Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-06-19


the Trip Of First American centin.
gent 10 France and Of Their Entry
Into the Trsnehss-- Describes ArtII.
isry Fire and oss Attacks.
sergt. Floyd NJ. Clark. wounded In
France and invalided home to Fort
hospital. told the story OF the
men General Pershing led to France a.
the vanguard Of the American expedi-
tionary force.
II enlisted at Fort slocum. New
York, and In June. 1914, ! went down
TO Galveston and was signed In with
the Twenty.second infantry. II was
On the way down that got acquaint.
cd with Duck Smith. He's on the
books now a. sergt. Merle O. Smith,
from Dubois. Pa. which II out near
But he's got such short
legs that we just natcherally called
him duck He's the best pal q man
ever Ind. He's sot . heart Of gold
and from the very fifst on we've shared
aud shared alike. And he 10 sure some
talented. He's q natcheral born musi-
cian. BOY. you should hear Duck
blow . bloody cornet. He can play
any instrument he can pick up. II don't
make any difference what the instru.
mcnt II. give him i've minutes and be
begins to get real music out Of II.
"He's always got q guitar with him
and he knows all the music there is.
all them deep Spanish songs you hear
down on tho border and whole string
Of Blues BY the time he gets through
with the Fritxies he'll know all the
music In Europe, too.
"Along In 1915 they organized the
Thirty.nfth regiment and 20 Of us were
taken from each company Of the Twen-
ty-second. 70 help make II up. Then.
In the spring Of 1917. we were TRIMS
ferred to the Eighteenth regiment and
went In the headquarters company.
I was made sergeant just before we
started across.
'In Mny the word went around that
We were at war strength and from
that time % we were getting the hot
news every day that we were going
across. or that we were golne.to be
moved North. or were going b San
Francisco or some other place.
ooss "over There"
"But nothing happened until the
first week In June. when We got the
order to pack up. The dope was that
we were going into camp at Gettys-
burg or at Syracuse. Nobody I knew
had q hint that we were going across.
Of course. everybody wanted to 90
across. but II they had let out where
we were going It would have got
around In no time.
1--WE had fine train with Pullman
cars, they sure gave Us a fine trip.
In France you're lucky to get a ride
In q freight car. We went along easy
and stopped in lot Of small towns.
They never stopped In the big places
we went through most Of them at
night. Finally, we got to Hornell, N.
Y. And that was where we got the
real dope. The word came around
that orders had come to hold up the
trains because the ships had not reach
ed their docks. Then we knew we
were going over. and, boy, I'm telling
you there was some cheering.
"we went on board about eleven
o'clock at night, and that same night
we started ont, but were later held up
for several days. I don't know what
we were waiting for. but when we
started out we had a convoy Of war
ships. In our company we had Dan
ish lad whose father was sea cap
tain. This Dane hid had been In ev-
cry port in the world. Just as soon
an he saw the port he says: We are
going into the port Of -. That
didn't mean much to US, but he told
us II was In France.
swell, boy, want to tell you II is
the prettiest place In the world. II
looks just like a picture, handpainted
picture. 1t IL the prettiest town ]
ever want to see. s1
I'VE were at that camp fourteen
day and while we did quite q lot Of
drilling, we got liberty to 60 back to
the town, and we began to learn their
lingo. They wouldn't let us spend
much money and at that time they
didn't know how much money we got
10 prices were cheap.
Into the Trenches.
"well, we got the kinks out Of our
selves during the two weeks we stayed
at that camp. guess there must Of
been more men coming over, because
one night we gets the word to be
ready to move on the next day. They
moved US In box cars. we were two
days and two nights on the road and
must have gone about 450 miles; II
was q swell trip. The country looked
great at that time Of the year and w
were loaded down with flowers all thu
time. b,
I'VE went Into camp At 49,. which
10 about four miles behind the FROM
line trenches. We were billeted II
barns and stables from Saturday. .upti