The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-06-11

mon General Pershing led to France as
the vanguard of the American expedi-
tionary force.
81 enlisted at Fort Slocum, New
York, and In June, 1914, / went down
to Galveston and was signed In Win
the Twenty-second infantry. 1t was
ON the way down that l got acquaint-
ed with Duck Smith. He's on the
books now as Sergt. Merle G. Smith,.
from Dubois, Pa. which Is out near
Pittsburgh. But he's got such short
legs that we just natcherally called
him duck He's the best pal a man
| ever had. He's got a heart OF gold
and from the very first of we've shared
and shared alike. And he is sure some
talented. He's a natcheral born musi-
clan. Boy, you should hear Duck
blow a bloody cornet. He can play
any instrument he a pick up. Ii don't
make any difference what the instru'
ment is, give him five minutes and he
begins to get real music out of Ii.
Hes always got a guitar with him
and he knows all the music there Is,
| all them deep Spanish songs you hear
down on the border and a whole string
of Blues BY the time he gets through
with the Fritzies he'll NOW all the
music In Europe, too.
"Along In 1915 they organized the
Thirty-ffth regiment and 20 of US were
taken from each company of the Tween
~ty-second. to help make II up. Then,
In the spring of 1917, we were trans
ferred to the Eighteenth regiment and
i went In the headquarters company.
l was made a sergeant just before we
started across.
"In May the word went around that
we were at war strength and from
that time on we were getting the hot
news every day that we were going
across, or that we were going 10 be
moved North. or were going TO San
Francisco or some other place.
Goes "over There"
But nothing happened until the
first week In June, when we got the
order to pack W. The dope was that
burg or at Syracuse. Nobody / knew
had a hint that we were going across.
OF course, everybody wanted to go
across, but II they had let out where
we were going Ii would have got
around In no time.
"We had a fine train with Pullman
cars, they sure gave us a fine trip.
In France you're lucky to get a ride
in a freight car. We went along easy
and stopped In a lot of small towns.
They never stopped In the big places
We went through most of them at
night. Finally, we got to Horneli, N.
7. And that was where we got the
real dope. The word came around
that orders had come to hold up the
trains because the ships had not reach.
ed their docks. Then we knew we
were going over, and, boy. I'm telling
you there was some cheering.
I'VE went on board about eleven
o'clock at night. and hat same night
we started out, but were later held W
for several days. / don't know what
we were waiting for. but when we
started out we had a convoy of war
ships. In our company we had a Dan
ish lad whose father was a sea cap
tain. This Dane kid had been In ev
cry port In the world. Just as soor
as he saw the port he says: WE are
going into the port Of -. THAI
didn't mean much TO us. but he told
us II was In France.
swell. boy, / want to tell you Ii ii
the prettiest place In the world. II
looks just like a picture, a handpainted
picture. 1t is the prettiest town
ever want to see.
"We were at that camp fourteen
day and while we did quite a lot OF
drilling, we got liberty to go back to
the town, and we began to learn theil
lingo. They wouldn't let US spend
much money and at that time they
didn't know how much money we got
so prices were cheap.
Into the Trenches.
swell we got the kinks out of our
selves during the two weeks we stayet
at that camp. / guess there must o.
been more men coming over, because
zone night we gets the word to b,
ready to move on the next day. The,
moved US In box cars. We were tw,
days and two nights on the road an'
must have gone about $50 miles; 4
was a swell trip. The country locke,
great at that time OF the year and W,
were loaded down with flowers all tn,
time.
"We went into camp at -, which
Is about four miles behind the from
line trenches. We were billeted II
barns and stables from Saturday unit
Monday night, when we took u frs
trick in the trenches. Our division
was feeling fine and they all wanted t
get a chance at fighting right away.
There were four regiments In on
llcrowd and ana haffaIlaa from Each r>~