The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-05-02
(WNU Service, l3i3 II. Street, N. w.
Washington, ID. c.

WASHINGTON - There is dry,
white mud on my feet and white dust
in my eyes My nose has taken on
Slightly more roseatc tingc than
usual.
From early this morning l
watched n segment of Uncle Sans
new army through driving mist OF
memories which are all that is left
OF the young army with which |
marched Is years ago.
| heard that irritatingly familiar
cadence of rcvcillc come floating
across n Virginia parade ground-a
once green field now SCARED with
thousands of hob-nailed boots.
saw the slccpy-eyed youths pile out
of fresh, wooden barracks, looking
no younger in their neat Stacks and
canvas leggings than we looked to
each other in our lumpy wrap leg
gings and baggy brooches. saw
the ones in blue denim, ready for
fatigue duty, looking just as we did.
Did we snap more precise
salute?
Did our middlc-fngers stretch
down a little straightcr along the
seam of our trousers, and our chests
puff out a little farther when we
came to "shun"7 We're we a
little more solemnly important when
we changed guard, with our sentries
at stiff port" barking special or
ders" at each other in our best imi-
tation of the way the sergeant
barked at us?
Well, maybe. And maybe the sun
shone brighter then than it does to-
day, too.
Visit Fort Belvoir.
The camp ] visited is Fort Belvoir,
down the road a bit from Mount
Vernon, and the highway there di-
vides the old and the new Bclvoir
has been a permanent engineering
camp since the last war and now,
across the road, is a new soldier-city
of freSh-cut pine, which stands where
the pine trees themselves stood, only
few months ago. This replace
ment camp eventually will accom-
modate 10000 men who. like the Sui
tan, in Omar Khayyam, take their
one days rest-only instead OF
day, it is Is weeks and il is no rest
Here the boys, classified for the
Engineer corps, get their first taste
of army life, drill and discipline.
On this spot I saw familiar sights
and others, strangely unfamiliar to
soldier of the emergency Of 1917
1919.
There was the Post Exchange, an
institution as old as an army post it.
self But in one corner was a foun-
tain dispensing ice cream sodas, and
in another, taproom dispensing the
amber huid-Both beverages I'M
known in the camps of my soldering
| days.
| saw the familiar barracks-but
these were equipped with an air
circulating system.
saw the neatly made cots but
also saw a hostess house-at that
moment housing q bevy OF chorus
girls who were putting on a Broad
way review for the boys that night.
met the hostess, a motherly
woman and two junior hOstesses-
but not so junior that the girls back
home need be too jealous
Civilian Trimmings Retained.
Frankly, / went TO the camp look
ing for signs of cream puff at
mosphere that some Of the old
timers limited were turning military
life into sort Of prolonged college
reunion. Perhaps that is happen
ing. But the officers in charge OF
recreation with whom | talked were
typical, serious military men. They
said it was necessary TO provide di-
version and entertainment We are
not at war Important as the de
Tense OF democracy may be, so far
the spirit of the crusade has not
touched the people. The pcOple-in
uniform and out-must not be allowed
20 feel that this period before the
colors is an interruption IN citizen
life, but rather a part OF it And
the normal habits of the civilian
must not be cut of from the boys
in camp That seems to be the
theory Of the trimmings" which the
selectcc is being offered by Uncle
Sam
saw work. TOO. Men shoulder
ing shovcls as well as rifles swing
ing pick-axcs as well as doing SEN
try duty
went over a military road that
had been cut out of forest and
swamp, crossed a bridge strong
enough to carry a tank, all built be-
tween morning and mid afternoon