything, I know this war cannot last much longer. With the German strength diminish- ing daily and new army corps coming from America every few days it simply can't go on. The Allies are sweeping everything before THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 123 chem and even our division, beset by the stiffest resistance any army ever met, is making daily advances until we are almost in sight of the enemy's home land. This battle the division is now engaged in is entirely different from anything it has heretofore encountered. In other actions it always got them on the run and kept them just that way until re- lieved. This time we got them on the run again all right, but they fell back to defenses as seemingly unassailable as the old Hinden- burg line from where we started them. The fighting has been some- thing terrific. Our ammunition train is working day and night haul- ing shell of every description. The artillery has to practically dyna- mite the enemy from their holes of concrete and stone. In open war- fare the Hun hasn't a ghost of a show but embedded in concrete he is a difficult proposition ; and then there are the roads to consider. When an advance is started how far it travels is a matter of ammunition and supplies and it necessarily follows that the success of the advance depends upon the condition of the roads. No one knows better than the men of our ammunition train what roads mean. Ammunition must go forward even ahead of supplies. There were no roads for this advance to follow; roads had to be built as the advance was made. Maps and charts of this region four years old show a system of roadways which are now being uncovered and rebuilt. The old road- bed is found to be solid but pitted with shell holes. It is not a diffi- cult matter to repair them because they are of crushed and chipped stone and the sides of the holes are solid. The old system of road- ways during the last four years has been all shot to pieces and com- pletely covered up by the dirt thrown by bursting shell and in places one hole loops into the next one. I have mentioned before something of the destruction of war; I had seen the devastation wrought in the Soissons-Rheims sector, from Chateau-Thierry north to that line; the utter ravage of the Soissons-Noyen line in between the Aisne and Ailette and Oise, es- pecially in the drive on Javigny, and I had seen other places in the zone of advance; but all these were but "local disturbances" com- pared with this "dead man's land" thru which we are now pass- ing. Its extent is what makes it appalling and indescribable. Of course you know where the American army is fighting. The papers are full of it and our Division has even been mentioned, so I presume I can "get by'' with some little bit regarding localities. 124 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT You have read during all these years of war a great deal about Verdun. We are not located near that wonderful ruin where "They shall not pass," but I have seen Verdun. When I am old and gray, and when, sometimes, I will think back to the time of the World War and my small part in it, one of my first thoughts, will be of Verdun. It will stand out as one of the most impressive pictures when those recollections came back of all I have seen over there. It maj^ be the weather affected my susceptibilities, darkening my impressions. It was late in the afternoon, a storm was gathering and the sky was overcast with the sinking sun casting strange col- ored rays thru the rifts in the darkening clouds. A hundred or more airplanes hovered above, swinging away and returning. Verdun was the home of a great many people in i3eace times. It was a large city, as cities go in France. I don't know what its population was but including environs I suppose nearly 30,000 peo- ple resided there. Not a civilian lives there now — not one — and it was almost deserted by soldiers, being too far away from the front for troops and not far enough away for safety. I saw one battalion of French infantry marching thru the town, saw the column as it was leaving thru the northern gate ; and I saw small groups of American soldiers, there being a few American out- fit headquarters in the town ; but aside from the French infantry all appeared to be just stragglers. I saw but three automobiles and of course they were military. I went from street to street from one side of town across the Meuse to the other side and traveled streets there and those three auto- mobiles were all the traffic I saw. Of the stragglers none belonged there, all were strangers like myself. Of course I asked questions, but they "didn't know" — had been there "only a couple of days." Nowhere could I find anybody that "belonged." I met a "Y" man and he was a stranger, but he told me a little about the town. He talked in a low tone as tho he, too, was im- pressed and depressed. He advised me to be sure and not miss the view from the top of the fortifications within the city. In that whole stretch of streets and avenues and boulevards I failed to find a single building which had entirely escaped shell or bomb. Some buildings appeared whole but inspection disclosed jagged holes some place. Hundreds of buildings and some beautiful structures were in complete ruin. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 125 It had been a beautiful city, too, with its curving, narrow streets. The Meuse divides the city and another stream branches from the Meuse right in the heart of the town. This big deserted city, so quiet and still, with the planes above and the breaking storm, made me feel a dread as of impending dang- er and as I hurried back toward camp in the side-car, scurrying be- fore the storm, I felt as tho I was leaving behind a scene where some- thing fearful was about to happen, instead of a place where every- thing that could affect man's emotions had already taken place. * * # * 14 October. Another night and I have a different home. Have a real cozy place now for the office and my "boudoir" and have a big fireplace that will burn most anything I can get lugged for it. This fireplace (IraAvs like it is intended a fireplace should and the smoke goes di- rectly up the chimney instead of going all over the house first as is the case with the majority of fireplaces I have seen. It's a nifty affair altho from appearances it would be called a pretty crude job. This is another "tin" house and the fireplace is of the same ma- terial; so is the roof. I have "beaucoup" wood, and it's raining and I don't care. All this place needs is electric lights and a bath- room and I would be "jake" once more. 0, about my bed. I still take my sleeps suspended. The rats are still with us and I had to turn my cat loose. She has a family to take care of now. I am giv- ing her a home still and have fixed up a place where she can bring up her children where they will get the very best of training. I'll do the fair thing with them as long as they stick by me. There is method other than being precautionary in this sus- pended bed of mine. It swings and sways, swings and sways, all night long. Its motion is exactly like on a rolling ship. Training is preparedness. I'll soon be in ship-shape for the trip back home. The real beautiful feature of this new home of mine is that I am the sole proprietor. Maybe it is only for a night or two but I am going to run this place just the way I want while I am here anyway. I'll have a little quiet and chance to form my own opinions about all this peace stuff'. The bunch tonight, in their own bailwick, are put- ting over an intellectual barrage — we received official reports today on Germany's acceptance of all the conditions of President Wilson's various presentations of requirements for peace. If an armistice should be declared soon, and I think it will, we 126 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT are due for a long stay over here after that, the way I dope it out. It will require considerable time to settle each point in contention, and each condition will be found to be grounds for contention. It will take figuring to agree on the indemnity. The "costs in the case" are going to set the defendants back right smart. In the meantime no one around this neck of the woods is even imagining there is such a thing as peace in sight, judging from the battle going on Avhich appears to be growing more fierce with each passing day. There is no question of the "seriousness" of Ger many's intention of "evacuating" France. The Hun's only thought of France now is based on his fear that he won't be able to get out of here fast enough, # * # * 24 October. Today, from early morning until after dark, I spent amid the scenes of the ruined area thru which our army has been fighting these last few weeks, I have seen so much havoc this day it seems useless to attempt details explaining the devastation. When this war is over and the nations of the earth are at peace once more France will retain across her bosom an evil, ugly scar that will not heal for years and years to come. I don't know to what use can be put some parts of that stretch of "no man's land" that reaches from the sea to Verdun and beyond. Its width varies as does its degree of devastation, I presume the thrifty French will reclaim the greater part of this great waste and in time it will again be tilled soil and growing crops with villages and cities here and there, but it will be a great many years after all that has taken place before the reclamation of this region is under- taken. Now it seems a hopeless task, an impossibility. I doubt if a great many of the cities and villages will ever be reb^^ilt. Their de- struction is so complete it would be more sensible and less work to choose a new site instead of trying to rebuild on the ruins. There is nothing left from Avhich to rebuild — nothing left that could be used for foundation — and only debris to clear away. Cities spring from the soil, but from soil that is fertile and virgin ; not from land that is pitted as from postules and eruptions, and ravished by Hun. Before me now is a memory of today, a memory of miles and miles of mud, shell holes, tree stumps with a few bare, jagged limbs, no underbrush scarcely in what had been a thick forest, lane after THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 12? iane of rusty entangled barbed wire cut up by high explosive shell, and here and there a dim outline between edges of shell holes of what had been an intricate system of trenches and underground homes for thousands of Hun. For three hours, two of daylight and one of dvisk, we traveled in an automobile at a snail's pace over a road built thru the worst of this area since the Hun left ; up hill and down hill, across valleys and Hcross level ground, and it was all the same. Each new mile the same as the mile before ; everywhere the same seas of mud, same shell holes and jagged tree trunks, same torn barbed wire, and just a continual wonder on my part of what France will do Avith that shamefully wounded and sick part of her. Will she hurridly try to hide it, bandage it, cover it from sight with her people and industries; or will she leave it as it is for Time who heals all wounds, leaving it for Civilization to come and view the fruits of German kulture? The road we traveled going up this morning was in good con- dition. Altho traffic was heavy we made good time. Then of a sudden the traffic became choked. We would go a few yards and then stop, then a few more yards and another stop and a wait. We had come to the line from where the drive started and where the enemy began wrecking the roads. "Danger — Unexploded Mine" read frequent signs near bridges and culverts. Hun plans, like those of mice and men, often go "flooey. " These unexploded mines evidently contain the same kind of explosive as ninety per cent of the German shell that are falling in a rather large city near here failing to burst. Negro Pioneer regiments were repairing the roads and there Were thousands of these brethren. I thought possibly the numerous colored gentlemen might be some more of our Algerian allies so I made a face at one and his face cracked with a smile and a, "Howdy, boss, ' ' that left no doubt of his ' ' nationality. ' ' These fellows are do- ing just as essential work as the Negro infantry regiments that are hitting the line here and there with a force that is always effective. Chinamen, all dolled up in U.S.A. clothes, were operating stone quarries and crushers along the road doing their bit supplying the Pioneers with material. I don't know anything about the "Chinks" qualifications as a fighting man, but he has a bad eye and a hard face. Give him a gun, some training, and make him realize the cause, turn him loose in the general direction of where there was formerly an Eastern front and I imagine he would stop any great 128 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT exodus of Hun that may result when this "evacuation"' reaches its ultimate stage. I forget the exact number of Chinamen who have dugouts to the square mile back in their homeland. As I remember, it is enough so that in comparison a sardine has a roving disposition, but from the number of them I have seen in France there must be at least stand- ing room in China nowadays. Came to a roadway camouflaged by a high striped screen for more than a mile. We were within sight of the enemy who were evidently curious to know what was going on back of that palp- able disguise. Shells fell with uncomfortable frequency along that road. The actual "burst" of an exploding shell isn't so bad be- cause one knows he is safe after he hears the explosion, but it's the whistle of the shell and the momentary uncertainty of final destin- ation that at such times makes me look like a mighty sick man. Then we came to a cross roads near a rather large city, or what was left of the city, where at times shell fell with such German reg- ularity that traffic was safely gauged accordingly. A shell would break and while the dirt was still in the air a line of trucks would start across. The next block of traffic would wait until the next shell broke. Perched on a great height overlooking hills and valleys in ev- ery direction are a few stumps of stone walls marking the site of a city where 10,000 people once lived. Prominent in the wreckage is a jagged wall still distinguishable as the ruins of a church. It was from the steeple of this church that the Crown Prince not so very long ago watched the operations of his armies. In the steeple was a powerful telescope thru which he safely viewed his armies' successes, later their vicissitudes and finally their defeat and retreat. When the Hun was driven out of this city and beyond his ar- tillery concentrated its fire on the church. Thousands of shell were dropped in the city until it was completely destroyed. He shelled continually and terrifically until he finally brought down the church steeple. He realized the advantage of that steeple as an observation tower and was determined that no one else would make use of it. Shell continue to fall there and it is a very unsafe place to be. We have to use the roadway thru the city and he still keeps pound- ing away, fruitlessly the greater part of the time as a large percent- age of his shell are duds. I have heard the statement made that the THBU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 129 shell he is using on this hill these last few days are 90 percent de- fective. This reminds me of one being told on a ''green" battery of ours, who did great work one whole half-day before someone sug- gested they insert fuse in the shell before firing them if they expected to help win the war. Think of hauling a whole lot of perfectly good ammunition over roads where a truck, sometimes, must be both sub- marine and tank, and then have some recent arrivals throw those shell away. All around in the vicinity of this great hill are the various forms of shelter used by the Grermans. Like the lookout posts of feudal days are the modern "pill-boxes" of concrete and located at the approach to more elaborate fortifications. Big gun emplacements have rooms jutting from the base in which the gunners lived. Dug- outs of every description, and deep. I descended thirty-five steps into one huge cellar which had wings with rooms off the "lobby" and could house several hundred "guests." All this place lacked was an elevator. One rather large house still in good condition and above ground had a huge cellar and a staircase leading from it. The stairway was used as an exit but not as an entrance. There were six chutes leading at a slant from the outside to this cellar. I thought these vv'ere air shafts but found they served a double purpose for the planked surface of these ventilators was as shiny and smooth as the seat of the trousers of tliat old blue serge suit, shovvdng how the Hun would slide into his hole when the shelling became too hot. In an immense heap of salvage in which was everything that goes to make an equipment of soldiers of three nationalities — United States, France and Germany— were several hundred German suits of armor. I had never seen them before. They are part of the equip nient of the Hun machine-gunner and consist of a sleeveless and backless jacket and a visor, or face protection, fitting over the liel- met. Jacket and visor are of the same material as the helmet. The jacket conies to the hips. The visor is attached to the side knobs of the helmet, has eye-holes and fits snugly to the jacket at the neck. The combination makes a complete protection for that part of the body most likely to be exposed in the machine-gun pit. As a pro- tection it is very effective too. The metal under certain conditions as to distance is bullet-proof or nearly so, and the contours of the protection are prominent, making the chances of tlie bullet ricochet- ing more than likely. 130 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT I spent several hours around the battery positions where the out- going shell were as fearful with their noise as the incoming ones with their whistle and biirst. The comparatively general ineffectiveness of enemy artillery fire directed on our back lines, and his usual inability to find and do damage to our batteries, always seems strange to me. Hills and valleys, woods and plains covered with soldiers in pup tents and dugouts, all in plain view, and with numerous shell break- ing promiscuously it is fairly incomprehensble why it is seldom any- one gets hurt. It is the same thing with the bombing planes at night. The day was perfect for work in the air and there was much activity. For days it had been raining, obscuring all troop move- ments and changes going on back of the front lines. Today was so nice and clear it seeuied every plane in Europe was up "seeing what it could see," and a good many of them got into trouble. It was "fini la guerre" for many an aviator. My hat is always off to the Infantry and Machine Gun outfits whose deeds are so glorious day in and day out tliat one sometimes thinks that they are the whole show and is apt to forget the Ar- tillery. But the doughboy is so effectively composing tlie Hun's swan-song because he has such confidence in the Artillery. He knows that when things are getting too hot for liim ail he has to do is shoot a flare and he can rest a while. He knows a wall of shell-fire will promptly hold the line as efficiently as he could himself. The Infantry "goes in" for a few days and then "comes out;" maybe it comes out only to the second or third line, but anyway it at least gets a breathing spell before it goes in again. The Artillery squats down on a job and stays there for weeks, day in and day out and nights. Its only move is forward. It never falls back. Ours never has. And the crash of guns and rush of shell, and whistle of shell and nearby break, goes on and on day in and day out, and nights. Nerves must be of steel and hearts must be for a cause to endure. I don't believe there is any such thing as "getting used to it." Then the Infantry goes out for a rest in billets or barracks, maybe in a regular town, while the Artillery is attached to another division and staj^s on the job another three weeks. This latter sen- tence would be appreciated more by someone over in the Artillery than by you. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 131 November 1st. This letter has been a forgotten part of my possessions for a week. We moved the day following my trip and I lost my home, and I had a home ! Iron roof, iron sides, a fireplace and a bed, far from the maddening Hun, and I lost it all. I lost my home, and los- ing it I felt as one does when the old homestead burns down or the villian forecloses the mortgage. I never appreciated that home any more than I do tonight. That WAS a home ! We have been playing one-night stands since and old man Ring- ling's six sons never moved their big top any swifter than we get away with ours. A paulin and any old kind of a location is our home now. We have been shelled and bombed from pillar to post until we have finally camped here in sheer despair. We refuse to move again until — tomorrow. The first night I slept on the north slope of a hill because it was the only available spot. There were two big guns a block away that fairly jarred me out of my bed about as often as I climbed back in it. From eight-thirty until midnight the Hun shelled the vicinity and the whistle of the missle had me praying for a just peace — for the Kaiser — and it was cold and wet. The next day to keep warm and for other reasons, I dug a hole in the rock and dirt and tree-roots of the hillside and set my bed in that two feet below the surface of the ground. Aside from the hole filling up with water that night was quite pleasant because of my peace of mind. A hole in the ground is far better than great riches in this neck of the woods. We moved the next day and that night I slept on a shelf, a ledge of sorts projecting from the face of a rocky hill. If I rolled about much in my sleep I would fain choose such a place for a habitual domicile because a sudden drop on to jagged rocks upsets me so. It v;as a fairly decent night. Shell whistled and broke but the Hun didn't know where I was I had located on the sunny side of that hill and his shell came from the north. I was somewhat disconcerted the next morning to learn that I had slept on the east side of that hill and not on the southern exposure, and that the valley before me was simply a groove for Hun shell. All that he has to do is shoot off his gun and the shell comes down the valley. We moved again so that was all right. Finally we landed here, and "here" is the remains of a town with very few "remains." Everything that looks like an old cellar, 132 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT or dugout, or remaining wall was gobbled up a long time before Destiny led us this far. Engineers had started putting up a number of barracks and we grabbed off a couple of these before they were completed They are "jake" after our recent "tour," but this new construction work under the eye of enemy observation planes is simply an r-nvitation for night bombers. Last night was the worst cl a succession of bad nights. When I came to France, in that long, long ago, I was fully aware I had failed to bring with me a guarantee insuring a safe re- turn home. There were times after we finally reached the Front when I realized how little one life amounted to in this Maelstorm of warring humanity over here, and how simple a matter it would be should I be among those who pay. The longer I have been here the more that feeling has changed until now, when the end of the war is so near, it seems that nothing can possibly happen to prevent me from seeing home once more. Last night was hideous and my visions of home went glimmering in the distance more times than six. A flock of bombers came over early and as I hugged the cold dirt floor they dropped their loads. The flying dirt fell on the roof — that's how close they came. They didn't unload all together, either, but first one and then the other would open up his tail gate. Scared ! Say, my blood hasn't warmed up yet. Half an hour later another bunch came over and still later there was another swarm. These latter were returning from a raid on areas farther back and had but a few bombs left for us. To make us feel that we were not slighted they used their machine guns. With the little old Dove of Peace beginning to sprout a few tail feathers after a long and almost fatal moulting period the Hun con- tinues to give demonstrations of his more refined practices. Yester- day afternoon shell were breaking with great frequency just over the hill that protects us now. I went up the hill to see how close they were coming and found they were breaking around a field hospital a kilometer away. Just at dark as we were finishing our supper five or six Red Cross soldiers came to our kitchen after a "handout." They were from the hospital that has been shelled and had been forced to evacuate, patients and all. Our particular outfit continues to do business but not at the same old stand. As the Germans recede we follow and to get am- munition up to our continually advancing infantry and artillery re- quires work that at times is overcoming the impossible. How our THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 133 equipment stands up is one of the wonders of the war to me, and is an illustration of what constant care and attention will do toward preserving machinery. To keep the outfit moving requires continual inspection and repair. The work required to keep that equipment at the required standard is as deserving of commendation as the feats of action performed in the fighting line. Would you rather carry a gun and fire back at the enemy or drive a truck and face his shell unarmed? Of course our men are not continually at the front, but then the hauling of ammunition is not their entire job by any means. Besides their hazards our men must work. When the weekly inspec- tion is made every vehicle must not only roll, but must appear as tho it had been out of the factory but a short time. It is some job to keep equipment in that condition. The remarkable fact I am trying to lead up to is that we still have the same trucks with which we rolled across France when we '.vent to the front months ago. Every vehicle still does its duty as religiously as a "Henry" and with less rattle. CHAPTER X. Those Last Few Days and Nights in Very — '*Finis le Guerre" — Negro Pioneer in a Tree — Bois de Placy — ^When 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. DURING the last few days of the war the Train was engagetl principally in hauling empty shell back to the dump at Char- pentry from along the roadways in the advanced areas and from the old battery positions. Company C continued hauling small arms ammunition. The 57th Brigade was pretty well battered up and without horses and it fell to the Train with its numerous crip- pled trucks to move the artillery back from the front to the Bois de Bethlainville. When the job was finished on November 9 Companies B and C were attached to the 158th Field Artillery Brigade which was backing the 32nd Division infantry. The divisional infantry after being in reserve went in the front line at Dun-sur-Meuse, east of the Meuse, on November 8. The 10th of November was spent in preparing for the move back from the front. The Train was completely played out and the equip- ment was racked to pieces. The morning of the 11th, Train Head- quarters, Headquarters and Companies A and D of the Motor Bat- talion went back to Rampont Woods, with "Fini le guerre" being shouted from every truck or group of Frenchmen which was met. In the midst of all the rejoicing Captain Nelson of Company C was encountered along the roadway and he was the only person in all that morning's trip who was not jubilant. His automobile had been smashed when run into by a French camion the night before in the dark, and among the captain's injuries were a munber of teeth THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 135 broken squarely off at the gums, making life extremely miserable for him that day and for many days to come. In the Bois de Compte the Horsed Battalion turned over a great many of its horses to the Third Army a couple of days after the Armistice, and then spent the rest of a long dreary period in caring for equipment, drilling and waiting for orders to move back to some less desolate region. It was a long, long wait for all concerned. Rations, wood and forage M^ere hauled for the brigade for six long weeks until the move was made back to the Gondrecourt area just a couple of days before Christmas. The Motor Battalion and Train Headquarters found a home in Villeroy while the Horsed Battalion were billeted at Gerauvilliers, about four kilometers from Gondre- court. The trip from Rampont to the Gondrecourt area was 106 kilometers. No matter where the Train moved to there was always plenty of work and the few weeks witli the 88th Division were no excei^- tiou. Besides policing the towns to make them fit to live in there were numerous details hauling men from regiments of the brigade to the ammunition dump at Mauvages, wood and ration details, in fact, there was so much work there were insufficient trucks in the Motor Battalion and a dozen trucks were assigned from the 313tli Ammunition Train. Captain Hill made a trip to Dijon with half his company after motor equipment for the brigade. Lieut. Foizie went up to Toul with another detail after supplies. Men were sent to gas schools at Joirc. There were really more details than when tlie war was on. On January 6 Major Imhoff, who had been on leave since before Christmas, was injured severely in a motorcycle accident at Gondre- court when about to start for Villeroy and was taken to the hospital. Captain Dayton was placed in command of the Motor Battalion. While at Bois de Placy, Captain Leach of the Ordnance Department was placed in charge of the Enlisted Ordnance Personnel. All motor equipment and whatever the Horsed Battalion had left in the way of equipment was turned over to the 313th Ammunition Train on elanuary 11 and the Train relieved from further duty vrith the 88th Division. Orders had been received sending the Train bad: to the 32nd Division. The Train left for Coblenz, Germany, tho morning of Januarv 14. 