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Show UTAH REGIMENT AWAITS ORDERS TO BREAK CAMP AND SAIL FOR AMERICA Last Tribute Paid to Men' of Regiment Who Were Influenza Victims; Motion Pictures Are ; Taken of Scene at Graves. I i ! By FLOYD A. TIM MERMAN, Tribune Staff Correspondent. C: AMP ' GENICAKT. XEAK BORDEAUX. BOR-DEAUX. Dec. ?. Splashing around in the mud and rain of the wet season of France in a small rest camp directly across the river from Bordeaux", arc the Utah artillerymen. artillery-men. But no amount of mud and rain could dampen their spirits and happiness, for they were waiting to board a transport trans-port bound for America and home. The rain fell in heavy sheets and the sur-i sur-i S yvNn rounding ground Vr was a stretch of J water and deep Nge sary to wear rubber boots and heavy oil - . . . skin coats and hats j lS at all times to keep f I i one dry and warm. I "" The outward ap- i BVO pear3 nee of the sol-i sol-i OVzaaaisi''J diers was not one j "-w- ' indicate gi'eat cheerfulness. But inside, these men ( were' hardier than for many months. They were soon to see the mountains of Utah again, and, better than all, home. The men had been moved from their training camp at Sougc, sixteen miles from Bordeaux, to Camp Genicart. This camp was formerly used as a rest station sta-tion and now has been turned into a debarkation de-barkation camp. Tt is but little more i than a mile from the A meriean docks where the big transports dock, and it is here that the Utah men will march aboard their ship. News Received at Fortunate Hour. - Almost upon the heels o" the arrival of the news of the signing of the armistice, armi-stice, which spelt the doom of the. Utah men as far as seeing action was concerned, con-cerned, came the welcome report that tho brigade and regiment had been included in-cluded on the list as the first troops to leave for home. It came at a fortunate hour, for the men and officers were naturally natu-rally greatly depressed "after more than a yea.r of hard training and then being robbed of their chance to prove themselves them-selves under fire, when a. few more days mci n t thaw t h c y o u d have b e e n i n I o action. The calling oft of the lighting v hen the armistice went into effect November U filled the regiment with gloom, which dampended the spirits of every member from the commanding officer to the most inconspicuous buck private. Their material ma-terial had arrived, .Including four-point-seven guns of tho latest type. There were many motor tractors to haul them and many automobiles, motor trucks and motorcycles. They were fully equipped, practically, to go into ba ttle, and their departure for the lighting front was simply sim-ply a matter of hours. They were trained ' to the minute ns artillerymen of the most modern and advanced type. Can anyone blame them for being depressed? de-pressed? Equipment Is Turned In Rapidly. At the time they could see nr.hing ahead but police duty and work as a labor la-bor regiment in the reconstruction of the towns and territory t hat for four years have been raging battlefields. H looked well for them to remain in France for a period stretching into months, and maybe may-be years. Then came the orders which dispersed the heavy clouds and brought joy to the heart of every member. 1 1 was Ihe news to prepare for a hurried departure for the Uni (cri States. The order "brought smiles where nothing else In the entire world, could have turned the trick. They were ordered to turn in their equipment as soon as possible. Captain Wesley King, who had charge of all brigade bri-gade material, saw that this was accomplished accom-plished in record lime. The order said they would leave from Bordeaux upon Lh first mailable transports and to prcpan' to leave as foon as possible for the debarkation de-barkation point at Camp Genicart. They were to get further orders regarding their dale of sailing from the debarkation officer offi-cer at this point. On the last days of NoYemhcr the artillerymen ar-tillerymen left Camp de Souge, whieh had been their home and training camp fur two months. A battalion made the trip each day, and on Saturday, November "?!', the entire regiment wa,s comfortably sot- (Continued on Page Four.) REGIMENT BUS SAILING ORDERS (Continued from Page One.) tied in its barracks In llio rest camp. Whatever may be the weather at the new camp, their quarters are dry and warm and the best the artillerymen have occupied since being in France. Bright M res were burning in the wooden buildings build-ings and tiie chill and dampness of France in win lor was counteracted. There was no sickness amoiii; the men. The hospital was empty. saw the plump forms of scores of American turkeys in one kitchen, awaiting await-ing the oven for a last banquet .before the boys left for home. There was happiness happi-ness and Joy everywhere inside those btnl.iitiss and t tie muddied and wet coats