OCR Text |
Show 1 11 I I I I I III II I I II .1 ! ' -'i mi OGDEN BOV liO DESCRIPI1 OF CUBAN LIFE Men of Ogden are not only in tho training camps, but in active service in different part3 of the world. A recent re-cent letter has boon received by friends from Robert M. Campbell, now with the U. S. marines in Cuba, who, enlisted early in tho summer, served a brief period of training at Mare Island Is-land in California and was sent to Cuba about two months ago. Tho ma rines there aro guarding tho large sugar plantations from possible de struction by German agents. The letter let-ter follows: "Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Oct. 1G. "Dear Clyde: Your card and papers to hasnd last week, after they had traveled trav-eled to Mare Island and hore. Always like to hear from you, If it is only a card. You ought to have received sov- cral letters and cards from hero as I wrote them. 1 sent 60 at ono time to you and tho bunch. Don't roast me, as wo get enough of that hero. I am hot from 6 a. m. to 9 p. m. However, I am getting more acclimated than at first. "Last week we took a hlko to Guan-tanamo Guan-tanamo City and back, with heavy marching equipment We took tho boat and train most of the way and then hiked tho rest of tho distance, about Bix miles. That is far enough just now. This morning we had another hiko of thirteon miles with light marching equipment. We made it in good time and I don't feel very tirod, either. "They say we will have horses by November 1, and will be a mounted company and I only hopo we do. It is more work, but we will make up for the work when wo have to travol. I am also on a machine gun and like that fine. They say the life of a machine ma-chine gun man in Europe is about thirty thir-ty seconds. Hopo it is a little longer than that. They also say we will go to Europe in tho spring, but I would just as soon stay in Cuba until the war is over and then I will bo glad to get homo again- Well, I cannot write about home now; too far away. "We are a busy bunch down here and I only wish you could see us for nnn r n t T?rnm r. 1 ( n m n 4J . 1. U.UU lt Hi. IU ij JI. 111., something doing every minute, from all kinds of work to all kinds of amusement, including baseball, swimming, swim-ming, bowling, pool and other sports. We have, however, very little time for any one of those and no time at all for all of them. "6 p. m. Mall has jU6t come and your welcome letter of October 2 received. re-ceived. I cannot understand why I have not received all the mail you say has been sent to me. This letter, one postcard and ono bundle of papers, are all that I havo received from you, and one letter from Dr. Wardleigh, since I left Mare Island. I havo received re-ceived no pictures at all. I lost my kodak, so cannot send you any pictures pic-tures for some time. Ono loses a lot i of things in this service and cannot keep anything of much value with him. "Received a letter from Reed Thomas Thom-as (an Ogden boy) and he expects to make Annapolis soon. Hope he does. I wish his brother had joined the marines. ma-rines. If Bert Watson has been drafted, draft-ed, I suppose they will take Ken or you next. Would like to have you down here, mixing pills for us. and going go-ing on hikes with us. Guess, however, your biggest Job will be keeping the fellows antiseptic. Soldiers Like Candy "Enclosed find a circular from Guan-tanamo Guan-tanamo City. If you don't read It, you would make a poor soldier. It cost 15 cents, they say. It is too hot down here to enjoy it, though. (Note the circular referred to was taken from a bottle containing light wine.) Don't suppose I will want any when I return re-turn not even coca cola. I have, however, developed a craving for candies can-dies and cakes and pies. We do not got these in our regular meals. Just once in a while wo have some pic. But the meals aro very good. On our trip to Guantanamo City we bought some eats and how we did pay for them' Eggs 10 cents each; canned peaches 50 cents. These are Cuban prices for American soldiers. When they see us coming everything goes up in prico and of course wo go up and buy. 'Buy at any cosY is almost a slogan, in actions ac-tions if not in word. But you can't blame the fellows much. We get very little fruit at our meals, Such as canned can-ned pears and peaches and I never cared for fruit like I do now. So I was glad to pay 50 cents for a can of pears. "We 4 can buy big bunches of bananas for 50 , to 70 cents. I've bought two and hung them up in the tent, but it is not very satisfactory as tViov ntfvnnl fnn mn n tt fllna n-of ripe too quick. ' We buy them retail for one cent each, which Is cheap enough and the only cheap thing they; havo here. People Called "Spickc" "They call the people here 'Spicks.' I thought thoy said specks at first. They resemble flies, anyway. For instance, in-stance, the more you feed them, the more trouble you havo with them. We have three colors the brown, called the original Cubans; tho black, sometimes some-times called 'Mish Mash,' meaning mixture. Thoy are the niggers. Then there is tho between color. "This is Saturday morning and we have just had camp inspection by the major. Ho complimented us and said it was the best and cleanest camp he had ever seen. Ho is an old campaigner, cam-paigner, so he ought to know. Oh, this 37th company has Btarted out to lead the rest. We are the senior company com-pany and two weeks ago, at a field meet held on the ball grounds, our company took first in everything baseball, running, jumping, tent pitching, bomb throwing, and the tug-of-war. Wc also have some professional profes-sional swimmers and strong men. I didn't go in for anything, as I am too old and then they didn't have anything any-thing I could participate in. May get a chance to do some Marathons later. You can't always tell what will happen. "If you want to know what wo camo hero for, I am enclosing a small cut from the 'Times of Cuba,' Guess you can make it out "On our way to Guantanamo, we passed three immense sugar can plantations which resemblo the great corn fields of the central United States. The cane grows much higher than tho corn, though- There ore ni'v i -1 --' 1 1 nirHviuH u 1 1 1 fcy "-i x rr,j, many sugar factories here. They are about as thick as our canneries at home. We slept in one of the factories which had beon bombarded last February Feb-ruary when the insurrection was in progress. "Well, I can't toll you much more or the censor may got tired reading this." |