136 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Bois de Placy, Bar-le-Duc, France, 11 November, 1918. The place and the date mark the birth of a new era, and we were "in at the death" of the old. It is "fini la guerre" and we were at the front when it ended. We are back quite a distance from the line tonight— and the lights! Just came in from outside and "outside" looks like another world, a place to which I am not accustomed because of the lights. Every shack, barrack and dugout is lit up like an excursion steamer, or like some of these soldiers will be their first night in "civics" back in the U.S.A. It is good to be alive tonight, to know that one has been through it and it is all over. Would like to celebrate tonight. Would like to be in Paris, or London, or New York. My, but I'll bet there are s-o-m-e doings. While I am wishing I may as well make it a good one, so, wish I were back home tonight. It's tough, but I can't celebrate. There isn't even a pump within three miles. However, there are more ways than one of celebrating. What to me will constitute a regular blow-out to you may seem rather tame. My celebration tonight will consist of a sleep like that of the just and the righteously safe. I am going to bed and simply wallow around among the blankets without a fear of whistling shell or of the drone of a Hun motor. It is great to feel perfectly safe. Since last July we have spent just one week where we felt we were en- tirely beyond the reach of the Hun's tentacles. Tonight the only guns we hear are announcing joy — "feu de joie, " the French express it-^but even last night there was death in the air. Even this morning men of one of our companies were under heavy shell fire and were compelled to abandon their trucks for a time. Three nights ago, when we were certain the end of the war was a matter of hours, a Hun plane came over and dropped a few too close for comfort. This fellow came as close as any of them ever did. Around the stove that night the conversation consisted entirely of speculations as to when we Avould be sent home. An enemy's plane was the farthest thing from our thoughts and when we heard the motor we refused to believe it a Hun's. He was right on us be- fore we realized we were in for another night of it. He went up our valley and came back, then went up and came back again. I don't know where he carried all the "eggs" he dropped. Twice he missed our shack by a matter of seconds, and THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 137 you have no idea of the length of a second until awaiting a bomb to drop. None of his hits were more than a half-mile away. That night after it was all over I w^ent across the road to a spring after a canteen of water. I needed a drink. The spring is located under a hill and the path leading to it is difficult to follow in the dark so I carried a flash-light. It was merely the "flash" I used and that covered by my hand. I used the light sparingly, but when near the spring I heard a harsh whisper commanding, "Put out dat light!" Startled, I involuntarily switched the light in an are. "Fo' God's sake, boss, put out dat light," imploringly came out of the air, from the hill, I thought. I recognized a Negro Pioneer. "What's wrong, boy?" I asked. "Is he gone, boss?" "Sure he's gone. He laid his eggs and has gone home to roost. Come dow^n out of your hole." "Ah ain't in no hole." "Well, come down then. You don't have to stay on that hill all night. He's gone. It's safe," I reassured him. "Ah ain't on no hill." "Ain't on the hill? Where are you then?" "Ah'm in dis tree." "In a tree! For Pete's sake! — what are you doing up a tree?" Personally I have picked about every place but a tree. I have crawled in holes of every description, laid flat in mud, sought shelter where I found it, as I found it, when occasion demanded, and I have seen others do likewise, lots of times, but never before did I see or hear of anyone climbing a tree to get aw^ay from a shell or bomb. "Ah '11 tell yo', boss. Ah don' wan' ma mammy to lose her boy, no suh." Then, reflectively, "Dem Bushes sure do make a heap o' trubbel fo' us soljers, doan' dey? Reckon he's comin' back?" As I filled my canteen the dusky Pioneer scrambled down the tree and over to the spring for a drink. I asked him where he got the idea of climbing a tree to get away from a bomb, and didn't he know that a tree was the very worst place he could find when a "Bush'' was around? I asked him if he didn't know a bursting bomb threw shell splinters right up in the branches of a tree, and that there was about as much sense in climbing a tree to get away from a bomb as there would be in a nigger spitting in a sheriff's face. 138 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT ''Ah doan' know, boss," he ruminated, "Ah spec's yo'all am kee-rect, but Ah jus' natu'ally gets me in a tree when Ah's in trub- bel. Dis a 'my am nuthin' but trubbel. Ah neve' had no trubbel be- for' dis wa, ' and if Ah eve' gits back dere aint a-goin' to be nuthin" dat'll eve' trubbel me ag'in." The day of the bomber is over. He has had his day, and his night. We have not received official notification of the armistice being signed. We have not seen a newspaper or communiques today, but other visual evidence we have in abundance. "Fini la Guerre," chalked on sides of trucks and yelled by every Frenchman we met would be sufficient to convince us, but the cheers and beaming faces leave not a question of a doubt. The lights and bonfires tonight, in a land where they formerly meant only trouble, are the final proof. For days we had been in suspense. One night (November 7) a "false alarm" started a celebration which extended from the front to the S.O.S., or from the S.O.S. to the Front, depending on where it started. The celebration was somewhat premature and fortunately fooled the square-heads as well as ourselves, but it M^as a great dis- appointment the next morning to learn it was without foundation. The display of lights that night made a great target for the Hun but for once he failed to take advantage of them, no doubt believing the occasion to be founded on facts of which he was in ignorance. Altho we were in a state of uncertainty we were quite confident of the end and knew that eventually there could be but one result, but, at that, we were suspicious to the last. There was always a possibility of the Kaiser having an "ace in the hole." It didn't seem possible that he would give up everything. We did not know of the seriousness of conditions in Germany. The whole rotten monarchy went to pieces in a minute. We did not realize how really rotten it was. Just the day before the German plenipotentiaries came over I heard a Hun prisoner telling an American, "America will never lick Germany. ' ' Now that it is all over but the shouting the great question is : ' ' When do we go home ? ' ' The air is thick with rumors. The ' ' cootie wireless" is working overtime. We do and we don't, belong to the army of occupation. We won't be home before next summer. We leave for home next month. The ship we sail on is tied up at the wharf at St. Nazairre. There must be an organization some place over here whose sole function is to distribute unofficial information. My opinion is that our Division will be one of the first to go THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 139 back home. We were among the first over here and are willing to be the first over there. I do not believe that a Division that fought so hard, so long and so efficiently as the Thirty-Second will be com- pelled to remain here and do "chores" for the French. It is no more than fair to expect that the old National Guard divisions will be sent home first. The Regulars are soldiers by pro- fession; they would be expected to remain. Some of the N.A. div- isions have been here for quite a lengthy period and have done great work, while others never heard the road of the guns, and it would be expected that these latter would want a chance in the army of occu- pation. The technical units are needed here to help rebuild France. But the National Guard, the N. G., the "militia," the old No Good sons-of-guns, who didn't know a thing about soldiering, who were neither soldiers nor selects, who didn't do a thing over here but fight like fighting fools, t-h-e-y are expecting to go home like they came over — by volunteering, and just as willingly. * * * * 13 November. Was in Verdun today, my second visit there. On the previous occasion shell, still, occasionally dropped there and bombing planes were nightly raiders. At that time the streets were nearly deserted and I distinctly remember the clatter of my hob-nailed shoes on the city pavement. Today the streets were thronged with soldiers, officers, Red Cross nurses and civilians. I saluted at least a dozen automobiles bearing the star or stars of generals. I visited the cathedral and the College of Marguerite, the latter an annex of the cathedral. The old edifice survived thru the four-year siege. It bears the sears of shell and bombs but is quite well preserved. The vandals never reached it to pillage. There remain but a few of the old treasurers for the visitor to admire, nearly everything of value that could be removed having been placed in safety at the beginning of the war. We drove thru the city, across the Meuse, and east until we came to the trenches — deserted. The roads were very poor, practi- cally impassable for an automobile. We got out of the car and walk- ed across the ' ' dead man 's land ' ' to the German trenches. They were stripped and deserted, but, as is usual with German trenches, they were fitted up for comfort. We walked along the old trenches and barbed wire to another road which had been repaired so that a passage for cars was poss- 140 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT ible. I saw fully two hundred American ambulances, all nicely washed and cleaned up, on their way into Germany. There was column after column of American soldiers along the road on their way to the Rhine. My greatest ambition these last two years or more has been to march to the Rhine, but today I was glad I was not headed in that direction. My ambition these days is to march down the main stem of the old home town. Returning to Verdun we cut across to a more northern roadway and there enctountered other strings of marching men. These how- ever, lacked the pep, altho the more joyful. There were streams of them and they were coming out of Germany. They were the return- ing prisoners just liberated. They were in rags and tags and beggars' gowns, the most em- aciated lot of humanity I ever imagined. They were coming out of hell, and were happy. Those poor, pitable souls. The day was bit- ing cold and they were half clad. Bare legs were exposed between the ragged shoe tops and the breeches' bottoms. They were tired and weak, straggling on. * • • • 14 November. I'm stuck — mentally mired. I'm off this dope sheet stuff for life. I'm done figuring. I am thru trying to put two and two to- gether to make six or seven, or even five. Hereafter I believe only what is handed out by G.H. Q. From sources I thought as reliable as the almanac I heard we were not to be in the army of occupation, and now I understand we are. I planned and figured until I was blue in the face and now it is all shot to pieces. I had it all doped out that the National Guard outfits would go home first, and now they tell me married men will be first and that some form of registration will determine the order in which the rest of us will be sent back; that those go first whose services are most needed over there. According to that I'll die of old age over here. I'm S.O.L. for fair. Here I am all heated up when I ought to be perfectly calm and happy. I went thru the delousing station today. Have you ever been thru a delousing station? You haven't? Well, you most certainly have missed a great pleasure. It is exhilarating, to say the least; but, still, it is sad. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 141 It is sad to part with friends of months ; friends who have stuck to you closer than a brother ; comrades. Friends who were with you thru thick and thin, thru shot and shell, thru feast and famine ; friends for whom you have cheerfully worn out your fingernails. This "delousing station," or "pediculus terminal," is a disen- fecting plarit for humans. The process is bloodless and practically painless, and lice are really a ny-product It gets 'em all — fleas. S'^am squirrels, pants rabbits, fire flies, bedbugs, or whatever seems to be the trouble. These cootie factories are quite plentiful over here. They are a result of the war and doing big business. I never saw one in opera- tion over there, except on a very small scale, and I believe there is an opening for some wide-awake towns back home to get in on this before they become as plentiful as picture shows. I am sure it would go great. I actualy believe there are millions in it. The initial cost is small and the upkeep is negligible. The returning soldirs would make it a mint. They all have the habit and will be lost without their cootie casino. Just as an illustration of what one of these institutions will do for a town I will cite the case of the village we patronize. Previous to the institution of a delousing station it was the de- serted village, populated by scarcely a hundred souls, content in their simple life, who wot not of the prosperity in store for them. Today there were 900 transients in that town, all with money in their pockets and trying to spend it. The station handles 100 an hour and works nine hours a day. Every day is the same. Business is booming; stocks in stores are depleted before the owners have a chance to get the goods on the shelves. * * • • 26 November. Yesterday, Sunday, I had the surprise of my life. I spent the entire day over in Lorraine, and in Metz I found a city that fairly took my breath away. My impression was that Germany was destitute and her people starving; instead, I found in Metz conditions apparently more pros- perous than in any place I have been in France. Metz appeared to me like a thriving and up-to-date city in the United States. Fine, wide, clean streets; nice buildings; shop win- dows displaying everything to be found in any city anywhere; hard- ware stores, groceries, dry goods stores, shoe stores, all doing busi- 142 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT ness with stocked shelves and the finest kind of goods. Meat markets, bakeries and confectionaries operating as tho there had never been a war. Streets were crowded with people, principally civilians, but some French soldiers and German soldiers and an occasional American sol- dier, the latter mostly otficers. The French are occupying Lorraine and Americans have no business there, in fact, our party was invit- ed to leave town after the M.P. discovered we were without a pass from G.H.Q. We didn't leave; not until we were good and ready. Had dinner for eight marks in a real restaurant. We ate at the Metropole. My last real dinner had been in the Metropole in New York city nearly ten months ago. I had a tenderloin steak— a nice, thick, juicy one — fried potatoes, other vegetables, good bread but no butter, a salad of some sort, and a pudding with a delightful sauce. Memory of the "sauce" reminds me that just about any kind of liquor that ordinarily adorns a first-class back-bar can be had in Metz ; and that beer is served just as you have always heard it is served in Germany. I am not going to attempt to explain this apparent prosperity in Metz. I am without an explanation. Possibly the border towns frequented by German soldiers were kept up for purposes of morale. I don't know. I am merely relating what I saw in Metz. I have no idea of actual conditions in interior Germany other than that we were told by a hotel keeper of Metz that he had traveled consider- ably quite recently and had not noticed any great difi^erence any- where. The captain whom I was with speaks German slightly. There were two sergeants besides myself in the party. We encountered a resident of the city who was anxious to meet Americans. He had not heard from his brother in Brooklyn for four years and was filled with anxiety as to his brother's fate, believing him at least imprisoned, and probably worse had befallen him, the old man believed. The wife of our companion lived in New York several years and spoke English quite well, so he insisted that we visit his home. He owned and operated a foundry and had lived in Metz, or at least in Lorraine, previous to 1870 and almost continuously since. French air raiders had dropped a bomb on his factory; French offic- ers, Sunday, were making an inventory of his factory and other property. He and the French officers did not act in the least like long-lost THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 143 brothers. Their conversation, eliminating the gestures which strict- ly belong, went something like this: Lorraine Manufacturer—' ' You don 't lose much time to. come and figure your assessments." French Officer — "To the victor belongs the spoils." L. M. — "Then why don't the Americans come?" F. 0. — "WE are the conquerors." L. M. — "To h — 1 you are! It was the Americans that did it." They were as friendly as the ordinary cat and dog, those long- separated ' ' brothers. ' ' In all the places we visited about the city that day the feeling between the residents of Lorraine and French soldiers was about the same as that depicted in the above conversation. "Why don't the Americans take Lorraine?" we were seriously asked a dozen times that day. The American is the hero. Between the German and tlie French, between the German and the British, and even between the French and the British, there is that same contemptous opinion of the otlier's qualification, borne, no doubt, thru years of familarity over the "back yard fence." The American, however, is still an unknown quantity. No one knows how far he might go if he were forced to the limit. He went so far in such a short time they can't quite "get it." It is he who has the superinan reputation now. We acquired a load of souverirs — some we bought, others were thrust upon us. A Prussian Guard gave me his cap and a few other things. He had "discharged" himself from the army by the simple process of changing to civilian clothes and wanted to give me his discarded outfit. I picked up a spiked helmet, a "Gott Mit Uns" (brass) belt, an "Iron Cross," a few other "ornaments" and all the "hardware" I could lug. I got a knife for which any old deer hunt- er would swap his rifle. It is quite trick, and one in which I am least adept, hanging on to this "ordnance" of mine when the fellows are offering 200 francs for the helmet, a hundred for the Iron Cross, anything I may ask for the knife, and so on. This matter of my possessions has really developed into a ques- tion of "wealth," and a possible seven-day leave, or "souvenirs." I am afraid I will fall — a ways anyway. If I could get back to the S.O.S. with all my junk I might become independently rich. Back there where Hun helmets are a novelty one that is decently camou- 144 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT flaged brings as much as a hundred francs. German souvenirs are like ice — valuation depends on location. But to get back to Metz. Saw the Kaiser's statue and the statue of Fredrich the First as they lay where they had been thrown to the ground. Upon the entry of the French into the city the statue of the Kaiser had been lassoed and tumbled off its pedestal. The same thing had happened to "Fredrich." We took in the parks and also drove out into the country, and visited the "Kathedrale" of Metz. Most striking and beautiful of all we saw was the holiday attire of the younger female population in their Lorraine costumes. This odd dress consists of a lace and silk w^hite cap with slippers and stockings of the same color; a plaid or striped silk skirt and a waist just as brilliant tho of different patterned silk. Over this is worn a gaudy silk shawl and an apron of possibly a solid color but just as rich. The combination makes the rainbow look like a shroud and streets thronged with girls wearing their native dress are beautifully fascinating scenes. We had supper, too, in Metz, the old foundryman remaining with us, quite elated over our assurances that his brother was as free as we. The brother, Henry, is 29 years old and in the United States ten years or so. We told the old man that Henry no doubt, a citizen of our great country, was probably over here someplace one of the sev- eral million Americans who licked the Kaiser. The old man said, "Dot's goot." He wasn't unconditionally pro-German either. Neither the foundryman, nor the hotel proprietor, whom we in- vited to our table, and who could talk a sort of two percent English, could quite understand how it was that the captain, an officer, was associating with the common herd, we sergeants. I think we still further befuddled them by explaining that the not infrequent asso- ciation of officers and enlisted men was merely another of the de- mocratic fancies of Americans who want everything in the world democratic, even Germany. Then the hotel man wanted to know, "Vot iss dis, 'demogratic?' " It seems our "making the world safe for democracy" didn't quite percolate as far as Metz. The enlight- ening period is yet to come, and I pity the poor fish that attempt it. We had a nice time at our dinner party, remaining longer than we intended, and had a hard job getting home. The lights on the car refused to work and it took nearly half the night before we reached Verdun. It began to rain about the time we left and it was imposs- THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 145 ible to do any speeding over the slippery roads without lights. We found that out after we tipped over in a ditch, spilling ourselves and our souvenirs into the mud. In the morning on our way to Metz the weather was very nice and the trip very, very interesting. The forty-odd miles from Ver- dun to Metz is a trip worth taking. From France's impregnable stronghold, in ruins, to the forts and the thriving city of Metz — from the Meuse to the Moselle — across that stretch of Woevre and Lor- raine, every degree of war's devastation is shown. We traveled via Etain, Buzy and Conflans. Etain, about 12 kil- ometers from Verdun, is in ruins. The entire country for that dis- tance is nothing but great hills and valleys and a scene of gun em- placements and trenches. The south side of the roadway from Etain to within a few miles of Metz is protected by a screen of German camouflage. Conflans, deserted save by soldiers, is marked but little, having escaped destruction. Beyond to Metz is beautiful, rolling country without a scar. Pretty villages nestle deep down in wind- ing valleys and peaceful tilled land on all sides gives one the im- pression that the country he has just passed thru is but the memory of an unpleasant dream. The camp of our ammunition train is in the Bois des Placy. near the village of Rampont. You would undoubtedly be unable to And either place on the map and I wish neither place was on the map or the face of the earth long enough at least, for us to get out of here. We are about fifteen kilometers southwest of Verdiui. We moved here the day the armistice was signed and have been here since, ex- pecting an order to move at any time. The days are dreary. For a few days following November 11th the sun shone brightly, but now it rains every day. This is the most desolate country in the world, hereabouts. Far- ther up toward the old front there is the excitement of passing sol- diers and prisoners and traffic, but there is absolutely nothing to do or see here. All we can do is wait. We haven't an idea of what is going to happen to us. The 32nd Division infantry, east of the Meuse when the armis- tice was signed, is in the army of occupation and on the way to the Rhine now. We are not in anything as far as I can determine. I believed at first we would be sent back to civilization someplace, but instead we are left in the mud in a woods, probably forgotten en- 146 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT tirely. If something like a move order doesn't materalize within the next week I know I'll have a fit, or something worse. Had not the brigade equipment been all shot to pieces when the war ended we might have gone along with the rest of our division. I wish we could have gone to the Rhine as long as we can't go home. « * * * 14 December. This is getting to be a cruel, cruel war. It grows more terrible with each passing day that we are to remain in this darned woods. I fail to recollect a period as unsatisfactory as the time I have spent since the armistice was signed. In the old days it may not have been any great pleasure, but, we, at least, never suffered from ennui. Since the memorable 11th our outfit has remained camped in this woods — in the mud — not knowing what is to become of it, or what is on the mind of the powers that be regarding it. I suspect they want to get rid of us but don't know exactly how to go about it. I've got so that I run around in the woods climbing trees look- ing for nuts, and the sight of a man with a gun scares me. Some way I managed to get thru Friday the 13th without getting bit. I wonder how long a person can stand this sort of thing without going daft completely. It rains, rains, rains. We must stand reveille and retreat (we are in the army again) when it isn't raining, reveille at 6 :15 a.m. and re- treat at 4 in the afternoon. It rains all night long and lets up in the morning just long enough to beat us out of another hour's sleep. Then it starts in again and holds forth until time for retreat when we have a dry overhead interval of fifteen minutes. Once upon a time there was a man in the S.O.S., or someplace, who burst forth with the astonishing statement that the reason it rained so much in France was because of the continued heavy firing of guns, reasoning, I presume, along the line of the old rain-makers out in Iowa. He was correct in his prodigious wisdom only to a cer- tain extent. He went a little too far. He should have quit talking when he said that the reason it rains so much in France is because. We are fighting the worst part of the war right noM^ This con- tinual waiting for something to turn up is just a little too much. We are due to leave here in a few days for the Gondrecourt area, south- eastofBar-le-Duc. Our train will be billeted in Villeroy. The rest of the brigade will be in the same area, the 120th F.A., at Badonvillers, and the 121st F.A., at Rosieres. This move to Gondrecourt means THEU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 147 one of two things — either we go home or into Germany — and if my wishes are considered it will not be Germany. We join the 88th Division when we move. The 88th is just one more division to add to our list of acquaint- ances. During our service at the front our ammunition train fought in twelve different divisions and was attached at different times to sixteen divisions. We have been with the 3rd, 32nd, 40th, 41st, 79th, 88th, 89th, and others; also with First Army artillery, Fifth Corps artillery and 158th Artillery brigade. We have been connected with so many different outfits that sometimes we don't know where we belong, and the present is one of the times. We were always with the 32nd when the home division was working but when they rested, or were out of the line, we were recuperated by a change of environments — attached to some other division that was just going in. We saw many divisions in action, saw them when they went in and when they came out, and our little outfit, within its borders, acted as critic on their advance and sometimes on their ineffective- ness when they failed to make their objectives on schedule. It was then we compared the particular division to the 32nd and told each other what the 32nd would have done had it been in line. We had all the confidence in the world in our division. It never failed. That our pride is justifiable is evidenced in many documents, commendations from the Commander-in-Chief, from an army com- mander, a corps commander and from commanders of other divisions. In the Bois de Nixeville, near here, is a large camp of Russian- Poles who were prisoners in Germany when the armistice was signed. When released 4,000 of these men were brought to Nixeville and 46,000 others were placed in other camps hereabouts. They will not be returned to their home land until conditions there become more settled. It would not be practicable to allow this unorganized horde to roam free about France so they are confined to these camps under French guards. They resent the guards, the treatment and the food, and assert they were treated better when prisoners in Germany. I walked over to the Nixeville camp the other afternoon with "An- drew," of our medical detachment, a Russian-Pole who left his wife in Poland in 1914 and went to America intending she should follow as quickly as he could make the necessary arrangements. The war interfered with his plans and he never heard from his wife again. 