USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine county in the world war > Part 34
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There was nothing especially pleasant about the training period, excepting its brevity. Fortunately I did not have to spend months at drill, as most men did. We worked hard every minute, and for our pains we seldom got any greater reward than silence on the part of some officer who watched our efforts. When we slipped on some command, then we got a bawling out that in civil life would be cause for homicide. One of the hardest things to learn was to perform instinctively those acts classified as "military courtesies," such as standing at attention whenever an officer ap- peared in the vicinity, saluting, and addressing our commissioned superiors in the third per- son. It does not come natural to an American young man to reel off such a thing as, "Sir, does the Captain wish to speak to Private Jones ?" when you want to ask him, "Say, did you want me ?" At first I felt ridiculous when performing these rites, but in time I accepted it like the others did. Many generations have maintained that such things are necessary, and this was no time or place to try to dispute their wisdom. It helped a little to know that the captain, in turn, had to do the same thing when addressing the colonel, and also that where I had to salute some "looey" whom I disliked, he had to return the salutes of sev- cral hundred men in the same length of time.
My squad consisted of eight men of five nationalities. The corporal was a young lawyer who tried hard for advancement. He studied the regulations every evening and tried to get us to keep our equipment clean and appear as neat as possible at all times. We learned that it was almost impossible to dodge drills. Go- ing to sick call did no good, because we were returned to the company unless we had a fever of more than 100 degrees. Nothing else count- ed. If we had ailments on the outside. we were painted with iodine. If we complained of internal troubles, we got "C.C." pills. Sick call was not held during drill hours, so there was nothing to gain by going to it without fever. We had a dentist to care for our teeth, but he either painted the gums with iodine or pulled out the ailing tooth so most of us kept away from him. I heard of one man who had had six molars pulled out to evade the first draft, and then had been rejected upon his first examination for heart trouble without anyone looking at his teeth at all! Most of the boys seemed to be willing to serve, however, and the complaints were mostly against little things such as too much work, food they didn't like, refusal of passes, etc.
At first I used to try to get on K. P. (kitchen
police) as often as possible to get an occa- sional respite from drill. Then they ruled that a K. P. should work before and after drill in the kitchen and go to the field with the rest. Then it became a real nightmare and was used for punishment. If there was no one to pun- ish, all took their regular turns.
In the afternoons we learned the manual of arms, and had bayonet practice with bundles of cornstalks representing our German vic- tims. After the second week we spent five af- ternoons on the range firing, and learned how to hit things 500 yards away with a high power bullet.
Our cooks didn't know very much about fancy cooking. Two of them had been merchandise clerks in civil life and the third was a painter. I remember the first two or three days I used to praise their stew, or "slum" as it was called. It was a sort of mixture of meat and every- thing else at hand and was quite nourishing and toothsome. Pretty soon, however, I no- ticed that we got it every day at least once, and sometimes twice. After a while it got pretty tiresome. Rations were issued to the company in bulk and prepared in the company kitchen for about 250 men of each mess. The raw material was first class and there was plenty of it. When the cooks did not draw all they were entitled to, a credit slip was given and this was redeemed for cash at the end of the month. The proceeds went into the com- pany mess fund.
The hardest job at camp for me was getting up at daybreak when the buglers blew "re- veille." The sounding of this rousing tune, five minutes after "first call," was always fol- lowed by a subdued murmur of curses upon the bugler, and railing at the army in general, as sleepy men fumbled in the semi-darkness with shoes, shirts and laced leggings.
