The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1919-01-15
MEMBER. OF THE 164TH WRITES
!, GLOWING HISTORY OF THE
ACHIEVEMENTS OF ORGAN
IZATION. IN WAR.
IT NEVER ENTERED
ACTION AS A UNIT
Movements of the Regiment Are
Traced From Date of its Mobiliza-
ton to France-It Was Smashed in
January, 1918.

haps in the course of the future when
the cataclysmic days of the recent
past shall have lost their SAVIOR of gore
when the blood which has been shed
in the cause of humanity, justice and
right shall have washed as did the
blood Of Christ, the soul of the mod
ern warld; when the present days Of
suffering and the recent weeks of val
or indescribable shall have by the
metamorphosis of time changed into
q peaceful existence for all men, made
peaceful by the eradication for all
time of the power of the Hun and his
menace ;when the historians shall have
recorded in glowing. phrases and words
the valiant deeds of the men who
fought and won; then it may be pos
sible for you to read and pick out Of
the great volumes the names Of those
you know.
And interspersed through all the
chapters Of the American part in the
conflict will be little notations of deeds
Of men from the northwest.
Censorship is still in force, but the
time for the breaking of silence has
come and I Shall try to note briefly
the history of the regiment once
called the First North Dakota, then
the 164th infantry of the Sunset d.
vision.
As a unit, the 164th never entered
action. However, the story of the
volunteers fro mNorth Dakota is a
story identical with that of the ia
nous First division comprising the
10th, 26th, and 18th Infantry regi-
ments, and the Second Brigade Ma
chine Gun battalion. Z.
Scattered now from one end of
France, to the other, a full need of
their precious life taken to enrich
the soil of France at such tremendous
cost in mental anguish and suffering
to the folks back home, scattered as
the birds in fall, the North Dakota
boys look forward to the day Of their
migration homeward.
The old 41st, division, the Sunset,
was selected upon arrival in France
rs a replacement divisions There is a
melancholy pride to be derived from
that dubious honor. It was signifi-
cant that the men from that division
should have been sufficiently trained
rs soldiers to be made a parcel Of the
veteran division of the regular army
The old North Dakota left Fort
Lincoln, Minot, Grafton and .Williston
on Seternber 80, 1917, and arrived at
Camp Greene, Charlotte, N. c., on
October 4. What transpired there you
know. We left Camp Green on Nov.
S18 and arrived at Camp Mills, Hemp
SHtead, l.. l., on Nov. II. Then the next
move took us to Camp Merit, Tenna-
ydy, N. J.;~on-D ec.-6. For eight days
fwe knew well-heated barracks, COM
sfortabie spring cots, mattresses and
shot shower baths. Then ON December
IA w packed up barrack bags, slung
sthe packs on our backs and hiked two
miles through snow two feet deep for
the train; thru the streets of Hobo
ken and up the gang plank on the Lee
svanithan; the Vaterland Of the kaiser's
pride, humbled to duty as the finest
transport in the world. The old 163rd
infantry Of Montana and the 164th,
several hospital units, about $50 Red
Cross nurses, and the crew Of the
ship, made a total of some 10000 on
board. The story Of that trip is the
same as any other trip and what you
want to know is how the boys finally
landed as there are many of them to-
day in GerraAny.
At Liverpool.
Christmas eve, December "a, 1917,
we embarked at Liverpool, as you have
long since guessed. Then a flying ride
across England to Winchester, and
eight days at Winnal Downs, Morn
Hill camp. On December 81 we went
by train to Southampton and crossed
the channel to LeHavre, landing in
France with the new year.
Thirty hours later we were speeding
southwark. Let's change that one
word speeding. It isn't true; we were
making our way south sounds better.
It was about 3 o'clock of he morning
Of January 3 that we left the crazy
little French cars and hiked out to the
camp at La Courtine, in the depart
ment of Grouse. On January G orders
came.
Twenty-four hours later the pride
Of North Dakota, the pride Of Mon
tana, the ;164th and 163rd, were
smashed. Twenty-six hundred men
(privates) from old regiment were
sent up to the 10th, 18th, 26th and
2sth infantries while the boys from
the Machine Gun companies went to
the First and Second Machine Gun
battalions.
The full history Of the first division
is yet to be written. Back home, as
we could tell from some Of the weird