New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-16
Tatar CorrcsyOnflentl

When will Washington fash word 10
Hampstead Plains that will release the
waiting hosts of the first Rainbow DI-
vision and start them on the broad
highway that leads straight across the
cleaning waters TO France and the
trenches? Paramount in the mind OF
every one Of the $4,000 officers and men
tenting tonight under canvas at Camp
Mills is that query.
"The Rainbow Division IS complete
We are all here now. And you may say
we are ready to 60" So said Genera!
| W. A. Mann. the soldier who will guide
the Rainbow unit overseas.
"News ~ asked Major w. y. Hughes,
assistant chief of staff to Genera, Mann
and cable censor at Vera Cruz during
the American occupation Of that city
at his daily conference with CORE
spondents at Camp Mills the same az
ternoon. "Why, there is no news here
only this: The Rainbow Division Is
ready to fight. Look
And Major Hughes pointed 20 a col
umn Of knaki-clad lads swinging down
! Clinton Road, past the little shacSs
! that are division headquarters. toward
/ the drab tropical tents that mark the
/ point where the camp proper begins
| lie looked at his wrist watch. The line
was pounding down the road and the
| boys were singing cover There" They
were the lads of the old Goth Infantry
of New York, now the l65th, back from
a SX-mile hike and every man fresh
! buyant, his step springy and the col
umns Of squads up on toes ut the
laucous commands of the line officers
Every Unit in Condition
The last man of the Irish command
vanished around the bend in the roaC
and Major Hughes glanced at his watch
again. eleven minutes" he said, anC
then he whistled at usually takes a
least thirteen minutes for an entire
regiment to march past given poin
IN that formation. You see, those mel
are in excellent shape, trained down q
veritable razor edge. 'Yes, the Rain
bow Division is ready 10 fight. Ever!
unit here is in the pink Of condition"
Another column hove into sight. I
came along one Of the many macadam
lied roads extend from Camp Mills j,
every direction. narrowing widening
and then narrowing again in reckless
wayward fashion.
The soldiers were massed well on tn
right side of the road. Fully half o
the thorOughfare was clear for traffic
The men here have been trained L
huddle together. so that when tram
the lanes of France there'll be plent,
Of room for the artillery and motto
lorries and ambulances and suppl.
wagons that roll back and forth from
the fronts.
The soldiers were passing headquar
tiers now. This time it was the lad
who came from Alabama. They wer
whistling marching Through Georgia.
Up in the elms and pines and spruc
trees that line Clinton Road birds wer
twittering excitedly. "Hatl!" bark
the man at the head of the column. an,
the men stop dead in their tracks, thei
muskets clatter 10 the ground in uni
son.
Weather Hard on Southerners
"War is hell" observes a buck pr
vate in the rear line. Then ne Spie.
Major Hughes, salutes sheepishly an'
looks the other way The Alabam;
troops went through a painful perio'
of readjustment when they came &
Hampstead Plains. They left th'
South with its warm days and night
and balmy breezes and came to TIM
Long Island cantonment. where tn
thermometer has a way of shooting
down at nights. The comparative col,
weather worked hardships on these lad
for a time. They are all accimatized I,
the change now and like it here.
Hard behind this line are the troop
of faraway Iowa. A husky, lanky 10
they are; taking them as a whole the!
are perhaps the biggest men IN th'
Rainbow Division. And why shoulta'
they be? Ask Colonel Bennett. theiI
commander, and he'll tell you that 8
per cent of his outfit is made up o
lads recruited from wheat and corr
lands of the Hawk Eye State. Whei
the Germans see these lads they'll
think an angry God has sent new rae
CT giants to chastise them.
The Iowa lads swing into camp an
the tents and company streets swal
low them up. Then come men from
Ohio. Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, VIZ
GINA, Illinois and distant California
In all there are soldiers from twenty
seven states. And every unit is u
good shape and marches just as wei
as the old Goth.
And when will they move towar'
France? One guess is as good as an
other. General Mann will frankly tel
YOU he doesn't know. The order ma,
come tomorrow, and it may not COM
for some weeks. Many things mus
be taken into consideration in tn
movement of 40 great body of troops
time and tide, and not least Of al
transports.
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