The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1917-12-20
Dr.. Hunt Reviews Work Before
Departing for Trip Over Seas

On the eve of departure for over.
seas service I thought it not amiss to
send you a short report of my where
abouts and my duties as my friends
may be interested in hearing Irom
one who has finished the training and
the burden lover there"
1t is only matter of a few more
days on American soil and as the days
of leaving draws near, we all appre
ciate as never before our own native
land.
AS you know | left North Dakota
for Charlotte as regimental surgeon
for the First North Dakota, now the
l64th Infantry. For the six months
the North Dakota troops were in train.
ing in the state was the only sur.
, geon on duty and did the work which
, was supposed to have been done by
| four medical officers. No help was
given me until two weeks after we ar.
rived in Charlotte when one medical
, officer, a lieutenant from New York
was detailed to help me.
Our men were nearly all sick upon
, arriving, due to the trip and more es-
pecially to the change of climate.
,, Hardly a man but had grippe" "bron.
chitis6" or sore throat. Our sick call
would last until noon and kept us very
. busy dealing out the pills. I had for
help 33 enlisted men in my corps whom
had gathered from various parts OF
the state during the past six months
and trained in the work of sanitation
first aid, etc. A finer lot of men ]
never have seen as most of them were
college men Or normal school gradual.
es, three being from Valley City Nor
NAL. After things had gotten to run
ming smoothly and the corps was we'll
!, organized and several more doctors
; had been detailed to assist me, | was
! one day thunder-struck by an order to
at once report as commanding officer
OF the 162nd field hospital. In view of
, the fact that no other officers had been
; taken away from the First North Da.
kota, felt very badly to have been
, singled out and transferred. I took
the matter up with the division sur
geon and was told that l had been
picked as the man to organize the
field hospital which was much big
ger and more important organization
and I must go and take up my new
duties. asked to be allowed to re-
man with the North Dakota boys in
spite of the fact that the new position
was a promotion but nothing would
avail. l felt very sad indeed to go
back on my promise to the folks at
home whom l promised that would
take care of the physical welfare of
their boys and to loose the Association
;; and acquaintance of the North Dako-
ia officers and men but sentiment is
not considered when the good of the
, service is concerned and the result
was that I checked up my property,
packed up my things and said good
bye to the old First North Dakota
was cOnsoled by the fact that | was
still III the same division and would
see and administer to the North d.
kota boys just the same only in more
! necessary way when they were wound.
ed and needed surgical treatment in
,, the field hospital. I was greatly sur.
prised to find that the whole sanitary
train Of eight compares was made zip
Of North Dakota Second regiment. ex-
cent one company which was from
Idaho. My new company is the Co.
+. Second Regiment of Darlington.
: They are fine lot of boys but were
enlisted for infantry work and knew
nothing about medical work. 1t has
been a tremendous task to equip and
train the company for the important
WI ~, Evil I,o 70 do
company numbers at the present 100
men, which is many times larger than
the regimental infirmary which l had
before. have one captain and five
. leutenants under me to assist in the
work and help teach and train the
men.
] As We sat at mess the other night
one remarked that no two of the Off
GERS are from the same state. North
Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Dis
trict Of Columbia, Nebraska, idaho and
| Washington were represented. The
officers are we'll trained, although sew
eral are quite new to the service
i We are now fully equipped with cloth
ing and medicine and other equipment
Each man is abundantly supplied with
! WOODEN clothes throughout and moth
! ing else could be desired Today the
Red Gross gave us wooden knit sweat
ers, neck scarfs, helmets. sox. etc.
(The Red Cross is surely the soldiers
friendly Our medical supplies are
equipment for caring for the wounded,
, especially surgical cases and mounts
into the thousands and it is some lob
to keen track of all this property. The
personal equipment Of each man has
been recently perfected. Each man
carrying a web belt with 10 pockets
or pouches in which he carr es all
things necessary to give quick and
thorough first aid treatment ON the
battle field. Besides this each man
..,- ...,.. :,.t.rr ..9s ,:""T . -:;:'.' ~