Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-30
TELLS OF CAMP
TRAINING FOR
U.S.ENGINEERS
Private C. Mccormick Writes
Home From Massachu-
sets Cantonment

Of Company c., 25th Regiment of
Engineers, now located at Camp
Devens, Aver, Mass, in writing
home, gives the program, followed
! by Uncle Sam in developing the fin
ished Engineer. He writes:
! our first appearance is for reveille
at A. NJ, followed Immediately by
mess call. which we never miss.
From 7:30 to s A. NJ, we have phys
/ ical drill, 5 minute intermission
! followed by infantry drill till 3 a. m.
! From 9:05 to 10, we are called
/ for sighting and triangle and then
! the drill that has the punch, which
we all enjoy and enter into with a
vim-bayonet exercise. And believe
me, il some of those husky engi-
neers use the same rush and vigor in
| actual combat as at drill they will
| impale half a dozen Huns at each
| lunge of the bayonet. From 11:05
| to Il NJ. We have interior guard
! drill.
These drills develop a guaranteed
, 1S-carat appetite and when mess
call sounds we all go trooping into
the dining room ready to get on the
outside of anything that comes down
| the pike" And we have a chef
who can cook anything that flies,
swims, walks or grows, be it whale
! steak or eel feet, he has 1t cooked
to perfection. The $50 engineers in
! this camp are ready to back Milton
| f. Reading of Detroit, Michigan, as
the finest cook in any of the U. S.
camps.
Time for Sports
We are allowed from / p. NJ. to
1:40 for athletics, the men playing
baseball. "ockerball. basketball,
while others devote The time to writ
ing to wives, mothers, sweethearts,
! etc. At 1:45 2. NJ. we again are
called for infantry drill, followed by
signal study. At $3.50 we have one
hour of practice marching and at
| 4:45 p. NJ. we all answer retreat and
the last mess call. After mess near
ly every man can be found at one
of the Y. NJ. c. A. huts, for In these
gathering places there is always
something doing in the evening. We
have moving pictures, boxing eXhi-
bitions, vaudeville shows by some of
the leading Broadway stars, and one
evening a week we have a class
studying French, taught by an eX-
pert teacher.
We have all kinds of reading mat
ter, two Victrolas and an abundance
of stationery-all free to the SOL
diers.
often as the RED and White
cords" men, better known as the
Army Engineers" march by, the
question is often asked by the unini-
tiated, Who are these men, they are
so different" There is a difference,
in their step and their way. One
reason is they are practically all
technical men-surveyors, black
smiths, powder men, mechanics, iron
workers, steel workers, mining men,
motor and truck experts, road build
ers, railway, bridge and fortifcation
men, electrical and construction ex-
perts. Another reason is, they are
as a unit, composed of men ready
to repair, rebuild or construct. any
thing, from by-path to great
bridge, railroads, dams or canals.
Men who have been tested and tried
in the furnace of life, in the woods,
in camps, in the field, on the Eail-
roads, in the shop or Office or any
where where men accomplish the big
things of the world. Army life is
natural and easy to most of them,
for they are used to living in camps,
in the open. The inconvenience,
long hikes, sleeping on the ground in
4 blanket, enduring rain and mud
and cold has no terrors for them. 1t
is their life and they enjoy ii. Most
of them left good positions, paying
in many cases salaries running into
volunteering, to do and dare for the
sake of The Old Flag" and for God
and Humanity.
Military drill is taken seriously
by these men, for they know there
are no six months of training for
them. Military and army textbooks
and regulations are seen everywhere
and the men spend every spare
moment in absorbing every scrap of
special information possible, for they
know the time is short. AS soon as
the Regiment is full, they will be off
for Somewhere in France"
The Boys of the 25th Engineers
will prepare the way for the Sam
mics" in France. They will build
camps, army cities, water systems,
roads and bridges and make the
American Boys as comfortable as
possible. The terrain to be held by
our army will be mapped and ranges
determined for the artillery to come
and when the main contingents ar
rive and get into action the Engi-
GERS will stay on the job and help
win the war.
Volunteers are being enlisted foS
these regiments all over the Ioun-
try and especially are young men
being selected for surveyors, rod.
men, chainmen, levelmen, transit
men and the like. Nearly every
always on the lookout for boys from
Harrisburg. Our officers treat the
men as men and have the respect
and confidence of every man in the
corps. They are as follows: Captain,
w. II. Rhoades; Firest LieutenantS
\. Trace, r. A. Smallman, P. T. Cof-
fey; Second LieutenantS, H. w. Mac