Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1918 — HOWARD CLARK WRITES OF HIS WORK AT CAMP TATYLOR [ARTICLE]

HOWARD CLARK WRITES OF HIS WORK AT CAMP TATYLOR

Camp Taylor, Ky,—Today we got in another hew bunch, all old ones having left yesterday. So you see I am again not in the transfer, and present indications seem to point to my being retained here for an 'extended period. I would rather be here than in any other camp in the U. S. A., as it is said to be the best in America. However, I wish I might be ordered to France immediately, so as to be there when the final blow-off comes, which apparently is not far distant. The experience would be wonderful and would place me in a position which would aid me materially in later life. However, I have survived two transfers, which indicates I have made good and am of considerable more value here. Some of the non-commissioned officers have been here every since the first draft last summer. Members of the cadary are kept here to drill the new men and their “bit” is considered a great factor in conditioning the troops and to. be one of the reasons why America Is .playing such a great part in the .strife. I. see by the paper that I will b< home next. Sunday. That’s wrong. I had thought of trying to get a weekend pass but have given it up. Dean will be home, though. We are to take a five day baseball trip, starting July 3rd, so that is the reason I shall not attempt to' come home at this time. We are to go to Paris, Hl., July 4th. On the sth and 6th, we wHI be in Evansville and Terre Haute. The other

places we will go T do not know for certain, but there Is a possibility we will go to Cincinnati. Today, Ed Monroe, of the New York American League club, came to our company and will be on the pitching staff with ano th fellow and I. I am booked for Wednesday’s game against a battalion team. These battalion games are the best in camp and to get in one of them is some dlstinotion. Yesterday we defeated the 4th regriment. beating Yingling, of the Cincinnati National League club. Two other big leaguers were in their line-up and the Anal score was 3 to 2, a home run deciding the combat in the final inning. I won a 5-inning ,no-hit game today. The days are slipping rapidly by, and outside of being under constant restraint, I am pleased with the life. Notice by the paper that almost every week some of the Rensselaer boys arrive tn France. Makes me seem sort of foolish to be soldiering down here in Louisville, but I guess it is no one’s fault but one’s own for not enlisting early in the game. It Is for this reason I have not written for the paper, as the letters from the fellows in the hell "over there” are so much more interesting and thrilling 41han anything I write, and I do not wiish to step In and take the place which rightfully belongs to those who are fighting real men’s battles.

These Kentucky nights are cool, in fact at times actually cold, but they are refreshing. At times I am acting as a sergeant and have from 50 to 80 men under me. Expect you would laugh to see me climb from beneath the blankets at 5:’.5 a. m. and ordering the rest of them to get up. Oh, this Is a great little old game to change a fellow: expect I will be washing my own dishes and making my own bed after I get home again. This life certainly gives one a rare opportunity for character study, the Alf-

ferent types, the different temperaments ■ind all you know. However, one and all ate’handHed with a firm hand and discrimination is not made. Any advancement one makes . comes from whole-souled effort, and ability superior to that of his comrades. Don’t know how soon I will get home, not before August anyway, unless it is on a week-end pass. Wall bid you all good-night CLARK, 11 Co., 3rd Battalion, Camp Taylor, Ky.