Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1917 — PLEASED WITH CAMP SHELBY [ARTICLE]

PLEASED WITH CAMP SHELBY

LT. COL. HEALEY DESCRIBES CAMP SHELBY, HOME OF LOCAL COMPANY. following letter received by the editor of this paper from Lt. Col. Healey, now in active command of the 151st Indiana," will give the reader a vivid description of Camp Shelby, at present the? home of the Rensselaer • company: Camp Shelby, Miss., Sept. 30, 1917. Mr. L. H. Hamilton, Rensselaer, Ind., My Dear Louis: Not alone to fulfill my promise to write to you but also because I find a great pleasure in doing so, I am taking this Sunday afternoon opportunity to give you some information about our camp, which we have now occupied for a little more than a day. My impressions are superlatively favorable from standpoint of climate, appearance, health, drainage, water supply and location. We seem vastly more in civilization than we did on the border last year and we are not only within a dozen miles of Hattiesburg, a very, nice little city, but have cities like New Orleans, Mobile, Meridian and Gulfport within a few hours’ ride. My descriptive powers are inadequate to describe the camp site. It is some 200 feet above Hattiesburg and has a sort of “top of the earth” appearance, owing to the rolling surface. It is what is known as cut over land, the timber having been removed and in the camp site proper the stumps lave been blasted out, leaving the land bare-save for scattering pines, which raise their tall crowns high above the cantonments and tents. Each regiment is so camped as to have drainage in at least two directions and although there are said- to be some heavy rains here, there is no danger of the inconveniences frequently suffered at Ft. Benjamin Harrison and at Llano Grande. There had been a heavy storm for two days prior to our arrival here, but the water had either run off or been absorbed by the soil, and except for the unimproved and -much traveled roads along the railroad, where train after train had been transferring thier loads to the heavy army trucks there was no mud and today this is all dried up. This is said to be a famous mosquito country but the army knows how to successfully fight the mosquito and this is accomplished by oiling the breeding places and by drainage off all water before it has a chance to stagnate. By contrast with our entry into Llano Grande in July of last year, the friends of Company M may feel assured that none of the varmints that terrorized them near the Rio Grande are present in this camp. In fact, while we pitchdd camp in a swamp in Texas and drained it after we had slept for a night or two with scorpions and centipedes in southern Texas, here we entered a camp so delightful that we doubt if a prettier place exists anywhere.

If one impression more than another controls me at this time it is the businesslike manner inTwhich all is accomplished, not alone from the standpoint of the government and the higher officers but the whole-souled manner in which everyone has taken hold/ Last year we went to Texas u'ntrained except for the theory of text books and the brief summer camps. This year there existed in every company a nucleus with the viewpoint of soldiering. There was a poise that it took months to acquire suddenly adopted entire companies when they assembled on August sth and I am convinced that the nation’s purpose is appreciated by every soldier and that each is willing, even anxious, to contribute all that he possesses to the solution of the problem, which is the democracizing of the world. While it may have taken some time for all to have realized the necessity of the United States entering the war, certainly now no citizen who ever had the right to claim loyalty can fail to give full endorsement to the plans and it is inconcvieable how any can take a position that will entail greater hardships for the men who are to soon be fighting for them in the trenches of France. History drill pronounce them in terns of ignomy and posterity which will enjoy the freedom • provided by our present sacrifices will loathe them alike for disloyalty and cowardice. The new organization changes met us when we detrained. The Indiana regiments as such are now only history. The Third Indiana is now the 137th Field Artillery, all but one battalion and it becames a depot battalion for the 151st Infantry,* which was formerly the First Indiana. Company M, to which the Rensselaer boys belong, is to continue as infantry. They macrhed by my quarters today on their way to their camp, a half mile away. lam going to drive over there soon and see them. A depot battalion is a replacement unit, which is employed to fill up gaps made by losses in the regiment to which It is attached. Presumably when the 151st infantry goes to France the depot battalion will go along and I will thus be able to keep in touch with the - boys from home and with the home people through the boys. Friends in addressing them will give the name of the soldier and m the case of Company M will address

them as follows: Pvt. John Jones, Co. , 151 Depot Bat., .... Camp Shelby, Miss. It is possible that they will not even be known as Company M, but the new letter assignment, if one is made, will be given out soon; in fact, may already have been announced. Marie has doubtless told you about coming out to camp with Mrs. Healey. We enjoyed having her and feel that she also enjoyed the experience of it, including the meal at our mess. W' are putting on more airs down here, all the companies and all the officers headquarters having mess halls, the company mess tables providing for 240 to be seated at one time in each hall. The new tables of organization provide for 250 in each company, a total of about 3,600 in a regiment. Each company will have one captain, three first lieutenants and two second lieutenants, 15 sergeants, 33 corporals, 4 cooks, 64 first class privates, 128 privates, 2 musicians and four mechanics. Unless officers from the training camp are detailed to the companies, promotions are to be made from among the enlisted men, thus properly offering to those who apply themselves the chance of promotion. Rather oddly, my regiment is the 151st, and I am the Lieutenant Colonel and during the absence of Col. E. F. Branch, who was left at home, ill, I am in command. My father was Colonel of the 151st Indiana during the civil war. - y Sincerely, GEO. H. HEALEY, Lt. Col. 151st Inf.