Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-09-19
WHAT AWAITS THE
BOYS At CAMP DODGE


field Slant Attracts II
taatIon.
Especial Correspondence for the Will
...> IT, mar Tribune). ~
Division Headquarters, Eighty
eighth Division, First Overseas Army,
Camp Dodge, Ia, Sept. 17.-Every
fighting man in the Eighty-eiehth Div
isfon of Uncle Sans First Overseas
Army will learn to use his fists at
Camp Dodge. ... H..
Under the tutelage of boxers of ma.
tional fame, they will be taught to
stand up in the ring of ropes and edu-
cate their brawny arms to an art that
until that time has been lost to them.
And the instructors they will have
are Jim Corbett, Abe Attel, Kid Nc
Coy, Bonnie Leonard, Mike Gibbons
and scores of others who have volun-
soldiers superior to the Kaiser's Own.
Boxing will be catalogued under the
title of recreation and amusement It
will be- one of the greatest sports OF
the cantonment. But that isn't the
primary purpose. Z
When soldiers Ego over the top for
the great adventure in the trenches
of the enemy, it is with fixed bayou
cts. "Over there" they meet Fritz and
Fritz bayonet isn't in it's scabbard.
Rule One Of the game as it is played
today is "Get your man or he'll get
YOU" There is no such word as re-
treat in the manual of bayonet fight
ing now. Its man to man, and the
best man wins.-
The man who can step aside is the
man who is quick with his feet No
man is quicker than the boxer. And
there is Uncle Sans secret in teach
ing his soldiers to box. Boxing will
also put steel into the arm muscles,
the steel that is needed to put the
bayonet home.
But the boys at Camp Dodge will
engage in other sports. Every COM
pany will have its football team. TO
coach them are scores of the football
stars of the colleges and universities
of the middle west. There are "a num-
Der of "All-American" players. wear
ing the olive drab. Hundreds of the
newly commissioned officers won their
letters on the gridiron. There will be
baseball, soccer, hockey, outdoor bas-
ket ball and wrestling. -
To direct the athletic and recrea-
tive department of the Eighty-eighth
division, the war department has Sc.
lected John L. Griffith, for many years
coach Of the gridiron warriers of
Drake University. He will be called
upon to prepare q program that will
furnish some form of recreation for
every man in camp. There Mill be
competitive football games this fall.
Major General Plummer, the camp
communicate, is an enthusiastic adj
vocate of the game.
Interest at Camp Dodge today CEN
tiers in the coming transfer Of men to
the ranks of the Thirty-third division
at Camp Cody. Deming, N. M. Nation
al Guard Regiments there were de-
pleted by the draft of thousands to
go to France with the Rainbow Divis.
ion. Five thousand men will be re-
quired to bring the division to war
strength. ~-.4-zs. :
Plans now are to draft the men from
among the first 5000 who report at
Camp Dodge under the call for the
second increment Of selectives begin
ming Sept. 10. It is calculated tn at all
the men who are sent from their
home stations the first day and a
large part Of those dispatched the
second day will make up the draft
contingent. They will 60 south with.
out delay. No doubt they will see
service in France weeks before the
First National army. They will train
with seasoned guard troops which the
war department hopes to send across
before winter is over. Z = :
Camp Dodge is ready for the $4,000
men who began pouring into the great
cantonment September 19-and the
four days following. The men are
being turned into the skeleton regi-
ments that have been formed with the
men who came in the first i've per
cent increment.
-Four regiments of infantry, two of
heavy field artillery, three battalions
OF machine gunners, a regiment Of en-
gineers and a depot brigade, together
with ammunition trains, signal corps
battalion, ambulance and supply
trains, are being organized.
The soldier boys from Iowa, Illinois,
Minnesota and North Dakota who 60
into the field artillery regiments will
furnish the barrage fire that will pave
the way for their infantry comrades
to attack. They will use A. guns that
have a range of six miles. They will
| be stationed close to the front line
trenches and thru constant commune
cation with aviator observers, obser-
walton balloons-and artillery observa-
ton points, will drqp shells into the
! first line trenches Of the Germans to
wreck the dugeuts, destroy barbed
wire entanglemants and shatter the
nerves of the front line Teuton foes.
A trench mortar battery, the 313th,
| will also be organized at CamD Dodge