Transcription of the Soldiers' Newsletter, 2 July 1918
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL
Newsletter No. 13
July 2nd, 1918
Dear Patriots All:
Again there has been an unavoidably long lapse between newsletters. Commencement has come in between, when the Law School graduated a class of 35, 4 of them women. Six received their degree in absentia, on account of military service: Messrs. Aaron, Allen, Wm .Kelly, Lexitetz, Heindl and Rohn. The Coif men this year were four: Greenspahn, Jaques, Moody and Petacque. Several others (one a woman) crowded close behind. The first scholarship prize was awarded Mr. Greenspahn, and the second, Mr. Petacque.
But the most pleasant Commencement event was the return for a brief – all too brief- furlough of Colonel and Mrs. Wigmore. They were with us just two weeks, and it certainly did us all good to have the inspiration of Mr. Wigmore’s presence in his office once more; and we were mighty proud of the military bearing of our Col. As you all know, he is “every inch a soldier”. He takes a keen and lively interest in each one of you, and has great pride in the Military record of Northwestern University Law School.
The astronomers out in Oregon who have discovered a new star have nothing on us. Following is a partial list of new stars since our last issue: Army – Andreen, Cohen, Ell, Heindl, Hood, Kelly, Levitetz, Martyn, Matousek, Mielitz, Mroz, Segal, Mangan. Navy – Bielfeldt, Fullenkamp, McCoy, Moser, Rosenthal, Sewall, Simon, DeWitt, Schlesinger. The hard tugs and high flights our aviators have been making are beginning to show results. Those whose commissions have come to our notice are: Henderson, Wohl, Sherwood, Lorin Taylor, Keig, Wright, Wade, Ffrench, Jones and Grubb. If there are others, please let us know.
A PECULIAR CO-INCIDENCE: A few weeks ago we were much pleased and regaled by a visit from Lt. Avia. Keig. He spent some time extolling the wonders of one J. H. Wright, as to flying, and other things A week or so ago who should drop down upon us but said J.H.W. (Jr), who almost immediately began exploiting the merits (up and down) of one Joe Keig. Concerted action? Press work? Both of the aforesaid Lieuts. are looking fine and fit, and no wonder the maidens of Waco are suffering from enlarged hearts!
Our boys – like all the rest of Uncle Sam’s men- are now fast flocking overseas. Those we know to be there, exclusive of the vets, are H.F.Bell, Bomash, Chipman, Davis, Forgy, Gothberg, Hutchins, Newm[?] Norton, Perlman, Poliak, Shapiro, Smokiewcz (Italy), Thorsness, West, Traxler. Of the 1916 men there are Henry, Field, Scheffler, Messelheiser and Caldwell. Many of our fellows are the proud possessors of a gold service stripe, signifying six months overseas service. To the little band of hospital men, who for over a year have given such extacting, never-relaxing service, all the greater because it seems inglorious to them, belongs the distinctive right to wear two stripes. 8 men out of 600 is not a bad proportion for N.U.L.S.
After months of silence we are now able to give some news of Serg. W.G.Lodwick. He is now at Quantico, Va. attending the Marine O.T.C. He writes “We arrived here on May 16th after being on the way for six weeks. During that time we visited all the West Indies and returned right where the “subs” have been busyblately. We landed in N.Y. and the Statue of Liberty certainly looked grand to that bunch of tropical tanned marines.” We expect to hear shortly again from Bro. Lodwick, on two points. One is his attaining the object of his present campaign.
N.B. Stop the presses! One count has already been struck. The mails just bring us word that its Serg. and Mrs. Lodwick. Church wedding, crossed swords, and all the fixin’s. We all send our heartiest congratulations and good wishes!
R.E.Button, one of the stalwart protectors of our Maine coast, informs us: “We compose a unit in the garrison of Ft. Williams, an actual fort. We are trained on the big coast defense rifles or cannon every day, for future service in the heavy artillery. I want to be on the Range section of a battery, which looks better to me than juggling those shot and shells which weigh in the neighborhood of half a ton apiece.”
