White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-11-19
Army Life Pictured by
Former Valley Boy

Former Valley Boy
The following letter, written to the
Spokesman by Hanford boy now
member of Battery B, 9th Field Artil-
lery, stationed at Fort Lewis, is be-
ing passed on to our readers. 1t is
an interesting description of some of
the features of army life at Fort
Lewis, where Pep has been for the
last two years and where he is dis
tinguishing himself by devotion to his
studies:
"Dear Editor:
II want you to know just how much
I enjoy reading the White Bluffs
Spokesman. When the paper comes
each week can hardly wait to open
1t and see Just what the news can be
in the Priest Rapids valley. 1t is In
one respect like large letter from
home; It tells the news of White Bluffs
and Hanford and also news Of WASH
ington In general. Sometimes Won
der If you are trying to show that
Pathe has left something out of his
news reel.
have kept track of the league
base ball and basket ball games that
White Bluffs and Hanford are in and
it seems that they are holding their
own, although the other towns are
larger. Sports are one thing the army
has plenty of and besides the battery
and battalion leagues, we play in Ia
coma, Olympia and several other
smaller towns. Training has started
for basketball and one requirement is
to run thirty minutes before practice.
This year the post has organized
football team. It's the first time the
post has had a football team for sew
eral years, due to the fact that so
many men were hurt, and the medical
officers wouldn't permit such a rough
sport.
Possibly it would interest you and
friends who have never been in Fort
Lewis to know something of it's size
and number of men, and the different
branches Of service.
Fort Lewis has an area of $4,000
acres. It is the largest military reser-
walton in the United States. Recently
the government purchased 5000 acres
of land for the purpose of artillery
firing, as the old artillery range was
too short for the large guns which
the Ninth Field Artillery has, as they
are longer range guns than any used
previous to the time the Ninth Field
was organized in this post. The guns
I refer to are 1856 millimeter Howitzer
and have an approximate range of nine
miles.
There are about $500 men stationed
here at the present time, which is con-
siderably less than in 1918, when there
were 100000 men, There are the same
branches of service here now as there
were during the war, with the excep-
ton of the infantry and it is now sta
toned at Vancouver Barracks. at the
present time there are nine different
branches of service stationed here: The
field artillery, engineers, tanks, mill
tary police, quartermaster, ordnance,
chemical warfare, finance department,
and the medical detachment (pill
rollers).
Every year each outfit is required
by army regulations to spend from
two to three weeks in summer camp
and is required to cover at least one
hundred miles while enroute to and
from camp. The Ninth Field Artil-
lery (this is the outfit I'm IND left the
post the morning of August 20, for
Priest Point Park, located two miles
north of Olympia on Puget Sound. We
were there two weeks and during that
time we INDUCED in all sorts or sports,
and those who didn't care for sports
found a great deal of pleasure in clam
digging, fishing, swimming, and boat
ing. On Wednesday and Saturday
to dances in Olympia and enjoyed
themselves very much. On Sunday a
minister from Olympia came out to
camp and held services in the mess
hall. The camp was truly rest camp
as there was nothing to do but eat,
sleep, and enjoy ourselves, and show
me soldier who doesn't like that kind
of life!
After we had been in rest camp for
two weeks we moved to Camp Roy,
which is about five miles southeast of
Fort Lewis. There we established
new camp including a squadron of air.
planes from California and the in
fantry from Vancouver, Wash. The
purpose of this camp was for maneu
vers, such as are used in time of actual
warfare. The infantry was used for
close combat and hand to hand en-
counter. The tanks and chemical war
fare also went with the infantry. The
tanks were the advance party and de-
stroyed all barbed wire ENHANCEMENT
and other obstacles the foot troops
couldn't cross. The purpose of the
chemical warfare was to lay down a
smoke screen so the troops could ad-
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