Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-08-03

We learned more the first week Of our
actual training IN England than we
did from November to April in Cana
da. ! make this statement without
fear that any officer or man Of tho
Canadian forces alive today will dis
agree with me, ana l submit 1t for the
thoughtful consideration OF tho gen.
tlemen who believe that our own
armies can be prepared for service
here at home.
In this war every man has got to be
n specialist. Hes got to know one
thing better than anybody else except
those who have had intensive instruc-
ton in the same branch. And, besides
that, he's got TO have effective general
knowledge of all the speciatlcs IN
which his fellow soldiers have been
particularly trained. ! can illustrate
this. Immediately upon our return
from first leave In England we were
divided into sections for training in
eight specialties. They were: Bombing.
sniping, scouting, machine gun fight
ing, signaling, trench mortar operation,
bayonet fighting and stretcher bearing.
l was selected for special training In
bombing, probably because I was sup.
posed, rs an American and baseball
player, to be expert in throwing. With
the other men picked for training In
the same speciality, I was sent to AL
dcrshot, and there for three weeks,
twelve hours n day, 1 threw bombs,
studied bombs, read about bombs, took
bombs to pieces to see what made
them tick and put them together again
and did practically everything else
that you could do with bomb, except
eat 1t.
Then l was ordered back along with
the other men who had gained this
intimate acquaintance with the entire
bomb family, and we were put to work
teaching the entire battalion all that
we had learned. When we were not
teaching we were under instruction
ourselves by the men who had taken
special training in other branches
Also Mt certain periods of the day We
had physical training and rifle prac-
ticc. Up to the time of our arrival in
England intensive training had been
merely fine phrase with us. During
Jul ot'S thtlC W us IL ana
empowering fact. Day and night we
trained, and day and night it rained.
AT 0 O'Clock We would fall into our
hunks I'm huts which held from half
10 whole platoon-from thirty to six
ty men-and drop into exhausted sleep,
only to turn out ut b n. m. to give q
sudden and exact imitation of what
we would do to the Germans if they
sneakcd up on us before breakfast In
six inches of mud. Toward the last,
when we thought we had been driven
to the limit, they told us that we were
to have period of real, intensive train
ing to harden us for actual fighting
They sent us four imperial drill SER
geants from the British grenadier
guards, the senior foot regiment of the
British army and the one with which
we were affiliated.
1t would be quite unavailing for me
to attempt to describe these drill SCR
geants. The British drill sergeant is
an institution which can be understood
only through personal and close con-
tact and is about as cordial as loose
electricity. II he thinks major gen.
eral Is wrong he'll tell him so on the
spot In 1.-The most emphatic way, but
without ever violating single sacred
tradition OF the service The sergeants
: who took us in charge to put on the
real polish to our training had all seen
from twenty to twenty-five years of
service. They had all been through
the battles of Mons and the Marine,
and they had all been wounded. They
were perfect examples of type. One
of them ordered all of our commission
ed officers, from the colonel down, to
turn out for rifle drill one day and put
them through the manual of arms
while the soldiers of the battalion stood
around looking on.
Gentlemen" said he very politely
In the midst of the drill, when see
you handle your rifles 1 feel like fall
ing on my knees and thanking God
that we've got q navy"