Grand Forks herald., 1918-08-31
FIRST CAMP II ON
OTHER SIDE IS
GREAT AFFAIR
Covers $500 Acres; Troop.
Sent There After Leav-
ing Transports.

=, - o.opUt 0Hu HOW On tAelT way 70
their first camp, packed the streets
from curb to curb and stretched
away for miles. It was four miles and
uphill most of the way-through city.
Suburbs and country lanes, from the
sea front to the great reception camp
located outside the town, one Of the
largest camps in the world and ca
pable OF caring for the population Of
metropolitan city. Hour after hour
from s this morning until late this
afternoon the steady tramp Of march.
ing thousands had been going on, for
this steady stream is the army Of
$4,000 just. arrived on 13 American
transports, making the record de-
barkment from ship to camp within
twelve hours.
With Major x, the engineer officer
OF the camp, we. skirted alongside this
moving stream from the landing to
the camp. and had an. opportunity Of
seeing each stage in the huge move-,
ment up to the time the tired march.
ers pitched their shelter tents on the
soaked grounds and crawled inside
to sleep. Stirring as it was to see
these men come to SWELL the million
men in the American ranks, yet there
wasSa grimness and grayness to the
scene suggesting the stern reality Of
war.
A steady .downpour swept across
the ranks and the men were dripping
as they trudged through the rain
soaked mud. They were at rout-step.
without the regularity Of parading
troops, and each man carried, besides
his rifle, all his belongings on his
back, 20 pounds of tent, blankets,
clothing, shoes, and all the miscella-
for\ the front. Their last camp was
in the well-equipped cantonments Of
the United States, where they slept on
cots and had semblance of modern
comfort. Now they were on the war
swept soil Of France and had seen the
last of cots, and comforts. 1t was
| their first glimpse of real war conGi-
full shuts hie eyes to the grimness Of
| war. .e-s7
There are more troops arriving"
said the mayor as he led the way,
than the total strength Of the Unit,
ed States army short time ago."
And with such an influx we have to
provide a very elastic camp, capable
OF immediate expansion from thou
sand up to a hundred thousand men,"
=. The major was well qualified to ex-
plain the magnitude of the work, for
he had been chief constructing en-
gineer of the New York subway sys-
tenn, had planned and built good
part Of the system. and had made the
population figures on which subway
construction was based.
| "To get an idea of the camp" he
said, compare it with Central park.
We have $500 acres here, Central
area of New York city on Manhattan
Island is only 41,000 acres.''
I'VE never take field Of growing
grain," said the major, "but as fast
as the grain Is cut we take over the
fields, and with harvest time we'll ad-
vanced this entire farming section
will soon be turned into an Aniehcan
fcamp." ,..,
In one Of the fields where we stop
ped to see the men, two battalDns Of
500 men each just marched lin and
were preparing to pitch their tents
The great stretch Of ploughedground
just cleared Of grain was rain-soaked,
and the storm had set in for the
: night. The men stood ready, each
stakes and lash it against the ele-
ments, and then crawl in. It seemed
an endless wait for all the formali-
ties of laying OUT the camp with en-
gineering exactness, yet all of this
was essential to the smooth running
of such. large concern, At last the
stakes were driven and soon the great
little khaki mounds, about as high as
a mans waist. called pup tents by
the soldiers probably because they
look like dog houses Under the tent
there is just room for two lying down,
and IL the ground is soaked as 1t is
tonight, the rubber pancho keeps out
some of the water and kindly nature
and the iron Of youth must do the
rest.
This was only one typical camp of
the hundreds lining the roads for
miles in this vast reception camp.
Field kitchens and. water carts were
wheeling up to all the camps as the
tents went up. Filtered water is
brouht in hogsheads and each COM
mand has it's apportioned lot of hogs
heads. Later on there will be splen-
did system Of water mains for the
whole camp. But here are the men,
in a day. Sc. instead Of waiting for
12-inch mains the primitive hogs
head is filling the gap. Each man
carries his emergency ration for three
days.. Some Of them were nibbling it
before climbing into their pup tents,
but most of them waited for the
. smoking field Kitchen to get into ac-
ton with its cooks, serving out hot
coffee and hot soup and meat. The
item of feeding an army with pre-
cision is in itself a gigantic task.
1--WE served 100000 meals last
month";" said Major X, "or 100000
army ratiops Of three meals to the
ration s4,,, N
And besides all the feeding and
| watering and sanitation there is the
immense paper work" Of such an
Organization. There are 1928 separate
organizations in the $4,000 men, Just
arrived. Each Of the ,12s must be
sorted out and brought together. and
every individual soldier Of the $4,000
must be identified and accounted for
60 as to guard against losses, and
then each Organization ana man must
have his detail,to one OF the sectors
Of the. fighting front. This paper
work" as 1t is called, is prodigious.
and like everything military. It must
be done with absolute preciaion. And
the paper work calls for paper, which
is very hard to get.
when headquarters called for a
map Of the camp the other day. said
major, they got 1t all right, ON the
only paper which could be found,
1 which was brown wrapping paper.
But It was q good map. and the
/ :.