148 THRU THE WAE WITH OUR OUTFIT When the United States entered the war Andrew enlisted in the Med- ical Corps. In Poland he had been druggist apprentice and in our country he continued in similar work. He knows considerable about medicine, has learned our language, is studious and will be a doctor some day. In the various aches and pains I have conceived during the months since our camp in Texas, it has always been to Andrew that I turned for more or less immediate relief. His various colored pills have al- ways had the desired effect, hence my positiveness regarding his future. He talked with his countrymen and they spread his inquiries all about the camp but from none of those men could he learn any news of his wdfe. The great majority of them were gathered in when the Hun overrun Poland in the early days of the war. They refused to fight for Germany so were held as prisoners, forced to do what work the Hun decreed. Andrew found several men whom he personally knew — men from his old home town — and they told him only what he already knew, that she was with her people the last they had seen of her, but what had befallen her when the Huns arrived none could tell him, beyond the statement that "the Boche took all the women." Those 4,000 Poles wandering about their camp in the mud, or lying around in their barracks, were nearly all big healthy looking men, with the exception of their feet. Bunks in the barracks were occupied by men with bandaged feet. Their greatest hardship while in the German prison camps had been lack of shoes and in many instances feet had become blistered and raw. One man told us that many of them had been without shoes for nearly four years and had wrapped their feet with whatever castoff clothing they could find. They were all hungry, and had been hungry so long it was a habit, I guess, because the French ration, which ordinarily is sufficient if not an abundance, seemed merely an aggravation to them. About one man in every twenty was engaged in making "souv- enirs" to sell to Americans. These souvenirs consisted of rings, cross- es, and various crude and fantastic designs of metal. They sold their handiwork for whatever they could get, altho always first de- manding something to eat in exchange. They all appeared to have some francs or marks but money does them little good as they have no chance to spend it. "Bread," or "brot," was always the answer to, "How much?" for this or that. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 149 One man had a thin, silver cased watch I tried to buy thru An- drew. I offered fifty francs and got a curt and, I thought, insolent refusal. He wanted "brot." What good was money in an aching void? Andrew told him we would come back the next day with a loaf of bread and ten francs for the watch and the fellow signified a trade. I would dread the future in store for these men. Not only the immediate future but the years to come. What will the peace con- ference do for Poland, and for these men? What would a "free Po- land'' mean with Germany on the west and Bolsheviks on the east? There is something besides "democracy" yet to be wrought on this earth. The Poles in the Nixeville woods will spend the rest of this winter in the mud and the squalidness of that vermin-infested camp, with that eternal gnawing in their stomachs. They have no glorious or heroic past to sustain their hearts during the wretched months to come ; they never even bore arms for their country. Conditions are seldom so bad but that they might be worse. Very likely our plight in this woods might be a whole lot less harmonious than it is. Just no.^'^ we fortunately, or unfortunately, have something els 3 to worry about besides being in the woods for the winter. (It snowed — actually snowed — today — a variation from the rain sched- ule and a substitution of slush for mud). Our orders to move to the Gondrecourt area were dated the 13th — Friday, again — and since then our mail has been going to our new station sixty miles a"\\ay. Only three or four men in the battalion have received their Christmas boxes and the rest of us are becoming mighty anxious. Those little 3x4x9 's are causing a whole lot of worry. If we only reach Villeroy by Christmas there will be much rejoicing. We have been getting our mail at Revigny, about twenty-five miles from here, somebody going after it each day. I made the trip one day lately and was in Bar-le-Duc for dinner. Bar-le-Duc has been much frequented by Americans this last year. It is the last city of any size leading to the American sector and has been a sort of junction town for all troops going to the different fronts in this sector. Some persons dislike being overcharged for their purchases, but, at times, I don't mind it one bit, especially when I spent little more than two-bits, so, personally, I bear no malice toward Bar-le-Duc. I nearly bought a horse while I was there. I was in search of 150 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT some pork chops. It evidently was a porkless day in town for I vis- ited every "boueherie" I could find and was still without my meat. In despair of finding what I wanted, I finally in the last place I in- quired, decided to buy a couple of steaks off a particularly nice look- ing loin, altho there was an absence of any fat and I knew it had never been made in America. While the much bewhiskered lady behind the block was cutting off my steaks I casually glanced about the place and was suddenly confronted with a sign headed, "CHEVAL," and below followed a price list. My French being entirely inadequate for an explanation and argument with that he-\voman I beat it out of the place. I remember the first item following the ' ' horse ' ' head. It read : "Beefstak — 2 fr 4," for a kilo, I presume, which would be about twenty cents a pound — quite reasonable considering Bar-le-Duc prices, but I object to that woman calling horse-flesh "beefstak." * * * * Villeroy, France, 2 January, 1919. Back once more with the cows and the pigs and the chickens — and this the life again! To bed with the chickens and up with the lark, only the lark has gone south, or someplace, for the winter. Soldiers are no longer needed over here; it is farmers that seem to be required. We are billeted again. Our village, Villeroy, is the typical French village. Were ev- erybody home its population would be nearly seventy-five. It has a church and a school. A fountain adorns a public square, as does fourteen neatly piled heaps of manure, which are rapidly becoming cured to be ready for the spring fertilization. To the best of my knowledge France does not owe her soil one cent; what is taken from the land by each crop is paid back with interest before anything further is asked. Our village has three cafes, according to the signs on the build- ings, but the signs are the only things about the places that suggest anything to eat or drink. They have a big stock of "fini" — and that's all. I venture to say that the most overworked word in the French language, with the exception of ''oui," is "fini." The Palece de la Fontaine is exactly in the center of the town, an areaway before the church. From the fountain runs the Grande Rue, Rue Haute, Rue de la Fontaine and Rue de Sac. In our langa- age each street is about a block long and the houses and barns form THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 151 a solid wall along each street. The billeting numbers run from 1 to 71, each house, barn, shed and granary being numbered. From the appearance of the town I at first deduced that the billet numbers were the dates the buildings were constructed but I finally discovered "1768" on the house I thought was built in the year 34. The more than 600 men in our battalion live in this village crowd- ing the cows and the pigs and the chickens, and the greater part of the time crowding them for warmth. It is quite cold, and when it isn't snowing it is raining. No stoves are allowed in the barns and sleeping in the hay is forbidden. Leaky roofs are numerous. It isn't exactly an ideal existence, but personally I have no kick com- ing. I am better situated, as far as immediate comforts are con- cerned, than I have been at any time since I am in the army. I have another million-dollar bed ; for a time at least I am off those old daily disturbances, reveille and retreat, and sleep is the best thing I do. This bed of mine is probably as old as the house in which I live, but the bed clothing is really quite new and there are just oodles of clean, white linen. I have a feather tick below and feather "cover- ture" above. About 7 o'clock at night I sink in, and come up for air about that hour the next morning. And I honestly believe I haven't a flea on me. My room, which is also our office, is the parlor and actually the "front room" of the house. An old couple, so old they appear to creak when they move about, own the place. They live alone and sit by the big fireplace in the next room all day long trying to keep warm from the heat of the burning ends of fagots they keep shoving onto the blaze. The fireplace also serves as their kitchen range. I have never seen either of them doing anything beyond cooking their irregular, meager meals. They are feeble, forgetful and child- ish, and, while I pity them, I am sometimes amused as they putter around doing nothing as far as I can see. The old lady comes into the office, looks wise at what I am doing and talks continually, with me and my "wee-wee" satisfactorily holding up my end of the conversation. When she leaves the room she leaves everything she brought in with her and I have to return it. In nearly every French home somewhere or another there is a great big mirror more or less elaborately framed and as gorgeous as the inevitable "grandfather's" clock which stands to the ceiling. Both of these useful and ornamental articles of furniture are in my 152 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT room and the old lady comes in frequently to consult one or the other and forgets to leave. She talks and talks and I know scarcely a word she says. While I continue at my work she keeps jabbering away. She sits on a trunk and tells me the history of the village, and, I believe, she talks about the neighbors. Christmas morning as the chimes were ringing the old lady came hustling in to the mirror all dolled up like a floral offering. The old man came too and helped with the pins and other fastenings while she primped. Something was unsatisfactory and she removed her long, lace-covered cape. She had forgotten to change to her holiday gown and was attired in the old and ragged and dirty habil- ments that had done duty as her "every day" dress, lo, these many years. We all had quite a laugh about it and the old man evidently thought it was the best joke since Napoleon was a corporal, the way he carried on. Finally madam returned to her part of the house, to change her dress I thought, but pretty soon monsieur and I heard her going out, and she was on her way to church — with dress unchanged and without the cape. I hurried out with the latter and received "beaucoup," "mercis, " and then she came back. I forgot her for nearly an hour when happening to go out the back way I found her in the kitchen washing greens with both her cape and bonnet on. She had forgotten all about Christmas and church and everything else. She's a great old lady at that. And Monsieur. He's a hundred, too. He comes snooping around usually kicking about something — a cracked window-pane ; ' ' f umee, ' ' when my stove smokes, which it does easily ; a slamming door ; or, maybe, "sacre Americains." He has lots of trouble. I named him Nick Carter because his makeup is too good to be real. Today I found out that my Nickname for the old man isn't far out of the way as far as a misleading appearance is concerned. I was cheeking up the billets and noting the names of the owners of the buildings. I had a chart of the town and each billet and own- er was shown. It was not long before I detected that just about the whole town was owned by a monsieur named Henry and I began to wonder who the village Rothschild might be. Finally I came to No. 56, our office — and M. Henry owned that. Could it be that old Nick Carter, sitting out there in the back room poking the fire, was M. Henry ? The lurking suspicion became a fixed idea and kept cropping up. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 153 as unreasonable and unlikely as I thought it to be, and, finally looking up our French interpreter I asked who this M. Henry guy was that owned, this, at present, thriving village. Of course, I was confounded when my old friend Nick turned out to be the bloated bond holder, but I was literally swept off my feet to learn further that M. Henry was also the town mayor ; that the acting town mayor is merely M. Henry's assistant, by virtue of being his son-in-law ; and that the old boy himself, besides being the town capitalist, is the big noise in local politics. And here, for more than a week, I've been sneaking corn-willy, an occasional candle, a loaf of bread now and then, or soap, or some- thing off the cook to slip to the old folks to keep their poor old bodies and souls together thru this hard, hard winter. We arrived here the day before Christmas and it was a big job getting settled as we had to clean up the town to make it habitable and sanitary for so many men. The town looked as tho cavalry had been here ahead of us. We were just arrived, wet and tired. Turkey with dressing, cranberry sauce, mince pies, candy and nuts are not included in army travel rations, nor in our reserve rations, so Christmas to us would have been a dreary day of remembrances, and nothing else, had it not been for those little 3 by 9 Christmas packages which were awaiting us here. Because it just happened to be nice yesterday, I am lame and ache all over today. If I were in the infantry a week I would be in the hospital a month. I walked twenty kilometers yesterday trying to find a village where there were neither American nor French "soldats" and was unsuccessful. Besides being tired and disgusted I came home hungry, and I made the trip purposely to get a change of diet for a day. It is refreshing to take a day off occasionally and get away from the army, but to really "get away" a person wants to find a town where there are no soldiers, and that is a hard job in this section of France. In a town where there are no Americans one can buy almost anything he wants and get ' ' service, ' ' but a village or town with eveu a small detachment of Americans billeted is "par bon" from the viewpoint of a soldier "tourist." In such a town, even if U.S.A. restrictions are not in t'oroe, "service" is no longer there. So long as the demand is not great there is a desire to sell, but when the demand is created by a bunch of American soldiers stocks can't last, and "service" becomes, instead. 154 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT a protestation, and the would-be purchasers a nuisance. A dozen Yanks will ordinarily buy out a French town in an hour and there- after everything is "fini." French soldiers in a town don't help any either. They don't spend as we do but they clutter up the places and wherever they are billeted there are always plenty of restrictions with only certain hours in which one can buy. Was in one village yesterday that looked like a regular place and was just getting ready to loosen up with a few francs when the doors closed, shutters came to with a bang, and the closing ordinance went into effect. It is good fun, tho, to find a town where there are no soldiers. When the inhabitants spy an American they know the lid is off and there is business in sight. "Service," then, is the shop-keeper's middle name and, sometimes, they are even backward about over- charging. I will always remember a time I once had in a little, dinky vil- lage we found one afternoon when we were on our overland trip across France early last June. We reached our day's destination along about three o'clock in the afternoon and there wasn't a town, or even a house, anywhere in sight. It was a pretty countryside but we were surfeited with scenery, having been on the road several days, and with still five hours or more of daylight some of us had no intention of spending all that valuable time around camp. We pitched our pup-tents and while the cooks and K.P.'s were setting up the field-ranges, and the drivers and their assistants were gassing up their trucks, and everybody else busy settling camp for the night, three of us slipped off up the road, turned at a crossing and were out of sight of camp. We walked scarcely two kilometers when we came to the tiniest and prettiest village snuggled around a curve in a stream at the foot of a great, steep hill. We were the first American soldiers in that town, and it was so far from the battle zone and out of the way that even a French soldier was a novelty. The residents had heard of Americans — knew the Yanks were coming — but we were the vanguard to those folks, and maybe we didn't get a reception. The population welcomed us with open arms while the dogs barked their greetings. Everything in the town was ours and we couldn't spend a cent. We finally settled down in a cafe, with the crowd around us and a jam in the doorway, and ordered everything we could make them understand and we wanted. We had "oeffs, " "pomme de terre," THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 155 cutlets, and all the things we long for now and can't get, and it was all cooked deliciously. I asked for ''fromage," and the cafe had none, but an old lady from the audience hurried home and brot back something that could have come over itself had she untied it. We ordered wine but it wasn't anything extra so we didn't make any particular fuss about it. An old man in the crowd noticed we were not going into ecstasies over it and he made a trip to his cellar. I will never forget that village. It isn't much larger than a pic- ture post card but it represents my. idea of the ultimate in hospitality. Since that time the remembrance of it frequently returns, especially when I am hungry and thirsty, and I am living in hopes that some day I may unexpectedly pop out on another village just like it. Occasionally, like yesterday, I deliberately scour the country in search of that surprise. In all the 20 kilometers of hiking yesterday and the eight kilo- meters we caught a ride we visited five villages and one fairly large sized town. In the latter we had dinner and for meat we had rabbit because it was rabbit or no meat. Sometimes I like rabbit, rabbit that I know is wild and when it is cooked just right, but over here they raise rabbits for market and the only thing that might make these bunnies wild would be their realization of the fact that they are being brought up like cats. This big town, too, closed up at one o'clock. We made a detour and took in the other village on the way home, hoping to strike some good place for supper. The best we could do was a can of sick sardines and some wormy nuts. PART III. BEYOND THE RHINE IN GERMANY CHAPTER I. Additions and Changes In Personnel — The Trip Into Germany — The Beautiful Moselle — Heim- bach — Surrounded by Comforts — ^Attitude of Germans — Real Service — German Cooking — German Consideration — Embarkation Orders No. 1 3 — Going Home? — "Dow^n the Rhine? — Fooled Again — ATrip Up the Rhine — The Kaiser*s Castle — A Football Game. Upon arrival in the 32nd Division's area in the Army of Occu- pation, near Coblenz, Germany, the Train relieved the 308th Ammu- nition Train and took over its equipment, trucks and horses, also its billets. The Motor Battalion and Train Headquarters were quartered in Heimbach while the Horsed Battalion made its home in Rommer- dorf Castle, adjoining Heimbach. The castle was built in the seven- teenth century and was the property of Herr Hobert, a former prince and a captain in the German artillery who had bought himself out of the service. There lived in the castle an English speaking superin- tendent, with his family, and they had the use of a few rooms, but the remainder of the great building and the grounds and stables were occupied by the companies of the battalion. The castle was in quite good repair and altho quite damp made an excellent home. Some of the rooms were sumptuously furnished and large paintings adorned the walls. Almost before the men were assigned their billets the usual nu- merous details were called out and the work started. There were details to the three artillery regiments of the 158th Brigade, to the 107th Engineers and to nearly every other outfit in the Division that wanted any hauling done. The artillery practiced almost continu- ously and there was much ammunition to be hauled and dumps to be established. Men going on leave to Neuweid, to Coblenz or back into France, from the outfits of the division were picked up and 158 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT hauled to either Neuweid or Coblenz. The motor equipment received from the 808th Ammunition Train was in wretched condition and the mechanics were put to it to keep the trucks rolling. Major Howard Donnelly, a young West Pointer, formerly of the 2nd Ammunition Train, was assigned to the command of the Motor Battalion and took charge January 28. Captain Dayton returned to his old company, B, which had been in charge of Lieut Winch since the latter 's return to the organization in December. He had been sick in a hospital back in France for many weeks. Second Lieut. Charles Curtiss, also formerly of the 2nd Ammu- nition Train, was assigned to Motor Headquarters as supply officer. John W. Blechacz, who had been promoted from second to first lieu- tenant had been transferred from Company F to Horsed Headquart- ers and was the battalion supply officer. At this time 2nd Lieut. Fitchett was assigned to Company F. 2nd Lieut. Charles Wagner, who had been in the 127th Infantry and had returned to the division from the hospital, having been wounded, was assigned to Company C. Captain Nelson also returned to his old company after weeks in a hospital having his teeth treated. Second Lieut. Irl Fast was as- signed to Company D, and Lieut. Foizie who had been with Motor Headquarters was reassigned to his old company, D. Just before the Train had left France for Germany sixty-two men had been given seven-day leave back in one of the army re- creation areas and they returned to the outfit the middle of Feb- urary. They had a long leave, longer than they wanted. They had tried to get back but transportation had never been available for them, and they were glad to get "home" once more — glad to get back where the meals were regular and the billets clean, even if dis- cipline was somewhat more strict. When Captain Cairy went to the hospital, sick. Captain Theil- acker became personnel adjutant and Captain John Snyder was as- signed as train adjutant but later was taken back to division head- quarters and placed in charge of divisional athletics. * * * * Heimbach, Germany, 30 January 1919. If my living depended upon my ability to foretell future events I would probably starve to death in ten minutes. In civilian life I might get by with the three best bets of the day, or something like that, but, in this man's army I am a flat failure as a prophet, with- out honor even in my own outfit where I have a chance to present THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 159 an immediate alibi upon the slightest provocation. I should never, never get my prognostications in print. I had it all figured out that about this time we would be out somewhere around 40degirees West, 45 degrees North where the bound- ing billows make holiday rations for the fishes, but, instead, we are in Germany, and beyond the Rhine at that — in the Weber and Fields land where there is "nobody home" all the time. After all those weeks of waiting to be sent home I never tli ought we would get into Germany, but we are back with the old division once more. Possibly I am disappointed because we are not on our way home — I know I am — but now that I am here I wouldn't have missed it for anything. As long as we are not among those mentioned in the priority passenger lists I would rather spend the interval which must ensue before that happy day arrives right here in Germany than any other place I know over here. We are surrounded by com- forts, sort of wallowing in luxury. The German may not liave been built for speed but he sure is fitted up for comfort. I don't know what sort of propaganda it was that told of starv- ing, destitute, down-to-the-last-crust Germany, but whoever originat- ed those tales was some kidder. I haven't seen a single missing door- .inob, strange as it may seem, and I thought all such articles had been melted up for the Berthas. The paper clothes I heard about seem to be all wool and a couple yards around, if not wide. The people look starved just as does the fat lady in the side-show. If appearances count for anything there never was a war; the more I see of Ger- many the more I think, "Poor France!" Some day there will be a settlement — some day soon, I hope. There seems to be a sentiment that Germany is bankrupt and that the Allies will have trouble collecting the indemnity to be exacted. If German}'^ is bankrupt then I'm a Dutchman. There is too much thrift, industry and wealth right in plain sight to cause any scare over a little thing like lack of gold or silver to back their trick cur- rency, and the people who benefit by this visible wealth and pros- perity should be made to pay, and, I trust, to feel it, when they pay. I wish there was some way they could first be made to realize the enormity of their country's crime. They are not in the least apolo- getic in their actions, and seem not to have an inkling of the crimes of their armies in France and Belgium. They still seem to think that wliat their armies and submarines did was justified. What blame 160 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT they put is on the Kaiser and then, I believe, they blame him only for losing the war and skipping to Holland with a bank roll. Then, too, they blame him for reducing the quality of their beer. I can't fathom these people. I can't comprehend their denseness, or inability to distinguish right from wrong where the fatherland is concerned. It must be either childishness or pigheadedness. There is only one way to get " at " them and that is thru their purses, and I have an idea that some of these people around here don't care any more for a few marks than an Eskimo does for his winter underwear. I am far from an authority on Germany's finances. I am merely stating the opinion of a weak sister who was never very strong on finances of any kind, but it is hard for me to believe that Germany is not still rich. Take that one asset of her's we have always heard so much about — efficiency. Why not put it to work on her numer- ous resources and let the world cash in on that wonderful German qualification ? The Germans are efficient, beyond a question of a doubt, so ef- ficient that their country appears the most prosperous I have seen over here in the territory we occupy. And a country that for more than four years carried on a war such as made it the most hated nation on earth, and lost that war, and losing it still puts up the front Germany does, despite her efi'orts to hide it, has no business whimpering about the costs. While Germany is supposed to