Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-09-18


Whsa yod nssa "a tho environments
sat down 60 your noonday meal in the
mess-tent and tackle hot roast beef.
fresh vegetables served steaming hot.
ana wind up with ice cream, did you
ever stop TO think that serving hot
1000 IN the middle of the day to the
man np in the front trenches over
4Aera" is the most difficult lob put
up 10 the Qusrtermaster CORPSE
or course, we try to serve three hot
meals a day on the firing line. but
Wnen the shell-dre Is particularly
prlsk We have to be content with enc
not meal. and that one, OF course. is
served at night It is possible to get
Loou fresh from the portable kitchens
into the trenches under cover OF dark
ness, but the German guns would
scramble our service If we attempted
70 make deliveries in the middle of
the day TO all the lighting units
Our mess service at the front Is
very materially affected by the ter
rain occupied. If the trenches are 10
Gated in country that slopes toward
the enemy, it is exceedingly ditlcult
70 move supplies forward in daylight
The bearers would soon attract hot
attention from the Germans.
Ii the trenches are not exposed to
direct shell fire, and there is good
system Of communicating trenches,
we can pick our own mead hours and
serve hot food four or five times day.
Even under the most difficult Circum-
stances, however, we manage to get
not meals to the front at Toast once
every twenty -four hours.
spent some time in France only
few weeks ago, and during that
period there wasn't q report of O miss
under the Once-a-day program How
ever, we cannot stick TO a definite
hour for the hot meal, even at night
II We did. the enemy would soon dis
cover the schedule and make things
lively for the bearers.
Notwithstanding the handiCaps ere
ated by the big guns, the quality OF
the ICod delivered fla the trenches is
exceedingly good. A fair sample Of a
trout-liue dinner would include hot
roast beef, fresh spinach, stewed to-
matoes, potatoes or corn, ice cream
6nd cake, and plenty of coffee with
sugar and evaporated milk.
Although this would not be regard
ed as g remarkable meal on this side
OF the Atlantic, ii is hard one To
serve in.hret-class condition in France
and under heavy shell-fire 1T repre-
SCENTS an overcoming OF exceedingly
diticult transportation probl0ms
Our meat, for example, is par
chased in Chicago, or some other
point ia the Middle West II must
pass the most rigid inspection ever
devised by the United States Army, Is
then frozen and shipped in refrigera-
tor cars to an Eastern port 1er8 il
is refrO5en, packed on board refrig-
orator ship and rushed to France
where IL is frozen for the third time
and transferred in refrigerator cars to
the front AS o result Of this con
slant care, the meat cooked under
shell-fre is better than majority Of
houaekeepers in the United States can
purchase.
The most difficult meals to earve
are those that include fresh vege-
tables and fruit. chicken and eggs
But, with the cheerful cooperation OF
the French people, 1t has been pos
sible to vary the monotony OF regular
army ratiOns. This detail is eutrust
cd to the regulation officers In charge
ot food supplies for one or more dtvi-
sion8, These experts control the dis
tribution of food according to sys-
tenn that insuTes equal treatment Of
Gil regiments
II, for example, a regulating officer
On one sector manages to pick UP some