Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-11-10
life IN R. 0. I. {.
|. Subscribed BY
SON TO FATHER
Rockies at Schofield Have 9
Wer All Their Own, Says
.. Aspirant in Letter

I PORTLAND, OCt. -61'-- nv
ling interesting letter from Robert NJ.
/ Gatewood, 'Jr., son of r. NJ. GateWoou,
"a real estate dealer of this city, has
been received by his father from Fort
Shafter. T. H., near Honolulu, WheFe
the young man is in training:
"Your very interesting letter at
hand and was very glad to learn you
are all well. feel a real sense OF
pleasure to know you enjoyed my let
tiers and of the interest shown III tnelr
/ contents. Your letters are equally as
interesting and enjoyed just as thoro-
ughly.
well, dad, everything is about the
same here. Still undergoing an 1nten.
sive training period and am getting as
hard as nails. | weigh 140 stripped
and am in perfect physical condition.
The training at present is conduc.
! ted at Red Hill ESQ called as the SOIL
! is very red), which is about five miles
from Fort Shafter. The entire regiment
during. the last month has constructed
a No mans land on this hill. 1t is an
ideal location, as the terrain is rolllng
and similar to conditions now existing
on the west front in Europe. We have
constructed a complete system OF dug.
outs and trenches with bomb'proots,
observation stations, machine gun en-
placements and many zig.zag COM
municating trenches laterally and TO
the rear. Thousands of sandbags were
used in making it as realistic as pos
| sible. Also hundreds of dummy
| 'Fritzies' are installed in the trenches
and painted to resemble the likeness
of the kaiser, Won Hindenburg, etc.
Even the mustaches on them are curV.
ed at the proper angle.
"And, dad, every morning we march
out there and have a little war of our
own and sometimes it almost seems
real as one is in the thick of 1t ana
gets heated in charge. will try and
describe the taking of a line OF
trenches, daily morning performance.
"The men line up in trench, the
starting point. The whistle shrills. We
| Jump the parapet and run for the wire
entanglements. We hold our rifles
above our heads, choosing our footing
| in the wire. Once through, we run
hard, our rifles at point. We jump
shallow ditch. We plunge our bayo.
nets into the dummies that lie on the
other side Out comes the blades with
| a jerk and twist. Slam, they go into
| "a row of standing dummies. Two
thrusts we give these, a straight point
and a rising stroke, starting low and
ending viciously, like boxers upper
cut. On VIC go. We jump pole and
wide ditch. We run through. We
plunge our bayonets into another row
of dummies, We hurdle pole and a
wide ditch. We plunge our bayonets
into two more rows of dummies. With
yell we run up steep ramp. We
jump off: The drop is six feet. The
last line of dummies is six feet out.
We land. But not on our feet. On our
rifles. our bayonets plunging through
| the dummies into the earth beneath.
Line after line of men, wave after
wave, rush down this course to the
! blast of the whistle. 4
'ft is this kind of training, Dad, that
develops the fighting spirit and the de-
termination to go right through, no
matter what obstacle bars the way.
! There is also principle involved that
we are fast absorbing, the first prin.
! ciple of all successful combat. Whlcn
! is to hit the enemy first and hit him
hard. ." II
1--WE practice using the gas masks,
which is a very unpleasant drill. The
usual gas mask is smelly bag of flan-
nelette that has been treated with
chemicals vile enough to &disintegrate
| chlorine. The chemicals are fixed with
an oil so they do not evaporate. The
bag is fitted with a pair of goggles
and a mouthpiece which ends outside
the mask in flattened tube of thin
rubber, the shape of ducks bill. You
throw off pour cap, open the tunic, pull
the bag over your head adjust the
goggles, take the meuthpiece in your
teeth and button the tunic tightly over
the long flaps of the helmet, which
cover your neck and shoulders. It is
about as pleasant on a hot day as slit.
ting the tick of an ancient feather bed
and crawling inside. You breathe in
through your nose. The only air you
can get comes through the chemically
treated flannelette. You breathe out
through the mouthpiece. If you try to
III, Tie
Der automatically closes. It's very
simple and efficient one-way valve. A
man can wear this flannelette abomi-
nation for an hour without the least
harm, after little practise. ~
I'VE also get considerable practise
in throwing hand and rifle grensdes.
II takes considerable practice to be.
come proficient in this work, as they
are thrown while standing in the
trenches and are just as dangerous to
the man who throws them as to the
man thrown at, because they explode
Immediately upon coming in contact
with anything. At present we are using
dummy granades.-
'sWell, guess this, is about enough
this time concerning the war some.
where in Oahu and will close for now
This leaves me in the best Of health
and hope this will find you all the
same Tell mother received her let.