pay the expenses of the Army of Occupation, I am convinced that the occupation of the territory cov- ered by the American soldiers is really not costing her a cent. This quarter-of-a-raillion is living at the top of the earth and blowing in the marks at a rate that makes the days of the francs seem mighty tame. There is plenty of opportunity to spend the marks, whereas in France the greater part of the time we didn't care much whether we had a payday or not. Our move up here was very unexpected, to us. On the 13th (January) we were ordered to turn over our motor equipment to the 313th Ammunition Train and proceed at once to Coblenz, Germany to rejoin the 32nd Division. Had the order been to proceed to a port of embarkation we would not have been as surprised. We entrained at Gondrecourt the next day following a terrible scare on my part. Back in May of last year we got our motor equipment and since then I have never had to hike a mile, but with this move order came the relinquishment of our transportation. We were 14 kilometers THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 161 from Gondrecourt, with orders to inarch to entraining point carrying full equipment ! — to leave villeroy at 1 A.M. — a night march at that ! I asked my CO. to look for me in a couple of days and to hold the train if possible. I finally managed to convince him of the im- portance ofproper supervision in moving the office and negotiated a ride to Gondrecourt on one of the trucks moving our baggage. I want to say that an awful load was taken off my mind and a bigger load off my feet by that ride. I couldn't get a room for the night in Gondrecourt, not even a bed; couldn't get anything to eat or anything to drink — everything was so crowded with soldiers — so got a blanket at the "Y" and spent the night in a chair, greatly missing my big French bed but frequent- ly recalling thruout the night that I was also missing a 14 kilometer hike with one or two hundred pounds of equipment and souvenirs on my back. We pulled out of Gondrecourt at 11 o'clock that morning on a train which consisted of two big locomotives and forty box cars, the latter American made but short and stubby and lacking only "Chevals 8 — Hommes 40" to make them French. There were fifty men to a car and not quite enough room so that every man could stretch his legs when lying down to sleep. This was my first box car sleeper experience in France; when we came to Camp Coetquidan from LaHavre we travelled in passenger coaches and also travelled on real, tho dinky, trains in England. Since then all our travels have been in our own motor train. At Verdun that night we acquired several bales of hay from a flatcar on a siding and the sleeping wasn't half -bad. It was a very, very slow train on which we travelled. Tuesday morning, the 15th, we were still in Verdun, having made but 50 miles of our journey, but got under way again at 7 o'clock only to be held up for two hours more in the stretch of no man's land just ])eyond Verdun. At Conflans we were held up again for several hours and were finally given a northern routing thereby missing Metz. We passed thru Thionville, in Lorraine, and Remich, in Luxemburg, skirting the Luxemburg border for twenty miles. We were in Treves for several hours the next day, leaving there at 10 A.M. That day, Thursday, we travelled along the Moselle river, the railroad taking the river's every turn thru the most wonderful scenery, the nearly-flooded stream on our right and great hills — mountains — on our left. The railroad follows the banks of the river, 162 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT along a ledge, at times being almost crowded into the stream by the abruptness of the embankment, and when the mountain's sharp slope •ontinued right to the water's edge we entered great tunnels, one, the Kaiser Wilhelm (the name is still over the entrance), being more than three miles long. I think we went thru seven tunnels that after- noon. As we emerged from each we would invariably pop out into some beautiful little town; and each curve in the ever-interesting Moselle would reveal other strikingly pretty cities colored in the bright, warm sunlight creating a great desire on my part to some day follow this same itinerary in some other vehicle than a boxcar and to visit for awhile in all these pretty places. Out of the left sidedoor of our Pullman that afternoon we could see extending as far up the steep hillside as we could crane our necks countless, even rows of sticks, which in growing time support the grapevines which yield the fruit from which the wine is made that bears the name of the river. It is beautiful country, this land which will soon belong to France once more. We arrived in Coblenz about six o'clock and remained until ten. We were not supposed to leave the station but some of us managed to get around quite a bit. Coblenz is a metropolis, a beautiful city at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers and derives its name from the word "confluence." At 11 o'clock that night we reached Sayn (pronounced Sine, so we couldn't say we were in-sane) and our train sidetracked for the night, making our third night in a boxcar and it wasn't so bad at that. Friday morning we detrained and our outfit was billeted for the day and night. I had a nice room and the meals were good. I ate — might almost say, dined — a couple of times at the Krupp Hotel. Everything is "Krupp" hereabouts because Frau Bertha Krupp von Bohlen has a wonderful hunting lodge here, or did have until our 64th Brigade started using it for a headquarters with all modern con- veniences. The old Kaiser and his sons are said to have frequently shot the wildboar, deer and fox that abound in this vicinity. Saturday morning we marched to our present home, Heimbach, a distance of about three kilometers, and here we live surround- ed by comforts. We have been issued some more Quads, thirty or more Packard trucks, a few automobiles and motorcycles, and are back on the job with the old division once more, altho we are not hauling ammunition like we did in the old days. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 163 The attitude of the inhabitants is that of being unable to do too much for us and consequently had we not seen the German in the role of a Hun we might be induced to become somewhat friendly. These individual favors, so appealing, are hard to resist, and to con- sider as just another phase of the great German game of insincerity. They cringe because it is a part of their game. The word German means literally the shouter; but an appropriate interpretation would be the squealer. Not that I object to these favors. It is such a long time since any civilian did anything for me without the expectancy of being paid for it in cash that the experience is a novelty, and my present de- sire is that we do not remain here long enough for the novelty to wear off. I have a most wonderful bed ; a combination of feathers and linen that makes the arising hour something too awful to even contem- j)Iate. Thoughts of a court martial and possible detachment to a labor battalion to remain A.E.F., until the last dirty dog is hung or exiled is the only reason I ever get out of that bed. So close to the bed that I can touch it is a stove one might imagine to be an orna- laented, metallic refrigerator were it not for the warmth it gives out. In France there is the ever-present "grandfathers" clock ; in Germany it is the heater. I have seen scores of these stoves, yet I believe I haven't seen two alike, altho each one is a work of art as well as an efficient chill destroyer even if they do not look like a stove. My room is one of the few in Heimbach without electric light but elaborate candle sticks and fantastically designed lamps answer the purpose very well. The furniture is upholstered in red, and sev- eral cabinets, laces, table covers and wall decorations, while not like those in the Kaiser's palace near Bingen — Bingen-on-the-Rhine — yet they are of a different caliber than anything I have seen since we left God's country two service stripes ago. But, surrounded by all those limousine comforts, it is really the service that I am bragging about. Almost before I am dressed in the morning comes a Dutch handmaiden who makes up my bed and straightens things around; wipes off the furniture and washes the floor; gets me hot water, and maybe cold water, which isn't a bad drink even in Germany; picks up any soiled clothes I may have left laying around; even wipes the dust from my other pair of "hobs" which shine majestically and tryannically beneath my German bed. But the best thing this fraulein does is wiping up the floor without 164 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT bending her knees. I've watched here time and time again and while I jnst know there is some trick in it I can't catch on. She seems to simply bend over and go to work. Evenings when I am in the olBce alone, Zimmermann and his frail, whose home this is, actually pester me with pork-chops, sauer- kraut, potatoes, "eirkuchen mit krauten, " Hollander kase," "wurst, " and such other delicacies heavy enough to sink a stronger man than I. The food shortage in this part of Germany, to the best of my knowledge, is in wheat-flour, soap, butter, cofl:'ee and chocolate. They seem to be supplied with everything else in the line of eatables. For all this service they refuse to accept a pfennig, but I ease my feeling of obligation by forcing a few marks on them now and then. Americans can never get the to-the-victor-belongs-the-spoils spirit so enjoyed by our friends, the French and the English. I can't say I blame the Zimmermanns much for not wanting to accept any of this funny German money ; still, considering the pay for a day's work, marks cannot be quite valueless. The American army is just in all its dealings with civilians of no-matter-whaf country and our Advanced G.H.Q. has established as maximum wages for civilian labor : Scrubwoman and laundress — 3 marks a day, with board, or 4.5 marks without board. Common labor — 4:15 to 5:15 marks a day with board, or 6 to 7 marks without board. Tailor — 9 marks a day with board, or 11 marks a day without board, or 1.10 marks an hour without board. Board seems pretty cheap. A working day is ten hours and the value of a mark in our money at the present time is about 12.9 cents. French exchange on U.S. dollars is 5.45 francs and francs exchange for marks at 100 francs for 142 marks. In Metz in November I got but 80 marks for 100 francs. And the beautiful feature of this shin-plaster script is that we can buy more with a mark here than we could with a franc in France. Just as an illustration : A stein of beer back in France, when we could get it, cost a franc ; here we get four steins for a mark. But to tell the truth in neither France nor Germany is this stuff they brew worth what we pay for it. There is one qualification I have never seen credited to the Germans, altho they possess it in a marked degree in some instances, THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 165 and that is consideration for others. Usually at noon I take my filled kit to the cafe on the corner near our kitchen and dine in style at a table near the heater. This noon I noticed an enameled sign on each of the two exists of the place. The sign on one door read, "Vor- sicht, 4 Stufen, " and on the other, "Vorsicht, 2 Stufen." While my German is better than my French I couldn't quite "verstche." I thought it meant something about being careful not to stuff too much at 2 o'clock or 4 o'clock, or something like that, but, instead, it means, "Be Careful, 4 Steps;" "Be Careful, 2 Steps." Now that is what I call being considerate. One is warned as he leaves the cafe, if he is not too far gone to read, that when he opens the door he must descend four steps before he lands on the wide sidewalk. I know now that the old story is true of the Dutchman who walked out of the side door of a baggage car and as hepicked himself up was heard to mutter, "Der shoult haf peen steps der," He was accustomed to signs when there were steps, and absence of signs warning him of steps signified to him that he had clear sailing. I am getting along surprisingly well with my conversational German. In France I never got much beyond the "wee-wee manure" stage ; never even got into the first reader. The dictionairre was as far as I got in French. But here I am almost to home. I always could get along pretty well in broken-English, knew Yah and Prosit and quite a few German words like that, and with the new ones I am acquiring daily I '11 be standing a hundred here some day if we remain long enough, which God forbid ! Heimbach, Prussia, Germany, 6 February, 1919. Ought not be fooling around writing letters; ought to be work- ing on matters that are pressing and really and truly important — on something really essential is what I mean. A certain document, en- ticingly entitled "Embarkation Orders No. 13," is occupying almost my entire time, and while it keeps me busy days and part of the nights the work is not distasteful. I think the title is very nice; charming, in fact. Usually our army reading matter has for a designation G.O. or S.O. number some- thing and one cannot tell a thing about the subject from the title. The popularity of "Embarkation Orders No. 13" is assured in the A.E.F. despite the vmfortunate "thirteen." It is safe to say that a first edition of two million copies would go over here in less time than it took the Boche to get from the Ourcq to the Vesle. 166 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT The order means a great deal of work, and, it may be that it was given an alluring and possibly fictitious title simply to get a lot of work done willingly, altho I am loath to believe it. There are about thirty-five pages to No. 13 and it is the most absorbing literature I have read since Arabian Nights, and, no doubt, as impossible. It tells all about going home ! I haven't the order before me just now but I think it contains thirty-five pages. If it does, then I am on page thirty-three and that far I have complied with all requirements as far as it is within the power of a man in the army to do so. With only two more pages to go I thought I would take an evening off and get some of these troub- les of mine out of my system. It is a relief to tell them to somebody besides soldiers. And I do not believe a man would be left on the wharf just because he missed those last two pages. Besides, I have no doubt but that I will have plenty of time in which to conform with the final demands of No. 13. "Embarkation Orders" is not a recital on how to board a ship. There may be a paragraph hidden away mentioning that delightful sensation, but it is probably somewhere in those last two pages. It deals as far as I can determine with getting records up to date, get- ting rid of cooties, baths, clean clothes, souvenirs, baggage and pass- enger lists (12 copies), and a couple pages on morals. I haven't dis- covered the plot as yet, nevertheless I am very interested. There is a strain of expectancy that I am almost certain will reveal something in those last two pages, or a week or so later ; but, to be perfectly can- did, it wouldn't smell as sweet by any other name than Embarka- tion Orders. I have been fooled so often I refuse to fall for this embarkation stuff. They can't kid me any longer. I am becoming so suspicious they will have to blindfold me and lead me up the gang-plank on a halter to get me aboard a ship. Never before have we enjoyed such optimistic rumors as are now going the rounds and it is all I can do to keep my spirits from bub- bling over; but, as I said before, I have had so many disappoint- ments over misinterpreted dope that I won 't believe this latest dough- boy propoganda until I begin to get sea-sick. Division headquarters gets out a daily Summary of Intelligence giving events of the day of interest to our branch of the Army of Occupation and January 29th the statement was published that the 42nd and 32nd would be the first two Guard Divisions to go home. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 167 Later we heard we would preceed the Rainbow outfit their records were so far behind, and for other reasons. It is a fact that in some divisions the paperwork is a mess, and right here I arise to remark that the paper work of any army is second in importance only to the winning of battles. It is second to nothing when time comes to go home. Yesterday an order came down from Division instructing us in the manner of lettering and numbering all motor transportation and directing that the work be completed by February 22. Which might signify that said transportation would be turned over to somebody else on this anniversary of the birth of the father of Our Dry Country. In a memorandum published a few days ago were suggestions for a history of the 32nd Division and among other ideas was this statement offered as subject matter for one chapter: "The Trip to the Rhine — The Trip Down the Rhine." Bet money in terius of hundreds of francs that we are out of here by March 5 is laying around with aggravating looseness. The big story is that we go down the Rhine and embark at Rotterdam. I'll not be the only one fooled this time — not with General Lassiter's signature on a docu- ment hinting a "trip down the Rhine." It shows somebody is guess- ing besides me. Of course the big excitement is caused by the expectation of a trip down the Rhine. If plans materialize the Division will leave this area at the rate of 2,000 men a day on boats bound for Rotterdam, Holland. The Engineers claim one of their companies is already in Rotter- dam erecting delousing stations and other needed buildings. The division surgeon is quoted as authority for the statement that a de- tachment of medics from Corps are also at Rotterdam and are look- ing after the interests of the 32nd. I could go on quoting authority for all this optimism. Why, even today, in open meeting at the Quartermaster's, the remark was made by an officer who certainly ought to know that the entire divison would be out of here by March 15th. And then, on the other hand, the papers are full of Foch's de- claration that the Germans may fight again ; and with all this antagon- ism on the matter of disarmament it is only reasonable to suppose that trained troops will be retained where they are the most needed. So there you are. What chance has a fellow to arrive at any con- clusion a-tall ? 168 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Anyway, if I can't got down the Rhine, I have been up the Rhine. Went to Coblenz the other day and made the river trip. It was quite cold but the boat trip was wonderful. Was up the Rhine as far as St. Goar to the great fortress of Rheinfels, said to be the most mag- nificent ruin on the Rhine. The fortress was built in 1255 and when the French cleaned up the Germans in 1797 Rheinfels became the magnificent ruin. At Boppard six valleys enter the Rhine and it is wonderfully beautiful, even on a cold day. At Boppard one gets the famous Vierseenblink — view of the Rhine as four lakes — -the result of the mountains and an S curve in the stream. We also passed between the castles Stolzenfels and Lahnek facing each other across the river above Coblenz. I had previously visited Stolzenfels — the Royal Castle of Stol- zenfels — known to the soldiers as the Kaiser's Castle. It is six kil- ometers from Coblenz and was one of the many castles owned by William II. The original castle was built in 1250, but it seems that in the old days the French were bad luck to the Boche because in 1688 the French made Stolzenfels look as tho the 57th F.A. Brigade had been attached to the invaders. To give one an idea of the condition it was in following that date the bit of history I read said, "It remained a ruin until the Crown Prince, later King Fredrick William IV, accepted it as a gift from the people of Coblenz." If the people of Coblenz gave it away that ruin must have been in tough shape. I know, because I have seen quite a few of the people of Coblenz. William IV put in six years, 1836-1842, and a million marks, cleaning up the debris and empty 75 shell cases and erecting a fit place for the future William II and the dearly beloved Crown Prince. Labor was cheap at the time, the rock didn't cost anything and the old boy did a pretty good job building that castle even if he was a Dutchman. You can judge how good it is by the fact that U.S.A. soldiers are not permitted to mar the floor with their hobnails. We were compelled to draw heavy socks over our shoes before we were allowed to enter. The interior is marvelously decorated with frescoes and antiques, the former principally depicting bible tales and exploits of when knighthood was in flower, if you can imagine such a thing in Ger- many. Some of the pictures are so large they cover an entire wall of a large room. In the council chamber hang quantities of helmets, THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 169 \ sets of armor and weapons from the days of old. I came near getting Blucher's epaulets but a darned M.P. was looking. In a garden I found a bust of Joan of Arc that wasn't busted, so I judge that Joan 's real name was Johanna von Arcmann, and like George Wash- ington, Thomas Jefferson, Marshal Foch and the world's other great personages, she was really born in Germany. Took in a football game Lincoln's Birthday that was almost as savage as the start of the drive from Avocourt and with just about as much love displayed. The 2nd and 32nd clashed at Neuweid on the Rhine before a regular Thanksgiving Day crowd and the feeling between the "factions" was quite some intense. I had often heard of a "battle royal" but this was the first one I had even seen. The M.P.'s were deployed as skirmishers before the first quarter had a good start and I heard later they sent a courier for a division of Bol- sheviks for reserves. The sassy Sixth Marines who of course, have to live up to their devil-dog rep in their own home outfit, did not add to the peaceful- ness of the scene. A few divisional flags and officers were mussed up and several provocating remarks were heard. The man who invented West Point turned over in his grave that day. From an educational standpoint the game was not without its value, either, we learned positively who won the war — the 107 M.P.'s. We lost the game, lost it to 18, but take it from me, those Regs are tickled to death we are booked for home. They don't want this outfit in the army when the return dates are being arranged. General Pershing reviews the 32nd Division tomorrow or the day after and everybody is in a great flurry over this momentous event. The affair will take place right near our village and I expect to take it in from the sidelines. The significance of this review in my mind is of such importance that it actually makes me nervous. Why should the C. in C. come way up here to give us the once-over if it wasn't to be a sort of a farewell affair ? CHAPTER II. Theatricals and Athletics — Motor Shows — Details To France — More Details — Swanson and Re- mich in A.E.F. Finals — Divisional Review — Company A Men Decorated By General Per- shing — Trip To Cologne — Fraternizing With the Bloomin' Britishers — Orders For Home Actually Received — Goodbye Deutschland — League of Nations Predicted a Bush League. AMATEUR theatricals and athletics were the principal amuse- ments during those months in Germany and each affair was greeted with a packed house that shrieked its applause or hissed its disproval. The train was particularly fortunate in its enter- tainment as Heimbach had the best theater in the area, and besides the home talent affairs the" Y" brought in frequent show troups. Prac- tically every regiment had its own show company and the Ammu- nition Train had as good bunch of actors as any. In athletics, particularly in boxing, the Train was well represented. Lieut. Christof- f erson was regimental athletic officer and developed a very creditable string of fighters. Charlie Doster, Company B, while eliminated in the divisional finals continued fighting in the divisional team and appeared in Coblenz, Trier and back in Luxemburg, getting the decision in many bouts, "Chick" Remich, Company A, won the light-weight championship of the division, later defeated the best men in the corps and then won the championship of the Army of Occupation. Sergeant Harry Swanson, Company D, heavyweight and standing bet- ter than six-feet, two-inches, with a solar plexus punch that never trav- eled over fifteen inches, cleaned up everything that looked like a real fighter and likewise won the championship of the Army of Occupation. Both Remich and Swanson appeared in the A.E.F. finals in Paris. Remich, a clean and pretty gentlemanly fighter, whose only fault was that he used up his strength in pushing his oppon- ent away for clean breaks, lost out to the Negro, Patterson. Swan- THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 171 SOU; in all his fighting in Germany, never had a bout that went ovei- two or three rounds. He had never been called upon to exert himself beyond that distance and was not trained for a longer affair. He went ten rounds to a draw in Paris, and the bouts were limited to ten rounds, but this particular bout was allowed to go an additional frame for a decision and Swanson lost. But life in Germany was not made up entirely of athletics and entertainments by any manner or means. The sports were decid edly a side issue — the avocation of a few. With each day came new details and the steady grind of trucks and tractors. In March the Horsed Battalion turned in nearly all of its horses and received in their place twelve five-ton American tractors with which to prac- tice and become proficient. Six officers and more than two hundred men were sent back to France after new motor transportation for the Third Army. Part of the detachment went to Marseilles and the rest to La Rochelle. They were gone three weeks and returned emp- ty handed, the motor equipment they went after having been shipped by rail. Lieut. Foizie and Captain Weidman had gone to the A.E.F. school at Cote D'Or. With scarcely enough men and trucks left to put on the guard and take care of the ordinary details came orders to prepare for a motor show at Sayn and shortly after came the Div- isional Review by General Pershing. Those were busy days for the men of the Train, but it was the Train that took the greater share of the prizes at the motor show and also hauled the most men to the review. # * * * Heimbach, Prussia, Germany, 1 March, 1919. All signs failed again ; and because I was skeptical, doubting the very evidence of my eyes, I am not so greatly disappointed. We are not going home this month, nor next month. In a previous letter I sort of admitted we was anxious to go home and that signs were somewhat in our favor. I believe I even mentioned a review by the Commander in Chief as a grand finale to our endeavor in the A.E.F. and said review is postponed. My idea of a simple-minded boob is one who believes everything bearing the official stamp which he reads. The review has been postponed until the first week in May. That is the way the signs are pointing now, but they shift so often there may be another change before I get thru with this letter. We recently received a statement by G.H.Q., in which were given the probable dates of departure for home of certain divisions in the 172 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT A.E.F. The telegram we received gave the estimated shipping ca- pacity available by months and basing the statements on that esti- :iate gave the sailing dates of the divisions. In an explanatory para- graph it was said that divisions, except Regular Army, will be return- ed in the order of the arrival of their respective headquarters in France. Then it goes on and names a whole list of divisions that came over after we did as sailing before we do. Of all the divisions mentioned only two, the 26th and 42nd, were here before us. We were really the fifth complete divisions of the A.E.F. , Headquarters of the 2nd Division preceded headquarters of our division but the 2nd was formed over here from replacements from other divisions and casual detachments. I believe the schedule will be advanced somewhat and that we will be out of here before May, but I no longer believe the dream tale of the trip down the Rhine to Rotterdam, altho there are hopes. I am no longer so anxious for that trip either, unless it is the shortest way home, because I have seen quite a lot of the beautiful Rhine and its towns and cities. I have been up the river as far as the rocks of Loreley, where, in the days when Mars was an amateur, the evil sorceress of the golden locks vamped the poor mariners into the "wilde wasser," and as a Hun rival of Circe of the South had a softer job in her mermaid act than did Homer's wild-woman, because, as I remember it, Circe changed some of her victims into swine while the blonde of the Lor- eley already had that part of her work done for her. I have been down the Rhine to Cologne, Koln or Coin, as it is variously spelled ; had a delightful automobile ride along the wind- ing Rhine, saw the cathedral of Cologne from top to bottom, and spent the remainder of the long, pleasant day fraternizing with the bloomin' Britishers. Cologne is the headquarters of the British Army of Occupation and therefore is out of our visiting area. It was quite a trick negotiating the trip. Left here early in the morning, going to Third Army headquarters at Coblenz, where we obtained (pro- cured is the better word) a pass with the privilege of remaining in Cologne until midnight. It required about three hours to make the run. We were held up by M.P. 