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J.L.Turnbull, of the Signal Corps, Ft. Leavenworth says, modest ly: “A signal corps man doesn’t have to know much. If he becomes expert in infantry drill, acquires the habit of reading wigwag at 20 words per minute, taking field buzzer messages at 30 per minute and wigwag at 15, and understands wireless, he has a fair start, If, in addition to this, he can score 48 out of a possible 50 with a colt 45, ride a motorcycle, take it apart and reassemble it, repair a telegraph instrument, build a gas engine, shoe a horse, make out a company report and draw maps, he may, if he is lucky, qualify as a first class private.” We shall be interested to know when “Goof” receives the commission above referred to. Shouldn’t be surprised if he jumped up to a Lance Corporal.
Below is an extract from a letter written by Mr. Bovard in April. He has since that time been up in a Casualty Clearing station: “The last two weeks I feel that I have been doing real war service. I never knew what work was before. Heretofore I have thot it a creditable performance to work 48 hours without any sleep, but at the beginning of this last push I worked at high tension 84 hours without a wink of sleep, and often only a few minutes in which to swallow cold meals. For the next ten days we continued to work at the same pressure with less than an average of three hours sleep at night. Needless to say we flopped down on our cots without removing shoes or leggings. Oh, how we longed for a hot bath. Toward the end I seemed to walk in a dream. My muscles were still OK but I couldn’t think. I could still lift some of those big Guardsmen alone from the table to the stretcher, but I couldn’t anticipate the surgeon’s needs in regard to instruments and dressings. I would start after something and forget what I was after or where I was going. One day last week we doubled the record number of operations ever done in his hospital in a single day either by the English or ourselves. They were no means small operations either[‘.?] This gives a slight idea of what the two stripes stand for.
n C.H.Blim, a chauffeur in the Aero Non-flying service, has moved to Arcadia, Fla. and writes: “We have crocodiles for pets, buzzards for song birds, snakes to make us more agile, and mosquitoes and other insects for playmates, but we never hear the cry ‘hear comes Texas’, meaning a sandstorm, nor does it get unbearably hot, according to those who claim to know. Our field is a prairie of about 5 sq.Miles,surrounded on all sides by a dense forest of palm and fir, with plenty of swamps
Lieut. Harry Jones, A.P.O. 701 writes: “I have one of those penmanship jobs bestowed on me for a month now. Have been Asst.Adj. on a colonel’s staff, and also doing Summary Court work, the latter being about the only part of the army when a lawyer feels at home. Personally I havn’t the slightest idea now of the difference between a tort and a contract, no reflections on CoL Wigmore or Prof. Costigan, either.”
Some philosophers are bred under strange conditions. Listen to this outbrust from Cook Rauhoff: “I am again declaring my continued presence in the land of the living, allowing you to at once rest assured that it is I who am wielding this most formidable weapon gorged and loaded with “ammunition’ such as some wiseacre once said was mightier than the sword. He may have been perfectly sober and pretty well educated when he said it, but from what the French civilians say, they believe in the old trusty sword, inasmuch as they are reaping more shekels from the soldier boys (Chinese included) than during the good old days when an occasional tourist wandered into town looking for the exact spot where Napoleon the Great had his poilus stack arms. I may as well tell you that I have seen several underground dungeons or cells where our friend and ally, Nap, spent a few nights. I have seen the green meads where his cavalry pranced, chaffing at the bits to ford the English channel, as well as one of his numerous chateaus, now occupied by Joe, the chimney-sweep and Julié, the laundress. Besides, I have seen a statue of the very same Bonesaparte, shoved way up high on a pedestal a la skyscraper, so that he might grit his teeth in anger, as [h]e fixed-featurely looked over toward the British Isles. But, whoever [bu]ilt that selfsame monument turned the old boy in the wrong direction. [?] it is he looks toward his own tomb in Paris. What a predicament it [mu]st be for one to gaze continually at his own pyre!
