The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-28
SOLDIER LETTER.
49, a. ~
camp DuETINNI, Ala

to know what can be said about these
subjects that will be new or inter-
esting to the folks at home.
Much, no doubt that is common
place to the average soldier would be
extremely interesting to the civilian.
My letter, therefore, will touch upon
several subjects, thereby hoping to
have some interest for a number of
people
Camp Sheridan is situated about
four miles east of Montgomery, Ala,
in a fat sandy section Of country
Astounding in pine trees, cotton,
watermelons, negroes, ants and mos
quitoes. The camp proper comprises
the 45th, 46th, 67th and 68th in
fantry regiments, the 25th and 26th
machine gun battalions, the engineers
corps, the 421st labor battalion, the
development battalion, the quarter
master corps, the camp stockade, etc,
Nine miles east of the camp is the
rife range, where each soldier of the
infantry regiments is required to do
preliminary and record firing at tar
gets 100, 200, 800, 500 and 900
yards distant.
Twelve miles southeast of Camp
Sheridan is Taylor Field, an aviation
camp. From there the fliers, singly
and in squadrons, constantly hover
over this camp and perform many
stunts in the air, such as the loop
the-loop, the tail spin, and the nose
dive. They are a constant source of
interest to the soldiers.
All told, there are some thirty
thousand men in this camp. The
development battalion, which have
mentioned, is a new and useful
branch of the army. This organiza-
ton is for the benefit Of the soldiers
who, on account of minor physical de-
fects, or illiteracy, are disqualified
for active service. The purpose of
the development battalion is, as its
name suggests, to develop the soldier
mentally and physically Special at
tention is, therefore, given to the
men assigned to this branch, and
many are sufficiently developed to
take up regular duty. Others qualify
for some sort of special duty, such
as military police, etc, A few, how
ever, cannot be developed so as to
be of any value to the service, and
these are discharged.
The Stockade is the name for the
camp prison. 1t is comparatively
easy to get into this place, but ex-
tremely difficult to get out Of it.
Once in the stockade,, the prisoner
is required daily to do drudgery of
various sorts, and he is always fol-
lowed at four or five PAGES by guard
who carries a gun on his shoulder
and a bayonet at his side. All this
is, of course, well known to those
familiar with army life,
A few days ago one of the pris-
oners told me how he happened to be
in the stockade. He rallied to get up
for reveille on two mornings, and
for this offense he was confined for
week to the company street. Dur
ing this week his wife came to town
and he broke confinement and took
her to a show. His lieutenant saw
him there. Result; Three months
in the stoekade and two-thirds of
his pay during his Imprisonment. His
wife appealed to the colonel com
manding the regiment and got the
sentence conmuted to forty-fve
days. Z
The Liberty loan was popular with
o. GERS and enlisted men alike at
this camp. One private from head
quarters company, 45th infantry
subscribed and paid down $1,000 in
cash. This company subscribed a
total of $1G,15O, and the regiment
a total Of $500
Here, as in most camps, the in
fluenza has been widespread, though
the authorities seem to have taken
every precaution to check the spread
of the disease. All classes and meet
ings of groups of men are held in
the open. The ''Y" building and the
theatres are closed, and the ex-
changes are guarded SO that only
few men at a time can be in them.
Tents are furled during the day so
that bed clothes and hunks may get
the sunshine and the side curtains
are rolled and the hoods left open
at night so as to give the men an
abundance of fresh air For the past
two weeks, also, drill has been much
lighter. But in spite of these pre-
cautions, there have been many cases
of influenza, and of pneumonia which
so frequently follows in its trail.
Several deaths have resulted.
Among these is that of Clarence Nc
Anis. Of Greene county. He entered