's twice ; first when we left the 2nd Division area and again when we left the 42nd Division area entering the British lines. The English didn't bother us for our pass a single time. There is a smooth, stone pavement the entire distance and the weather was fine ; THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 173 it is spring along the Rhine these days and it seldom rains. That day the sun shone warm and brightly nearly the entire time. I don't suppose there is a prettier three-hour automobile drive in the world than from Coblenz to Cologne along the Rhine. There is a great deal of boat traffic of various kinds ; great, long tow barges, tug boats and many other craft, passing up and down the steam bound up to Mainz or Frankfort, or down toward Rotterdam and the sea; and there is the great natural beauty of the country and the many pretty towns and cities. At Coblenz we crossed the Moselle river at the mouth of the very beautiful Moselle valley, taking the route along the west bank of the Rhine. Islands are quite frequent in the channel of the Rhine. We traveled thru Andernach, where Frankish kings once lived, and on to Remagen with great hills towering over us and each peak surmounted by a castle or a ruin, each succeeding mountain-side covered with prettily constructed and colored homes and hotels. On the highest and steepest summit towers the ruins of Burg Hammerstein men- tioned in 1002 as being built on a Roman foundation. Crossing the River Ahr we could see far to the west the mountains where it rises Then we came to Remagen whose reputation rests upon the past per- formance of Saint Appollinaris, and I don't know why. It may be that the Saint was the first German to discover that water was quite a palatable drink at times. I base my guess upon the remembrance that a certain bottled water, labeled "Appollinaris," costs fifteen cents a split back in the United States. I suppose I have made a poor guess. From Remagen to Bonn is especially beautiful, so beautiful that it is bewildering. There is Rolandseck, where, according to Alex- ander von Humboldt, the landscape is the most wonderful in the world. In sight are the Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains). The district has borne the name since the eleventh century. It is a mina- ture mountain country extraordinarily rich in variety of scenery. Idyllic vales and mountain tops with clustered hotels and frequent castles make it indescribable in beauty. There is the watering place of Honnef and the Rhine islands, Nonnerworth and Grafenwerth, with gardens and vineyards even this season of the year unusually picturesque, and the residences of the wealthy; Drachenfels Castle and the cave which was the lair of the dragon which Siegfried slew and is the reason that the wine grown there is called Drachenblut (Dragon's Blood.) Drachenburg follows Drachenfels, and imposing 174 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Petersburg, crowned with an hotel, comes next. Then comes Godes- burg, across the river, with the mighty castle ruins left as ruins by the French in 1794 when in its 700th year. The Godesberg ruins were the property of Princess Fredric Karl of Prussia and mark the spot where Emperor Julian is said to have built a castle and a tem- ple to Jupiter in 360 A.D. Bonn, in the hands, or rather, in the mailed fists of the English, is the home ofthe University of Bonn and is also the birthplace of Beethoven. Bonn marks the end of the mountain- ous district of the Rhine. From Bonn there is wide level country to the sea. Members of the Grenadier Guards, who spoofed us, don't you know, over our conspicious, golden service-bars denoting a year's service while they were wearing four-and-a-half years of scarcely dis- cernable stripes, Avelcomed our unannounced arrival as we hitched our automobile before the cathedral in the greatest city in western Germany. They were so friendly I almost suspicioned them of being disguised Dutchmen overdoing their English impersonation. I still remember the week I spent in England more than a year ago and our voyage across on an English boat where our very presence seemed to be resented because we were taking up space on ship which could be used to better advantage, to their notion, by foodstuffs. In those days the Britishers wanted something to eat, not help from amateurs. They would lick the bloomin' Dutchman with one hand tied behind the back some Sunday morning before church just as soon as arrange- ments were made, but in the meantime they desired an occasional change from their marmalade and cheese diet. Before the day was over I recalled that former attitude to some of my new friends and they insisted I was mistaken. Their apparent unfriendliness at that time, they explained, was because the bloody Yanks were so hard to get acquainted with — so reserved — and they were fearful of making friendly advances for that reason. Imagine Yanks reserved ! Cologne is the capital of the Rhine province, the largest and rich- est of Germany. While not the largest it is considered one of the most important towns of the former empire. Its population is over 650,000. Formerly Cologne had direct navigation communication vdth London as well as with the German north and east sea coast harbors. Smoke from the Krupp works, still dabbling in submarines and cannon, it is said, lingers in the sky above the city blown from not far away. A great sign, EAU DE COLOGNE, discloses from whence comes that awful smelling perfume and toilet water. Too THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 175 bad that plant could not have been wrecked during the war. The peace commission ought to take up the matter and have the place put out of existence. Cologne possesses a great number of buildings the origin of which goes back to the middle ages, but the distinctive edi- fice, is, of course, the Cathedral. It is massive and grand, so old that few existing edifices surpass it. It is considered the crown of Gothic architecture. The foundation dates back to 1248 and the final stone was laid by William I in 1880. The loftiest spire is 520 feet high. Since 1842 twenty-one million marks have been expended on its con- struction and goodness knows hoAV much was spent during the pre- vious 600 years. We obtained tickets and an English guide at the Dom Hotel and went up into one of the towers. From the spire the view of the city and surroundings, of the Rhine and the dim moun- tains in the distance, was most beautiful. The interior of the ca- thedral is a bewildering maze of pillars in even rows, but one easily gets lost on a "side street." The altars are costly and grand, but the brass and marble lack lustre. It is as chilly and damp in the place as in a cellar. I imagine it to be an unhealthy place to worship. It certainly was for the Boche who worshipped Gott there. That evening we were at the British Officers' Club in the Dom Hotel. The fact that I was with an officer endorsed me with the Eng- lish because there is no explaining the eccentricities of the Americans, and they didn't give a hang whether I was a general or not, altho men and officers mix like oil and water in their own army. The dining room of the club is so large that the three-hundred or more men pres- ent were not crowded a bit. TheBritishers certainly loosen up among themselves. In the place was an American lieutenant who had been with the British so long he talked like them and he took us around. If Sir Douglas Haig was in the place I met him, because I met them all. I even met a man with thesame surname as mine, but his Chris- tian moniker had my poor old John C, faded. His is A. Turkington. We established a second or third cousinship for the evening and thereafter I was jake. It seems that I have been sort of mistaken all these years believing the English to be stuff, ceremonious and formal. That bunch that night was as free and as cordial as I ever encount- ered. And there is one other feature I observed that is more or less enlightening, or, maybe, makes the problem still more perplexing. An Englishman with a monocle has always appeared deucedly funny to me and affected. Swagger, as they call it. That night I saw mon- ocles but I also saw scores of Englishmen who were entitled to wear 176 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT honors upon their breasts, yet there wasn't a medal "swaggering" in sight. The medals were hidden from view and regarded apparently as something personally precious never to be displayed. Frenchmen have no such modesty — absolutely not — they go around decorated like John Philip S., and the Yank isn't exactly a shrinking violet either. * # # * Heimbach, Germany, 20 March. Something like sixteen months ago, on a clear, bright day at the parade ground at Camp MacArthur, Texas, I thrilled with pride and expectancy as I watched the Thirty-second Division, 25,000 strong, pass in review before it commanding general ; intensively trained sol- diers of a few months from the homes of Wisconsin and Michigan about to go to war. Just the other day I again saw that Thirty-second pass in re- view. This time on the sun-brightened hills of Dierdorf, beyond the Rhine in Germany, and before the Commander-in-Chief of the Amer- ican forces on foreign soil. Still 25,000 strong. But of the 25,000 three-fourth were replacements, soldiers from nearly every state in the Union. The Thirty-second had been to war. I had many thrills as I gazed upon that field of ceremony, thrills caused by many remembrances and emotions as I watched that sea of steel helmets and bayonets in formations as exact as geometrical figures ; perfect soldiers of a division at full strength ; one man in four an original, the other three representing the toll of battle. It was a glorious day never to be forgotten. To the Thirty- second, a division in all "caps" in Who's Who in the A.E.F., it re- presented the grand finale of a series of months of events the likes of which will never be seen again, nor have they ever passed before. General Pershing spCLt the entire afternoon insoecting and review- ing the division whose regiments were spread out in formation cov- ering the hill-tops and depressions of the greatest heights in our area. Among the spectators were many Germans — men, women and children — intently interested in everything that took place, mystified by the absence of plumage and colors, keenly disappointed because General Pershing was not helmeted in silver or gold and received in that shining, flashing, glittering pomp to which they are so accustom- ed. A German woman next to me, who stood in the chill for hours awaiting the General's arrival, said a word when he finally stepped from his car that wasn 't a nice word to say even for a kultured Boche THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 177 woman, but it exactly expressed her bitter disgust. As the General stepped forward she pointed and inquired of me, "Pershing?" As I nodded confirmation she said that word. Then she snorted and left the field, her expression implying a scornful and haughty contempt. Not a plume, not a bit of brass did the General display. He simply added one to that field of khaki. I, too, had my disappointment that day. I lugged a vest-pocket kodak since I left home, smuggled it over here contrary to orders, and never used it. Since the armistice one may photograph anything he chooses, and that day I had it along for the express purpose of getting a picture of the C-in-C. For two hours I maneuvered for that picture but my two-and-a-quarter-by-three-and-a-quarter would have required a telescopic lens to get anything that looked like a close-up. I couldn't get anywhere near him and my fingers were getting cold. I finally shot the roll in order to free my hands so I could put on my gloves and get warm. I got a couple views of the 150-piece band, and a very good band it is. I got a picture of two of the decorated re- viewing stand with General Lassiter, its sole occupant, "tending door." I snapped General Pershing astride his white horse, and I'll bet tliat picture will look like a blurred white horse and nothing else. I took a few shots at the troops and I was thru photographing for the day. After the review was over I stood by the roadside near the gen- eral's car bound to get a good look anyway. As he came from the reviewing stand he stopped to speak to a couple of American ladies and he stood so close to me I could hear his low-toned conversation. Among other things I heard him make the abrupt remark, "Mighty fine division — seldom see a division like that." He stood there talk- ing for five minutes, five feet away with the sinking sun shining over my shoulder full upon him. I fingered my kodak and darned my fool self. I didn't have a shot left. Among those receiving decorations that day were three men from our battalion who distinguished themselves at Juvigny last September. These men, Walter Raleigh, John Shedlewski and James Norton, are of our Company "A" of Menasha. During a heavy bom- bardment a shell burst near two ammunition trucks that were being loaded at a dump, blowing up one of the trucks and setting fire to the other which was partially loaded with powder charges. The shelling was so heavy the men were lying in shelter but they rushed out and in some manner extinguished the flames, cranked up and 178 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT backed the old Quad to a place less dangerous. Their action un- doubtedly saved the dump, a few other trucks and other things from going flooey. While these were the only medals bestowed upon men of our Train they were not the only deserving ones. Never an ammuni- tion convoy came off the front but that it had its tale to tell. The number of medals in an organization is no criterion of its experiences in battle. Many an outfit was too busy working or fighting to keep track of its heroes and make the necessary recommendations. Each individual recommendation requires yards of typewriter ribbons; hence many a buck goes back home ribbonless with only an alibi cov- ering his breast. * * * m 24 March. The intermission is due to circumstances over which I wish I had control. The other day we all got another shot in the arm. I've been sick — sicker 'n a dog — since. I've had chills and fever, head- ache, backache, aches all over besides an arm twice its ordinary size. Back home that spring about the time I joined the old guard company I got my first set of threes when we had a typhoid scare in our town. I collected another set at Camp Douglas and still another at Camp MacArthur. When I got my first inuoculation I was told I would not be suseptible to typhoid for seven years. I was told the same thing twice after that, so I had arrived at the conclusion that I would require no further protection along that line for twenty-one years. Among other things in Embarkation Orders the Medics slip- ped in another slam at typhoid. All the vaccine pumped into me before was just so much water compared to this last shot. This stuff was declared to be triple lipo vaccine. I believe some linotype guy hit the wrong key. This stuff was never meant for humans. It must be something the Docs had fixed up for hipos. Anyway I am safe now for twenty-eight years. I'm going to convert my War Risk insurance into a thirty-year en- dowment. The final shot in the arm was a necessary evil, the review was necessary and an inspection of records by G.H.Q. officers was a final necessity. We are all set, with nothing to do but mark time and bite our fingernails. Time is passing quite swiftly so far but I know these next three weeks will simply drag along. We are actually going home ! THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 179 There is no more guessing, no more figuring; no more need to stew and fret. Everything is settled. The Thirty-second begins pull- ing out April 15 and the entire division will be gone from here within a week thereafter. We don't go down the Rhine. We don't go to Rotterdam or Amsterdam or any other (deleted) Dutch port. We sail from Brest, undoubtedly, and we make the trip there in box cars. Sixty hours is our schedule time from Coblenz bridgehead to Brest, sixty hours more in a box car, but we should give a darn if it is cattle cars, for, 0, boy, we're going home! — and it's any way to get there. Goodbye Deutschland. Very glad to leave you. Thank you — don't mention it. Maybe in my final hours on earth I'll get thai for- give-thine-enemy spirit. I say, maybe. I expect, and hope, to live a good many years more. Had I gone directly home from France I believe I would have felt more kindly toward the Boche than I do now, and I didn 't exactly love him then. He has been hypocritical in his every action in our everyday life since we are here. He sim- ulates a friendliness in a manner and for a reason which we know to be false. He pretends to love us with all his heart and soul because we are not French or English, and overdoes it. Our presence here insures his skin and assures him regular meals. Why don't he let it go at that and tolerate us as a good thing instead of slopping over with an assumed afi^ection ? I can't for the life of me imagine these people ruling the world. I wonder where the Kaiser got the idea. Possibly from the history of Europe. Since the year one, and especially since the year one thousand, somebody on this continent gets that idea in every gen- eration and sometimes there are two somebodies. Somebody wants more power than his brother's wife's cousin. If it isn't a kaiser it's a burgomeister wanting it. A League of Nations over here will be a bush league before some of us die. There will be wars in Europe when the equator turns cold. Of course I don't know what I am talk- ing about, but, I 'd rather have a home on a barren island out in Lake Michigan than one of these castles on the Rhine. The United States just got thru saving the world. It has been good practice for Uncle Sam. That will be a good steady job for him in his old age. What is the name of that once-proposed universal language? Esperanto? Get the French, English, Germans, Italians, Bulgarians, Russians, Checks, and a few more of these "foreigners" talking Es- peranto for a hundred years or so and then the League of Nations 180 THEU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT might take. These countries are too far apart to be so close together. I'll stay here a couple weeks longer and help them out but after that they can shift for themselves. I'm done. CHAPTER III. Homew^ard Bound — Sea-Sick Soldiers — A Fourth- Class Battleship — Dizzy Bunks — Incident of the Rolling Ship — Navy Suffers in Comparison With Army — Everything Going Out; Nothing Coming In — Details of the Trip Out of Ger- many and Life At Brest — The Hurry To Get Home — Over the "Hump" — Amusements Aboard Ship — New^ York Instead of New^port News — End of Voyage and Out of the Army. NEVER were army orders so welcomed as those which sent us home. The order which officially declared the Armistice was not received with as great joy. Men and officers all wanted to go home. There were no inducements great enough to keep a mem- ber of the Train in the army. The campaign for volunteers to remain in the Army of Occupation met with complete failure in the Train. One of the last acts by the personnel of the Train was the for- mation of the 107th Ammunition Train Veterans' Association with Captain Edward Dayton, president; Captain Joseph Zawodny, vice- president, and Sgt. Maj. John C. Acker, secretary. Sgt. Walter E. Bauer of Train Headquarters was commissioned second-lieutenant just a few days before the Train left Germany. All motor equipment including the tractors and rolling kitchens were turned in either at Sinzig, Neuweid, Coblenz or turned over to the 158th F.A. Brigade. The Motor Battalion, less Company D, en- trained at Niederbieber at midnight, April 21. The remainder of the Train entrained at Engers at 6 o'clock the next morning. Each railroad train consisted of about fifty cars and carried about 1,000 men, other outfits of the Division traveling with the Ammunition Train. At Brest the Train was quartered in Section 14 at Camp Pont- anezen. There were inspections, delousing, new clothing issued and 182 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT passenger lists compiled. Just before noon of April 30 the Train marched to Brest and at 1:30 P.M. embarked on the U.S.S. Louisi- ana which cleared the following morning at 8 o'clock. The 107th Ammunition Train organized at Camp MacArthur, Texas, with 26 officers and 951 men, aU from Wisconsin. The day, at Camp Merritt, N. J., when the Train ceased to be an organization its 34 officers and 1,142 men were from nearly every state in the Union. There were men in the outfit from every state except North Carolina, Vermont and New Hampshire. * * * * On Board U.S.S. Louisiana, 6 May, 1919. This letter will be mailed at Newport News, U.S., sometime, I hope. If I should die before this ship reaches port the letter will be mailed anyway. I've seen to that. These may be my last words so I intend making the most of the opportunity while there is yet life. First, I wish to retract any statement or statements I have made at any time that in any way reflects upon life in the army. I take back everything evil I have wished upon the army. Had I sack-cloth and ashes I would willingly do repentance in the most approved manner. Before I die, and from present indications I will survive about twenty-four hours longer, I mean to request burial on land and I want to be buried by the army. I am just crazy about the army. If there was any hope of my seeing land once more I almost believe I would re-enlist in the army. The more I see of the navy the more I love the army. There may be a ray of hope, so I will not commit myself to re- enlist, and understand, if I should happen to live thru this none of the stuff in the preceding paragraph goes. I was able to take a little nourishment this noon and it is still down so there may be a chance for me, and I intend to pray tonight. Since April 30th we have been aboard the U.S.S. Louisiana, a fourth-class battleship. It is fourth-class, I believe, because of its accommodations for troops, and I can't for the life of me understand why it is rated so high. There should be a bridge across the Atlantic and then the navy could be used for the purpose for which it was intended, whatever that is ; but this I know, that it was never intended the army should go to sea. ''Join the Navy and See the World," has induced many a poor boob to forget that his creator never intended him to be a fish. "Join THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 183 the Navy and See Your Breakfast Twice,'' would never entir-y the younger generation from the farm. For ten minutes, two years ago ] was undecided whether to enlist in the army or the navy. For once I exhibited some sense, but I deliberated ten minutes and I hold that against myself. The delay was entirely uncalled for, "Rolling deep," "raging billows," ,' bounding main," and a few other of those salty phrases sound romantic all right but they are nothing more or less than some skipper's propaganda. Old Solomon Gills, and I are of one mind regarding the sea. Remember? — in Dombey and Son? — "As to the sea," he told Wally, "that's Avell enough in fiction but it won't do in fact — it won't do at all." No, it won't do a-tall. If the United States ever gets into another war and w^ants me the game will have to be played on the home grounds or else some- body will have to build a bridge. I don't know what got into me this trip. Going to France I wasn't a bit sick and we had considerable rough weather. It was a February crossing and a northern route. And I am quite used to water, too. I have been around water since I was a boy, made lots of trips on all kinds of craft on theLakes ; sailed one time from New Orleans to Colon and coming back was in a regular hurricane, and I was never seasick. We cleared from Brest at 8 o'clock in the morning May 1st in rain and mist and we ran into the worst kind of a sea in the Baj^ of Biscay. This old six- or seven-million-dollar hulk wallowed around in the trough of the sea and finally headed west inclination forty- some-odd degrees either up or down. It would be better when we got out into the ocean some "gob" assured us, but as a weather fore- caster he is a good blacksmith. We ran into a storm outside, and the Bay of Biscay had been as a plowed field in Kansas is to the Rocky Mountain range. One afternoon from 12 o'clock until 6 P.M. we made as much as thirty-six miles. A quad truck mixed up in a con- voy of artillery tractors advancing thru the Argonne forest could do better than that. Still I wasn't sick. Of the 1402 soldiers aboard this craft 1400 were sick soldiers, feeding the Spanish mackerel. Even some of the gobs wished they were back home on the farm. Another wise bird and myself put on the old salt expression and paraded the decks pitying the poor land-lubbers who were wishing they had remained in the service in France. Sealegs? — I had 'em. The bigger the waves the better I thought I liked it. 184 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT And then I got it ! The fourth day out the bottom fell out of everything. I can't imagine what happened to me. Ordinarily I would think it was something I ate, but we don't get anything to eat. I remained on deck until it became dark, swallowing great mouthfuls of fresh air and converting it into a yellow-greenish sub- stance. Someway, I managed to crawl down to my bed. We sleep in hammocks arranged in tiers of threes which are hauled up to the ceiling during the daytime and let down at night. There are seventy- four hammocks in our casemate, which is about twenty by thirty feet and seven feet high. My hammock is a lower on the edge of a small open area. It is really a desirable bunk compared to locations some of the men drew. There is good ventilation besides the benefit of the open space. But there is an iron pillar that stands directly in the course of my swinging hammock. It stands far enough away so that a collision occurs only when the ship makes an unusual lurch. That night of my probably fatal illness I staggered down the companionway and groped my way between the swaying beds of that madhouse, manag- ing to fall into my own dizzy bunk. Back and forth I swayed until the seventh wave. I thought the ship had struck a floating mine, at least I hoped so, The blow caught me directly above my right eye and the flares and flashes equaled anything I saw at the front. My next sensation was that of falling. On the rebound I had fallen out of the other side of that darned hammock. I made measurements and now nights when I go to bed I wrap my sweater around the post just at the right height so that it acts as a pad when in what I imagine to be my last throes of agony, I loan my head over the side of that bunk and reach for the recept- acle some sailor has so kindly provided for my use. I wonder how long a person can live with everything going out and nothing coming in. This is said to be a fifteen-day trip. Ex- actly fifteen-months from the day we sailed from the United States we sailed from France for home, which suggests the remark that I would rather be in the army fifteen months than in the navy fifteen days, and I mean it. 7 May. Still alive with quite remarkable prospects for complete recovery. The principal thing now is to get something to eat. The nourish- ment we receive aboard this boat may be all right for a sailor, but THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 185 personally I would like a meal occasionally. The sun came out today and the sea is comparatively calm. We are in the Gulf Stream and it is quite warm. I sat on the deck for hours occasionally trusting my pins to a stroll the length of the ship and back. However, I am afraid to exercise for fear of creating an appetite. Tomorrow I in- tend spending the day below smoking cigarettes and reading, trying to kill this terrible hunger. Actually I could eat the tin otf a can of corn willy. To get my mind off my stomach I will tell of our trip from Ger- many. Our moving order stating the exact day and hour was not received until April 15. The movement of the division