The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-10-24
ALetter.
Camp Lewis, Wash.
Oct. ii, 1918.

Oct. ii, 1918.
Rt. Rev. Msgr. e, A. Bouska,
Tabor. So. Oak.
Dear Rev. Father:
No doubt you may
think L have forgotten you, but no,
never think that. Mydeparture Il ON
Tabor was rather a very hurried one,
as 1 received my call from mont, and
did not get time to bid hardly any
one Goodbye aud / had to be there
within q days. Anyhow l made it on
the last day to Mont. The next day
we left for Camp Lewis. There were
six of us sent in place of those that
were rejected from Camp Lewis,
otherwise / would have been sent to
Camp Dodge, la and und ubtly
would have been on my way to France
or tn, r. by this time. Here they have
organized a new division after l was
here two weeks and l was put into
that. 1t Is called the 18th Division
and believe me when we get there we
willnot stop until we are Is miles pass
Berlin. Some say no. IL is an unlucky
number. But we fellows can't see 1t
that way. We have quite a nice
bunch Of boys in our Division, and a
great number Of them are Catholics
We have three X Of G. halls here at
the camp and you al just imagine
that they are full every evening Of
those writing letters and they sure
keep us supplied with writing niateri-
al as we'll as good books, magazines
and and newspapers. They have a
player piano and a phonogIaph there
and both Of them are kept busy at the
same time and when some some sol
dier that can play comes along he is
put to work In a hurry and some OF
the soldiers crowd around and sing. g
Occasionally the X Of 9 men that
are In charge give us an entertain
ment of some kind, and 1t surely is
good too We hear mass every morn
Ing and twice OIL Sunday In the X OF
G buildings and on Holy Days all Ca
tholics are excused from drill to go to
mas. So you see u Uncle Sam is
real good to us. He wants us to 60 to
church.
Camp Lewis is. about fifty miles
from Seattle and sixteen miles from
Tacoma. 1t is south of both these
cities. 1t Is situated In a forest dist
riot mostly pine trees. l never saw
these kind OF trees before i wish ]
could scatter a few around Tabor and
IA few Of the big ones around the
church. l am sure 1t would make
things very beautiful around the
church.
The camp is a real little busy city
Of It's own. Everybody hustles along
On their errands as we'll as those that
drill and everything goes like a clock.
And believe me, the laws sure are
different than ] ever was used to.
I surely'have learned to say the words
"Yes Sir" and have them down real
we'll, as we'll as stored away for fur
ther use. We got a message fr I'm
Washington this noon that the Kali
ser was dethroned and the boys surely
cheered and yelled for quite awhile.
| believe the whole camp was in a ge-
neral uprising. What Will 1t be when
The war is Overt
After retreat in the evening, after
8 o'clock. the boys 60 here and there
about the camp. Some go and see the
new arrivals at the camp. Some ex
pectipg to see some OF their friends
from home cume In and when a train
load Of recruits come In the boys are
all out there to give them a hearty
welcome: others are leaving camp for
others are leaving camp for other
camps. When they arrive here as re-
cruits they stay here for a few weeks
and then they are distributed to diff
ferent CAMPS and some they place in
to our division and when we move we
will 20 direct from here to Somewhere
in france Or Siberia, which may be
sometime in the near future.
l saw your nephew out here about
three weeks ago; James Week and l
went over to see him. He is a very
nice fellow. l will see him again soon
We afe far apart from each other-he
S on one side OF the camp and l on
the other. Its raining here mostly
every day, slightly, Tut when the
rainy season sets in they say It rains
for at least six months, steadily Of
course, | do not know true that is
/ surely enjoyed my trip out to
Camp Lewis, and saw things of which
| never even dreamt The mountain
trip especially. And Oh, how [ would
like to be there, and fish among those
beautiful mountain streams for trout
fish I've seen hundreds OF tourists
fishing for them along the railroad
1t surely mnst be a gamey fish to pro-
duce such great sport in catching him
Now wouldn't you like a fishing trip
like that? I'm sure no mosquitoes