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PROMOTION INTRANSPORT WORKalt; in*J. IT. Hrovvri, university student who!cv was elected captain of the First ' to F'riends of France ambulance unit, to;Sn leave this city, is now lieutenant in j yo the motor transport. section of the)no American held service, according to1”1: a letter received by D 1 . Kliugamnn, i lt;v also a university student, this week. Ho 1 lis letter follows: i 111lt;lt;ththlyofsithethSince we arrived in France I have done many things and have hern in many places. First I went to a motor transport training camp ami now am chef or lieutenant of thct California section. The chief of a section in the service is in direct charge of twenty- j^1 four five-ton Pierce Arrow trucks and | V(' about SO men. i“In about ten days 1 will he sent to an officers' school for intensive training, after which T will probably he given a new section. Guv Calden and Hank Howard will probably go to|C(' this school with me and at the end of school will become chefs.Many Enter Aviation.“Herb Kendall and Phil Embury are expecting to enter aviation in the near future. Many of the fellows will enter artillery or aviation and some will remain in thA transport service.The other night we went up to the 220 c. in. batteries and had a ercat night of it. We always wear steel helmets and gas masks while near the front. We have had one experience with gas and I don’t care for another.“I suppose that everything in the states is all excitement while over here war is by now a huge steady\vsi l I ar! Y .cr11V(Kci.)atcctaIS\vLat\vscS:rcfFFwcliuTVIt»stloac:business with excitement only now arid then. '‘This afternoon I had 22 trucks, or as we call them camions, on the road. They were scattered all over the road and 1 had some job to keep tab on '.them all. 1 have a Ford which plays 11 the part of a shepherd dog, it being . j necessary to know at all timcft where your trucks are located.‘('his is the beginning of the end of the same letter. Duo to the period of intense activity on the front, he have been very Imsv so it was impossible for me to finish all at one sitting. As it is I am writing this installment while sitting on some ammunition boxes, a couple of miles behind the trenches. Today we have been transporting twenty-eight truck loads of 75 c. m. shells from the railroad to the ammunition vard.Weather Is Warm.“It is very warm today and for once it is not raining. Instead of rain, the dust is .the unpleasant thing to contend with, but as the Frenchman says, ‘C’est la guerre.’“In our group to which this section belongs, there are three sections of about the same size as ours, making about 150 men in the entire group.In charge of the gtoup is a French artillery captain. He is a very fine man and was in the artillery until wound- -i ed, when lie was transferred to thisservice. Captain. • (I cannot givehis name) before1 the war was a very successful engineer and is a wonderful man to work under. Our section or ‘peloton’ is the first in the group si |j and I am the ranking American volunteer lieutenant of the group. This makes it very fine for me as I buy in on many affairs of interest.“The other day I had the good fortune to accompany my captain and another French officer in the captain’s limousine to call on the commandant of the entire service. We made quite a long trip, but army regulations forbid my telling you, where 1 am at present or where I go. You see our position here is a sort of peculiar one. We are American volunteer soldiers enlisted with the American Field service in France, but serving with the French army and under its rules and regulations. Nevertheless the French officers are very j liberal and allow us many liberties Cj and put us a great deal on our honor.! We are given permits to travel about! a great deal due to the goodness of I our captain. |1Few Trips Allowed.“For instance, he has given me a permit to go into a nearby city this afternoon and evening for dinner. We will go in the Ford given me by the French army. Don’t he deceived by •these pleasant things 1 toll you about my work over here. These are only the few pleasures which we get now and then. Along with these arc many sufferings of the damnable war. Just now an ambulance darted by with four (|.Ioor devils from the trenches.' These, i along with the many hospitals and j the wounded one sees, cause you to J x realize what war really is. ' | j(.o hack to college, old man, and j c don’t come out to this hell hole until you are needed. There are plenty of men of conscriptable age without taking men under 21, at present at least, j I have talked to many FrenchmenJ over here who are in the position to know things rind none seem to think the war will he over for two years at least. If it is necessary for von to prepare for some branch of the service, better take artillery, as that j seems »o me the best. Engineering is ll all right, but artillery is better I believe.“I.eroy Krusi is going to enter the j j engineering corps in the near future |t j so will not go to the motor transport ! t officers’ school. 1 (“As 1 uiust he on my way again l|t will close for now. My next letter will come from the school.”asISai\ato)»frnior1.ic1C1-•(1V-oTit1r_■*It?r
Newspaper Details
Berkeley Daily Gazette
Berkeley, California, US
Mon, Oct 01, 1917
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Richard C.
USA 27 Sep 2017
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