The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1919-01-16
LETTERS FROM
HAND CO. SOLDIERS
Stewart Bottum Writes Interesting
Letter Of Convoy Trip and Camp
Life I'm France
France. November gath. 1915

France, November gath, 1918
Dear Father and Folks at Home:
In the A. e F. this is Dads day
when every fellow here is supposed to
write to his father and tell him that
he is still here, a part of the A. K. F,
and also that the Censor has come of
his high horse and permits one to
tell where he has been and what he
has done from the time he started for
France to the present moment. This
dope came out in the last Stars and
Stripes as authentic and while we
have received no order to that effect
from those in authority, I shall write
the letter and release II when the
proper time m l will begin at
The beginning. about the first of June,
so here goes:
While at Camp Humphreys we did
not drill much but helped build the
camp. This was called training us
but in the forenoon we dug in the
sewer for the camp and in the after
noon we cleared out the Va. forests
SO that more barracks could be built.
When we went to Humphreys in May
there we're only two regiments there
and when we left in June there were
four with men coming in all the time.
II was hotter than the very old Ned
there and we still wore woolens be-
cause there was no cotton clothing
sent to camp. l happened to be in
the Orderly Room one day the latter
part of May and noticed that ! was
available for shipment out and had a
bunch that we would go overseas
soon. About the first of June they
sent a hundred twenty out Of our COM
pany into provisional companies that
were to bring us across We drilled
an hour every morning and still dug
sewers and cleaned out brush though
by that time we were on to the way
of putting in our time and doing little.
A man does not go into the army to
dig sewers and clear brush In Virgin
ia. We checked up u clothing. had
our Identification tags punched with
our lame, number and U. S. A. on
them and learned to roll packs. We
were not allowed passes out of camp
and the last few days had to stick
around the camp pretty closely.
Monday afternoon, June 10th, ] be-
lieve, we had supper at four and thsy
fell us in at six p. m. and soon after
we were on our way to France. We
marched a mile or so and arrived at a
siding where there were cars fOr us
and they loaded us in, forty men to a
car. We had a pretty good bunch OF
men, though there were some not sc
good. and we rode all night, arriving
at Camp Merritt about nine in the
morning There they put us in bar
racks and commenced to outnt us
We got dinner about four in the after
noon and the officers started checking
up what clothing we needed. / work
ed in the Office some and spent the
most of the night stamping tags for
the fellows for every man always
must wear two Identification tags
The next day they got the clothing
around and turned us loose for new
equipment and we all got all we
needed from tooth brushes and razors
to socks. We had several physical
examinations there and also at Hum
phreys before we started. Thursday
we got ready for a half dozen inspec'
tons that we're never Held and Sha'
night at midnight they routed US ouI
for breakfast at 100 a. m. Abou'
four we set out for the ferry boat tina
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