OCR Text |
Show TgKsidel Major Wesley King- Says Reputation of State Is Bravely Upheld. IS PROUD OF TROOPS Soldiers From Other States Express Admiration . at Utahns Conduct. The Utah guardsmen on the Mexican border arc missing no opportunity to bring honor to the state or to tell the militiamen from other states just what a grand old state Utah is, according to a report made by Major Wesley King, judge advocate of the militia division of Xogales. The following interesting letter was received from him yesterday yester-day by L. M. Bailey, secretary of the soldiers' reliefcoramittee: Been here now twenty days and have seen a lot. Work takes me into every camp and gives me a peek into" the works and habits of every bit of military machinery down here. Just as much fun as taking down an old clock to see what stopped it. The more I see of other clocks the more I like those turned out by Utah. Our boys and organizations get there and deliver. A staff officer said to me yesterday, yester-day, after four commanding officers of other organizations had exasper-nted exasper-nted him for an hour over interpretations interpre-tations of minor camp orders: "Now wouldn't that move yoiT? Don't see much of your Utah officers;. offi-cers;. guess they can read. Anyway they 'sabe. ' "Sure," I replied, and chuckled. Have Good Repute. There 'b a reason several of them right raising, earnest intention, inten-tion, eagerness to learn, willingness willing-ness to do,, pride of state and individual indi-vidual organization, decent and intelligent in-telligent treatment by officers ami, . at the top of all this, the knowledge knowl-edge that the folk at home appreciate appre-ciate and are caring for their dependents. de-pendents. By George! That is great! Already Al-ready the news has spread to other organizations. ' ' Lordy, but I wish I came from Utah, " said a Connecticut sergeant the other day as he turned a Utah prisoner over to me. You see even some of our boys slip a cog once in a while and get in limbo, but only for minor infractions in-fractions of army rules, all of which they have not fully learned. While awaiting his turn for the "carpet." this lad had spilled his gratitude around that prison tent and many wistful eyes followed him when released. I want yon to tell the "Rotary chaps Lord, how J miss them that thev can't miss heaven. Their soldiers'" relipf work will pave the way up there. Every officer knows bow large a part their work has played in the business down here and the names of Moran, Bailey, Evans, Relf and others are emblazoned on their memories. Proud of Showing. My heart warmed with pride yesterday yes-terday when I saw the full strength every man of the hospital hos-pital corps step up and take the new six-year oath. Thev did not have to. They were enlisted and sworn under the "Dick bill" regulations regu-lations and could have demanded their release and return to Utah in ninety days and they know that six years is a long time. ' Couldn't do anything but play 'er square and straight across," one private said to me afterwards. "Folks at home have played 'er square with us.'" And I noticed a tear or two on Major Sharp's cheek in token of his acknowledgment of the compliment com-pliment to his people and to him as their commander. Then I heard a California man say, "Watch me get my O. K. (meaning commanding command-ing officer) when we .hit . " That man does bis every day duty with a grouch. Does he do it well T He does not. He ean:t. Thus the remark made to me at headquarters. headquar-ters. There is a reason. Will you just tell the Rotary men a 'it about the appreciation of the men and officers down on the north edge of the international line and let them know that their work has played no small part in the- obtaining of efficiency marks and in the minimizing of "calls to the carpet " at headquarters ? D. is ' ' esprit ' ' smd good prub that makes an army. You have helped establish the one and Uncle Sam has done a durned good job at the other, and our Utah motor trucks have enabled our troops, battery and hospital commanders to get the grub to camp fresh from the refrigerator cars at the quartermaster quarter-master 's base. "Me for Utah." Imagine what this A rizona pun would do to ice, frefh beef, butler, etc., if hauled four mile? in midday by ' ' four-mule teams. ' ' We get our chuck and, swih, there vou are. Mr. Cook! . That $l(i,ooo 'the governor's committee spent on trucks and motorcycle1' will turn many a homeseeker to Utah. "Me for Utah," many a lad from east nnd west has said as our trucks slid bv their mule teams, and, before be-fore the mules came, as they stepped aside on the dusty roads with their hack packs of grub for t heir corn pan y kitchens. The men from les appreciat ive comnron-wealths comnron-wealths feel that they are currying all the load of this border duty; our boys feel that the folks at home are toting their share. You cannot, know the difference5 in the morale of an orgnni.at ion in the field until vou have- een thee things. I have n, little lime to mooch around and exercise mv cars and eye.v, and then I jimt ran 't help spilling a bit of mv gratitude and that of the men and o flier along lliis invisible, mvMcrinus nnd troublesome line on the map which dividnn a people with hope mid a people wit hoi it . Maybe you won 't understand, but there is scarcely a man down here who doesn't yearn to get south of that line not to shoot !em up to point the way to an eternal hope, to a posslbilitv of peace, comfort and prosperity and to decent living, ('ould we do it? Well we did it in Tuba, in Hawaii and in the Philippines. Why not over there? Yr. we want to go over there. Not to shoot, I hough (here would be some and Home of us would not return, but to gire the world another exawiple of the rightness of American institutions in-stitutions ami methods of tavern-ing tavern-ing and lt ini:, worth all the co?t in nionev nnd men and even in heart a chew at home. n) v.n are not prc-ddont and coiires ami ;;n we go about cleatiinL' camp. ooIimi-ing ooIimi-ing "hooting irotw and camp kittle, wonderinc ami di -1 a nl 1 v Imping -that i, the nflicers and men in ranks are. I'm just looking on and hoping, too. |