On my return from my measles trip (heretofore chronicled) I found the boys wearing the new Overseas cap. I donned one of the sky pieces in order to appear conventional; but, really, I’ll never look or feel the same until I get back under a Stetson or a Sam Rosenbaum. I will tell you why we have been issued these forementioned decorations. The New Jealanders, seeing that we were allowed to remain in French estaminets or cafes an hour after they were forced to leave, adopted a hat similar to our old ones, and succeeded in hoodwinking the barkeeps, thus remaining to interrupt our hour of enjoyment. In order to remedy the matter, our army designed the cap we now wear, which is somewhat similar to those worn by the French and Belgians. The French cannot impose upon us inasmuch as their caps are blue, while the Belgians, tho wearing khaki colored bonnet[s,?] have a beautiful tassel dangling from the forward gable. The [???].
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When we first arrived in sometime sunny France we were anxious to talk French. After grunting away at it for several months, most of us gave it up as a bad job, for one or all of three reasons. One was that the French have no working vocabulary whereby one in a wrathful mood might express himself. Of course, I mean slang and colloquialisms only. Another reason was that with the pronunciation we gave the words, the people were not able to deduce what we were endeavoring to discuss. The last and most important was that nearly all the civilians hereabout have learned and are learning repidly the beautiful and euphonious American language. It is not English for it has earmarks all its own, thank the Lord. In England there are about as many different tongues as there are counties. Yorkshireman say “Dost thou know ought about Wigen?” The Lancashire lads say “Shut door lad. Wipe feet on th’mat, for I’m th’engineer.” On the other hand a Cockney from Lunnon speaks typically when he asks “Witer, ‘ave you a pile of ice?” He means to say, “Waiter, have you a pail of ice?”On the other hand, the Welsh have a lingo all their own. I have met Welshmen who, before they joined up, couldn’t speak a word of English. In the U.S. one always hears that English is our mother tongue. I say that there’s no su such thing. There are at least a score of different dialects, tongues, lingos, or whatnot in the British lsles, none of which resemble our beloved tongue. I am beginning to think we must speak Red Indian.”
Lloyd Allen writes from Camp Hancock, Ga., “I am not a Major Gen’l as yet and havn’t been consulted very frequently as to how the war should be run. In fact, K.P. is as high as I have risen and that lasted only one day. Now for fear you don’t quite understand what K.P. is I will tell you. It is Kitchen Police. That is a great misnomer however. What it should be is P.P. Potato Peeler and D.W., dishwasher.
Lieut. Hiebsch, in true Towle style orates thusly: “I enjoy immensely the work of instructing new men. The man who can see nothing to it but yelling “Squads right” has a mighty narrow vision. For any man in America who has not been in the service before the present war he has noted a marked change in himself. In fact he has changed twice as much as he has during any other equal period during his life. The average American coming out of civil life is not used to military discipline. When he gets into the army his whole view of life changes. His habits change. There can be nothing of greater interest than to watch this transformation from civilian to soldier. Just now I am putting in some real hard work trying to bring about this transformation, It is surprising what a great amount of interest the men take in theirnwork. With but few exceptions every man is most eager to become a soldier.”
Lieut. Sherwood says “Flying is play and work, thrilling and monotonous, dangerous and safe all depending on the particular case, the combination of circumstances at the instant, condition of airplane and of flyer, mental and physical, weather, stunts attempted, previous training and individuals likes and dislikes. In spite of the difficulty of generalizing, flying is fascinating and I am daily happier that I am in it.”
H.L.Norton wrote from Camp Merritt, N.J., We left the sunless south on a Monday and landed here the next Friday after a very interesting trip across the continent. We passed thru eight states and covered over 3000 miles, and there is an equal distance to go by water before our little trip is ended. My ambitions are at last about to be realized, and still they don’t seem to give a fellow any thrills. It seems as tho a year in the service dulls a fellows emotions. This camp is a wonderful place, and we live in barracks and sleep on real iron beds. This is a mighty busy place.”
Would be Flying Cadet Vincent Bell tells us from the S.M.A. at Champaign, “S.M.A. here is just the same as ever with perhaps a few added restrictions, the most drasitc of which was the cut in wages. That hurt. It ain’t right. Also we all wear large number now to save the officers the trouble of asking our names. Mine happens to be ‘494’. They are large enough to be seen nine miles thro a thick fog, and are guaranteed to bring the correct result. Further, no cadet is allowed to leave the post at all except on Saturday nights, but when we do get down to the hamlet (or omellete) fifty cents dont last an hour. However, I like it all very much.”
