The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record., 1918-06-20
ANOTHER LETTER FROM
CAMP DODGE
A Member of Co. K 3soth Infantry
Writes to the People of Bates
County.

L ~~ASeee~Se
Writes to the People of Bates
EE County.
Camp Dodge, Iowa, June 10. 1913.
To the Editor of The Times
Thinking that perhaps the people o
Bates county might be interested ii
the life the boys from that county are
leading at Camp d. dge, will tr,
and tell something about it.
II We started on Our journey to wal
on the night of May 2o and the mex
afternoon we arrived at Des Moines
land from there we were taAen to
Camp Dodge, which is IL miles from
there. We will never forget the
lunch that we had at the Elks club
before we left and neither will we
ever forget the good people of Dates
county who gave us such send-oti
that every boy was happy when he
left Butler. At Harrisonville, where
the train stopped for a few minutes
we were met by crowd of girls who
went up and down the train shaking
hands with the boys. After sun UP
the next morning the engineer of the
train never had to .low his whistle
as every boy was yelling so loud
that they could hear us coming.
When we arrived we were SO hoarse
that we could hardly talk Most of
the towns through which we pass =
were decorated with flags and many
of the farm houses had big flag out
and some of them had several. --.ter
our arrival here we were given shot
of typhoid fever serum in the shoul-
der. Since then we have had another
and will have still another next Sat-
urday. That will be the last, if it
takes. If it does not take they will
keep on giving it until it does take
Mine sure took so | will not have to
take any extra. One boy in Co. X
failed to pass the examination on ac-
count OF weak heart. He was one
OF those who did not want to come at
first, bur tears came in his eyes when
he was told that he would have to 60
home. He said that he had gotten
acquainted with the bunch and liked
the life so. far as he had gone and
did not want to leave it all and go
home. We are stationed in big
two-story barracks. 1t had rained
considerable since we got here and
considerable of our drilling was done
indoors for the first few days. Each
man is equipped with a mess kit,
which he must wash and keep clean
himself. We are fed in a big mess
house and have plenty of good food
to eat. The soldier of today is treat
ed far different from the boys of 62-
Is. We have talking machine in
very nearly every company. We
have base ball, foot ball, and have
plenty of time to play every game
there is every day after drill. We
have mess at six o'clock and after
that we are off for the day. Our
captain is young man named Walk
err, and at first we did not like him
at all. He has voice that can knock
a brick out of wall when he gives
a command and we all hated to see
him come around at all, but the more
we saw of him the better we liked
him and we think that he is the kind |
OF man that we will like to follow.
When he gives command you know
that it goes and that he will go
with it. We are supposed to
get our uniforms next week. The
Bates county bunch are all separated
and | am all by myself in Co. H.
want to say to the boys that are in
the next call that this is not the dogs
life that many supposed, and | am
only sorry that / was not in year
ago, and by now, I would have been
over there. There is man here
that has been here for some time and
he tells us that we get as much train
ing now in ten days as they got i'll
that many weeks year ago. l am
able to go through all the drills now
and not make a mistake. 1t is a ,
whole lot like the old school days.
After the lessons then come the ball
games and play. Another thing that
reminds one of school is the drill,
when one makes mistake he must
90 to the foot of the squad and the I
nan that gets the head the oftenest
gets command Of the squad. The I
that we hear oftenest is ,
get some pep into it, or make it
'nappy." But the boys all like it I
md not one of them want to go +
'ack. In my next letter I will try /,
md describe the camp as the man
Who has never seen. one has no idea f
What it is like. ID
Goodbye. From "Jack the Kaiser
<iller.' a Bates county boy in Co. X, v
5oth infantry U. S. A. s