The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-10-06
GOOD time IN CAMP
BOYS ENJOY THE DAYS
Story Told By Lee De RGsia,
Member Company H
FOOD ALL VERY fine NOW
Captain A. O. Scott Doing Every
Thing for Comfort of His
Soldiers

Parents and other relatives of the
boys of Company II who are in the
camp at Llano Grande need not
worry at all for the boys are being
very well cared for,' was state
ment made today by Lee De Rosia,
the former Quartermaster sergeant
OF the company, who has just come
back to Mankato, his term of en-
listment having expired
ut is true that the conditions were
bad when we first got there" he
said, "but that was no ones fault. It
was just because we were in a new
place and the commissary had not
been arranged. Things were not what
they should have been but that last
ed only about week or so and then
they got better. iy8 zl&
Some people blame Captain Scott
for the way things were at first. It
was not the captains fault at all
There were $4,000 men there in that
camp. Just before | left | went
around among the men of the COM
pany and asked how each man felt
Every man told me to bring back word
that he liked the camp first rate.
"The men are now provided with
board floors and cots. The mess house
is screened. The camp has been freed
from the underground of brush from
which the mosquitoes used to come.
Alarmed About Fever.
For time we were much alarmed
about the dengue fever We did not
we know that it is nothing to worry
about at all. | had that fever, and
still had something of it at the time
left. When l came north it left me-
1t is nothing serious. This disease
cannot get north at all. When you
come north it is bound to leave you
1t is a sort of malaria, but it is not
a bad illness. All the men that were
sent to the hospital on account Of
the disease have returned to the
camp.
Captain Scott has worked very
very hard for the comfort of the men.
know that rumors have been cir
culated about the town to the effect
that the captain had been negligent
in his treatment of the men, There
is not captain in the regiment that
worked harder for his men than did
Captain Scott. The other officers of
the company also deserve to be COM
plimented The men of the company
will corroborate my statements, when
they get home. ] never went to town
for supplies, without the captain first
asking me if there was anything that
the men were lacking. | was mess
sergeant for a time.
The Big Storm.
when that big storm struck the
camp, the captain went around in a
slicker or raincoat and visited all of
the tents to see if the men were
all right.
when a man takes the oath to
serve in the army, it is not a joke.
The boys have worked hard and
have endured lots Of things that they
would not endure at home. But the
captain was right on the job to see
that the boys were treated fairly
and squarely.
Food Was Excellent.
81 had dinner at the camp just be-
fore | left. l must say that the food
was excellent. | do not mean to say
that it was anything like eating at
home, but it was very good indeed
for camp life. AS a rule we did not
have butter at our meals, though at
times we had it through the cap
tain's efforts. 1t was too hard to keep.
We used our ice up in keeping the
beef and in cooling our drinking wa
ter The water is all boiled before
being drunk, and it is also treated
with chlorinated acid, which steriliz-
es it.
Our regular daily supply of ice
was about 400 pounds. The. govern
ment gave US 200 pounds and the
captain got us 200 pounds more. That
gave us plenty of ice for our beef
and drinking water.
1.-THE climate of that region where
the boys are is giving the delight
full time now. The weather is getting
cooler. But | think the boys will be
home soon, though l do not think it
would be wise to tell you just why
| think so.
Appreciated the Cots.
"The boys certainly appreciated
the cots that were sent to them.
They made an awful scramble for the
cots, when they came.
'The mosquitoes were quite bad
during the rainy season. All the wa
ter holes around the camp were given
dose of crude oil in order to rout
out these pests. But the mosquitoes
did not really bother us great deal,
except when we went through the
brush in our drills. We had with us
supply of mosquito netting that
we brought from Fort Smelling.
During the first three days that we
were in the camp we were on our
travelling ration. That is nothing
elaborate 1t consists of bacon, bread
potatoes and coffee. Now there is
pretty good variety. The food in
cludes carrots, cabbage, turnips,
other vegetables, liver and other
meats, wieners, sauer kraut, celery
and other things. One Sunday we
had ice cream and pie, making pie
a-la-mode. That was something
pretty fine for soldiers in camp.
While as a rule the soldiers lack