Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-04-30

handing; Company G, Captain H. A.
~Sternhagen, commanding; Company
D, Captain Willard E. Olson, COM
handing.
AS soon as these four companies had
been examined and mustered into serv-
ice they were formed into a provisional
battalion with Major Jesse B. Foote in
command and distributed through the
state to guard important industrial
features.
The third contingent of four COM
panies was now ordered from their
home stations to mobilize at Fort Har-
rison. They were Company M, Cap
tain Walter Verge, commanding; Com
pany L, Captain James Gleason, COM
handing, and Company G, Captain
William Puppy, commanding. These
companies were formed into a third
provisional battalion with Major Eras-
tus H. Williams, the present Adjutant
General of Montana, in command.
On July Is, 1917. the End Montana
Infantry merged into the army Of the
United States and became the l63rd
Infantry. Up to that time, only one
battalion with the machine gun COM
pany, the regimental headquarters
company and the regimental %headquar-
tiers had remained at Fort Harrison.
Shortly after that time, however, the
regiment was modified there and was
scheduled to be moved to Palo Alto,
California. These plans were changed
and the first provisional battalion with
the machine gun company were Or
dered to Charlotte, North Carolina, and
the remaining units were stationed at
strategic points throughout the state
to afford protection to industries and
the movement of trains carrying draft
ed men to concentration camps.
The skeleton organization of the
Third Washington, D. c., Infantry was
transported to Charlotte, North Caro-
lima and there absorbed in the organ
ization of the 163rd Infantry. Lieu
tenant Colonel Anton Stephan, now
major general in command of the 46th
division, became lieutenant colonel of
the l63rd Infantry and second in COM
mand. The officers and men of the
Washington, D. c., organization were
well trained men and formed a valua-
BILE accretion to the regiment.
On October 81, 1917, the two bat
talions of the regiment still in the
state entrained at Fort Harrison for
Camp Mills on Long Island where the
entire 41st division was modified pre-
p%aratory to sailing for the theater of
war. All of the month of November
was spent in this camp. Continuous
training was carried on despite in
clement weather conditions while or
ganization of the division for war serv-
ice was being effected.
Late in the month of November the
regiment was filled to wa strength of
$50 men to the company, with men
of the first draft in Montana. The
recruits received were the cream of
the first draft; men of splendid ply
sique, a high moral sense of duty and
an earnest and unqualified desire to
serve their country.
About two weeks prior to sailing, the
division was moved to Camp Merritt,
New Jersey, and quartered in the bar
racks there, then only partially COM
pleted. The weather being severe, the
buildings, while only actually shells,
were welcome to the men after the
months in Camp Mills where tents
we're used and the heavy rains and
cold weather had impressed every man
with the truth of Sherman's classic
definition of war
Tramping through two feet of snow
in bitter cold, on December l the 163rd
Infantry moved from Camp Merritt
to the nearest railway station to en-
train for the port of em~barkation. on
arrival at Hoboken in the afternoon
of that day, the organization was de-
lighted to find that it was to sail on the
Leviathan on its maiden journey as
a transport.
No convoy attended the Leviathan
on this trip, the navy depending upon
its speed and a zig gag course for pro-
lection against the U-boat menace
Six-inch rifles had been mounted on
the top deck and were brought into
play m time when a German sub
marine was sighted. When off the
coast of Ireland, the transport was
picked up by some British ~destroyers
and conveyed to Liverpool where it
was docked on the night of December
%, 1917.