Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-02-26

o'clock to roll packs to leave for our
future drilling place to prepare to go
to the front. Leaving for Brestswhere
we boarded box cars soon had us on
on our way. Passenger coaches were
mighty. scarce. These coaches go by
classes, SO, to. speak, first class by one
mark on the side, the second class by
two marks and the third by three
marks. The coaches accommodate
about thirty. people: The. seats are
made the whole width of the car and
each side has four doors. There are
sideboards on each coach. The offlc-
ers had first class coaches. We were
given French box cars and each car
contained 80 men. The French ride
40 men to the car. We had dinner on
the train before leaving as the train
did not pull out before four o'clock in
the afternoon. The large cities passed
thru were Landerneau, Landivisiau,
Morlaix, Guin Camp, .Chatelaudren,
Plouigneau, Plourret, st. Br1luc, Lam
belle, Rennes, Wire, Laval, Lemans,
Nogent LaLoupe, Chartres, Rambouil-
let, Versailles and we passed through
the outskirts of Paris at 800 o'clock
saw the Eiffel Tower. The other cities
were Rrunoy, Melun, Moret Romilly,
Troyes, Veneuores, Chaumont. We
arrived at Langres Tuesday after
noon October 1st, at 400 o'clock. We
did not enjoy the trip very much be-
cause we did not get very much sleep.
Some of us had to sleep while others
were standing on account of lack of
room. It was rather cold also, and
corned willy and hard tack were our
eats. The Red Cross served coffee to
us twice on the road.
We stepped off the train at Langress
and took our IS pound pack ana hiked
out of St. Ciergues, which was located
81 miles south west of there. The bat
talon was stationed at that village
and we were quartered in barracks.
St. Ciergues is small village Of a few
hundred inhabitants. ~. The adjacent
villages were St. Martins and Bouche-
min. There we received short order
drills, gas mask drills and hand gran
ade throwing for a few weeks until
machine guns and rifles were issued to
us. The distance to the hand grenade
field was five miles.
Influenza at Camp.
While at St. Ciergues our battalion
received bad attack Of influenza and
pneumonia. There were one hundred
and fifty cases of Sickness, causing
the death of one of our officers, Lieu.
tenant Whitcombs of Co. B. and five
other men from the battalion. Among
those who died being George Friaut
of Hutchinson and Frank VIM Coolen
of Company A, from Willmar; the lat.
ter died from pneumonia on October
26th. He was first taken seriously Ill
at the barracks and taken to a hospi
tai in Langres. The unfortunate
soldier was buried in a cemetery at
that place.
During our stay at St. Ciergues, q
company was on water detail for q
period of "a hours at time carrying
water from the village to the barracks
which was not very easy Job be
cause of very steep hill. Besides
drilling there was also road detail.
A Y. M. c. A. was also at the camp
But we did not get any daily. papers
here on account of it not being a rail
road town. Daily papers could be
purchased at Langres, papers which
were published in Paris. The papers
were Daily Mail, New York Herald
and Chicago Tribune.
Various BattaIions and their Training
All the anti-aircraft machine gu1
battalions had received their training
near Langres. The fifth machine
gun battalion arrived about November
list, at Bouchemin which is about II.
miles from St. Ciergues.. Most Of tn.
men from the Fifth Battalion wer,
from Chicago, although three Of then
were Kandiyohi boys. They were Car
Covell, Headquarters Co. Of Atwate1
Clarence Peterson, Co. A. also from
Atwater, and Arthur Hanson OF Will
| mar The latter was transferred t,
Langres as truck driver 55-@
r The Fourth Battalion received abou
six weeks Of Machine gun drilling
The machine gun used was the Hotch
kiss which weighed about ~ pounds
The tripod and traversings head weigh
ed seventy pounds. The forenoon
| drilling was on the parade near tn
barracks, while the afternoon drilHn
was the firing at ballons. The car
ridges used were "a on q strip whic
were self feeding. The rifles were th
Enfield. We drilled with them e
about 10 days. I s..s... s. s,
While drilling with the machtn
guns, our targets were small ballon
The drill field was about and
half from the barracks. One evenin
we had to hike to an evening nf4n
field which was i've miles Of. TWely
machine guns we're allowed to eac
company. The guns had to- be kel
very clean and an inspection Was he
every Saturday,
The battalion was due to be at Il
front the 18th, Of November, whis
, Twas only six days after the armisti,
was signed. Major q. ]. QdAne spel
4 q month at the front and saw "a
!, battles at Prand Pre-, ChampigmueN
Bois de L0ges and Muese.
: Major Quane ID from st. Peter q
served In the Spanish NJ
s also at the Mexican border 90 BAIT,
q Ion AiJptent Of the Second mfsntl
. Minnesota atienal Guard
! aks nsady q Nstur1s,
The 5sdss 81 1naeaine SunaW