Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-09-24

horse, repair a motor truck, keep the
lights going, forge iron, weld steel,
do almost anything without the
slightest trouble, and in the shortest
space of time imaginable. If a mo-
tor truck breaks down, we repair it
in no time. This truck is the best
thing we have on the field. 1t is as
useful as the Al gun, because we
could repair that gun or any other
gun on the firing line without the
slightest trouble"
erode is a modest youth, with the
keen, intellectual face of a student
not the student who spends his hours
over books, but the student who
seeks the mysteries of mechanics and
science. Before he Joined the army,
as he put 1t, he was employed by an
automobile manufacturing concern
as an expert mechanic. Both of his
men are mechanics.
The sergeant Is known as a tech
nical mechanic under army regula-
tions,, but in plain language he is
more than that. He is the man upon
whom Captain F. b. French, assist
ant quartremaster, depended upon
most to assist him in detraining the
division and unloading equipment
and supplies at night He is as proud
of his travelling machine" as any
young mother might be of her child
1t came to him as nearly perfect as
any machine could be, but he has
made improvements which he ex-
plains with ease. He Is a genius, be-
cause that is the title given him by
Captain French, and, as any man In
the field will tell you, if French tells
you what you are, or what any fellow
may be. you can be assured of the
truth of his verdict.
Feats i'm Unloading
/ There are many men in this field
who are as competent as erode in
their particular lines. In his owr
company, for instance, there is Lieu.
tenant George ]. Hook, of Harrisburg
and Truckmaster Herman Early. I'm.
der the supervision of Captain
French these two men detrained the
entire division of $4,000 men withou
an accident, moved thousands of ton.
of freight without loss or injury t
equipment and with but compare
lively little assistance from the reg
ular army truck company in the field
This latter organization has been EN-
ployed in carting lumber and sup
plies for the contractors.
From the moment when the move
ment of troops was resumed until thu
last section of the Sixth Infantry ar
lived here at midnight on Friday
members of Motor Truck Company
No. / had full nights sleep or G
square meal. They worked early anC
late, sometimes eighteen to twenty
hours at a stretch, and not a mar
cracked under the strain. The com.
pany, the only unit of the trair
equipped with trucks. had twenty
seven of the huge machines running
continuously from the detraining sta.
ton to every section of the camp
and they established records for un.
loading troop trains that carried hun
dreds of tons of freight, bug guns
food and camp materials.
This work could be better appre.
ciated if the conditions which existed
at Mount Gretna last year. when the
troops were loading for the trip tc
the border. we're better known. Their
men did the work of mules in draw
ing transports laden with equipment
and supplies over miles of rough
country to the entraining point j
look a day. sometimes day and 8
half. to load the baggage of a regi.
ment. When the men climbed aboard
the wooden day coaches for the triI
to Texas they were exhausted, men
tally and physically.
Under the new system Lieutenan
Hook can load or unload a regimen
with the assistance of his truck driv
ers and helpers in slightly more thar
an hour. He can handle two or thre
regiments q day without subjectinl
his men to the almost imhuman labo
the troops performed at Noun
Gretna. And this is merely one in
stance of the great advance whicl
has been made in the last year.