Willmar tribune., 1917-05-16
news FROM BOYS
IN TRAINING CAMP
WiImar Youths Write Of Experi-
enceS Encountered While
Training for Service.

FRIDAY from BERT sullivan VINO IS at
Fort Barrancas, Florida: "Thought
would write and tell you a few things
about army life. 1t sure is the only
life, believe me. We get up at five
thirty a. m., wash up and stand Rev.
ellie at six O'Clock. The flag is then
elevated to the top of the flag staff
and three inch cannon is fired. We
then take our morning exercises. Next
comes our first meal or "chuck" as we
call it. We have our mess kits, which
consist of fork, knife, spoon, frying
pan or bean catcher" Don't think
pork and beans is all we have. We
get all we want to eat, and plenty Of
good things, such as pie, cake, hash,
macaroni, meat Of all kinds, coffee,
tea, bread, etc. We line up in a long
line to receive our "chuck." When we
get done with our first helping we line
up for second and a third, if there is
any left At eight we start drilling
Drill from eight until nine-thirty, from
ten till eleven-thirty; from one till
two, from three till four. We are then
off until retreat" at four forty-five
At retreat, the cannon booms and "Old
Glory" is brought to earth. We are
then free until fve-thirty the next
morning.
Base ball is our favorite sport down
here. We played bunch of boys from
Texas the other day and beat them
three to one. Chester Galliford was
the hero Of the game. The score was
one to one in the ninth inning and we
had men on second and third. Chet
singled to right field and they both
scored. We call our team the "Jeffer-
son Barrack Stars" We also do quite
a bit of boxing; ditto singing. We sing
all the songs we can think of, Moth
er," Home Sweet Home," etc. You
know the songs we would naturally
think of down here. We had a wrest-
ling match the other night A great
big fellow weighing 2O7 lbs, and a fel-
| low from Minnesota weighing only 157
wrestled and the latter threw the big
fellow. Maybe you think we Mime
sofa boys didn't cheer
1t has rained every other day since
we arrived here.
Bob Johnson gives a description of
visit Of the boys to the battleship
Texas" which was anchored in Ches-
apeake Bay week ago last Sunday.
He says yesterday the battleship
Texas was anchored in the bay and a
bunch of sailors took us out to see it.
This is the best ship in the U. S. Navy
and believe me there is lot to see
on it, altho we stayed but an hour.
The gun crews can load, aim and fire
the big guns in fifteen seconds. Most
of the guns are 14-inch. One of the
sailors explained to us how the guns
worked. The shell is put in first, it
} being about four feet long, then two
or three small bags of powder are put
in before the gun is closed. Outside
there is a place to put the cap in
This is fired, sets the powder on fire
and the she'll flies out. A button is
pressed which sends a current of all
thru the BARREL blowing out any rags
or burning powder. There is a recoi
of forty inches, and the whole ship is
Jared at each shot. There is lot:
more to see, but it is hard to explain
as it must be seen to be believed
Took trip to Newport News in thu
afternoon, and saw the battleshil
"Mississippi" which is being over
hauled. The mail just came in ant
Dan Burns got a cake from Wilma
so we each had little chunk.
Under date of May II, Russell Cur
ran writes from Fort Monroe: "Just ;
line to let you know we are all wei
and like the place. Got here weel
i ago yesterday and have been sigh
/ seeing as much as possible. Don't ge
\ much time, tho, as they drill us 81:
/ hours day, and have us cleaning VI
| somewhere or something the rest o
| the time. We pitched camp at tn
| big guns yesterday, about mile from
| the barracks. They have a toy raj
Il road running out here with an engin
Il about large enough for a watcl
/ charm, but it sure does the work. TIL
/ woods around here are full of pin
J. trees and holly. Severn and I wer
out last night but we had to be in b.
eleven o'clock. Were halted thre
J times on the way back. Was the frs
5 time I have been halted, and you be
we halted all right. The guards ar
j just as scared as we were and the
might pull that old trigger"
Russ is working on the "mortars
! and it is his duty to fire the cannon.
Billy Arneson of Atwater, one of th
boys to enlist in the navy, is at Bot
, ton, Mass, for training. Speaking Q
tho 1ifo ho savo. "NIo uof I'M o% AZ,