Our first pay day came after we had been instructed to take out war risk insurance, make an allotment and buy Liberty bonds. We all lined up on the first of the month and signed the payroll. It was quite astonishing to find the large number of men who did not know how to write or spell their names. Some of these were given easier names by the ready-witted and "hard-boiled" top-kicker, or first sergeant. The "top" usually is the most hated man in the outfit. He is the ranking non-com, and administers the routine affairs of the company. As one of them told me, he gives all the dis- agreeable orders, while the captain steps down to tell us any pleasant news he may have. A week after signing the payroll, we lined up again and got our money. I had $6 of my
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Photo by Billings
COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTY WAR RELIEF FUND
In the top row there are shown John H. Dwight, J. H. Brannum, and Fred Osius. Next below are George Jorgenson, Fulton Thompson, Horace P. Edmands, M. H. Pettit, J. V. Rohan and Walter H. Reed. In the lower row are W. T. Harvey, William Horlick Jr., F. Lee Norton, Herbert F. Johnson, L. P. Christensen. Two members, John D. Jones Jr., and C. Roy MeCanna were not present when the group was photographed. An account of the activities of this committee will be found on Page 106.
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month's pay coming. Many others were in the same fix, and we strolled around jingling a few coins and singing, "All we do is sign the pay roll, and we never get a gosh darned cent," to the tune of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah."
During our stay at Camp MacArthur the camp welfare people were lavish in their en- tertainments, although the boys were pretty well tired out at nights, after the vigorous training to which so few were used. But when word came that the various companies were to move in a few days there was great joy, and every unit that was notified held a "fare- well banquet" in the company mess hall. There were banquets being held every night that week. The men generally wanted to get out of the southern camps but by far the most outstanding sentiment was the hope that they would get started on the journey "over there."
The men lost a good deal of weight in that two weeks. They would come in from the drill fields wringing wet and all but exhausted. The bath houses were jammed with burning humanity. But along after midnight the chill winds from the plains came up and the whole outfit would nearly freeze, though it was still in August. Each man had two single blankets for cover.
On the last of August our company was sent to Camp Merritt for embarking overseas as re- placements. There was lots of bustling around and getting equipment in order. All surplus stuff was to be disposed of. Nothing but issue equipment was to be taken.
We travelled east in day coaches, with a field range set up in the baggage car to pre- pare meals with, and a freight car behind to carry baggage. The officers, ten of them, had a car to themselves.
Two young officers on our train stopped to talk a little too long with some of the fair hostesses at a Red Cross depot lunch room and missed the train. They were able to charter a taxi cab and catch us at the next station, but their commanding officer gave them a dressing down and those little stop- overs were made rather unpopular from that time on.
Arriving at Camp Merritt late at night we were ushered into barracks and the next day we began to prepare for sailing. This was the last time we were to have the privilege of sleeping on cots or beds, excepting on ship- board. Here we had our hair cut-all of it.
Each man turned in his old campaign hat- the most practical style of hat on earth, by the way-and received a dinky "overseas hat" without a forepiece or brim, and apparently
designed to let all the sunshine possible in one's eyes, and all the rain possible in one's neck. We rolled our packs prior to entraining for Hoboken early one morning and marched to the depot at Cresskill before dawn. Each man carried with him or wore on his person the following:
1 O. D. woolen uniform.
1 pair tan shoes; 1 pair field shoes.
2 flannel shirts.
3 pair socks.
1 pair wrap leggings.
2 suits of underwear.
1 woolen overcoat.
1 rainproof slicker.
1 pair woolen gloves.
1 web belt for trousers.
1 ammunition belt.
1 first aid packet.
1 rifle.
100 rounds of ammunition.
2 woolen blankets.
1 plate, cover, knife, fork and spoon.
1 canteen, cloth cover and cup.
1 pack carrier with shoulder straps.
12 shelter tent, pole and pins.
2 identification tags on tape.
2 towels.
6 handkerchiefs.
1 housewife kit.
1 shaving outfit.
1 cake of soap.
1 Emergency ration (can of salmon and 2 packages of hardtack).
Certain of the non-commissioned officers were also furnished with a wrist watch, com- pass and field glasses. Most of us carried a couple of candles, some writing paper and pen- cils, a watch and matches. In addition to this equipment, officers were allowed one small trunk and a bedding roll which will hold nearly as much as a trunk. They were ordered to carry at least two uniforms, several styles of footwear including rubber boots, a lot of books and official documents, a trench coat with inner lining, map case and drawing instruments, and numerous other things. Everyone of us smug- gled aboard as much tobacco, candy and cigar- ettes as we could and armed ourselves with patent pipe lighters of various kinds.
