Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-01-09
DecOrah Soldier Tells About His Ex-
periences SE re Leaving Here
Lag April.
ENLISTED IN U. 81 ARMIES
AT MILEs TY JULY 30
Now at Marine Barracks n Tirginia.
Expects to go to France re
Long.
Marine Barracks,

Editor Public Opinion:
On or about the twentieth of April
l left Decorah bound for North Da-
kota. I'spent about one month in
and near Killer, N. D., small town
on a branch of the Northern Pacific
out of Mandan.
From here / staged across the
country to Dicke1son and from there
on to Miles City, Mont. After stay
ing there a short time I left for Jor-
dan, Mont, by auto stage, a distance
of about ninety-five miles north and
west of Miles City. Here l spent a
couple of months out in the wild
and wooley" country among the cac-
tus and sage brush.
Upon leaving Jordan l came back
to Miles City and on the 3Oth of July
enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps.
The following day another recruit
and myself were given transportation
TO Mare Island, Cal, at which place
we were to receive our preliminary
training. We were forced to lay over
two days at Salt Lake City, which en-
abled us to visit many places Of in
terest such as the Great Salt Lake
ald the Mormon Temple.
We left Salt Lake City on August
Cd and arrived at San Francisco two
days later, having passed through
western Utah, Nevada and the fam
Gus Feather River Canyon of Cali
fornia. Ercm here. we were takea by
boat up the bay distance OF about
80 miles to Vallejo, Cal, where we
were met by a government tug which
took us to Mare Island. After being
there a few days we were given our
final examination and on the 18th OF
August we were sworn into the ser
vice.
Our training in boot (recruit)'
camp took about IA weeks. The drill
was incessant and at times very tire
some, but there were many compensar
tions We had access to a good Ii
brary and after drill could spend
any hours in good reading.
Each evening there was movie"
show was free to ALL Each week we
were given liberty from Saturday
noon until Sunday hight, WHICH en-
abled us to make many interesting
trips. At Napa. Cal, we visited sever
al large vineyards and wineries. At
Frisco we found many places of in
terest. The Golden Gate park was
one of the most beautiful places we
have seen. This park at one time was
nothing but a desert and now has
been filed with trees, shrubs and
flowers from all over the world. The
many miniature lakes TO be found
there are. kept full by gigantic wind
mills which pump water from the
ocean. A trip to China Town at mite
proved very exciting. Most of the
people were in native costume-and
at times we wondered if we were
really in the u. S. at all.
Altogether, our stay in California
was very educational and enjoyable.
Climate conditions were good most
of the time, the weather being bright
and warm.
On November s, we left California
for Quantico, Va. We took the
southern route and were seven days
on the road. At Ell Paso Texas and
New Orleans, La, we were met by
the Red Cross who treated us to hot
coffee, cake and smokes. We were al
so taken out on hikes at different
places along the route Ca hike each
day..
On our trip we saw many very IN
teresting sights. In southern Califor-
MIA we saw many large orange groves.
Several places where we made short
stops we were treated to fruits OF
various kinds.
Our trip across Arizona took us
thru a lot of rough and barren couh-
try, a lot of it being desert.
New Mexico was somewhat on the
same order. We also passed thru the
soldiers camp at Deming making d
short stop there. Western Texas ap-
peared somewhat wild and wooley
like. Further into the state we pas
sed many pretty houses, farms etc
louisiana brought us into the
land of cotton, sugar cane and dar-
kies. Here we saw many interesting
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