The Watertown news. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1917-1919, 1917-10-10
0WAIN J. HUGHES
WRITES A LETTER
FROM WACO, TEXAS


Waco, Texas, to his parents here:
By this time everybody is rested up
and things are in order. About three
quarters of the time we are out work
ing. We do carpenter work; road
building; sidewalk building; bridge
building, surveying and about every
thing else under the sun. Every man
gets a job that fits in with his pre-
vious training in civilian life. If he is
clerk he gets job in the headquart-
ers company; if he worked in a store
he goes to the supply company. All the
men in the trades easily find work for
themselves in that particular line.
1t is all very much different than at
Camp Douglas. There we thought that
we were little more than a crack |
battalion Of infantry, which we were.
Here we realize why we had SO much
drill in Camp Douglas. We have very |
little drill down in this country, all |
our time being taken up with engin-
eering work.
There are six companies of engin-
GERS, three from Wisconsin and three
from the copper country Of Michigan,
one headquarters company, one supply |
company, one engineer train company |
and sanitary detachment in this regi- |
ment. At this time the only companies |
here are five of the engineer compan- |
les. The others are still out or unor- |
ganized. In all there will be about |
seventeen hundred men in the regi- |
ment of which about seven hundred |
will be drafted men. The drafted men |
arrive in a couple of weeks.
l nm working down in the court |
are two of us and a first lieutenant |
and we have fine time. The work is |
easy and the office is in cool base
mcnt. We are making at present a |
large scale map of Camp Macarthur;
it includes about fifteen thousand |
acres. Next we will get after the avia-
ton field of about seven thousand
acres. Then we take crack at the |
artillery range, which is two miles
W .Ge and tell miles long. After that
there is rife range ami machine
gun ange to plat up. / guess that will
hold us urtil next month scm.a time. |
So is no drill for me Tor some time. |
The home boys got in Saturday ut
four in the afternoon. I certainly was
glad to see them and they all looked
in good shape after thu trip. Their |
| camp is mile from us, on fine high
ground.
Cake will keep until It gets here il
there is no frosting on it. Put plenty |
of nuts and raisins in it tho. Do not
send any nuts here or any extra
clothing because we get more stuff
every day to take off. If we have to
carry all of it on our backs we would
surely die
Another Waco Letter.
Following are few extracts from
a letter received by Mrs. Theresa
Kioes from her son, Corporal Joe NJ
Kioes, Co. E, Wis. Inf, at Waco,
Texas:
Camp Macarthur covers radius of
about 80 miles. The camp is equipped
| with electric lights and mess hall
and private bath houses for each
| company. Have not yet received our
definite place to camp so we are not
equipped with floors in our tent /
| wish you could see this camp, it is so
| different from that at Camp Douglas
| The camp itself is laid out just like a
electric cars run about a quarter of a
mile from camp. The nearest section
of the camp is about four miles from
Waco and we are in about a mile so
we are about five miles from the city.
Besides the electric car service we
have jitney service. The price is five
cents mile. I should judge there are
about fifty of these jitney lines.
The climate is very warm and l no.
ticed on a thermometer tonight that
it was 80 degrees. That's some heat
for this time of the year. The nights
are just right for we sleep with the |
tent open and the sides rolled up. |
The water is very warm, and to show
you how warm it is, we have a show
er bath and are able to take a warm !
bath without heating the water. Just |
comes out. The water we drink has the |
odLuc C0upSI AZURE. IL Is Impossible TO
drink it without ice in it. I did not
drink any until yesterday evening, |
that was Monday. We have our water
in water bag that holds about ten !
gallons, and that is the way it is |
cooled. The water has a peculiar taste
and from time to time we are warned |
about drinking it, so we do not take !
too much at one time.
The city Of Waco has a population |
of about 10000. but it is not a very
clean city. The streets are not very
clean and the people are very shift
less. They do not seem to take any
interest in their work. About the only |
thing raised here that I have seen is |
cotton. The town is full of negroes.
There is also a. large per cent of Mex
leans here.
Two of our company lost their war |
rants as sergeants, and in a drawing |
contest for once l was lucky enough |
to win. Three other corporaIs lost
their warrants. That will now make |
our company consist of seventy-two |
privates, seven corporals and seven |
sergeants. The balance will be. put in |
some other company. When, they do |
not know