Windham County Observer

HQ. CO. WILL BE
BACK AUG. 16TH

PAST WEEK ENJOYABLE ONE FOR
LOCAL GUARDSMEN

Divisional Review Was Feature Event
On Week's Varied Program-One
Member

Camp Devens, Mass., August 12,
(Special)—Headquarters Company of
Putnam has had quite a little excite-
ment since last week. The usual initia-
tions have been progressing steadily,
ending up with a night or morning
(Continued on Page Four)
HQ. CO. WILL BE BACK FROM CAMP NEXT SATURDAY
(Continued from Page One)
(rather) of bunk-tipping. Now all is serene.
We have had one casualty to date, namely first class private James Rowe who was taken to a Boston Hospital, suffering from pleurisy in the right lung. His condition, however, is not considered serious. There are minor troubles mostly heel blisters, teeth ache and so on but these are easily disposed of.
Fun And Duty Combined
Up to Monday we had 46 out of 56 men on detail, but this morning every available man in the barracks had to go on duty as runners so the only men around the place are the non-com. in charge and the kitchen crew. "Little Joe" Dufresne has so many boilers to care for that he now has an assistant. To-night the Special Troop ball team defeated the 172nd Inf. team of Vermont 5-0. After the game we had a parade with part of the M. P. Jazz band acting as a band with "Little Joe" Dufresne as leader using his poker as baton. Some celebration! And how!
Sporting Events
This takes the ball team into the semi-finals but I don't know who we play next. We had so many boxing bouts (10 to 15 a night) that we are fed up on them and the finals are yet to come. The ball games and boxing bouts are held on Edmunds Field constructed by the 26th Div. in honor of Capt. Edmunds of the Engineers who was killed while demonstrating how to blow up a bridge. A large boulder near the band stand has a bronze plate giving this information. On the field is a ball diamond, cinder track and the boxing ring and it is directly in front of the Hq. Building on 2nd Ave.
Divisional Review
The Div. Parade Sunday was a fine military spectacle. Four Inf. regiments, one engineer regiment, the medical regiment, one artillery regiment and several Co.'s of the special troops took part. The Hq. Co. did not parade. The 86th brigade, Maine and Vermont, 103rd and 172nd led off and of course the Maine band had to play the "Stein Song" then came the 85th brigade, Connecticut's own, and believe me those boys can march. The order of march was massed battalions, and that execution was great. Quite a few Putnam people witnessed the review, but the grand total of visitors must have been in excess of 10,000. It took about 200 M. P.'s to handle the traffic alone. Several airplanes flew over the field during the parade.
Devens Disliked
There is no getting away from it the men in general, not only our Co. but the whole bunch don't like Devens for a cent, and that's putting it mildly. But don't think because of this that we are not having a good time. If you could peek into the sleeping room some night before taps you'd find the noisiest bunch of boys you ever saw, singing, boxing, wrestling and having a general good time. If all things go well we expect to be in Putnam by noon Saturday.