Our equipment was now very much as it re- mained during the war. In France we re- ceived gas masks and steel helmets but I can think of no other changes in our apparel. The officers overseas wore Sam Browne leather belts which were adopted universally by the Allied armies, but these were discarded at
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Photo by John Hood
WOMEN TOOK THE PLACES IN INDUSTRIAL PLANTS OF MEN CALLED TO THE COLORS
The above scene is one of a score which existed in 1918 in the industrial plants of Racine. The women usually were dressed in a sort of bloomer-overall, and they worked at the bench or machine just as the men did before the latter went away. Women continued in industrial service (making men's wages, by the way) until after the armistice and the consequent slowing down of war production.
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the front, where officers of our army dressed just like enlisted men excepting for their shoulder pins.
When we reached Hoboken and marched to the pier where the transport was waiting, we were each of us given a postal card to address to our home folks. On the back it said, "I have arrived safely overseas." This was signed and we were told it would be mailed when the cables announced our arrival in France. We were also given instruction re- garding the censorship. We were told that from now on all letters would be read by an officer before being mailed and we must say nothing about dates, places, names of ships, or anything else that might be interesting to the folks at home. I have saved one of the censorship regulations handed us at the dock. It reads as follows:
"CENSORSHIP: - REMEMBER that the enemy and his agents are always on the alert to gather information.
"Details which are apparently unimportant may be combined with other details gathered by the enemy and become information of great importance to him. Do not forget that news travels so quickly under modern conditions that the bits of information you write home may be in the hands of the enemy a short time afterward.
"WHEN YOU WRITE A LETTER OR POST CARD :- DON'T mention towns and localities in connection with any military organization.
"DON'T put too much faith in the discre- tion of the people you write to. They may be very patriotic, yet quite unable to recognize an enemy agent or what information may be of value to the enemy.
"DON'T mention the movements of troops, their condition, the effects of hostile fire upon them, nor their losses.
"DON'T mail your letter in a French post- office. It is forbidden in areas served by American military postal service.
"DON'T allow your friends at home to pub- lish your letters in the newspapers.
"ABOVE ALL DON'T attempt to formulate or use any system of code, cipher, shorthand, or any other means of concealing the true meaning of your letters. It is the surest road to a court martial and severe punishment.
"REMEMBER that writing or receiving of letters in war time is a privilege, not a right. In many wars of the past soldiers were not allowed to write letters at all.
"YOU MAY WRITE :- 1-Letters or post cards to friends or relatives in the United States or in France, free of charge.
"2-To friends or relatives m allied or neutral countries, by paying the same postage you would from the United States.
"YOU MAY SEND, to the United States only, picture post cards, except those showing localities or places; personal photographs; or small articles, such as gloves, laces or hand- kerchiefs, etc., as gifts. A PERSONAL photo- graph means one in which a person alone ap- pears, without any suggestion of background that might indicate where it was taken.
"You may send parcels not exceeding seven pounds in weight by parcel post to the United States, by prepaying postage.
"YOU MAY NOT WRITE :- To ANYONE in the countries with which we are at war, except: American or allied prisoners of war, in which case letters must be sent to the Base Censor, unsealed. You may not write, not talk to, nor hold any communication whatever with enemy prisoners of war.
"THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS TO MAIL LETTERS :- 1-Hand them unsealed to your company officer. Remember that he reads many letters in his capacity of company censor and your letter is to him an entirely imperson- al communication, of which he does not re- member the details or the writer once it has been read.
"2-Place your letters unsealed in a 'blue envelope,' seal the envelope, and mail it to the Base Censor, A. E. F., Paris. Each blue enve- lope may contain several letters, providing all are written by the same man and that each is enclosed within its properly addressed enve- lope, and that the certificate on the 'blue enve- lope' is signed by the writer. It is forbidden to use 'Blue Envelopes' except for strictly fam- ily matters.
"If you know who is going to censor your letters, save his time and help your company mail service by putting his rank at the bottom of the letter and in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope, ready for his signature.
