The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1921-01-26
''BOBB|f" BURNS 4.
(: TELLS OF SOLDIER
LIFE IN HAWAII.



Mr.. and Mrs. Ridgeway Burns are
in receipt Of the following letter
from their son, Robert. in which ne
tells of his experiences in army life
since his enlistment.
Schofield Barracks, Dec. "a, 20
Well folks at home. haven't got
q letter for nearly two weeks and I
thought maybe the price Of stamps
had gone up so / will write my en-
listment out from the time. | have
started.
1t was the 18th of August thot
/ would enlist so / did. Stayed in
Ionia that night, took the next noon
train for Grand Rapids. passed the
examination and left Grand Rapids
on the four forty-five train for Chi
cago. Got in Chicago at IL O'Clock
that night and went to special
train for Jefferson Barracks, st.
Louis, Missouri, passed an examina-
tion there and was sworn in. Stay
ed in Jefferson Barracks for 9 days,
3 days of that time l worked in
government dairy and the other
days all we had to do was stand
reveilie and chow call and retreat.
Shipped out OF there and went to Fort
Mcdowell, Angel Island, California.
/ done 6 days X. p. and that was all
except standing reveille and chow and
retreat calls. On Saturday, went
to San Francisco. We took the
Great Northern liner for Honolulu,
the goth of September and reached
Hawaii the 25th of September. On
the boat, / done one days X. p.
Oranges, lemons, eggs sold for 20
cents apiece, pies, for $3.50. Got
at Schofeld Barracks on the 25th
from maneuvers. We stood recruit
drill. We drilled mounted in the
morning and on foot in the after
noon, for 8 weeks, then we were
turned to duty. Now we drill three
hours a dav. This is the. way we
drill. Reveille at $50, eat at TOO
police up around the barracks until
7:30 then we go to the stables and
saddle up and go out and drill until
10:30, come in, clean equipment till
11:00; from 11:00 till 1870 groom
horses, then we don't do any more
the rest of the day unless we are de-
tailed on X. p. or fatigue; stand re-
treat at 4:45, then through for the
day. Saturday inspection &:00-9:00
That is all we drill.
get all you send me SO don't be
afraid to send me anything. We had
a swell Christmas dinner. was on
guard, had more than we could eat
of pie, cake and ice cream.
With love- to all, from
/ Pvt. Robert Burns.
Troop e., 18th Cavalry, Schofield
Barracks, Hawaii Ter.
The following letter was sent to
the editor and is undoubtedly from
some of the young soldier boys with
whom "Bobbie'' has been talking
about Belding.
Schofeld Barracks, Honolulu, Ht.
Dec. 26, 1920
Dear SIR
AS l am a lonesome soldier boy
and away over here far from the
states, would like to hear from some
nice American girl, | thought
would write you and see if you would
be so kind as to give my address to
some young lady as l would like very
much to hear from some of them or
if you will put my name in your pa
per and also my address saying that
would like to correspond with some
young lady from there and if there
is any charge will be perfectly will
ing to pay all charges and hope it
will not be any trouble to you to do
this just put my name in your paper
and fix it so they all will read it. l
would prefer the girls would get it
that works at the silk mill. There
is one there, is there not. / believe
there is. This is beautiful coun-
try over here, it is summer all the
time. We never have any snow here
at all. The flowers are in bloom the
year around and the climate is
immense never gets cold. We are just
about miles from the ocean and we
can go to the beach and have good
time when ever we want to.
We have the largest army post in
the world, here. There is about 20,-
900 soldiers over here and we expect
to get more. We also have a svery
nice post here.
We have wireless stations all over
the island. We have a west point
school here but it isn't so hard here.
1t takes about five days to come
from San Francisco over here and it
is very nice trip over the brink
deep. Well, as / haven't much more
to say that would interest you l will
close, hoping to here from you real
soon or some Of the young ladies
from there.
/ beg to remain,
1.-TWO WISE GUYS),
Corp. f. d. Virgins and Corp. +.
X. Green. a
Co. z. Signal Corps, Schofeld
Barracks, Honolulu HIT.