The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-08-03

although suffering from gastric ul-
GERS. Having been previously re-
jected when tried to enlist. I
was glad enough to be taken in the
draft, though wondering vaguely
how l would fare on Army fodder.
I found out soon enough. Switch
ing overnight from light, bland
diet to italian meat balls for break
fast, I lost every meal 1 ate for
two weeks. At first 1 reported to
the infirmary daily, but after be-
ing told by the mail-order doctor
from the Kentucky mountains who
was in charge that I had a sour
stomach and should eat sour
pickles to counterfeit it, 1 decided
it would be better to starve in
silence. However, when I lost 20
pounds in a few weeks I returned
in desperation to the infirmaryI
was hustled off to the base hos
pital and after a months obServa-
ton, during which my Illness was
diagnosed as diabetes, cancer, tumor
gall bladder trouble and few
other ailments which slip the men,
DRY, I was operated on. Only then
would the learned diagnosticians be-
lieve that my trouble WIS exactly
what had told them it was-good
old-fashioned journalistic ulcers.
Two weeks after the operation
with a still unhealed wound ir my
abdomen almost a foot long, was
back walking guard-armed with a
club in lieu of a rifle.
Army fare on this side wasn't bad
in the last war, but it didn't begin
to compare with the scientific diets
on which the modern u. S. SOL
dier is built up. However, there
Is only one word for the slum-
gulliion on which we subsisted over
seas-nauseating. Almost without
variation the meal served to Us three
times day consisted of black, I'M
sweetened coffee, unbuttered bread
an an unpalatable stew made OF
carrots and Gamer corned beef
Strangely enough, we seemed to
maintain a fair standard of health
on this diet.
The A. E. F. of 1918 was not the
answer to what the well-dressed
soldier should wear. 1t has been
mentioned before that there were
only two sizes of UNIFORM toe
large and too small. AS a mite
of six feet four, 1 don't have to
tell into what classification I fell
still retain painful memories OF
coat sleeves that ended halfway
up to my elbow, and of breeches
that wouldn't give at the knees
whenever I tried to sit.
RAW RECRUITS TO THE END
When we joined the army there
was report that there was a
monthly salary connected with job
For a long time, however, there
was no way of confirming this
The popular marching song, "AlI
We Do Is Sign the Payroll" was
not written in jest. Finally, just
before we sailed back to America
the long-lost paymaster caught UP
with us.
My long-range impression of the
Army OF 1918 - at least OF the draft
divisions is that there wasn't
head or tail to it. We had only
the scantiest information as tc
what was going on in the front
lines several hundred miles away
There didn't seem to be any over
all plan that involved us. If the
reports that reached us were true
we were to have gone into the lines
as relief division along about D.
cember, 1918, but on that hazy No
vember day when the second and
correct report of the signing OF
the armistice reached us, we were
still practically as green as when we
arrived at the cantonment back in
the States as raw recruits. If I had
to do it all over again, I'd prefer
to approach it the new way. Even
though its costing The country in
finitely more, know the new way
the the right way.