was scheduled to start the 18th. We had been anxiously awaiting that order for weeks. For days we knew all about the trip. Division headquarters, or somebody connected with it, told us everything. We were to travel from the Rhine to Brest in American box- cars in sixty hours, and as we had completed all our passenger lists and other paper work we would load directly on the George Wash- ington, Imperator, or some other six- or seven-day boat. From New York we would entrain immediately for Camp Grant and be dis- charged within forty-eight hours. We would be home by May 4th. Raptures ! Everything worked out just as contemplated with the exception of a few minor details. In the first place, our Ammunition Train did not leave Heimbach until April 21. Our section entrained at Nied- erbieber, departing at midnight in box-cars that were American only because they had been turned over to the American A.O. by the Boche. The sixty-hour ride was extended to eighty-hours in order that all the hard-bread and corn-beef hash on the train could be consumed. There was quite a lot left over when the sixty-hours was up. So that we could tell the folks back home how nice everything is now at Camp Pontanezen, Brest, we were allowed to remain there five days. The George Washington being engaged in carrying back to the United States one complete set of Arguments to Combat Objec- tions to the League of Nations, and the Imperator held up by adverse winds or criticism or something, we submitted to a hitch in the navy, never expecting to be taken seriously. Our six-day crossing will take fifteen days at least, we are told ; the Louisiana takes us to Newport News instead of New York; and, instead of entraining directly from the boat we are to be held at the port of debarkation for five days. It seems now we are to be split 186 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT up into demobilization camp detachments at Newport News, instead of having that job completed on the boat as intended, and we must be deloused once more. It is more than a week since we were de- loused and we have gone thru only three cootie inspections aboard ship, so I suppose we must be in a disgraceful condition. I haven't any idea how long it takes to travel from Virginia to Illinois these modern days, and when we do finally arrive at Camp Grant I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we were put to doing squads east and west, so I don't know when we will get back to Wisconsin. Y' understand I'm not kicking; fact is I am tickled to death to even be headed west; but I dislike being kidded. I suspicion Fate or some other power of putting something over on us now that time is so valuable. Time to a soldier is not supposed to matter. What's time to a soldier? He has lots of it. Ordinarily it doesn't make much difference whether the day of the month be the 4th or 24th, or the month June or December, but at this crisis every minute counts. The United States goes dry at midnight June 30; and here we are — seventeen hundred miles from land. * * # * 8 May. Had beans and catsup for breakfast today which is quite an im- provement over the beans and tapioco of yesterday morning. I wonder who devises the meals aboard this ship — the combinations are so unusual. One time at a kermiss Avhere I stayed over night I had prune pie, beef stew and a quart bottle of beer set before me for breakfast. That was my farthest north in breakfasts until I got on this battleship. If I can only retain this appetite of mine one month after I am out of the army I will feel repaid for the inability to sat- isfy it now. Things are breaking a little better today. We went over the "hump" last night and it is all down hill the rest of the way. It took an awful long time to get half way but from now on it will be smooth sailing. Had a scare today. Some comedian started a tale to the effect that the U.S.S. Georgia, which is twelve hours ahead of us, had a broken crankshaft, or propeller shaft, or whatever -you-call- it, and the Louisiana would have to stand by when she caught up un- til repairs were made on the sister ship. The story was disgustingly believed until this same cheerful gloom-getter spread another report to the effect that the U.S.S. Kansas, which is twelve hours behind us, had a puncture, or leaking radiator, or something, and we had to THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 187 check our speed and wait for her. This last one was too much for my shattered nerves so I went to one of the ship's officers and got set on the right course. We are gaining on the Georgia and leaving the Kansas behind and they should worry, not us, he explained. It is 3290 miles from Brest to Newport News ; we have made 1886 miles and are picking up speed every hour. We will be making 300 miles a day from now on, maybe. The trip isn't so bad after all; in fact, excepting the slow pro- gress, it hasn't been half-bad, to be perfectly fair. The train ride from Germany across France was not near as tiresome as I had ex- pected it to be. Even the five days we spent at CampPontanezen came to an end in time. I want to tell of the anguish and torn hearts we left behind in Germany. Our outfit lived in Heimbach just as the other U.S. outfits lived in scores of other German toM^ns in that area, so I presume the experiences of all of us are similar. We lived in the homes of the Germans but had our own mess. We slept in their beds. Members of Heimbach 's male population be- tween the ages of six and sixty years gave up their beds without a murmur to the soldiers — by order of the American army. So Ave lived right in their homes and privately fraternized as much as we pleased regardless of all orders to the contrary, tho in public we ignored the natives. The day before we left was a busy time among the households of Heimbach. In every home in which soldiers were living there was much baking and cooking going on, and as the col- umns marched away the next morning nearly every soldier was bur- dened with a bundle of German cooking of some kind, adding con- siderable weight to his already overloaded souvenir-stuffed pack. There had actually been many tearful farewells. Women had cried and ex-Boche soldats had shaken hands as tho they were losing life- long friends. The population lined the streets waving handkerchiefa and shouting ' ' goodbyes. ' ' The remembrance of that pall of gloom which chokes Germany since our departure almost brings tears to my eyes. The sad parting was so sincere. They implied that their sorrow was caused not be- cause we were Americans going home, nor because we might go back to the United States and tell how wonderfully kind and generous are the German people ; but that it was because of our own endeared in- dividual selves, so like the German people themselves. When we came to Heimbach we were welcomed with joy; we 188 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT left it in tears. When the American outfit that was there ahead of us left for home they too were sped on their way with the kindest of wishes, taking with them the impression of leaving behind aching hearts of a sorrowing people. But one outfit of the Second Division, U.S.A., which succeeded us in the hearts of Heimbach, will leave there with no such notion in their noodle. The people of Heimbach knew for weeks we were leaving shortly and believed we were to be the last troops to occupy their town. They arrived at this belief by the fact that there was no other division com- ing up into the Army of Occupation to relieve the Thirty-Second. But what they didn't know was that the First and Second Divisions were to spread out and take over our territory. Before we were fully out of Heimbach an artillery outfit of the Second began pulling in. The tearful countenances reverted to the natural Hun type. Coming out of Germany we traveled back thru the beautiful Moselle valley and from Metz we went down thru the St. Mihiel area. We were not in the St. Mihiel drive, excepting in army reserve, so this trip gave us an opportunity to see the job the American troops did in that short but effective and important battle. We were in Pont-a-Mousson noon of the second day of our trip and our route across France was thru Nancy, Toul, Neuf chateau, Chaumont, Auxerre, Bourges, St. Aignan, Tours, LeMans, Leval, Rennes, Montford, St. Brieuc, Brest. Our German box-cars were quite warm and comfortable and the variety of the ever-changing scenery made the time pass more quick- ly than does the eternal and infernal sameness of the ocean with its ever-present westerly wind. Our train consisted of fifty box-cars ex- clusive of the cook and baggage cars, and while we had two regular meals each day we had with us for the frequent emergency a plenti- ful supply of our old John D. Standby — hardbread and corn willy. From the unfavorable publicity given conditions at Camp Pont- anezen, Brest, I was very much surprised at what we found. Pont- anezen, to me, appeared a wonderful camp. While there we lived in pyramidal tents equipped with Sibley stoves with a plentiful supply of wood and coal at hand; meals were very good with "Boo-Koo Seconds" as a large sign reads. Inspections, bathing schedules and issues of clothing were put thru with a speed and a system I had never before suspected within the army. Considering the rapidity with which the camp was built and organized, and I understand that practically all the work was done THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 189 since last January, I cannot understand why the "big kick" was made. The only complaint worthy of consideration is why the work of constructing the camp was not started sooner. There is one un- satisfactory condition at Brest that cannot be attributed to the army, nor to any other human agency, and it cannot be remedied. It rains at Brest, just as it does all over northern France, practically all of the time. No camp in the world can be made ideal in a region where duck boards are as necessary to a soldier's navigation as web feet are to duck's. * # # # 10 May. We are nearer our destination than we thought. Naval orders, like those of the army, are subject to change at any moment, up- setting all calculations. A radio received about midnight changed our destination to New York. It shortens our voyage and we ought to reach port in time to unload next Tuesday morning. We go to Camp Merrit. Everybody on board is happy with the exception of a few married men who wired their respective wives to meet them at Newport News. It costs $1.60 for a ten-word radio to Newark, N. J., besides the "collect" the wife in Wisconsin pays for the relay telegram. This is Saturday afternoon and a half-holiday aboard ship. The sun is bright and the sea quite calm. The ship's photographer is a busy man. Aft on the gun deck we are to have boxing and wrestling matches at 2 o'clock. In the superstructure on the weather deck there is a movie already in action. Across the way from the movie the ship's orchestra and an able-bodied seamen's quartette are en- tertaining the movie overflow. This is certainly a gay life. * * m # 12 May Had a very stormy Sunday and a wretched night. We ar« anxious for tomorrow to come for it will be all over. We unload at Pier No. 2, Hoboken, at 3 P.M. Seas mountain high, driven by a gale that howled like a March blizzard, washed over our ship all day long; and with hatches battered down we were forced to spend the day, and the night, in the stuffiness and heat between decks. We had wretched weather for our trip with the exception of but two days. The storm of yesterday, bad as it was, makes our landing to- morrow possible. The storm was out of the east and drove us before 190 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT it. Each wave kicked us a little farther on our way. Had it not been for the storm we would not have docked until Wednesday. We are glad it is all so nearly over. Great as is the army we are anxious to live our own individual lives without restraint. We want to sleep and we want to eat the way we want. We want to live the way we want and meet real folks and talk to them in a language where we don't have to shake our heads or wave our arms to make them understand. It has been a long drag. We are tired. It has been a wonderful, wonderful experience, but we are glad it is already experience and not anticipation. ["FINI"] APPENDIX ENLISTED PERSONNEL One Hundred Seventh Ammunition Train TRAIN HEADQUARTERS Regtl. Sgt. Major Walter W. Singer, Port Washington, Wis. Regtl. Sgt. Major George B. Kendall, Plymouth, Wis. Regtl. Sup. Sgt. Edw. Naus, Sheboygan, Wis. Regtl. Sup. Sgt. Fred E. Rothermel, Plainfield, Wis. Sergt. Victor Ferry, Providence, R. I. Sergt. Louis B. Oxley, Oklahoma. Sgt. Oswald E. Callan, Platteville, Wis. Cpl. Asa T. Bearse, Atlanta, Ga. Cpl. Richard J. Rothermel, Plainfield, Wis. (Killed in action Oct. 5, 1918). Cpl. Frank A. Rothermel, Plainfield, Wis. Cpl. .Tames V. Garland, Huntington, W. Va. Cook Edward J. Frank, Red Granite, Wis. Wag. Ben W. Ferguson, Crandon, Wis. Wag. Peter A. Madsen, California. Pvt. Icl. Thomas J. Connally, New York City. Pvt. Icl. Arthur L. Dubke, Plainfield, Wis. Pvt. Icl. Emil Ebeling, Cole Camp, Wis. Pvt. Icl. Doyle E. Stock, Montpelier, Idaho. Pvt. Icl. Ether C. Wolfley, Afton, Wyoming. Pvt. Icl. William E. Wiehr, California. Pvt. Icl. William McClusky, Clovis, New Mexico. Pvt. Joe V. Burdette, Seattle, Washington. Pvt. Elmer R. Williams, Indiana. Pvt. Melvin E. Warner, Jump River, Wis. Reg. Sgt. Maj. James P.Woods, Madison, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) Sgt. Walter E. Bauer, Milwaukee, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) MOTOR HEADQUARTERS Olson, Wallace R., Reg. Sup. Sgt., Edgerton, Wis. (Died Sept. 26, 1918. Lo- bar Pneumonia.) Pondelick, Raymond M., Reg. Sup. Sgt., Hartford, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut. Wendell, James C, Reg. Sup. Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Acker, John C, Bn. Sgt. Maj, Sturgeon Bay, Wis. 192 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Beerer, Roy M., Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Neacy, Clarence B., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Waite, James R., Sgt., Aberdeen, S. D. Parma, Emil J., Sgt., Two Rivers, Wis. Shanahan, George, Cpl., Healdsburg, Cal. iStai, Roy O., Cpl., Black River Falls, Wis. Babbitz, John B., Cook, Dale, Wis. Heder, Hugo V., Cook. Hartford, Wis. Bancroft, Forrest B., Wag., Cambridge, Mass. Brevik, Adolph N., Wag., Harvey, N. D. Collins, Cyril F., Wag., Ferndale, Cal. Hammer, Peter T., Wag., Odin, Minn. Hesselbein, Alfred, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Kunkel, George E., Wag., Fessenden, N. D. James, Virgil, M., Wag., Hillsboro, Ala. Johnston, John B., Wag., Clare, Mich. Veum, Russell, Wag., Owattona, Minn. Anderson, William, Pvt. lcl.,Saxeville, Wis. Carollo, John, Pvt. Icl., Redgranite, Wis. Fournier, Arthur J., Pvt. Icl, Rumford, Maine. Henderson, David H.,Pvt. Icl, Lime Springs, Iowa. Mayfield, Ethel H., Pvt. Icl, Raleigh, Miss. McCall, Thomas P., Pvt. Icl, St. Paul, Kansas. Melton, Mike, Pvt. Icl, Redgranite, Wis. HORSED HEADQUARTERS Fritzen, J. C, Reg. Sup. Sgt., Neenah, Wis. Reimer, P. J., Bn. Sgt. Maj., Neenah, Wis. Parmenter, Ronald E., Bn. Sgt. Maj., Neenah, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) Gaffney, J. P., Sgt., Stanley, Wis. Brothen, Roy, Sgt., Stanley, Wis. Louis Larson, Sgt., Stanley, Wis. Parker, C. A., Sgt., Boyd, Wis. Gardner, C. D., Cpl., Platteville, Wis. Slothower, D. W., Cpl., Platteville, Wis. Lynn, Paul, Cpl., Crandon, Wis. Olson, V. G., Pvt. Icl, Stanley, Wis. Vesser, Leo, Stanley, Wis. Risic, H. D , Platteville, Wis. Rlattie, Joseph, Bugler, Menasha, Wis. Oyer, K. B., Lancaster, Wis. Podvin, William, Stanley, Wis. Hall, H. M., Peru, Ind. Helker, H. C, Platteville, Wis. Kadingo, Joseph, Stanley, Wis. Nelson, C. A., Wag., Boyd, Wis. Sikorski, F. L., Milwaukee, Wis. Ferguson, Benjamin W., Cpl., Crandon, Wis. Solie, Henry D., Cpl., Stanley, Wis. Scott, George D.,Pvt. Icl, Neenah, Wis. Sweet, Foster L., Pvt. Icl, Stanley, Wis. Solie, George, Pvt. Icl, Stanley, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 193 VETERINARY DETACHMENT McLean, P. E., Saginaw, Mich. Sweeney, A. L., New London, Wis Tierney, A. H., Detroit, Mich. ORDNANCE DETACHMENT Kuntz. Phillip, Ord. Sgt.. Stanley, Wis. Staffeld, Alvin A., Ord. Sgt., Neenah, Wis. Forby, Winthrop C, Ord. Sgt., Zion City, 111. Moen, Tollef A., Sgt., Stoughton, Wis. Biron, Louis S., Sgt., Rice Lake, Wis. Frey, Herman, W., Marshall, Wis. Sabin, Raymond M., Cpl., Hayward. Wis. Stencel. Albert, Cpl., Milwaukee, Wis. Barron, James E., Cpl., Platteville, Wis. Keiber, Irving F., Cpl., West Liberty, Ohio. Rineer, Edgar P., Cpl., Woodland, Cal. Kaiser, Gordon A., Pvt. Icl, Waterloo, Wis. Peters, Fay C, Pvt. Icl, Waterlook, Wis. Stonesifer, William M., Pvt. Icl, Centralia. 111. Virchow, Alvin E., Pvt. Icl, Sun Prairie, Wis. Kroncke, Arthur E., Pvt. Icl, Sun Prairie, Wis. Beth, William H.. Pvt., Green Bay, Wis. Flint, Archie O., Neenah, Wis. Prank, Arthur E., Pvt., Baraboo, Wis. Goetz, Fred W., Pvt., Stratford, Wis. Kammers, Louis S., Pvt., Hayward, Wis. Munro, Hugh K., Pvt., Cambridge, Wis. Peters, Ernest S., Pvt., Blue River, Wis. MEDICAL DETACHMENT Haas, Frank S., Sgt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Patterson, Robert P., Sgt., Lake Trobe, Pa. Winiecke, Edward S., Sgt., Saginaw, Mich. Wojcek, Andrew, Pulaski, Wis. Smuczkrewicz, Vincent, Milwaukee, Wis. Lamb John I., Philadelphia, Pa. Mehegan, Charles J., Sgt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Gather, Robert L., Cleveland, Ohio. Caldwell, Royo H., Sulphur Springs, Texas. Martinez, Ambrosio. Belasde, N. Mex. Jastrozembski, Anton, Detroit, Mich. Allen, Melvin W., Kalamazoo. Mich. Van Dusen, Emory B., Philadelphia, Pa. Bacon, Gerald H., Austin, Texas. Bowers, Ray E., Geneva. N. Y. Price James D., Edwardsville, Pa. Grabill, Harold G., Grand Rapids, Mich. Sandoval, Joseph T., Los Ventouor, New Mex. Billings, Henry M., Platteville, Wis. 194 THEU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Levine, Morris, South Fork, Pa. Hanna Glenn L., Chardon, Ohio. Howard William C, Moody, Texas. Shaw, Boyd M., Frost, Texas. Thirkell, Clarence H., Cleveland, Ohio. Buesse Paul E., Webster Grove, Mo. Romero, Estebau, S., Antonichico, N. Mex. Salos, Gregroio, Penabona, N. Mex. Romero, Leonardo, Trenchas, N. Mex. Martinez, Bonifacio, Lucero, N. Mex. Freeman, Joseph, Fairburg, Nebraska. COMPANY A Jankowski, Henry A., 1st Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Gaertner, Henry P., Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Lewandowski, Edward H., Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Sieber, Fred, Sgt., Tilleda, Wis. Gaard, Selmar N., Sgt., Boyceville, Wis. Milsap, Wallace J., Sgt., Shawano, Wis. Zielinski, Michael J., Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Kellnhauser, Henry A., Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Hill, Earl J., Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Adam, Bruce C, Corp., Marlette, Mich. Andersen, Clarence, Corp., Neenah, Wis. Baenke, Oliver A., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Henk, Raymond M., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Lornson, Russell, A., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Luka, Harry, Corp., Menasha, Wis. Melcher, John C, Corp., Menasha, Wis. Mericle, George H., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Remich, Lyall N., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Remmel, Leslie A., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Rosenow, Albert, Corp., Menasha, Wis. Scanlon, John R., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Schmidt, Clarence C, Corp., Menasha, Wis. Schmitzer, William J., Corp., Menasha, Wis. Riechl, Frank, Corp., Menasha, Wis. Wieckert, Harold E., Corp., Neenah, Wis. Lewandowski, Dennis, Cook, Menasha, Wis. ScheflBer, John, Cook, Menasha, Wis. Malenofsky, George, Cook, Menasha, Wis. Diedrick, Joseph, Chief Mec, Chassel, Mich. Aller, Fred, Wagoner, St. Clair Heights, Mich. Baenke, Alfred, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Calder, James, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Calder, John C., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Cole, Earl W., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Flenz, Emil, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Gamsky, John T., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Heinz, Edward C. F., Wagoner, Nekoosa, Wis. Jaskolske, George, Wagoner, Green Bay, Wis. Jedwabny, Anton, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Konetzke, Ben A., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Konetzke, Frank L., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 195 Kozlowski, Frank J., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. LaSalle, Calice R., Wagoner, Iron Mountain, Mich. Latondress, Edward J., Wagoner, Iron Mountain, Mich. Lefave, Joseph M., Wagoner, Oconto, Wis. Lefave, Thomas, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Norton, James A., Wagoner, Columbia, So. Dakota. (Decorated for bravery in action at Juvigny, Sept. 2, 1918. Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service Cross.) Panfil, Victor, Wagoner, Crivitz, Ellis Junction, Wis. Pukall, Henry F., Wagoner, Birnamwood, Wis. Rands, Oswin P., Wagoner, Rexburg, Idaho. Ryan, George T., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Scheleski, John A., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Scovronske, Leo, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Seksetarski, Frank, Wagoner, Chicago, 111. Skalmoski, Frank, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Steffenhagen, Carl F., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Steft'ens, Joe, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Ulrich, Carl, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Urban, John J., Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Ziolkowsky, Joe, Wagoner, Menasha, Wis. Coveney, Earl W., Bugler, Pairbault, Minn. Martin, Clarence H., Bugler, Frontier, Wyo. Bodner, George, Pvt Icl, Menasha, Wis. Cooper, Conrad W., Pvt. Icl, Canton, Ohio. Dalton, Cliff, Pvt. Icl, Lawrenceville, Ga. Duerrwachter, Emil J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Erdall, Oscar E., Pvt. Icl, Meeteetse, Wyo. Fenske, Emil A., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Penske, Fred, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Flenz, Albert, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Flenz, Ferdinand F., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Geisler, Fred J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Heckner, Andrew, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Heckner, Fred, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Kill. Tracy J., Pvt. Icl, Cody, Wyo. Kozlowski, Ben, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Marquardt, Richard, Pvt. Icl, Fremont, Wis. Martin, Edgar, Pvt. Icl, Benton, Mont. Miller, Charles R., Pvt. Icl, Hotchkiss, Colo. Mottl, Joseph P., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. O'Brein, Earl B., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Pawley, William, Pvt. Icl, Cody, Wyo. Poe, Joseph M., Pvt, Icl, Covina, Calif. Powell, David, Pvt. Icl, Scranton, Penn. Raleigh, Walter J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. (Decorated for bravery in ac- tion at Juvigny, Sept. 2, 1918. Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service Cross.) Richardson, Ben, Pvt. Icl, Tyvon, Sack, Canada. Rieschl, John, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Robinson, Edwin M., Pvt. Icl, Ferguson, Mo. Rohrer, Leviette D., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Shedlewski, John P., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. (Decorated for bravery in ac- tion at Juvigny, Sept. 2, 1918. Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service Cross.) Steffens, Charles, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Suchodolski, Joseph J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. 196 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Suchodolski, Leo V., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Tennessen, Harvey J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Tratz, Arthur H., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Tratz, Edward C, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Wisnefski, Stephen J., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. Brown, Clinton H., Pvt., Akron, Ohio. Bussell, Melvin J., Pvt., Durand, Mich. Chapleau, William, Pvt., Menasha, Wis. Chism, Buford V., Pvt., Oklahoma City, Okla. Cookson, Edward W., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Daniher, John P., Pvt., Ransom, 111. Dunsworth, Thomas M., Pvt., Brownswood, Texas. Godward, BerfF., Pvt., Los Angeles, Calif. Greenwood, William L., Pvt., Shellsburg, Iowa. Grigsby, John B., Pvt., Davenport, Okla. Halley, Charles M., Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Halterman, James O., Pvt., Franklin, Ohio. Hansen, Peter C, Pvt., Yuma, Colo. Hanson, Olaf H., Pvt., Starbuck, Minn. Henrich, Vincent C, Pvt., Massillon, Ohio. Hover, William M., Pvt., Lamenceville, Va. Jones, Orbin C, Pvt., White Cloud, Kas. Lewis, Stanley, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Mackin, James, Private, Menasha, Wis. McCain, Gordan J., Pvt., Atwood, Kas. McCrossen, Harold D., Pvt., Detroit, Mich. Miller, Floyd H., Pvt., Canfield, Ohio. Mumma, Clarence C, Pvt., Bluffton Allen, O. Murphy, Harold T., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Odom, Chafin A., Pvt., Sanford, No. Carolina. Porter Jared, Pvt., Escalante, Utah. Ray, John W., Pvt., Corinth, Miss. Rea, John T., Pvt., Queensland, Australia. Sanderson, Alfred W., Pvt., Detroit, Mich. Schrieber, Ben J., Pvt., Menasha, Wis. Shafar, Edward B., Meridan, Idaho. Skalmosky, Ben, Pvt., Menasha, Wis. Slapnicka, Charles O., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Snyder, Charles M., Pvt., Atwater, Ohio. Strom, Carl Oscar, Pvt., Taylor, No. Dakota. Stovall, Harry M., Pvt., Gillett, Ark. Uriens, Roy F., Pvt., Casper, Wyo. Sutter, Oliver, Pvt., Fostoria, Ohio. Wallace, Harvey R., Pvt., Alliance, Ohio. ^Vard, Urell, Pvt., Hiram, Mo. Wilson, Levin D., Pvt., Mize, Miss. Wheeler, Franklin E., Pvt., Akron, Ohio. White, Milton, Pvt., Handley, W. Va. Woolstenhulme, George S, Pvt., Duggs, Idaho. Wysong, Commodore, Pvt., Carryhurst, Wyo. Carrick, Kenneth. Sgt., Menasha, Wis., (Wounded) Shedlewiski, Harry W., Cpl., Menasha, Wis (Transfrd). Johnson, Henry C, Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. (Transfrd) Rowmiel, Leslie A., Pvt. Icl, Menasha, Wis. (Transfrd) Grebb, Delbert E., Pvt. Icl, Shawano, Wis. (Transfrd), O'Brien, Michael F., Pvt., Menasha, Wis. (Transfrd). Schrieber, Ben J., Pvt., Menasha, Wis. (Transfrd). THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 197 COMPANY B Theisen. Edwin J., 1st Sgt., Schleisingerville, Wis. Baumgartl, Joseph M., Mess Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Voight, Alvin B., Supply Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kreutz, Peter C, Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Gibson, George J., Sgt., Grand Rapids, Wis. Krueger, Henry R., Sgt., Waukesha, Wis. Weber, John J., Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Lohr, Herbert F., Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Leidiger, Erich F., Sgt., Fall Creek, Wis. Connors, Earl J., Sgt., Hartford, Wis. Roe, James J., Cpl., Milwaukee, Wis. Spoerke, Dennis W., Cpl., Oconomowoc, Wis. Campbell, Norman A., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Chapman, Harry D., Cpl., Jacksonville, 111. Christman, Raymond P., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Doster, Charles C, Cpl., Brooklyn, N. Y. Hahn, Clarence O., Cpl., Hartford, Wis Hays, Lloyd D., Cpl., Rubicon, Wis. Kruck, Emil, Cpl., Jefferson, Wis. Lechner, Tonie P., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Lemke, Louis O., Cpl., Oshkosh, Wis. Loew, Arthur J., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. McCrathy, Leo A., Cpl., Fox Lake, Wis. Schaller, Michael P., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Schroeder, Arthur F., Cpl., Sheboygan Falls, Wis. Serres, John E., Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Yaeger, Ernest, Cpl., Hartford, Wis. Black, Frank, Cook, Hartford, Wis. Schaller, Albert J., Cook, Hartford, Wis. Habel, William W., Cook, Ripon, Wis. Krueger, Paul A., Chief Mechanic, Fall Creek, Wis. Baier, Edward H., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Belanger. John V., Wagoner, Marinette, Wis. Brose, Erwin P., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Brown, Harry, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Brown, Herman, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Compton, Hallie V., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Cox, John R., Wagoner, Streator, 111. Deaver, Benjamin F., Wagoner, Marshalltown, Iowa. Gibson, Harry, Wagoner, Grand Rapids, Wis. Hahn, Hubert P., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Hamann, Fred, Wagoner, Brooklyn, N. Y. Hoehn, Carl W., Wagoner, Fall Creek, Wis. Houston, Edward, Wagoner, Pittsville, Wis. Kramer, William P., Wagoner, Hansen, Wis. Koczorowski, Peter, Wagoner, Nolida, Ohio. Loos, Benjamin H., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Mashuda, Walter J., Wagoner, Princeton, Wis. McGinley, Harold T., Wagoner, Milwaukee, Wis. Ohrmund, Arthur P., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. McGuire, Vincent C, Wagoner, Chicago, 111. Parent, Walter J., Wagoner, Chippewa Falls, Wis. Paskey, Walter O., Wagoner, Waupun, Wis. Place, Elmo F., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. 