o the men. The trip from flouge to the new camp was made partly by marching and partly by street car or tram. Two batteries marched from the training camp each clay and climbed aboard waiting street cars after a six-mile hike. They carried car-ried their packfl and blankets. All other equipment was transferred by motor .truck. Tho tram cara took them into Bordeaux and across the river to a point about four miles from tiieir new. rest camp. From, here they marched through the rain along the river and finally turned northward and began to climb a great hill. Negro Prophecy Spoiled by Cooks. It was a good mile climb up a cobble l roadway before the outskirts of the camp . were reached. As the battalion swung through ihe gates they passed a negro detachment which was moving out. It was noon. The men were hungry and many of them had taken their mess kits ; I from their packs and were carrying them . In their hands in anticipation of hav- 1 ing them soon filled with hot, steaming j stew. A grinning negro spied them. His 1 I face broKe into a smile, aa lie shouted: I "Vou ail's going into a rest camp, ho, ho! a rest camp get dat? Yo' bettah put away them niess kits, for all you is goin' to rest in dis yere camp is your stomachs." stom-achs." That negro made a mistake for once, however, for he had not counted upon tho efficiency and speed of the Utah cooks in action, and when the men arrived ar-rived they silon were piling in the hot "slum" as though it was their first meal for days. Following the work of getting things straightened around in their new camp, there was practically no duty for the artillerymen, and they turned to games that could be played indoors and to occasional oc-casional trips to town. The new camp ;s much nearer to Bordeaux than Camp Souge and small passenger boats touch the docks a mile from -the camp. Every boat carried scores of the Utah men each trip, for they were hustling about in their last shopping tours to get together to-gether souvenirs and presents for the folks at home. . Bordeaux Shops Raided by Men. Bordeaux shops furnished the thousands thou-sands of waiting men in the vicinity with , presents and souvenirs for several days, but this supply began to disappear quickly, quick-ly, until it was almost impossible to pur- I chase even a s'lk handkerchief. Every- I one wanted a present to take home, and the stores could not stand the heavy j strain. Consequently many of the men i will be compe'led. to come home empty-handed. empty-handed. It will be through no fault of theirs, however, for I saw lines of men waiting to get into stores and scores pouring out of others with disappointment disappoint-ment written upon their faces. Bordeaux is cleaned out, and many of the storekeepers store-keepers have enough good American money in their jeans in buJil several new U.hateaux and furnibh them with tin: nee:-Vssary nee:-Vssary trimmings. They will long re-i re-i member the Americans. Before the move to the new camp was made, the entire personnel of the regiment regi-ment formed and inarched lo the little graveyard near by. where they paid tribute to the memories of their comrades com-rades who had died during the epidemic of Spanish influenza. Thirteen graves marked the resting places of the, Utah men who went down under the sickness. While the soldiers stood at parade rest, Chaplain Brigham H. Roberts paid the fallen soldiers great tribute in an eloquent elo-quent talk. Precautions were taken that the graves were marked properly and in such maimer that they may be identified i in later months, and even years. Through tho efforts of Chaplain Roberts, motion pictures of the graves and the ceremony were procured by members of the photographic photo-graphic section of the army signal corps. These films will later be turned over to the regiment and will probably be shown in some of Utah's theaters. Other photographs pho-tographs were also taken for the records of the regiment. They will be included in the history of the regiment, which has been in the state of compilai ion during the past months by Chaplain Roberts and Sergeant Cannon Lund. Practically every ev-ery news article written in which the organization or-ganization is mentioned Is included, as well as hundreds of photographs. This history when completed will bo turned over to the state. Few Have Chance to Visit Paris. Unfortunately, few of tho Utah men have had the opportunity o visiting Paris or of seeing much of France, with the exception of some of the officers who were sent to the front for observation observa-tion purposes and went through Paris en route. These fortunate ones to visit the capital citv were Brigadier-General Richard W. Young, Colonel William C. Webb, Lieutenant-Colonel Ueroy Bourne, Major Curtis Y. Clawson. 