Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-07-11
WRITES FROM
SYRACUSE, n. Y.
Clarence O. johnson, of Madison
Township Member Co. i. Ninth
Inf. Writes Interestingly
From Camp.
ENLISTED LAST AUGUST
WENT TO MEXICO
Tells About Army Life on the Mex.
lean Border. Sand Storms
Are rierce.

Syracuse, New York
Co. I Ninth Inf.
July 4, 1917.
Public Opinion, Decorah, Iowa.
To my friends of Winneshiek
county.
Today I am in charge of Co.
9th Inf. quarters, and so will write
a history of my past days in the ar
my. I enlisted August IT, 1916, a1d
was sent to the Mexican border where
it rains every two or three months.
1t is so dry that when it rains it
takes a whole days rain to make the
sand lay. The sand storms are so
bad that man can't see two feet in
front of himself. have been out in
many of them. Some times when we
were out on a hike it might be still
and all of a sudden a big windstorm
would come up and we would double
time to some washout or bank of
cover, pun our shirt collars or a
handkerchief around our neck and
shut our eyes. And in our tents they
would be covered with dust II sure
was hot place in Mexico. We went
out every day for little hike, about
one hour il the morning, and when
we got back to camp our clothes
would be ringing wet, SO we would
put them on the line and they would
be dry in five minutes. / have seen
paper set on fire from the red hot
sand.
Laredo, Texas, was our city and 1t
was a lively place. But the Ninth
Infantry order was to go to San An
tonic, Texas, (and mind you it was
to he hiked, every foot of it, 162
miles,) then you should have heard
80 my feet" But I was lucky fell
low, as my first Sergeant put me on
special duty as a teamster, which /
was glad of. I had to drive four
line team. We got along fine the two
first days, and it took US fourteen
days. We could have made 1t quick
er, but we had all kinds of time. We
broke camp early in the morning and
moved until dinner time. Then we
put up our tents for the night, which
didn't take but few minutes, and
then we went swimming or hunting.
There was one place where we stay
ed over one day, on a Sunday. We
went swimming, and as we never
thought Of anything being in the
water, we all jumped in and swan
across the river and got on the op-
posite bank. Here we sat for cou-
pie of minutes and then we saw a big
alligator peep its head up, open its
mouth, and 1t wasn't long before
there was a dozen of them in the
water, and some of the biggest and
blackest snakes I ever saw. We were
then through with our swimming,
and the worst of it all was that we
had to walk over one mile down the
river to get across on the rocks. One
little fellow fell in the river and
nearly drowned in but three feet OF
water.
The last night we were in camp we
were awakened about midnight by a
windstorm, followed by rain. Our
tents were blown down and it rained
so hard that leaves flew off the trees.
We took refuge in a little school
house and a big, long stable used by
the ranchers. We all made bee line
for it, broke the windows and got the
rest of our sleep on the floor. We
landed in San Antonio the next day
in good shape, stayed there three
weeks, and left for New York. and
we are now camping on the state
fair grounds.
! Respectfully,
Cpl. Clarence C. Johnson,
Co. l. Ninth Inf
4 -