"As soon as he has read the letter, the officer will SIGN his name above his rank, and as soon as it has been stamped with the censor stamp the censor will post your letter. Nothing else should appear on the envelope.
"DON'T TALK TOO MUCH:
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Photos Loaned by Charles Peterson
TWO REMARKABLE PICTURES OF A DIVISIONAL REVIEW TAKEN FROM THE AIR
The upper panel shows the 89th Division as it was being reviewed by Gen. Pershing in the fall of 1918. Not only are the mass of troops clearly pictured but the throng of soldier spectators on the side lines who witnessed the inspiring maneuvers are seen upon the vantage point-a small knoll, which they occupied. In the lower picture the greater part of the divisional front is shown, while at the left in the foreground the reviewing party upon horses is moving toward the front ranks of the infantry.
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"Officers, enlisted men, and militarized civil- ians with the American Expeditionary Forces in France are forbidden to discuss or mention in public places, or to impart to anyone except in the official discharge of their duties, any- thing of military nature or anything whatever concerning information directly or indirectly obtained through their connection with the A. E. F.
"Never forget that we are at war and that the enemy is always listening. Always look with suspicion on strangers, and never tell anything of a confidential nature to a woman, as women are the most successful of enemy spies. Be suspicious of anyone who asks ques- tions of a military nature, or who appears unduly interested in military information, even though he may be or may appear an American officer. Don't offer unsolicited information. You have no right to tell ANYONE where any unit is, or what military information has come into your possession, unless it is your official duty to do so. Any stranger, man, woman, or child, even a man in an American or an allied uniform, may be a spy. Do not tell him anything you would not be willing for the enemy to hear. For similar reasons, never enter into correspondence with strangers. It is one of the many schemes used by enemy agents to gather information. On the street or in public places remember that 'the walls have ears.'
"Do not express your opinion on military matters nor on the general situation. Be loyal to your Government and your superiors. Trust them to conduct the war while you attend to your own particular part in it.
"Avoid in any way giving the impression of pessimism either in your conversation or your attitude. In all ways be confident in the suc- cess of our armies and of our cause.
"All members of the American Expeditionary Forces are forbidden to take photographs, un- less photography is a part of their official duties.
"DON'T CARRY WITH YOU :- Maps, docu- ments or private papers of a military nature nor a diary or notebook containing military hints of value to the enemy, except when it is your official duty to do so. These will be of danger to your comrades in case you are cap- tured; enemy pickpockets may get them even if you are not captured.
"On the other hand, if any enemy property comes into your possession, under any circum- stance whatever, turn it over at once to your company commander, who will deliver it to an Intelligence officer. If the trophy is not of
value to the Intelligence Section, it will be re- turned to you. Such trophies may be of vast importance to the General Staff.
"IF YOU ARE CAPTURED :- Don't remem- ber any more than you can help. Try particu- larly to forget organizations and the places in which they are stationed. Every bit of mili- tary information you give to your captors is a danger to you and to the comrades that have been left behind to fight your battles.
"By command of General Pershing: "Robert C. Davis, "Adjutant General."
After receiving a lunch from the Red Cross workers at the wharf, we were lined up in ac- cordance with a muster roll previously pre- pared and marched up an inclined gang-plank into the ship. Each man was handed a ticket containing the number of his berth, the letter of his section and the designation "forward," "aft" or "amidships," and as he proceeded he showed this to successive sailor guides who steered him to his bunk. We had no state- rooms. The entire lower part of the vessel had been cleared of everything but waterproof bulkheads, and in the open space on each deck had been placed bunks of gas pipe and canvas, four deep. The lowest one was three inches from the deck, the upper one a foot from the ceiling. Between these tiers of bunks there was passageway eighteen inches wide. The holds were dark and smelled overpoweringly of disinfectants. There was little ventilation. When the transport pulled out, we were kept between decks for an hour and then allowed above in time to catch a glimpse of New York harbor. From that time on we generally were allowed on deck for three or four hours a day. There was not room for all of us at once, there.
