The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1916-08-31
CARNIVAL OF WIND
Another Gulf Storm Hits Camp Llano
Grande While Company G
is on Guard Duty.
Co. G. Boys Are Well and Happv-
Not a man in the Hospital
or Guard House.

Camp Llano Grande, August "a
Our last letter was written in the
forenoon Of August Is and we have
faint recollection Of attempting to de-
scribe that week as a sort Of JOYOUS
occasion known as a carnival week.
But, alas! We hollored before we were
out of the woods. The tail end of the
week wound up in carnival Of wind.
rain, floods and guard duty. The
weather man insists on playing jokes
on the G outfit and it is now an axiom
OF the camp that when G goes on
guard it is bound to rain and storm.
They went on guard for the second
Time as company on the evening Of
August II and had a good night of it.
and were congratulating themselves
on having good weather for their
24-hours tour Of duty, when their luck
broke. About II o'clock a. m. the re-
port came in that another tornado was
headed this way and almost as soon
as the report got here the storm was
on in all it's glory. Most of the men
were at the guard house on duty and
only handful Of huskies were left in
the company street to protect the tents
and fight the storm. The storm in
| creased in violence as the afternoon
wore on and the rain came down in
sheets and torrents. Three of the COM
pany tents went down before the blast.
The others were finally saved by
heroic efforts on the part of the men
lett at camp. By supper time every
man, IN the company from Captain
johnson down was drenched to the
skin and spattered with mud from head
to loot. 1t was real battle with the
elements and although we lost three
tents we still claim the victory, for we
were working with short-handed
crew against real gulf storm.
While this battle was going on in
the company street, and likewise all
over the camp, the guard was having
skir1nish all their own over at the
guard tent. To add to their troubles
with the elements the army paymaster
showed up during the storm and start
ed paying off the Third regiment at
the Y. M. c. A. building. This made
1t necessary to guard the money and
preserve order during the paying off
process and it was some job. The
rain and wind beat and blew through
the f1imsy frame building and at times
1t was necessary to halt the proceed
lngs to keep the paper money from
being blown away entirely. Companies
A, 3 and G were paid off and then a
hasty consultation of war decided that
| 1t was time to quit, and this eased up
the duties Of the guard considerably.
10 further add to their troubles there
was a prisoner in the guard tent and
as it took all of the men on duty to
guard the money and hold down the
tent this prisoner became verv un-
desirable asset. Sergeant H. T. Mel
son and Corporal Joe Craig, officers of
the guard, were inside of the tent
guarding the prisoner and holding
down the center pole while the other
men were on the outside doing their
best to keep the ten from going bal
looming An extra hard gust and a
mysterious twist from the inside and
the tent was all piled up in heap.
Sergeant Nelson dragged the prisoner
out by the nape Of the neck and
Corporal Craig grabbed him, hustled
him off to his own company and turned
him over for safe keeping to his own
captain.
When it was time for H company
to relieve the old guard they found a
thoroughly soaked, mud-bespattered
and exhausted outfit that was barely
able to drag themselves back to their
battle-scarred row of tents. Here they
found Cook Jansa with some hot soup
that he had in some mysterious man.
ner rescued from the storm and kept
piping hot. The men ravenously
gulped down a bowl Of this soup and
beat it for their tents. The occupants
of the blown down tents were cared
for by their comrades, although few
of them had to sleep down in one of
the warehouses.
Saturday was devoted to cleaning
up after the storm, cleaning up the
wreckage and getting camp back into
a military establishment. AS usual
the lower part of the camp was flooded
the worst, and Companies A, B, and C |
had to move out Of their quarters en-
tirely and seek higher ground.
This camp life to most Of the boys
has seemed a good deal like going out
camping to the lake as we used to
do in the summer. The only thing
lacking being the lake. The weather
e. I