Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-09-11
Capt. Corey, His Record and Letter.
CONTINUED from page one).

Well, suppose you would be in
I terested in what we have been doing
since we left the good old U. S. A.
To start with, we had an uneventful,
though for me long and tedious voy-
age. I never did like the water ex-
cept to wash and battle in, and to be
confined for II days on boat, al
though it was large and very nice
boat, the Aurania, I did not like it,
and I do not believe would be tempt
ed to take trip for pleasure, not
even to keep peace in the family. I
was not sick, did not have the least
bad effect on me at ell.
j We sailed from New York the third
of October, and third day out we were
in Halifax. We stayed in the harbor
over night, but did not land, leaving
| the next morning. Fourteen days af-
terward we were in Liverpool, En-
gland. We landed there and entrain-
ed for Southampton, England, where
we laid ever for two DAYS waiting
tor boat across the channel.
We crossed the fourth night in a
cattle boat and landed in Havre,
France, the 22d of October. We re-
manned there one night and two days.
From there we were sent to large
artillery camp in the south of France
in Brittany. There as we had none
of our equipment we were used for all
kinds of labor work, digging trenches,
! putting up targets and building tele-
: phone lines, etc., for the artillery bri-
gade.
The later part of December I drew
sixty horses and started hauling am
munition and supplies for the bri-
gade. Soon after this l was given
charge Of repairing the wagon trans
portation in addition to my other
duties. This in itself was quite a job
for it was in very bad shape and there
were very few men to be had who
knew anything about wagon, but I
knew and after little had an ex-
cellent gang of repair men. This was
very fortunate detail for me for it
gave my mechanics the experience
they needed in this branch of the ser
vice and I conducted this work so
successfully, that when the general
commanding the brigade left, he took
pains to come and thank me person
ally. That in itself is not so much,
but it has been the means of helping
me in more ways than one, and also
division commander. Every little bit
helps, you know.
From there we moved the last part
of February to what was to be the
rest area for the division, who were
at that time in the lines, artillery and
all. Here the surplus baggage for
the whole division was sent for dis
tribution and to me was given the
task of preparing the area for the
same artillery brigade. 1 was given
map and list of towns they were
to occupy and told to put their bag
gage there for them; also rations,
forage and wood, and told that the
division was leaving the trenches in
two days. They gave me twelve big
French trucks besides part of my ten
teams.
1t was some task, but l followed it
night and day and finished it little
ahead of time. Ny old general got
little worried, l guess, a couple of
days before he got in, for he called
/ the area commander on the phone
and asked how the baggage was get
ting along. He answered that he did
not know that Capt. Corey had charge
of the artillery area. He answered,
ooh, if Capt. Corey is looking after
it, it will be all right" Not bad,
was it?
Well, after the division came back
we got the balance of our horses, all
green and without shoes.
AS I suppose you have very little
idea of what an ammunition train is,
/ will give you a brief description Of
ours. There are seven companies,
commanded by lieutenant colonel,
divided into two battalions known as
the Motor Battalion and the Horse
Battalion. The Motor Battalion has
four companies made up of three Of
ficers and lat men, commanded by
major. They rate 80 motor trucks
to the company.
The Horse Battalion is made up of
three companies, two caisson COM
panies, three officers, 189 enlisted
supply the ammunition for the three
inch guns. Then the wagon COM
pany, three officers, 1853 enlisted men.
That is the one / command from
choice We have 200 animals, 48 of
which are riding horses. All my Of
ficers, and nOn-coms, buglers, horse
shoers and mechanics are mounted.
We have thirty-three ammunition
wagons, three baggage and ration
wagons, one rolling kitchen, one wa
ter cart, one ambulance, one medical
cart. All are four-horse teams but
the medical cart which has but one
1t is some outfit to command and
when we get out on the road to move,
the column is over a mile long, and
when we moved up here l moved
5O-car train and had nine wagons and
seven horses that had to go on anoth-
er train.
From June 20 to July 8, we moved
seven times including the move by
rail about 800 miles. We are now
located in one of the most important
sectors Of the front. We relieved a
regular Division who were mostly in
the u. S. when we went into the line.
Guess they think we don't need any
rest. It was very active where we
were before and this sector promises
to give us all the excitement we want
also chance to keep our record good.
We are all proud to belong to the
! Yankee division. It is all made UP of