South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-06-30

decreed I was as sound as copper
from head TO toe.
] was hustled off TO the recruiting
barracks at Angel Island in Frisco
bay and was inoculated and vac
cinated. i was pretty miserable for
about a week from the different
brands Of anti-disease virus which
they pumped under my hide, and on
the whole / felt like an animated
fever blister. But just as soon as
the effects OF the virus wore away /
developed the appetite of an army
mule, and took on weight like a
woman who is kidding herself with
one of those anti-fat treatments.
Early Training.
We were given full equipment. in
Guiding uniform underwear, leg
gings. SHOES. mess kit and blankets.
and shipped 10 Douglas. Ariz. For
eight days we raw recruits were
kept shut up in a quarantine camp.
and after that followed weeks of
arduous training on the Mexican Dor
der. 1t was a tough grill, but il
made every man jack of us hard as
rocks.
our training embraced bareback
riding, instruction i'm the use Of
equipment. and the grooming of
horses. We were given an idea of
the various parts of the field pieces.
and engaged in battery drill and tar
get practice with three-inch guns.
We put i'm a lot of work on those
guns. little thinking that we would
handle an entirely different kind Of
field piece when we arrived in
France.
/ became the driver of the lead
team of the first section field piece.
and before many weeks had passed
1 could maneuver that piece like a
veteran. BY listening TO the fiery
rhetoric OF some of the old-tme
drivers i'm the battery. ! learned
there are certain cuss words which
have a special and most effective
meaning 10 artillery horses. and /
sometimes used them with wonder
ful result.
But, say. / hate 10 think about
the early stages of that bareback
training. IL was fierce. worse than
anything I encountered later on the
battle front. Our battery was af-
nicted with positively the most evil
minded, neutrality-suspicious. horses
on earth. Honest l believe that
German propagandists had been
working among every one of the
nags, for how they did hate US,
No one can tell me that the horse
doesn't possess the power of think
ing like a human being. The way
my nag used to scheme 10 break my
neck rivaled the Vaccinations of the
william in a melodrama. Every time
the nag tossed me into the desert
sand among the cactus. he would
grin and toss up his heels in the
the most fiendish manner.
on For France.
During the first few days Of the
bareback riding ] hadn't the slight
est desire TO sit down, and couldn't
have if 1 had wanted TO. There was
a little comfort in knowing ] had
company in my misery, for all of
the raw recruits ate their chow
standing up as 1 did. But as time
wore on I became toughened to the
work. and developed a contempt for
a nag that lacked ginger
All this time. as YOU can imagine.
we were getting keyel up for war.
We longed for action and waited i'm
patiently for the day when we would
receive orders to move eastward.
The latter part of July. 1917. one
OF my buddies rushed into my tent
one night. and said eNcitedly:
"Reddy. were of for France to-
morrow"
1 thought he was kidding me. but
no. the news was buzzing all over
the camp. and the next morning We
"entrained for parts unknown"
We all knew what that meant-we
were going TO France. going over
seas 10 put the Yankee punch into
the night against the Hun