Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1918-05-02
Friday, April 5, 1918.
BILL.

Dearest Dad Settled" what a
wealth of meaning and significance that
one little word has. After more than
four months Of moving from place to
place, sometimes at moment snotice,
we have finally landed. When we got
here and got of the train, the otncer
who met our company told us that this
was our permanent headquarters, and
| almost for Joy could have fallen on
mis- neck. Our last camp at B was
very comfortable and we hated to leave
it. We all groaned, some in spirit,
| some actually, when we got orders 10
get ready TO move So once more we
packed our bags and soon we were
travelling in the little dinky trans
through this picturesque France. Al,
fer some hours of more or less ftful
journeying we came to K, a lalr-
sized town, and here we detrainea.
From the station we had nike OF
| couple miles, and since the day was
warm and we had our overcoats ano
packs, we were all pretty we'll warmed
I'D after few hundred yards. Directly
| we came around a sharp bend IN the
road, and there nestled among the
| pines were two or the long, low Amer
lean barracks, and inStinctively our
tired footsteps quickened and sigh OF
relief went up, for there was our home
| for a time, at least
The barracks are typically American,
with their tiers of hunks, hard sand
floor, and except for the windows,
which are covered with cloth, we felt
almost like we were at home. lmme-
| diately we assigned the men their
| places and soon the air was hummlng
with the stir of unpacking and settling
| down. In less than an hour the Kitchen
| force had the field stove set up and
a hot fire was soon getting our supper
ready We got in here at 3 O'Clock IN
the afternoon and our supper, hot, too,
was ready at six. Not so bad, guess.
Well, we did little but explore and plan
| the balance of that day, which was
Friday-Good Friday, by the way-and
nearly all of the men went to bed
early.
When we got here we had just the
| barracks, built right in among the scrub
| pines. Nothing save the actually ne
| cessary labor had been done around the
| barracks, so that it was necessary that
we begin right at the very beginning
| The first thing Saturday morning we
got every man into his overalls and
| Jumper, land soon scrub pines, dirt,
sticks and stones were flying. A main
| road runs about a hundred feet in
front Of our buildings, so that we had
a fine chance for front yard. What
have we accomplished in week? All
of our men worked Saturday and half
| day Sunday. Since Monday we have
sent three fourths of our men out every
| day for work on trucks and automobiles,
which left us a rather small force to 60
| on with our work of the building of our
home But the men that we kept for
the work around the barracks were
the best in the company, and for that
| reason in less than a week we have
transformed the place.
The first real good fortune we had
was the drawing of ton truck and a
motorcycle with passenger side
car for the company work. Since lum-
Der, food and supplies of all sorts have
to come through regular channels, the
motorcycle is used chiefly in going to
| headquarters in town, distance of two
or three miles. Well, we first got lum-
Der, carpenter tools, picks, shovels,
rakes, axes, wheelbarrowS, ETC., and
then the work started. Today we have
the show place of the whole camp,
which is saying a lot. Our front
Yard is graded to finish, with cinder
walks outlined with white stones; we
have two circular flower beds, planted
with something; the lawn has been
Sown with grass seed; and all along
the road front we have a rustic fence
built of white birch, and worked into
the fence is the company number and
| regiment. Then we have built kitch-
en-, too. AT the rear, just between the
two barracks, we established our Gull
nary department. From out in the
woods the men brought in countless
poles, and soon the frame work for the
roof was in place. This was covered
over with tarpaulins, and all the kitchen
is in the dry. Then tables were built,
still rustic, for lumber is scarce; and
while some of the good cooks and
housekeepers might not find all of the
modern convenienceS in our kitchen,
yet we already know apple pie, baking
| powder biscuits, cake, French fried
potatoes, corned beef and hard tack,
and what it may lack in beauty it more
than repayS in efficiency and satisfac-
| ton. Our mess hall is also covered
with tarpaulinS and we have tables and
seats so that we can sit down to eat.
Then we have cleaned out the under
brush all around, we have made
shelves, tables, chairs and all sorts OF
articles from the pine branches, and the
genius of the Motor Mechanics has GER
tainly been in evidence the past week.
One of the men brought in a pair of
Belgian hares the other day. We built
a pen for them out back of the barracks.
We have dog-we annexed him at our
last camp, and his name is "Chow," the
popular name for food in the army.
"Chow" is little brown dog, just dog,
and is as smart as any dog ever saw.
He never misses meal and every man
in the company is his friend. He keeps
our place clear of other dogs, too, and
there are lots of them.
Our orderly room or Office is peach.
We have nice-sized room partitioned
off in the front end of one of the bar
racks, and the supply sergeant and my
self have our hunks in it. Then we
have two desks, a typewriter stand,
various shelves, boxes and other COM
forts. We have things arranged so that
We are very comfortable and we are
looking forward to some very pleasant
times. The officers have private quar-
tiers in the other barracks, and their
place has been fixed up fine, too. II
doesn't take long to tell about the work
| hue 20 49,,
busiest week we have had since We
have been company, and the men have
fallen to the work with a will, for il is
on their own home and for their own
good and We are certainly comfortably
fiXed-they can leave us here for the
duration of the war.
The cleanliness of this place would
delight the best housekeeper in the
State. Every day We have a regular de-
tail of men who do nothing but clean UP
IL.