Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1918-02-09
OSBORNE CASEY
WRITES FROM WACO
TRAINING CAMP


Mrs. j. H. Casey received letter
from Osborne the first of the week |
which will prove of interest to his
friends here. With several pages of
personal matter left out, the letter
was as follows:
Waco, Texas,
Jan. 81, 1918.
Dear Mother:
arrived safely at camp Tuesday
at about ten o'clock, but have been
on the jump all the time getting
Strengthened around, but have few
minutes SO will write a few lines to
tell of my trip and few things
about camp. Although we have not
been out at all because we are under
quarantine Monday to see if any one
is taken sick.
We left Salt Lake at 4:30 Friday
| biiC %oLI oD IhS oHAOu dtlllG, Lhl u
| Wyoming, within seven miles of
| Cheyenne, then we went south thru
Colorado, but | might say that we
had two hours in Denver, saw quite
bit of the town as they were pretty
good and turned us loose there for
while. We went thru Colorado
| Springs at night so did not see much
of those. Our last stop in Colorado
was Trinidad, a small town about
| fifty miles from New Mexico border.
We went thru the corner of New
| Mexico and stopped few minutes
at Dalhaut in the pan handle
of Texas, from there to Ameriala, a
little town about the size of Boise
From Ameralia to Witcha Falls, a
wet town. so of course we did not
get off there That was late in the
evening. Then we came to Fort
Worth, a large training camp, but
we passed thru at night and we
came to Waco where we are now.
The camp is about five miles from
town. There is about 45 thousand
soldiers here so you see it is big
camp.
And talk about air ships. They
are like birds here. | counted as
high as fifteen in the air at once,
some so high you can hardly see
them, while others are about two or
three hundred feet high. They make
so much racket that person can't
hear a thing. Can hear them for a
long distance. They are going night
land day. One fell at the end of our
squad lane yesterday, fell about three
hundred feet, broke the machine but
did not hurt the two that was in it,
only made their noses bleed. Be-
lieve me, | am going to take the ex-
animation for flyer if they will let
me. | sure would like to get up in
one of them have got an automobile
beat all to pieces.
Coming down here the ground was
covered with snow until we got to
Texas, but it was not so cold as 1t
is here. The cold is something
fierce, but they gave us oyercoats,
two suits more of underwear, three
pair of socks, one pair of gloves, one
more shirt, and are going to give us
another uniform and one more pair
of shoes. then we will be all fitted
out. But we sure need all they
give us.
/ don't expect to be here very
long, because they don't let troop
stay very long at place. Expect to
be in the east by spring, or that is
the report now But | never know
Iwhat they will do with us, they might
keep us here and again they might
Isend us across the pond.
can say that ! rode down here on
one of the best troop trains that ever
a was sent out from camp. There
: Twas eighteen cars altogether and all
= lwere first class Pullman cars. There
ylwas one cook car and one baggage
+ lear. All we had to do was to sit In
5 Iour seats and our grub was brought
/. Ito us by some of the fellows who was
: lput on kitchen duty as punishment
d Ian the way on the trip. We were
:. -four days and four nights on the
g trip, but was twenty four hours late
l. The train seemed to make good time
y in the day but went slow at night
Had two engines nearly all thu