The Arvada enterprise., 1917-07-19
Messages From
Our Soldier Bows

Camp Kelly. July 10, 1917.
Friend Mrs. Walker:
am writing to you to thank you
for the most valuable and practical
gift / have received since here. also
wish to tell you something Of our
camp and life here in the South.
was certainly surprised when l open
ed the bag and found so many useful
articles SO valuable to a soldier in
camp life. AS you probably know,
the accommodations are not the best
and for that reason such gift Is
worth more to the soldier boy in camp
life than anything he could get
believe that before long the soldier
and Red Cross will be working to-
gether in such way that one will
be a great aid to the other.
Well. ! may now tell you something
Of our camp here and how we live.
am first cook in the 32nd Aero
Squadron and so l have lots of time
to be all over camp. ! work only one
day out of six. now. Next week |
must work one day out OF three. That
will be much better because one gets
so lazy here in this climate If he don't
keep moving.
iation camp. We have over 100 hi
planes, hundreds of auto trucks, motor
cycles, etc There are from five to
ten machines in the air all the time.
We have fiers here who do most any
thing that was ever done in the air
We now reside in tents but next week
we move into the new barracks. Bar
racks for 30 squadrons are now COM
pleted and ready to occupy. Each
squadron has one barrack unit, and
menu hall There are $50 men In Il
squadron. The boys will certainly be
glad to get out of the tents, they are
so hot and dusty. We now have two
field ranges to cook on and they are
not very handy. When we get into
the new kitchens we will have two
large army ranges. They are much
better. especially for pastry cooking.
The boys are fed well and have many
extras that are quite rare in civilian
life. such as watermelon, muskmelon,
fruit, etc. We have chicken dinner
every Sunday. We now have large
Y. NJ. C. A. 1t Is certainly fine. They
furnish the boys writing paper, en-
velopes, etc They also have moving
pictures and entertainments of differ
ent kinds. 1t helps to keep the boys
in camp and contented.
San Antonio Is a queer city and full
of Uncle Sans boys. But, like all
other Mexican cities 1t is about -
years behind the times in every way
The city is very poorly built. The
streets are sometimes very narrow and
some streets haven't any arc lights at
all. Outside of the business section
there are no arc lights. Sometimes
you will turn two or three corners and
find yourself at the place where you
started. So you can judge how the
city is laid out. Although the soldiers
keep up the city. the business men
will cheat them whenever they can.
The boys don't like the place at all.
But expect when they get mort used
to It they will feel at home more than
they have in the past. expect our
squadron to leave within the next
month We are billed for Fairfield,
Ohio. or San Diego. greatly enjoy a
letter from dear old Arvada and will
be glad to hear from any of you, and
tell you what can of our life here
so that you can probably get better
view OF the soldier In camp.
Thanking you again for the beauti-
ful comfort bag" am
Friend and helper.
ROY A. PIERCE.
Camp Kelly, San Antonio. Tev
send Aero Squadron.