We were all scared of submarines. There seemed little chance of anyone getting out alive if we should be hit, despite the boat drills. These drills merely showed us that there were not enough boats or rafts to care for a quarter of us in time of danger, and also served the purpose of teaching us how to get out of the sections below decks. I asked our captain what we were to do if torpedoed, as no boats were assigned to us. He said we were to jump overboard and try to find something to support us in the water.
There was little excitement on the voyage. One of the ships of the convoy became separ- ated one evening, but turned up the next noon. She appeared to have lost a portion of her stern, and it was talked about that she had
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$
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Photo Loaned by Charles Peterson
THE END OF AN AERIAL COMBAT-BOTH DUELISTS CRASHED TO EARTH
The notes made on this picture tell of a battle above the clouds in which the American Liberty plane brought down a German Fokker (seen in the background). The victory was short lived, for while the German was dropping helplessly to earth the American plane was put out of commission by enemy reinforcements and sent down a wreck. The injured or dead, if there were any, had been removed before the official photograph above was taken. The illustration is a remarkably realistic reproduction of the scene attending such incidents.
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been rammed during the night and that many men had been killed. But of course these stor- ies could not be verified. though they served to keep the boys busy talking.
The naval gunners also took a half a dozen shots at a school of porpoises which were hurdling alongside the ship. The schools were considered as excellent telltale marks for sub- marine commanders and it was a general prac- tice for the transport gunners to fire a few shots and get them to sheer off from the ship's course.
About a day and a half out of Brest a con- voy of half a dozen destroyers hove in sight and from then until we went into harbor the swift little craft circled and twisted in our course and cut didoes to the port and star- board, nosing out traces of submarines. But they encountered none.
We came to anchor late Friday afternoon. As the shore line, which is rocky and rugged, came into view the shipload gave vent to con- tinuous cheering. There were very few who didn't feel that land was a welcome place, after the uncertainties of the U-boat menace, and a large proportion had other reasons for wishing to get their two feet under them on solid earth.
The men were taken off in lighters and marched out to the Napoleon (Pontanezon) barracks. Our outfit marched right past the barracks and into the little hedged-in fields where we laid out our camp, pitched our pup- tents and turned in to get some rest. It rained terrifically that night, but it didn't in- terfere with the sleep of the newly landed re- cruits.
The next day, being Sunday, we looked for a nice day of rest. At about 7 o'clock a num- ber of us were lined up and told off for de- tail. We were marched out into the country for a few miles. Before starting we were given shovels and picks and they helped to make the traveling more exciting.
After a long hike we brought up at a ceme- tery and our officer showed us a piece of ground and told us to dig. We dug all day. It was fearfully hot and few were used to using this sort of implement. By evening we had excavated sufficiently to provide graves for about forty soldiers who had died the day before at the base hospital.
As they brought the bodies out on trucks we helped unload them and acted as pallbear- ers, carrying the rough coffins to the holes we had dug, and then we turned to and filled in the graves. We started back to camp, a pretty tired lot, about 7:30 o'clock.
Our first day in France was hardly a cheer- ful beginning.
On the other hand we could not help but be impressed by the presence of a large num- ber of French women and girls who had come out to the cemetery with their arms filled with flowers. They rounded up the graves, set the markers and strewed their flowers over the mounds, so that when we were leaving, the portion of the rapidly growing cemetery we had helped to make, had every appearance of being the subject of loving care from those left behind.
When we got into camp we learned that we were to move at 1 o'clock that night. We hung around waiting, after we had pulled up our tents and got our equipment together, and finally were marched to a train of small box- cars-the first of that sort to travel we had encountered. We got aboard and waited till 6 o'clock in the morning when the train pulled out and we started away on our trip to the front. There were 36 of us in each car and we barely had room to lie down.
After a day and a half of travel we brought up at LeMans, a classification camp where we were examined again and given new equipment calculated for the field. From there we were sent to the infantry training area we were to occupy and were issued whatever we appeared to be short at the time.
For ten days we were at Eccomoy engaged in target practice and were told that within a few weeks we would be up at the front.
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