| OCR Text |
Show SEERS LEAVE FDR EASTERN POST Seventieth Battalion Quits Fort Douglas for New Quarters. FEW LEFT i BEHIND Unassigned at Present, Remnant Soon Will Be Cared For. The Seventieth engineers have departed depart-ed from Fort Douglas for an eastern concentration camp. Orders came for the battalion to prepare for removal a few days ago, and the organization got into :vVe for entralnment in record time. In accordance with military regula-tions, regula-tions, the departure of the regiment was kept as secret as possible and few people peo-ple knew when the .soldiers departed. Censorship regulations forbid mentioning the time of departure, the route or the destination. Now that the engineer battalion has left Fort Douglas, the post has been taken over by the 403rd engineer organization, and Lieutenant J. F. Bergesch, commanding com-manding officer of the depot engineers, is now post commander. He succeeds Captain J. O'C. Hunt, railway engineers, in this capacity, Captain Hunt having gone with the First battalion of the Seventieth Sev-entieth as commanding officer of the organization. or-ganization. Disposition Is Uncertain. AH of the railway engineers and officers, offi-cers, with the exception of about 270 limited service men and a few officers left in charge of them, have departed with the Seventieth. The enlisted railway rail-way engineers left behind are not now a part of the Seventieth, but have become be-come casuals, unassigned, and will remain re-main here for the present. What disposition dis-position will be made Of them later remains re-mains to be seen. It is considered likely that they will be moved out in the near future and assigned to development battalions bat-talions at other camps. However, this remains to be seen. In the meantime, the casuals left at the post will take over the guard and fatigue work of the fort, under direction of Lieutenant Bergesch as commanding officer of the post. The engineer officers offi-cers left with the casuals will have direct supervision over their work. Bergesch Changes Quarters. In connection with his w-ork as post commander. Lieutenant Bergesch will move his headquarters from the old band barracks, where the headquarters of the depot engineers has been, to the post headquarters building, and a force of officers offi-cers and men will be assigned by him to handle the work at post headquarters. Lieutenant Bergesch will have to divide his time between the post, the engineer supply depot and 403rd engineer dctach-i- ment and the engineer officers' school of . jpWtary instruction, of which he Is com-Bnandlng com-Bnandlng officer. The railway engineers have bad a comparatively com-paratively brief stay at Fort Douglas. They came here late in the summer as recruits, and the First battalion of the regiment was organized under direction o of Captain R. M. Miller, who was the st commanding officer of the organiza-' organiza-' trtm. Since then, however, Captain Miller has been sent overseas, and Captain Hunt took charge of the organization. An Efficient Battalion. It has become an efficient battalion and is considered now ready for overseas service. ser-vice. It is expected that the move now means that the organization will soon be on Its way to the front. Captain Burdette S. Frerey, medical corps, who has been attached to the Seventieth Sev-entieth engineers as post surgeon, went away with the organization, pursuant to orders, and Captain R. M. Jones, medical corp,s and registrar of the army general hospital, has been temporarily assigned to duty as post surgeon. He will remain In this position until some other medical officer Is assigned by the western department's de-partment's post surgeon, when ho will return tohis duties with the army general gen-eral hospital. |
