Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-05-10
Letter from Carl BERG.

The following is an extract from q
letter written by Carl Berg to his
home in this city, and will be of inter-
est to the friends of - the three young
Willmar men who are now enlisted in
that branch of the navy known as the
marine corps: 49,.
Dear Sister and Folks:
Your letter received and papers all O. X.
Well, I will write few lines tonight so as
to let you know how we are. We all.
well and seem to enjoy ourselves very much
homesick once in a willie, but as s far as am
concerned have not had time to get lone
some yet.
We are on an Island in San Francisco har-
San Francisco and about q minutes ride to
a town called Vallejo. have been to Vallejo
lation. Very nice place. 1t looks like Du-
luth, being built on a hillside. On this island
are the residences OF the officers Of both the
where battle ships are repaired, the camps Of
sailors, soldiers and marines. Around us on
all sides are batteships, cruisers, transports
torpedo boats, sail boats and rowboats an
chored in the nice quiet bay of San Francis
The officers residences are real palaces,
and they have only rose bushes and palm
trees for fences between them. The big army
hospital, navy hospital and prison are also
here. The prison has all kinds of prisoners
in it-negroes, laps, Russians and soldiers
and sailors, who have committed different
crimes. Some are in for a 2O-year term.
Talk about flowers! California certainly
has them-lilacs, apple, Plum, oranges and
round. Yes, and palms as high as our house
They are grand to see.
The weaeher is very nice. Warm in the
| day time and cool nights. 1t rains about
once week, otherwise it is clear.
There are about 500 boys here. One hun
dred sleep in tents and the rest sleep in big
building block long and about one hun
dred feet wide. We have single beds and nice
| bedding. The food is rather course. We get
| baked pork and beans, cabbage and corn
| beet, corn, peas, lima beans. al1kinds OF meat,
coffee, bread, but no butter. On Sunday
| we get oranges for breakfast and pie for din
| ner and cheese and macaroni for supper
| every dinner: - guess we are not going to
! starve on that, altho some OF the boys kick
| on the grub all the time.
am i'll a base ball team, and have been
practicing pretty hard: have also been in
two games We have fire department also.
We were called out today and we had to run
| and pull 4 hose cart about half a mile.
| We get up at O'Clock. From 6:1O to $50
| we have exercise outdoors breakfast at ZOO
Dress parade and; inspection at 500 and
drill and marching from $50 to 1890.
from 1870 to $50. Supper at $50. Parade
| at 200. From 900 to 1000 y. nj. we get
| IcduE TO go TO Oeu ana at ~ y. the NEntS
go out and all must be quiet. Between
| these hours we do whatever we want to.
We have q ball ground, library, reading
room, a candy store and pool room here on
| the island. When we have time we have to
press, brush and clean our Clothes polish
| our buttons shoes, rifle, saber. bayonets and
| belts. feel very good. Have an appetite
like bear, and no cold at@all so far.
There is great crowd of boys here all
| nice fellows. They do not dare steal or get
drunk for fear Of getting into the brigg (pri-
| SOM for a month, where they are fed on
| bread and water. If they try to run away
they cert ainly take chances Of getting shot.
| A fellow tried to run away the other day
| and they sent about 200 soldiers with guns,
| and about 10 mounted horses after him. He
| got into a row boat and tried to row across,
! but the horses dashed into the water and
the men on them are ordered to shoot to kill
| if they do not stop. He threw up his hands
| when he saw all the guns pointed at him. =
| We hear cannons drilling every day and it
| shakes the windows pretty roughly. We
have four cannons here on the island as
guards. have rifle now and a saber, or
| bayonet rather. l was one week at foot
drilling and ever since / have been drilling
With gun. Pretty soon ! will have to do
guard duty, police duty, and officer and Off
ces guardsman duty. . -
! ~. - -. ,.'5 CARL o. BERG.