Mr. Andreen, 1919, writes from Camp Wheeler, Ga., “I have been assigned to the Eng . Corps and what a “legal mind” is going to do in that branch of the service is beyond my conprehension. Still I presume the proper authorities know best. I am well and doing my best and working hard to fit myself for my country’s service.”
Many of our men have been enlisting lately at the Ensign School et Municipal Pier, where Lieut M.R.McNeill, ’15, is one of the “big cheese”. Mr. Bielfeldt and S.W.Moser have become members of the band of that organization.
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Since writing the list of commissioned cadets we learn that the name of Ralph Brown should be included among them, which it gives me great pleasure to note.
We have been told that Mr. Chipman was commissioned before the expiration of the 3rd camp and sent directly to the A.E.F.
Our Beg Your Pardon dept. desires to correct that statement made in the last issue to the effect that Louis G. Caldwell had returned to the Ambulance work. That gentleman is now aspiring to become an “Aspirant” and is studying in the French Artillerie School at Fonntainebleau. He says when he is all dressed up on Sunday in his light blue suit one can hardly tell Louis XVI and Louis ’16 apart.
John Crossley’s latest favorite pasttime is standing in the hot sun of Washington Barracks pointing a gun at a prisoner while said prisoner sits at ease and plays at work. When not doing that he is learning how to take pictures so he can take them for the U.S.Eng’s.
We have heard (but won’t vouch for the authenticity) that Orville Davies has gone to the Aviation School at the Boston Tech.
Serg. P.R.Davis’s fears that his being put into the Hospital service delayed his going across seem to have been groundless, as we hear he is among those “over there”.
Our lady, Miss Goldman, is now at Camp Dix, Wrightstown, N.J., and one might judge from her accounts that war means fudge abd dances and other pleasant things. But we are proud of having one lady star, and shall be anxious to hear how she progresses in the army.
Lieut. Groth has gone to the Artillery Replacement Camp at Camp Jackson, where Mrs. G. has been with him there on their second honey moon. “Dutch” Schroeder, the last of the old guard, has also gone to join that colony, where we shall expect to hear further from him and his progress.
Heindl, Anton, is already a corporal at Camp Grant tho he has been there a few weeks only. He writes os enjoying his work like the rest.
Two things have happened to Maurice James recently. He has been married, and moved to Camp Taylor, Ky. to finish his O.T.C. work. We expect he was happier in one than the other.
Pte. Levitetz writes that Uncle Sam was extremely generous in the amount of clothe he put into Mr. L’s uniform, so that there is plenty of room for two or three more. Such wonderful things happen in the army that perhaps if the suit doesn’t shrink Mr. Levitetz will grow[?] to fit the suit.
Mr. McCoy says of Great Lakes life, “We are feeling fit and strong and we outght for we handle a pick and shovel or push an Irish baby carriage ( commonly known as a wheel barrow) for four hours a day, so we are always glad to hear the bugle for meals. The only consolation is everybody is doing it.”
Lt. Frank Marshall has been appointed Court Martial Judge Advocate at camp Grant. Hope for the sake of his clients or defendants, or whatever, that he remembers more of his law than the rest of you claim you do.
Mr. Lawrence Mielitz is in the 4th O.T.C. at Camp MacArthur, Texas and writes that he learned more after two days in that camp than he had during all his previous army experience. He, too, is enthusiastic over his work.
Lieut. Lorin Taylor was a recent caller in our sanctum. He is stationed in Loanoak, Ark. And expects to be held there for some time
A recent le ter from Jules Field, 1916, is interesting in what he has to say in regard to present conditions at the front: “We have been on the front for the last two months and are now on a very busy fron[t] where things are moving fast. For a while we were engaged in trench warfare but now it is all in the open, no trenches or dugouts. We like the open warfare better because it is our style of war and in this particular sector are raising hell with Fritz; have been able to push them back some and take quite a few prisoners. I am sure they do not like the reception they are getting in this part of the country Our Infantry are doing splendid work and reserve a great deal of praise.” Mr. Field is with the 12th F.A.
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