198 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Raschka, Herbert, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Shinners, Joseph, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Sonnenburg, Emil, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Taplin, Raymond P., Wagoner, Wautoma, Wis. Tliompson, William, Wagoner, Sharon, Penn. Upham, Earl A., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Weber, Peter, Jr., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Wegner, Alvin, Wagoner, Wautoma, Wis. Zuleger, Benjamin F., Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. Braekevelt, Cyriel, Pvt. Icl, East Detroit, Mich. Cellan, Jacob R., Pvt. Icl, Crofton, Neb. Cornelison, Vernie R., Pvt. Icl, Knight, Wyo. Crosby, Earl, Pvt. Icl, Boulder, Colo. Enos, Frank E., Pvt Icl, Concord, Calif. Hahn, Raymond, Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Hansen, George O., Pvt. Icl, Linden, Mich. Holtz, Alfred, Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Jones, Roy R., Pvt. Icl, Cody, Wyo. Kincaid, Albert J., Pvt. Icl, Dayton, Wyo. Loos, Raymond, Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Lundgren, Alfred, Pvt. Icl, Bay Point, Calif. Mandis, Perechlis, Pvt. Icl, Pittsburg, Calif. McGinty, Charles F., Pvt. Icl, Oronville, Wash. Morrison, Roy P., Pvt. Id, St. Paul, Neb. Mullen, Howard, Pvt. Icl, Grand Rapids, Wis. Munsinger, Edwin, Pvt. Icl, Thermopolis, Wyo. Murphy, William H., Pvt. Icl, Blackwell, Wyo. Nell, Orly C, Pvt. Icl, Neosho, Wis. Newton, Frank C, Pvt. Icl, Marinette, Wis. Norman, Jack, Pvt. Icl, Gussarfshyttan, Kuista, Sweden. Phifer, Jack, Pvt. Icl, Seattle, Wash. Ponder, Boyd, Pvt. Icl, Juar Dior, New Mexico. Richard, Herman J., Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Saulnier, Augustus, Pvt. Icl, Haverhill, Mass. Simon, John A., Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Seitz, Fred J., Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. Stevens, Hyrum E., Pvt. Icl, Mt. Vieu, Wyo. Sweet, Delmar, Pvt. Icl, Oakland, Calif. Thompson, Samuel, Pvt. Icl, Lone Tree, Wyo. Atkinson, Hallis F., Pvt., Buffalo, West Va. Barnes, John L., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Barney, Frank C, Pvt., Lewiston, Mich. Bergin, Edward, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Bernauer, Louis, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Best, Ross E., Pvt., Adena, Ohio. Binder, Ernest C, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Claude, Howard, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio, Cox, Benjamin F., Pvt., Orlando, Fla. Decker, Silas, Pvt., Holbrook, Ariz. DeShane, Milton, Pvt., Young, Ariz. Ferrell, Charles B., Pvt., Clarksville, Ark. Green, Maurice A., Pvt., Philadelphia, Pen Haroian, John W., Pvt., Portland, Me. Howe, George M., Pvt., Wallinford, Conn. Innis, Howard S., Pvt., Dorchester, Mass. Lepke, Edward W., Pvt., Cleveland, Wis. Levine, Jack, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 199 Lyskawinski. Martin, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. McGee, William B., Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Meaux, F. Fenwick, Pvt., Guyden, La. Merwin, George D., Pvt., Olivet, Mich. Monson, Ditlif, Pvt., Whitehall, Mont. Nichols, Louis H., Pvt., Dickinson, No. Dakota Polos. George H., Pvt., Asites, Crete. Price. Lewis, Pvt., Dayton, Ohio. Ratliff. Frank L., Pvt., Lynville, Iowa. Reidenbach, Ralph, F., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Schaeffer, Abraham, Pvt., Bristol, Conn. Schweder, Oscar F., Pvt., Washington, D. C. Smith, Edward A., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Sommerville, Thomas, Pvt., Merry Road, Amargh, Ireland Stoner, Austin, Pvt., Prescott, Mich. Taft, Samuel, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Tarshis, Samuel, Pvt., Philadelphia. Penn. Thomas, Solon, Pvt., Losanos, New Mexico. Truman. Alton W., Pvt., Fairbault, Minn. Unger, Adolph, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Vernon, Willard C, Pvt., Keeline, Wyo. Weir. Arthur. J., Pvt., Sheepshead Bay, N. Y. Weisbarth, Edward C, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Wilbert, Harry E., Pvt., Philadelphia, Pa Witowski, Ignacy, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Zarck, Sol, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Courtney, John E., Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Died Mar. 24. 1918, at General Hospital, St. McHenry, Md.) Askew, James A., Reg. Sup. Sgt., Port Washington, Wis. (Transferred). Grissman, John, Cook, Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Beck. Paul T., Pvt. Icl, Elmwood, Ind. (Wounded in action at Chery Char- teves, August 12, 1918). Looney, William, Pvt., Belcher, Conn. (Wounded in action near Colonges, August 15, 1918). Trujillo, Paul, Pvt., (Wounded in action at Tartiers, August 28, 1918). Mck Davies, William, Pvt. (Wounded in action at Tartiers, Sept. 4, 1918). Brown, Albert, Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. (Wounded in action at Esnes, September 24, 1918). Heimert, Emil F., Pvt., Three Oaks, Mich. (Wounded in action at Mont- faucon, October 9, 1918). Koczorowksi, Peter, Wagoner, Nolida, Ohio. (Wounded in action at Very, November 6, 1918). Harp, Walter, Wagoner, Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Esser, Fred T., Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Laahs, William C, Pvt. Icl, Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Knobel, Benjamin, Pvt., Hartford. Wis. (Transferred). Behrens, William, Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Blum, Joseph P., Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Loos, Edwin E., Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Martin, Lovell, Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Pontow, Otto A., Pvt., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Prautsch, Arthur O., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). Uebele, William H., Hartford, Wis. (Transferred). 200 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT COMPANY C McCoy, Robert C, 1st Sgt., Sparta, Wis. Rosenkrans, Milton C, Sup. Sgt., Hixton, "Wis. Amundsen, Christian, Mess Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Weeden, Donald S., Sgt., Waupaca, Wis. Jones, Robert L., Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Tucker, Gerald J., Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Anderson, Hakon, Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Horswill, Merlin C, Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Jones, Lawrence E., Sgt., Black River Falls, Wis. Parker, Oscar B., Sgt., Wenatchee, Wash, D. C. Caves, John O.. Chief Mech., Black River Falls, Wis. Hagen, Eilert M., Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Heiser, Fred W., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Hanson, Oscar O., Corp., Northfleld, Wis. Kleven, Sven O., Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Thomason, Dwight A., Corp., Holmen, Wis. Kimball, Joe M., Corp., Melrose, Wis. Greenlee, Eugene H., Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Quackenbush, Frank H., Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Hanson, Sigurd, Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Johnson, George, Corp., Black River Falls, Wis. Nolop, Clyde N. Corp., Hixton, Wis. Spence, Samuel A., Corp., Melrose, Wis. Stephens, Harold, Corp., Livingston, Wis. ToUefson, James M., Corp., Black River Falls. Wis. Clatt, George W., Corp., Ettrick, Wis. Roseland, Alvie, Corp., Ettrick, Wis. Wortman, John, Corp., Disco, Wis. Gunderson, Aleck L., Cook, Bemidji, Minn. Wussow, George A., Cook, Black River Falls, Wis. Tjorstad, Lewis R., Cook, Taylor, Wis. Borreson, Oscar, Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Capen, Edwin C, Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Dell. Charles F., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Dutcher, Jess J., Wagoner, Melrose, Wis. Fifer. Hugh E., Wagoner, Millston, Wis. Pranks, Dana R., Wagoner, Millston, Wis. Glennie, Clayton R., Wagoner, North Bend, Wis. Hanson, Peter, Wagoner, Northfleld, Wis. Haralson, Earl M., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Harmon, Percy A., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Helbling, Harry A., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Knutson, John, Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Kot. Peter J., Wagoner, Stanley, Wis. Larson, Clarence, Wagoner, Hixton, Wis. Larson, Oscar M., Wagoner, Hixton, Wis. Madsen. Walter, Wagoner, Wheeler, Wis. Messelt, Albert, Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Olson, Albert M., Wagoner, Millston, Wis. Olson, Edwin, Wagoner, Melrose, Wis. Olson, Louis, Wgnr, Naustdal, Sandfjord, Bergen, Norway Olson, Nels E., Wagoner, lola. Wis., Paulson, Oscar, Wagoner, Osseo, Wis. Reynolds, Edrian A., Wagoner, Antigo, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 201 Rinehart, Dan, Wagoner, Cashton, Wis. Sprester, Algie R., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Taylor, George L., Wagoner, Black River Falls, Wis. Thompson, Martin A., Wagoner, Northfield, Wis. Tweed, Victor, Wagoner, Northfield, Wis. Vennes, Alfred, Wagoner, Wheeler, Wis. Washatko, Frank .J., Wagoner, Almond, Wis. Wortman, Frank J., Wagoner, Disco, Wis. Zimmerman, Oscar, Wagoner, Fairchild, Wis. Berg, Tony, J., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Berger, Glenn L., Pvt. Icl, Cologne, Minn. Bowers, Fred S., Pvt. Icl, Melrose, Wis. Carey, Lowell, Pvt. Icl, Fairmount, Iowa. Clatt, Henry L., Pvt. Icl, Ettrick, Wis. Corwin, Stanley E., Pvt. Icl, Milford, Ohio. Fowler, Grady, Pvt. Icl, Clyattville, Ga. Franklin, Wayne, Pvt. Icl, Oakland, Miss. Freeney, William E., Pvt. Icl, Carthage, Miss. Hanson, Albert O., Pvt. Icl, Black River Falls, Wis. Ibinger, John, Pvt. Icl, Black River Falls, Wis. Kleven, Arthur E., Pvt. Icl. Black River Tails, Wis. Krager, Arthur G., Pvt. Icl, Chippewa Falls, Wis. Malek, Bruno A., Pvt. Icl, Asliland. Wis. Mattson, Martin, Pvt. Icl, Melrose, Wis. McGonigal, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Philadelphia, Penn. McNulty, William J., Pvt. Icl, Black River Falls, Wis. Molde, blaf O., Pvt. Icl, Black River Falls, Wis. Olson, Rudolph M., Pvt. Icl, Osseo, Wis. Orth, Myron P., Pvt. Icl, Redwood Falls, Minn. Robinson, William H., Pvt. Icl, Akron, Ohio. Roseland, John, Pvt. Icl, Ettrick, Wis. Schwachtgen, Felix E., Pvt. Icl, Amery, Wis. Sims. Ren C, Pvt. Icl, Melrose, Wis. Tomlinson, Jimmie, Pvt. Icl, Walnut, Miss. Wallen, Arthur S., Pvt. Icl, Taylor, Wis. Banks, Arza, Bugler, Corbers Ridge, 111. Alberto, Louis, Pvt., East New York, N. Y. Albrecht, Anthony H., Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Allard, Louis, Pvt., Evanston, Wyo. Asnin, Philip, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Baskin, Curtis L., Pvt., Drifton, Penn. Beilke, Clarence A., Pvt., Dysart, Iowa. Blake, Raymond F., Pvt., Conneaut, Ohio. Behm, Carl, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. Bowman, Charles N., Pvt., Violin, La. Brunt, Frederick A., West Haven, Conn. Carroll. William J., New York, N. Y. Carter, Robert P., Pvt., Brunswick, Maine. Celeste, Gustino, Pvt., Providence, R. I. Cbiocca, Antone P.. Pvt., Salians. Calif. Christopherson, Roy, Pvt., Afton, Wyo. Courell, Thomas R., Pvt., New York, N. Y. Crawford, John F., Pvt., Roxbury, Mass. Damm. Joseph, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Flanell, Philip R., Pvt., New York, N. Y. Friedman, Edward F., Pvt., New York, N.' Y. Friedman, Irving, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. 202 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Dunn, Hugh A., Pvt., Steubenville, Ohio. Gardella, Andrew, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Graham, Alvin, Pvt., Thompsonville, 111. Guile, Albert M., Pvt., Little Rock, Ark. Heath, Ben F., Pvt., Portland, Ore. Hutchinson, Henry, Pvt., Steubenville, Ohio, Jensen, Merlin, Pvt., Fairview, Wyo. Keese, Charles, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Korostoff, Nathan. Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Kuntz, Harry, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Lesser, Sidney, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Levine, John, Pvt., Chicago, 111. Lytle, William P., Pvt., Kinsman, Ohio. McGrath, Roy, Pvt., Thermopolis, Wyo. Miller, Adolph, Pvt., Cleveland, Ohio. O'Rourke, John, Pvt., New York, N. Y. Pagano, Antonio, Pvt., Long Island City, N. Y. Sassano, Patsy, Pvt., Cusson, Penn. Scheuring, Henry, Pvt., Brooklyn. N. Y. Schuster, Leo, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sibley, Harry E., Pvt., Farmington, Maine. Simuro, Joseph E., Brooklyn, N. Y. Smiley, Charles C, Pvt., Rea, Penn. Stone, Hyman, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Timmons, Charles, Pvt., Hazel, Ohio. Turner, Frank A., Pvt., St. Albans, Vt. Wallwofk, Thomas, Pvt., Watertown, Mass. Walters, Charles R., Pvt., Newark, Ohio. Walther, Charles, Pvt., Jamaica Plain, Mass. Watkins, Willis W., Pvt., Hobonia, 111. Wilhelm, Jacob, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Gibson, Alex M., 1st Sgt., Black River Falls. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) Plummer, Harold L., Sgt., Black River Falls. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) Reiels, Clarence W., Sgt., Black River Falls. (Transferred) Brandon, Alfred, Cook, Black River Falls. (Transferred) Spaulding, John J., Pvt., Black River Falls. (Transferred) Taylor, William A., Pvt., Black River Falls. (Transferred) Lutz, Roy, Pvt. Icl, Black River Falls. (Transferred) Craig, William, Pvt. Icl, Waupaca, Wis. (Transferred) Bunn, Arthur, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. (Transferred) Home, Clarence E., Pvt., Black River Falls. (Transferred) Hostrawser, Harley V., Pvt., Black River Falls. (Wounded in action near Montfaucon, Oct. 4, 1918) LyoD, Ray, Pvt., Black River Falls. (Transferred) COMPANY D Swanson, Harry C, 1st Sgt., Draper, Wis. Swanson, Samuel L., Sup. Sgt., Draper, Wis. Peterson, Melvin, Mess Sgt., Hayward, Wis. Josephson, Oscar M., Sgt., Hayward, Wis. DuRoy, Lewis R., Sgt., Pioneer, Ohio. Russell, Irvin, Sgt., Marinette, Wis. Neste, Anton L., 1st Sgt., Springbrook, Wis. Larson, Raymond, Sgt., Stone Lake, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 203 Hoaglund, George, Sgt., Beloit, Wis. Berry, Chauncey C, Cpl., Stone Lake, Wis. Britton, Norman, Cpl., Minneapolis, Minn. Colt, Ben L., Cpl., Climax Springs, Mo. Corbine, Dave, Cpl., Couderay, Wis. Corbin, Hollis N., Cpl., South Acworth, N. H. DeMarr, Lawrence, Cpl., Reserve, Wis. Hamblin, Richard L., Cpl., Hayward, Wis. Hogue, William E., Cpl., Hayward, Wis. Johnson, Minor J., Cpl., Wild Rose, Wis. Leonard, Racil, Cpl., Abrams, Wis. McGreal, Walter L., Cpl., Los Angeles, Calif. Olson, Arthur, Cpl., Hayward, Wis. Oshogay, Joseph, Cpl., Reserve, Wis. Petring, Edward W., Cpl., Akron, Ohio. Sandstrom, Carl A., Cpl., Hayward, Wis. Stolp, Guy W., Cpl., Union City, Mich. Turnbull, Richard, Cpl., Hayward, Wis. White, John J., Cpl., Reserve, Wis. Lund, Andrew, Cook, Hayward, Wis. Rader, Warren R., Cook, Ripley, W. Va. Seawright, Ryan H., Cook, Hartwell, Ga. Crawford, Roy B., Ch. Mech., Rice Lake, Wis. Ackley, Wilson I., Wagoner, Winter, Wis. Allen, Roy E., Wagoner, Loomis, So. Dak. Beauprie, Luke, Wagoner, Keshena, Wis. Berry, Clyde, Wagoner, Stone Lake, Wis. Kingfisher, John, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Knox, Charles, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. LaRonge, George, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. LaRush, Archie, Pvt. Icl, Winter, Wis. Lowers, Asa E., Pvt. Icl, Winter, Wis. Lynk, Joe, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Marchinek, Frank K., Pvt. Icl, Independence, Wis. Marler, Claude J., Pvt. Icl, Kinston, Ala. Marsden, Noel H., Pvt., Icl, Richmond, Mo. McLemore, Oliver D., Pvt. Icl, Athens, Ala. Pariseau, Frank J., Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis. Roark, Wiley, Pvt. Icl, Worth, W. Va. White, Charles, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Anderson, John W., Pvt. Icl, Georgiana, Ala. Bartelmey, Frank R., Pvt., Laredo, Mont. Batiste, John, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. Branch, Grover M., Pvt., Albany, Ga. Buchanan, Frank R., Pvt., Amsterdam, Carroll, Ohio. Cadotte, John, Pvt;, Hayward, Wis. Cavanaugh, George J., Pvt., Sommerville, Mass. Chester, Cornelius, Pvt., St. Waburn, Mass. Denasha, Antoine, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. Dennis, Charles, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. Duggan, William J., Pvt., Whiteland, Ind. Erzinger, Charles, Pvt., Dix, Neb. Faulk, Plez, Pvt., Dotham, Ala. Fiala, Joe F., Pvt., Schuyler, Neb. Eisen, Herman, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Foust, Carl H., Pvt., Bridger, Mont. Foutz, Lowell E., Pvt., Shirley, Ind. 204 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Fraser, Earl A., Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Gillen, Joseph, Pvt., Brooklyn, N. Y. Hackley, Roy J., Pvt., Erwln, Tenn. Hendrickson, Clarence, Pvt., Deer Lodge, Mont. Hickey, John J., Pvt., Holyoke, Mass. Brandsvick, Andrew, Wagoner, Drummond, Wis. Burr, Nathan A., Wagoner, Lepeer, Mich. Chapin, Leonard E., Wagoner, Stanton, Mich. Christ, John B., Wagoner, Hayward, Wis. Coker, Walter J., Wagoner, Colero, Ala. Delzer, Louis, Wagoner, Harvey, No. Dak. Edberg, Ernest P. J., Wagoner, Winter, Wis. Gagnon, Stanley, Wagoner, International Falls, Minn. Gewalt, Arthur, Wagoner, Milwaukee, Wis. Harris, Fred E., Wagoner, Birmingham, Ala. Holland, Tom B., Wagoner, Newbrockston, Ala. Jones, Clyde A., Wagoner, Milwaukee, Wis. Krug, Arthur R., Wagoner, Twisp, Wash. LaRush, Dosie, Wagoner, Hayward, Wis. McLaughlin, Walter O., Wagoner, Kettle Falls, Wash. Mondt, Leo, Wagoner, Seattle, Wash. Olmstead, Arthur, Wagoner, Winter, Wis. Peterson, Henry G., Wagoner, Selma, Calif. Sander, Alfred H., Wagoner, Rice Lake, Wis. Sorlie, Edwin, Wagoner, Hayward, Wis. Stiles, Irvin E., Wagoner, Port Austin, Mich. Tonstad, Sigurd O., Wagoner, Hayward, Wis. White, George E., Wagoner, Athens, Ala. Wood, John W., Wagoner, Cedar Bluff, Ala. Wood, Walter W., Wagoner, Winter, Wis. Belille, Dave, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Bohn, George, Pvt. Icl, Shell Lake, Wis. Boyle, Charles, Pvt. Icl, Hayward, ^Vis. ' Christenson, Gust, Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis. Coon, Charley, Pvt. Icl, Winter, Wis. Coon, George, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. DeMarr, William, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Dennis, Bazil, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Dennis, David, Pvt. Icl, Reserve, Wis. Gasink, Francis H., Pvt. Icl, Staples, Minn. George, William, Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis. George, Wilson C, Pvt. Icl, Palmetton, Carbon, Pa. Hicks, Emmitt T., Pvt. Icl, State Line, Miss. Hunt, Charles L., Pvt. Icl, Cloverton, Minn. Isham, William, Pvt. Icl, Couderay, Wis. Hoey, Patrick G., Pvt., Jamica Plain, Mass. Instance, Lester, Pvt., Brookfleld, Ohio. Jahnke, Fred., Pvt., Kenosha, Wis. James, Alex, Pvt., Winter, Wis. Jones, Harry E., Pvt., Kincaid, 111. Kelly, John D., Pvt., Mason, Wis. Kvancz, John, Pvt., Norwalk, Conn. Larson, John, Pvt., Minneapolis, Minn. Leyon, Henning V., Pvt., Red Wing, Minn. Lunn, Louis P., Pvt., Seattle, Wash. Maroon, Christopher, Pvt., Osan, Ark. Martell, William, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 205 McDermott, Harold, Pvt., Hayward, Wis. Nyback, Leonard E., Hayward, Wis. Nyman, William O., Pvt., Amesbury, Mass. Pearl, Harold D., Pvt., Baker, Mont. Pinchak, John, Pvt., Alleghany, Pa. Pomerlo, John, Pvt., Winter, Wis. Potenziani, Antonio, Pvt., Wilson Creek, Wash. Quaderer, Tom, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. Roe, Harry E., Pvt., Mapleton, Minn. Rogan, George N., Pvt., Rock Springs, Wyo. Ross, Howard, Pvt., Akron, Ohio. Sampson. Engvald, Pvt., Mondovi, Wis. Sidwell, Chester L., Pvt., Hale, Mo. Strucker, Grover C, Pvt., Cullom, 111. Tainter, Andrew, Pvt., Couderay, Wis. Underwood, Harry E., Pvt., Anahiem, Calif. Weber, Harold C, Pvt., Justus, Ohio. Butler, George, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. (Died of shrapnel wounds August 29, 1918, Evacuation Hospital No. 5, Am. E. F.) Kappers, Clarence, 1st Sgt., Chippewa Falls, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut.) Dumont, Fred J., Sgt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Devine, Barney, Sgt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) De Marr, Alex, Sgt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Long, John, Sgt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Bisonette, Jim, Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Isham, Ira, Pvt. Icl, Couderay, Wis. (Transferred) Dillon, Frank, Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Gregerson, Harry P., Pvt. Icl, Hayward, Wis., (Transferred) Billers, Jonas I, Pvt., Hayward, "Wis. (Transferred) Baker, Harry, Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Coon, Louis, Pvt., Winter, Wis. (Transferred) Dennis, Willie, Pvt., Reserve, Wis. (Transferred) Isham, Charles, Pvt., Couderay, Wis. (Transferred) Jockey, Charles, Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Kammers, Louis J., Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Seng, Charles W., Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transt^srred) Wright, George H.,Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Anderson, Harry, Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Transferred) Fairfield, Lloyd N., Pvt., Hayward, Wis. (Commissioned 2nd Lieut) Varley, John W., Pvt. (Wounded in action near Montfaucon Sept. 28, 1918) Jones, Clyde A, Wag, Milwaukee, Wis. (Wounded in action Sept. 28, 1918, near Montfaucon) Domenico, Alfred D., Sgt. COMPANY E Hackett, Carrol E., 1st Sgt., Platteville, Wis., (Commissioned 2nd Lt.) Fuelberg, Clarence, Mess Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Desmond, John T., Sup. Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Friedland, Waldo, Stab. Sgt., Menasha, Wis. Bowman, Willard A., Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Barron, James E., Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Merry, Roscoe C, Sgt., Platteville, Wis. 206 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT MacCulloch, Lucion V., Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Ralph, Homer D., Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Richards, Benjamin S., Sgt., Platteville, Wis. Billings, Henry M., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Callan, Oswald, E., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Cordingly, Edwin H., Corp., Platteville, Wis, Gardner, Claude, Corp., Platteville, Wis. Goodlad, John A.. Corp., Platteville, Wis. Slothower, David W., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Wilkins, Robert A., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Karrmann, Bernhard P., Corp., Platteville, Wis, Manuel, Timothy C, Corp., Platteville, Wis. Martin, Virgil C, Corp., Platteville, Wis. McDermott, Eldren R., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Tomlinson, Theodore, Corp., Platteville, Wis. Temby, John O., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Shuman, Ross E., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Adkins, William H., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Peart, Harry H., Corp., Platteville, Wis. Wells, Charles L. Corp., Platteville, Wis. Johnson, Hartwig, Hs., Shawano, Wis. Powell, Charles C, Hs., Platteville, Wis. Palmer, Harry L. Mec, Platteville, Wis. Wright, Robert A., Mec, Platteville, Wis. Stephan, Harry J., Sad., Platteville, Wis. Kuehling, Charles C, Wag., Platteville, Wis. Graham, Richard, Ck., Waupaca, Wis. Cummins, George A., Ck., Platteville, Wis. Schneider, Arthur, Ck., Waukesha, Wis. Roach, Gordon, Bugler, Platteville. Wis. Snyder, Thomas C, Bugler, Platteville, Wis. Alcott, Harold T., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Bennett, Paul D., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Benson, Tom F., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Berneman, Joseph S., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Brown, William J., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Burlingame, Ernest E., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Byrne, Vincent H., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Cardy, Clyde R., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Cushman, Clarence J., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Deglemann, Michael J., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Eustice, Raymond R., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Garvey, Irvin E., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Hottenstein, William C, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wsi. Howland, John F., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Hughes, Idrys O., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Kane, Leo M., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Karmann, Walter C, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Kennedy, Earl D., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Krog, Walter C, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Lewis, Frank R., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Long, Bernhard R., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Ludwig, Raymond, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Norris, Claude L., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Plourde, Harold Or, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Risic, Harry D., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Speth, John P. R., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis, THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 207 Staver, Charles C, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Staver, Phillip L., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Steele, Edward L., Pvt. Icl, Plattevile, Wis. Steplian, Andrew M., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Stonesifer, William H., Pvt., Icl, Platteville. Wis. Tarrell, Russell M., Pvt. Icl, Patteville, Wis. Walters, Caissus M., Pvt. Icl. Platteville, Wis. Wawzynick, Joe, Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Webb, John E., Pvt. Icl, Platteville, Wis. Browne, Ross, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Bolenbaugh, Seymour G., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Dinkel. Walter C, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Dunham, Fred, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Drewry, Robert B., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Erdman, Arthur E., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Gebmann, George A., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Nuss, Albert, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Wallace, Ralph E., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Wallrabenstein, George, Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Wheeler, Ralph F., Pvt. Icl, Waukesha, Wis. Ames, William A.. Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Ames, George J, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Ames. Chiistopher A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Alexander, Raymond J., Pvt., Platteville; Wis. Bennett, Robert, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Beyer. George A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Boldt, Benjamin A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Burnes, James A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Bruner, Joseph L., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Bernhagen, Henry F., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Bullion, William R., Pvt. Baraboo, Wis. Buchanan, Benjamin, Pvt.. Waterloo, Wis. Carpenter, George F., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Cook, Vincent O., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Crosby, Carl C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Derr, Charles E.. Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Detert, Herman F., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Dixon, John C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Dolan, Frank R. Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Danahoe, William T., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Doyle, James L., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Elliott. Forrest L., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Ehlenfeldt, Edward J., Waterloo, Wis. Fleege, Leo B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Fuller, Woodburn J., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Bardenier, Edward J., Platteville, Wis. Genthe, Harvey E., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Gierens, George C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Griffiths, William J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Giles. Arthur, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Gibbs, Ray W., Pvt.. Waukesha, Wis. Gebmann. John R., Pvt.. Waukesha, Wis. Gerheairt, Elmer, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Greb. Ray, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Griffiths, David J., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Gruber, Merel J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Grundy, John H., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. 208 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Hartshorn, William F., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Habermann, Mark F., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Hargrave, John, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Helker, Howard C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Hooser, Harry B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Hughes, Arthur G., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Hutchcrot, John, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Hunt, Arthur, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Johnson, Ralph B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Johnson, Bert, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Johnston, Charles, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Kies, Guerdon F., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Kies, Ray A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Kitto, William J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Knudtson, Henry C, Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Henderleiter, William, Pvt., Baraboo, Wis. Lee, Austin, Pvt., Kenosha, Wis. Long, Leo W., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Long, Daniel J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Manion, Will F., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Margan, Joseph, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Malone, Mark, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. McKoy, Byron, Pvt., Shawano, Wis. Meyer, John L., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Meske, Walter B., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Miller, Eddie T., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Mock, Archie L., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Monson, Ivar R., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Mundon, John M., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Mundon, William M., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Michalek, Lewis, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Morin, George, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Mueller, George E., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. McCarthy, Byran, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Gates, Elgie E., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. O'Brien, Paul S., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Orwcke, John, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. (Drowned July 9, 1918, near Fousse- mange, Alsace.) Oyer, Kenneth B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Pallett, Ray B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Phillips, Clarence D., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Powell, Willie J., Pvt., Waterloo, Wis. Redmond, Robert B., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Peterson, Alfred, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Richards, Elmer E., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Rickard, John R., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Schmelzer, Benjamin, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Schmelzer, Henry W., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Shaw, John C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Snyder, John C, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Splane, John W., Pvt. Platteville, Wis. Wagner, Charles A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Wallace, Maurice L., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Walker, Andy I., Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Ware, Earl G., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Jones, James P., Pvt., Baraboo, Wis. Bartels, Edward T., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 20^ Bell, Raymond, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Dorsey, Edward, Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Ashley, John H., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Brady, Edward M., Pvt., Chippewa Falls, Wis. Cusse, Florent, Pvt., Chippewa Falls, Wis. Webster, Lester J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Weber, George, Pvt., Waukesha, Wis. Nawrocki, Sylvester A., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. McLaughlin, Victor J., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Adkins, Joseph S., Pvt., Platteville, Wis. Wallace, Carl, Pvt., Baraboo, Wis. COMPANY F Czarnecki, Henry, F., Mess Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Piechowski, Joseph S., Sup. Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis Gorski, Joseph, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Jarzyna, Casimir, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kosciolowski, Zygmunt, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Lassa, Felix C, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Lesak, Andrew, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Molenda, John J., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Milewski, Barney, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Witt, Clemelc A., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Borchardt, Joseph, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Chmielewski, Walter J., Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Czerniewski, Stefan, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Dworczyk, Anton, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Felskl, Walter, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Gajkowski, Frank, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Haak, Stanley, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Helminiak, Albert, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Gradelski, Konstanty, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Janicki, Albert, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Niemojewski, John, Corp.. Milwaukee. Wis. Roszak, Joseph, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Sobczak, Stanley, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Stec, Adam, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Staszak, Anton, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Szatkowski, Ignacy, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Stachowiak, Gerard, Corp.. Milwaukee, Wis. Chmura, Anton. Ch. Mec, Milwaukee, Wis. Kotowicz, Frank, Mec, Milwaukee, Wis. Kowalski, Edmund, Mec, Milwaukee, Wis. Buczynski, Joseph, Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Kozmlnski, Stanislaus, Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Ratkowski, Frank, Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Balcerak, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Bogadajewicz, Henry, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Boreisszis, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Chycinski, Frank, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Cieslak, Michael, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Duznski, Andrew, Pvt. Icl. Milwaukee, Wis. Garsteckl, Alex, Pvt. Icl. Milwaukee, Wis. Garstecki, Ladislaus, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. 210 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Gorski, Stanley, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, "Wis. Jagodzinski, Roman, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Karas, Leo, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Karolewicz, Bernard, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Kelszczynski, William, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Kocz, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Kolodziejski, Mikolaj, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Krygier, Frank. Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Majchrzak, Stanley, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Nowak, Casimir, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Nowicki, Adam, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Pawlak, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Pigolski, Stanislaus, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee. Wis Radowicz, Michael, Pvt. Ic, Milwaukee, Wis Smigaj, Stanley L., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Stelmachowski, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Serdak, Stanley, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Szatkowski, Leo J., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Szulc, Andrew, Pvt. Icl Milwaukee, Wis. Tuzinski, Boleslaw, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Wojciechowski, Stanley, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Woznik, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Zalewski, August, Jr., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Zalewski, Roman, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Alceser, Heromin, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Anczak, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Badewicz, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Bieske, August, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Boinski, Sylvester, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Borzych, Paul, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Cieska, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Cywinski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czerwinski, Constanty, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czarkowski, Mieczslaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Chlebowski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gzerniewski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Danielak, Stanislaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Danielski, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Domanski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Dziemian, Frank Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Dudek, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gajkowski, Edward, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gallon, Vincent, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gembicki, Stanley. Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Glish, Bennie, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Glaszczak, Michael, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Glowacki, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gnatkoski Leon, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gondek, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Grubich, Kasimir, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gruss, Bronoslaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Hanke, Stanislaus, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Helminiak, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Hensiak, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Homanski, Ludwig, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Jablonowski, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee Wis. Jakimczjy, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. 1^ THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 211 Janik, Witold, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Janiszewski, Waclaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Jankowski, Michale, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Japczynski, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Jasinski, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Jakubinak, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Juzwik, Chester, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Karolewicz, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Karolewicz, Frank M., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kadingo, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kadingo, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kaminski, Edward, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Karnowski, George A., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Karplnski, Valentine, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kloweski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kocorowski, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Koralewski, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Korczynski, Nililas, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kosinski, Alexander, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kostecki, Mathew, Pvt., ilwaukee. Wis. Kotowicz, Peter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Koziczki, Ignatz, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kozlowski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kozlowski Leo, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Krupnik, Stanislau, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kurowski, Maxymillian, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kuskowski, Peter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kulbacki, Kazimier, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kulbacki, Witold, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kwiatkowski, Harry, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Lenz, Adolf, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Lewaudowski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Ludka, Alois, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Maciaszyk, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Makarewicz, Jacob, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Makowski, Andrew, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Malinowski, Michael, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Michalski, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Mikolajczak, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Milzarek, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Niewinski, Paul, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Nowaczyk, Stefan, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Nowak, Leon, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Nowakowski, Mathew, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Noworolnik, Martin, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Olszewski. Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Orlowski, Michael, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Para, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Parsly, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Paszak, Felix, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Piontek, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Piontek, Mathew, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Polachowski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Polubitz, Wyllem, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Puczylowski, Izydor, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Rakowski, Ingnaczy, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Reniak, Stephan, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. 212 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Remiszewski, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Rewolinski, Leon, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Rolerat, Boleslaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Rybicki, Yalenty, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sawicki, Vincent, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sinka, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sudzinski, Leo, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Skorupski, Kazmer, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Smolkowicz, Lorenc, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Smykacz, Peter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Stapski, Stanislaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Starczewski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Staszak, Lawrence, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Stec, Stanislaus, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Stefanski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Stempin, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Strzyewski, Tony, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Tarkowski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Tomczyk, James, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wawrzyniak, Adolf, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wesolowski, Marion M., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wicherski, Casimir, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wiesniewski, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Winski, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wipijewski, Michael, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. W iyniewski, Vincent, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wojciechowski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wojciechowski, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wroblewski, Alex, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wyka, Sebestyn, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Zagorski, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Zdrojewski, Stephan, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Zakrzewski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. COMPANY G Majerowski, Frank 1st Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gill, Clement, Sup. Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czerwinski, Stanley J., Mess Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Boinski, Roman, Stab. Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czarnyszka, Anthony, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czechorski, Roman, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czerwinski, Max J., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gromowski, Bleslaw, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gwitt, Stanley F., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Karas, Joseph, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Majerowski, John A., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Matyasik, Philip, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Przytarski, Anthony J., Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sperka, Alois, Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sperka, Stanley. Sgt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czarniak, Frank, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Dendor, Stanislaw, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Goralski, Idzi, Milwaukee, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 213 Kloman, Joseph, Corp., Milwaukee, "Wis. Klotecki, Walter, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Lang, Daniel, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Lisiecki, Roman, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Mankiewicz, Dan, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Ludke, Frank, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Materna, Leo, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Mlodzik, Harry M., Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Pochowski, Louis L., Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Szwanka, Stanley, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Stencil, Albert, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Szmania, Valentine, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Stanczyk, Frank, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Sarnowski, Anton, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Swiatkowski, Stanley, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Wysocki, Andrew, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Wnuk, August, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Zukowski, Walter, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Zywny, Joseph, Corp., Milwaukee, Wis. Ludwin, Frank, Hs., Milwaukee, Wis. Kopydlowski, Alex, Hs., Milwaukee, Wis. Rumacki, Frank, Hs., Milwaukee, Wis. Brengoss, Toofil, Mec, Milwaukee, Wis. Tyjowski, Walter, Mec, Milwaukee, Wis. Boran, Felix, Sad., Milwaukee, Wis. Benkowski, August, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Bilot, Joseph L., Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Chmiolowski, Joseph L., Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Chibicki, Alex, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Dura, Alex, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Frelka, Anton, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Golinski, Frank, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Gromowski, Phillip, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Glyzowski, Joseph, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Holowinski, Joseph, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Jagiolski, Stanley, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Jankowaki, John, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Jozofiak, Alex, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Krajewski, Alexander, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Kondziorski, Roman, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Kuklinski, Alois, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Linda, Alois, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Majowski, John, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Mrozinski, John J., Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Nowicki, Frank, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Nyka, Thomas, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Olszowski, Frank, C, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Poplinski, Walter V., Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Poloczynski, Stanley F., Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Przybycien, Stancy, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Przybyla, Andrew, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Racinowski, Walter, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Ratajowski, John, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Racowicz, Andrew, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Rakowski, Stanley, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Romanski, Frank, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Stroick, Matt, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. 214 THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT Sucharski, Stanley, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Walocki, Anton, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Walczak, Walter, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Zywicki, Edward, Wag., Milwaukee, Wis. Grabowski, Leo, Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Kosinski, Julius, Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Szelicki, Frank Ck., Milwaukee, Wis. Maziarz, John, Bugler, Milwaukee, Wis. Szyszkowski, John, Bugler, Milwaukee, Wis. Buda, Andrew, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Czarniak, Michael, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Dora, Charles, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Gradecki, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Gocn, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Jablonski, Ladislaus, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Jaronski, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. KacanOM'ski, Leon, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Mozak, John, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Lelo, Frank, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Lesniak, Joseph, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Leszczynski, Edward, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Mankiewicz, Christy, Pvt., Icl Milwaukee, Wis. Michalski, Stanley, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Nitkowski, John L., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Paulikas, Anton, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Slaski, John, Ppt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Szurpik, Stephen, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Tackowiak, Joseph, Pvt. Isl, Milwaukee, Wis. Tuchalski, Stanley, Pvt., Icl, Milwaukee, Wis Truszkowski, Anton, Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Wichowski, Leopold, B., Pvt. Icl, Milwaukee, Wis. Adamski, Boloslaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Bril, Wladyslaw, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Doresinski, Victor, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Draczka, Casimir, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Dzicbck, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Czerwinski, Alexander, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Franckowiak, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Gorocki, Kazimierz, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Grzona, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wisv Jasinski, Wincenty, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kaminski, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kolasinski, Charles R., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Klota, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Komasiewicz, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kroska, Wincenty, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kubaszewski, Stephan, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Kunikowski, Martin, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Laskowski, Benjamin, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Majewski, Felix A., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Mikolajczak, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Moranski, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Nycz, Ludwig, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Crzochowski, Michael, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Polaszka, Frank Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Porazynski, Walter, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Rofiiski, Adam, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. THRU THE WAR WITH OUR OUTFIT 215 Rogalski, Leon A., Milwaukee, Wis. Sampolinski, Anthony, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Strcompkowski, Barney, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sikorski, Prank L., Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Sosnowski, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Skalba, Stanley, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Smaira, John, Pvt., Milwaukee. Wis. Szoffor. Andrew, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Szymczali, Anton, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Truchan, George, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Urbanski, Casimir, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Ulicki, Chester, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wasilewski, Frank, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Woitekajtis, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wnuczek, John, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wrecza, Joseph, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Wojtalewicz, Ignac, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Witkowski, Stephan, Pvt., Milwaukee, Wis. Actions In Which the 1 07th Ammunition Train Engaged. Alsace Sector — June 16 to July 23, 1918 ; Aisne-Marne Offensive — July 29 to August 24, 1918; Oise-Aisne Sector (Juvigny Offensive) — August 28 to September 7, 1918 ; Meuse-Argonne Offensive — Sep- tember 26 to November 11, 1918; Array of Occupation — January 18 to April 21, 1919. f 9^ n 0^ ,.^' a\ A A A ^. .-^^ A .. .0^ ^:5. 'o . . » A < <^ ^, ''"': ^^^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 4 6 »^p^ D? Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide ^ * ^^^y//Udf ' V' "^ ""^1^^ Treatment Date: MAY '***• , i: I ^H TO Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide ^^ ".^^ Treatment Date: MAY 2Q01 %.'•''""> PreservationTechnologies <^l <■ Cranberry Township. PA 16066 il-r!^^ ~ ^^ (724)779-2111 ^^< R^^ N. MANCHESTER, ^^»^ INDIANA 46962