| OCR Text |
Show Charles Alvin Blulh. son of Mr. and Mrs John V Bluth, stationed at Camp Lewis since last March is writing home about the camp. lie has soon thousands upon thousands of recruits come to the camp from the surround-j ing stales, train and he shipped over , to the coast ports for embarkation to , Eur6pe, and has received word from companions who reached the camp lat-er lat-er than he but who arc now in France Owing 10 being underweight he has been unable to pass the necessary physical examination for overseas service, but has been accepted on limit-ed limit-ed service and is now in the hcadquar-tvrs hcadquar-tvrs conSpany band, of the iGGth depot brigade, where ho started as third. j H tlassjsausicjan, but was later advanced (oecond and then to first class, and Hrow to sergeant, as his letters disclose. LmmW" In a recent letter he says: "We leave here in the morning for Pendleton, Ore., for eight or ten days L to play for The roundup, and then to H Portland' to boost the Liberty loan campaign. I am not very enthusias-H enthusias-H tic about it because it means ten days f hard -work, but after all that is "What we are liere for. I received my pro-llffj pro-llffj motion Saturday, that of sergeant bug- -Ah ler. Ther are only two above me now in the band. As you say, it would be ; j nice to receive a commission, but I fear that is beyond me at present. In ' ffl order to get a commisison one must , jjJM , first get to bo bandmaster and then 1iB build up a band. There is only one i iflfl ' band in the brigade so I would have 1 tffi r' to secure transfer into th'e division be- ifflrv- .i'ore I would rave a chance for a band, i "XWBt and then a commission is not given un- Jljl. v til one receives his call for over sen i 1IM scn'ice, and there would be my stum-j stum-j 1 31 bling block. I would have to be able '1 111 ,to pass tne overseas examination to ' 5 HI Vt1 Jt and lnat 1 cannot do as I am on "' I Hi few meii service. I am now playing 'Mllflf" 'first chair solo cornet which is very !! respons;oie ana oy no means an easy job. Lieutenant Chambers says the band is better than ever, so I guess . -ove are making good; but, as I sav. it 'str 'is very hard, as we are playing all" the big overtures and standard music and -V . Lhave to hit more high C's than I ever , thought I would be able to . We just' got through rehearsing for today-, six r - hours, so you see playing that long' hardwork. All we have to do" yet to-iJ to-iJ .day 1b to play guard mount and retreat, re-treat, which requires about an hour's work. Well, dear folks, I must close , . -as it is now 3:45 and I have to wash out a shirt and clean up before 5' , o'clock." The following is from a letter just' i received after the return from the Pendlelon and Portland trip: I "Dad's letter received this morning, j We got back from Pendleton and Port-' .! land Thursday afternoon. We were V tired and so spent Friday resting up We are going to try hard to get homo ; -around Christmas time - but cannot i 'tell yet what may happen. They are . sending limited service men to France now but I feel that we will" either be 1 L TP- here to the finish or will be sent over 1 .. as a band. I do not think we will be ' 4 split. We all firmly believe that the ! , ?t -war will end next summer. The weath-jv-' cr is getting nasty here now. The M ,navy camp out of Seattle is in quaran-M. quaran-M. tine with influenza but we have verv .little of it here and in only a mild t form, although there were ten deaths : here last week from pneumonia. We I have to play a funeral this afternoon. -. There are so many requests for bur band that it they were granted we! J would not be in en inn II ' li k' - tney navo shut down on all of them I & B in ' am glad as 1 won'L complain about the Ulf W0Ck in camP although at times it ; I gets somewhat monotonous. I have " I Just received my diploma or certifi- rili cate of promotion. The added duties i ' and resPnsibllitIes are much more1 j ; than the increase of pay and one's ac-1 Him t,0nS musL be much moTO closely! J, .1 guarded, but on the other hand it 11 f;' . jF6' increases one's prestige. I 4Pi VwAwIU try and havo a Picture taken so' 'iM ' " you can see the striPes ad kid your-1 ?N 1 selves along that I am something in i)i , tne army, although it is' only a non- f" ', i commissioned officer. HoweVer, in the C" 1' i regular army in peace time, it takes Pg r ' on several years of service to claim Vtfl ; lhe slrIPes- As soon as the wet wcath- ym' Gr 8GtS ln steady our duties will be somewhat lighter and " I will have more time for writing so can tell you more then. I" saw a terrible thing at the roundup. A fellow saturated his clothes" with gasoline Intending to get on a- horse and light it and run the horso around the track thinking it would blow the flames away from him; bu L uUl Jiy bemo frightejQcI aod, TffiTteaa ' of-ruurifngf " )Usrturne(Targund and around. The fellow jumped o'ff and started down the track. Four men grabbed him and threw blankets over him but he broke away and ran again and fell right In front of the bandstand. band-stand. His hands were burned to a crisp and his face charred. The only place he was not burned was his feet. His wife and baby were In the grandstand. grand-stand. She went crazy and died from the shock. He only lived a few minutes. min-utes. It was terrible. Well, the dinner din-ner is ready and must closo. May be home Christmas. Goodbye now, and all the love in the world to you both." |
