The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-10-04
FRANK OBRIEN In
COMPA any:
SAYS WONG Dew
LANDS soft JOB"
Fargo Chinaman Made
Cook For Colonel Of
Regiment At Dodge

Private Frank O'Brien. Supply Co.
$50 Inf. n. A. Camp Dodge, son of
Mr.. and Mrs. d. w. O'Brien, 1913
Second avenue south. and for sew
eral years connected with the
Fargo Mercantile Co. writing to
members # the Office staff Of
the Mercantile company, details
interesting features of camp life at
Camp Dodge. and incidentally reveals
the fact that Wong Dew, Fargo's
Chinese member of the recent Cass
county contingent. is the envy Of the
regiment.
Wong Dew has landed a soft job,
writes Private O'Brien. He's cook
for the colonel Of our regiment.
Furthermore, Wong Dew has three
assistants, and cooks for the colonel
and twelve officers. Other cooks cook
for $50 men and have four assist
ants.
Enjoying Life.
That Private O'BTien is enjoying
| life in the national army is evident
from the following letter, one of the
many The Forum expects to present
it's family of readers.
Dear Friends:
Il suppose you wonder why l
| haven't written before, but l thought
| would wait until we were settled
before / would write. AS soon as we
| got here we were asked what our oc-
cupation was. told them l had
worked in n wholesale grocery house,
so they put me in the supply COM
pany, of the 352nd infantry. At the
time | would rather have gone in
some other company, but you can't
go where you want. you have to go
where you are told and go quick. be-
| Erst I hnu1nntncr IN
this company. | guess it is because
everybody else is trying to get into
| it.
Must Learn the Rules.
The supply company furnishes
| the rest of the regiment with every
thing they need, such as, clothing,
rifles and things like that. We won't
! take up our duties for about three
months as we have to drill and learn
all the rules of the army first. We
| drill with the rest of the regiment
every day. but when we leave here
we will not carry a rifle-we will
carry a A automatic pistol in a
| belt.
There is only one other fellow
from Fargo in this company. His
name is Carroll Barnes. He sleeps
| in the next cot to me.
Won Dew, the Chink from the
| Chicago cafe has a soft job. He
cooks for the colonel of our regiment
and twelve officers and he has three
assistants. The other cooks cook for
| $50 men and have four assistants.
| The minute the colonel saw Wong,
he says, can you cook? Wong says,
yes, and the colonel says come With
me.
Each company lives in barracks,
$50 men. We sleep upstairs and eat
downstairs. Everyone sleeps on an
iron cot by himself Each one has
a mess kit. ii is a tin cup, a knife,
fork and spoon and a tin pan with
handle on ii. 1t doubles up and
hangs on your belt.
THE first call is 5:45 in the MORN
ing. We get up then and have to be
down in front of the barracks at 8
o'clock for roll call. Then we beat
it back for breakfast. After break
fast we clean up the barracks. At
o'clock we have roll call again and
march out to the drill grounds and
take physical culture exercises. Then
we drill until IL o'clock, then mess,
after mess we start drilling and drill
until 5 o'clock then mess again. Aft
er supper we can do anything we
want to until after retreat call at 10
o'clock. At 10 o'clock we go to bed,
at 1905 the lights go out and nothing
to do until morning.
Food Clean and Wholesome.
THE food is all right. There Is
nothing fancy about it, but 1t is good
and clean and wholesome. The
! kitchen and dining room are always
kept clean, tie floors, walls and even
the ceiling is scrubbed three times a
day.
THE watch and shaving outfit
sure come in handy. I was kind of
excited when leaving and may have
forgotten to thank some of you. so
take this opportunity to thank you
all now. We have to shave every
morning and keep very clean. The
captain inspects the company twice
week. Our company was given a
physical. examination yesterday and
/ passed. We were also vaccinated
and inoculated so we all have sore
arms today and don't drill for "a
hours.
well it is about ten minutes to
ten so guess l will have to quit.
wish some of you would write to me.
My address is,
Private Frank O'Brien,
Supply Co. 352 Infantry, N. A.,
Camp Dodge, Ia"
Sept. 6. 1917. .-.