Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1918-02-27
news NOTES. FROM
: CAMP DODGE
Interesting Information From the
Place Where Our Boys
Are Training.

Division Headquarters, Camp Dodge
Iowa, Feb. 25.-Let's go.
This is the spirit of the eighty.
eighth national army division here to.
day. The influx Of approximately 49,
900 additional men drawn for service
from Iowa and Minnesota has put ~
y newed life into the command which
for four months has labored along
with far less than it's authorized
strength.
1t will be the end of the week before
the last OF the new recruits has passed
thru the registration building, but the
prospect of the division being on a
war-strength basis has put pep" into
both officers and men.
Immediate prospects for the men re-
porting this week are not extremely
bright. Every possible precaution is
being taken to prevent the possible ad-
vent of contagious diseases. It is pre-
sumed the new recruits will bring a
number of diseases such as mumps,
measles, scarlet fever, chicken pox and
perhaps the dreaded spinal menengit-
is with them
"~To prevent spreading these diseases
among the soldiers already here, a two
weeks quarantine has been establish
ed for the newcomers. This means
that they will not be permitted to leave
the camp site, except under unusual
circumstances-wih not be permitted
to mingle with the other soldiers, will
nave separate messes and quarters,
and will not be allowed to enter the
Y. M. c. A. buildings, the Knights of
Columbus halls, the Liberty Theatre
or any other community centers for
two weeks
During this period they will receive
their physical examinations, be mus
tered into the service and their cloth
ing and equipment be issued to them.
AND an odd feature of the work of
Quitting the new recruits was learn
ed In dealing with the first and second
increments.
All good soldiers have big feet"
mas been a proverb in military lore
for ages.
The Eighty-eighth division is no ex-
ceptlon only it went one better and
developed bigger men all around than
the War department contemplated.
AS regards shoes, especially, how.
ever, warning has been issued to
s-aiV1sion supply officers to be sure and
s2lYe the soldiers shoes that are plenty
big enough.
1t doesn't seem probable that after
man has attained the age of saw
thirty years that his feet should sud
denly take a notion to grow. This is
the case, however, as demonstrated nv
the first soldiers to report at the can
Torment.
Inc division surgeon reports that
after so-called foot and shoe survev
II was found seventy-fve per cent of
Inc men were wearing shoes too small
1or them. In one organization the per.
centage was ninety-four.
M1ntary training has tended to
broaden and thicken the feet of the
men until most of them are wearing
snoes two and three sizes larger than
/ tney ever wore in civil life,
IN the matter of clothing too, it was
discovered the development Of back
arm ana leg muscles amounted to
notn1ng less than the soldiers "out-
j growing their uniforms in manv in.
stances.
The matter of localfzing the soldiers
I VINO are reporting this week has been
(mod1ned and almost entirely done
away with by the military authorities
Col. X. P. Howell, commanding the
Three Hundred and Thirteenth Engi
neer regiment, who has charge of the
registration of the recruits. will moi
adhere to the original plan used in as
(sign1ng the embryo soldiers whereby
they were placed anon friends and
ne1ghbors whenever practicable.
No other selectives have been mr.
aered to report from North Dakota O,
gNois.
1.-The entire $4,000 men are coming
from Minnesota and Iowa and should
the original plan be adhered to Il
would leave the Three Hundred and
Forty-ninth Infantry made up of mi
lois recruits and the Three Hundred
ind Thirty-eighth field artillery made
sp of North Dakota men without addi
ions to their ranks while there still
you'd probably be surplus after the
Minnesota and Iowa organizations hal
,een filed.
Therefore the total number of me1
sporting under the present call vii
e prO-rated among the various organ
~sAoAAS' AO OllCoIS Cu0 various
organizations will be stationed at thu
egtstration on certain days during thu
0Veek and will take all the recruit,
hat come on that day. For instance
n Saturday the officers from tn,
'hree Hundred and Fiftieth Infantr,
eg1ment, the three hundred and Thir
y-ninth field artillery regiment. tn,
: 7hree Hundred and Thirteenth sunni,
rain and the 313th Ammunition Trai,
VIII be stationed at the registra
ION building and will take for thei
respective organizations all the selec
lives who report on that day.
AS nearly as possible it has been ar
ranged to have the officers of the rep1
fats representing the districts from
=. Gch the selectives are expected OF
.zty the day the men from this dis
Strict are scheduled to arrive.
| Maj. Gen. E. H. Plummer, divisio,
commander, has returned from thre
months tour of the Western front i,
France and Flanders with the wor
that Americas weight of national arm
men in the front line trenches vii
mark the end Of trench warfare.
The commander is optimistic r.
sarding the outcome of the strugelt
Crack rifle shots and the best of d.,
;ipline he says are the two essentis
.h1ngS which can and will ho +ourh