Continuation of Second Diary

We debarked at 8 a.m. July 1, marching some 4 miles to another so called rest camp. This rest camp was called "Bon Sur Dorie". The castle was owned in the earlier days by the family of Sir Walter Raleigh. It was during our visit at this camp that we saw our first American woman since leaving home. This young lady was with the Y.M.C.A. and she served us with good things to eat and smoke-also stationary. At 7:25 a.m. July 2 we marched back to Cherbourg where we were loaded on a freight train 36 men to the car. We remained on the train until 4 p.m. July 4, crossing two thirds of France, arriving at the village of Villers Saint Noge 4 p.m. We were de-trained to find that G.H.Q. failed to send anyone to meet us. We only had rations for one meal left and for a short time it seemed that we were a lost battalion. But our Major finally got in touch with division H.Q. and supplies were sent by special truck and we were served with supper afterwards pitching out tents and spending a very pleasant night on the grass. Early the next morning, the boys started out to sample the new French drinks, and by eleven o'clock several of us had thoroughly proven that French drinks could not be mixed. We were served with supper and dinner at 11:30 tearing down our pup tents immediately afterwards and rolling packs. We hit the trail for Chalmessin 14 kilos in the distance. We arrived at Chamessin 5:15 p.m. going into out first billets that we had heard so much about heretofore. These billets proved to be old vacant houses and rock barns where at the time of our entering the spiders, rats, and other insects had been holding midnight jamborees. We found this to be one of the filthiest villages we had ever seen as the slop was emptied in the street and the stock ran loose. A military officer was immediately appointed to act at town Major, the noncoms appointed ward bosses. These ward bosses organized sanitary squads and started the clean up movement, and by night had the town looking very respectable. The populace did not at first approve of our clean up acts and when the men and women returned from the fields in the afternoon they hardly knew their little French village and the chickens on going to roost were absolutely lost, many of them going to strange places on account of the change in scenery, making it impossible for them to find their respective hen houses. We stayed in this village doing our daily training until the morning of July23 when we departed for the village of Benureve marching through a blinding rain some six kilos. We arrived at Benureve 12 noon and again went into billets with our friends the rats and spiders who by this time were by no means strangers to us. Here we drank wine, went through our daily drilling, and added to the excitement by shooting our machine guns on the nearby hills.