'Major W. E. Knetass. Captain Wesley King, Chaplain Brigham H. Roberts, Lieutenant Clarence Clar-ence J. Hawkins, Captain Paul Williams, Captain J. Ray Ward, Lieutenant Ralph Wells, Lieutenant Ray ,.T. Cunningham, Lieutenant Cloyd F. Woolley and several others. A few non-commissioned officers and privates had the opportunity to go through the city on their way to gas schools or other courses hold in near-by cities. However, they are ho worse off than thousands of American soldiers, many cf whom have seen months of action, ac-tion, but havo seen but the most barren spots of France and practically none of its cities or interesting places. The less said about the army censor-fillip censor-fillip in regard to organizations in training train-ing in camps and schools in France, the better. All faciMties. were arranged and I ran smoothly and efficiently on the front and in regard to units in action. However, How-ever, none was made in regard to uni Is in training nnd outside the zone of operations. opera-tions. In many cases the mall service in France was extremely bad internally. Every article written had to he sent to the censor In Paris and the average time ! for a letter to travel from Bordeaux to that -city was from twelve to fourteen da vs. By the time it came back its I timeliness was killed and it was practl-: practl-: caliy worthless. Censorship was even j more rigid outside the zone, of operations than within. Censorship Behind Lines Difficult. On the front it was different and ev-erv ev-erv correspondent who lias covered the front will swear by the army press department. de-partment. There was aiwavs a censor handy to immediately insneci the stories and forward Ihem by courier, so that they might catch the first available steamer. It was another story behind the lines, and particularly in camps far removed from Paris. iany a correspondent has grown gray hair at a tender age in these camns and given up in despair. It was delay after delay and disappointment after af-ter disappointment, until many of the writers who tried to tackle this end shunned these areas as places of pes-; pes-; tilence. They gave up in the end and went to the front for a rest. An example of this efficiency of the j ; I department behind the lines was made evident at the time that Colonel William C. Webb was ordered relieved from the regiment to take command of the "Grizzlies," "Griz-zlies," or 14-1 th. Following the Issuance of the order I went personally to Paris ;ind cabled the item. It was allowed to Ko through. Tho following day the order wns rescinded and Colonel Webb was returned. re-turned. Could 1 cable the news of bis return? No. It was against regulations. 1 1 could not even be mentioned in biter mail stories except by inference. This in only one instance. The rest cannot be mentioned In gentlemanly language. Let's forgive and forget! The main subject of debate among the members of t be regiment when I left' them In the mud and rain of Camp Genl-cart Genl-cart was In regard to the location of the camp in the United States where the I'tah -men will be' taken for mustering out. There was no official lndicution of Its location. Many, however, were of the opinion that the command would proceed to either Camp Kearny or Fort Pouglas. The argument that the command would' proceed to Camp Kearny was thought , logical by many officers, due to the fact (bat two regiments of the brigade were from California nnd Camp Kearny would be the camp nearest to their homes. As the Utah regiment formed the re- ! maiudor, it was thought that the brigade bri-gade would go Intact and be mustered out as a unit. On the other hand, many J thought that the TUab regiment would j be dropped off at Salt Tjuke and mustered mus-tered out at Fort Douglas. This, however, how-ever, did not stop them from hoping and arguing. They may not know until they get further orders upon arriving in the United States. When the regiment arrives home there will, bo approximately 150 men missing. This was the number allotted the regiment regi-ment to furnish for police duty with the military police and to remain In France. When T left, volunteers were being called for. The list, however, had not heen completed or filled. No married men will lie taken and the men with dependents of any sort will be exempt, if they care to return home. In addition, there were ahout twenty-five men trained in special lines who offered to remain hi France with the army. Their names will be procurable pro-curable when the regiment arrives In the United States. With these exceptions, the command will return practically intact. in-tact. In the past few weeks several officers of the command have won promotion, l.ieuienant A. K. Wilfong, who has had charge of- the supply company for several mon t lis. was made en pin in. Lieutenant ( b'ure M. Cannon has been made first beutenant and attached to the staff of r,.neral Young. Lieutenant Byron H. Wayne is now a captain and commands t be headquarters company. Lieutenant Tiavid Scott has donned a silver shoulder l.nr, which marks him as first lieutenant. |