Camp Logan Tex 4-13-18

 

Dear Mabel.

 

            I received your letter of the 9^th yesterday.  Everybody in the army is like Ed Schott when it comes to scrubbing or cleaning the cooking pans or doing too much drill.  But when it comes to eats I do not see where he can have any kick coming.  He would not get any more meat or vegetables at home than he does in the army.  We get pie, ice cream on Sundays.  Sometimes we get doughnuts for breakfast, and yesterday we had corn bread and it was fine.  I ate two pieces of it.  It is no easy job cooking for 150 men and suiting everybody.  Tolliver is getting to be quite a good cook.  He bakes doughnuts and pies and they were good.

 

Well we received our pay today and we have had several kinds of inspections and checkups on government property.

 

I have not put in my application for a furlough but as soon as I can see the captain I will do so.

 

It looks like rain today and it is pretty windy.  We did not put down our tent last night and about 2 o’clock it started to rain so we had to get up and fix it.  It did not rain very much.  I would not have got very wet as I had my poncho over me.

 

We had it easy yesterday as we were fixing up the trenches where the rain caused them to cave in. 

 

Well this will be all this time.

 

                                                                        Love to all

                                                                                    Theo

 

 

Apparently, Theo is still on furlough but he will be returning to Camp Logan where the 33rd Division will prepare to depart for Europe.  Meanwhile, here is a photo of Theo, far right, and some of his comrades.

  

On April 4, some of the officers who had spent more than three months at the Brigade and Field Officers’ School at San Antonio, Texas returned to the division, and Colonel John J. Garrity was transferred from command of the 132^nd Infantry to that of the 130^th Infantry, replacing Colonel Frank S. Wood, relieved.  On April 5 occurred the first review of the entire 33^rd Division which was held at the manoeuvre grounds four miles north of Camp Logan. Beginning at 9:45 A.M., three hours were required for the troops to pass in front of General Bell and his staff and, although certain defects were noticeable, the troops and animals showed a marked improvement since the various brigade and regimental reviews which had been held in the preceding weeks. That same day General Order No. 52 was issued, embodying for the information and guidance of all concerned, the numerous regulations which would govern the transfer of the division to the port of embarkation.  April 5 marked the arrival of the first increment of drafted men to fill the division to maximum strength.

 

(From the History of the Thirty Third Division, Volume I, Illinois State Historical Library, Springfield, Illinois, 1921.