TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DERMOTT NEWS DECEMBER 13, 1917 P. 4
I like the place and am enjoying the work. I have been here three weeks and am beginning to realize there is a difference between fours right and a column left. They kept me in the awkward squad for two weeks but I have now reached the point where I march in the first set of fours, but lest you think me conceited will say that it is due to my height and not my proficiency.
The work here is entirely military. It is presumed that we are already conversant with the professional side of it. We have about four hours drill per day, which is supplemented by letter drill, drill with the gas masks, with ambulances, and one day each week in cavalry drill. We have about three hours per day of lectures which are mostly on the management of hospitals, ambulance corps, etc. It is surprising how little the ordinary doctor knows of what constitutes an army surgeon.
We have a delightful camp very desirably situated, good barracks, and the table fare is excellent, well cooked and well served, but I regret to say very little in fact no table manners are exercised. The idea is to get what you can before the other fellow “beats you to it.” We do anything except walk up and down the table.
It will no doubt be a surprise to you as it was to me to learn that I had the pleasure of meeting our friend Shaw Anderson this afternoon. I was never more surprised in my life, and needless to say I was pleased as well. He has been sent here from Jackson. Miss, for examination, and probably will only be here a few days.
I have made application for assignment to an Ambulance Co. and will probably be sent to it next week with a prospect of early service in France I am beginning to realize that we are really at war and to realize something of its seriousness, something impossible for you there as it was for me there. No one here looks for a termination of it short of three years, and many think five years a conservative estimate. And that is the opinion of a great many of our instructors, many of whom have a personal knowledge of the condition of affairs, having only recently returned from the front.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Lieut. L. Wallen, a doctor, serving in the Medical Officers Training Camp at Camp Greenleaf in Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was writing to his friend Mr. C. R. Bates.
TRANSCRIBED BY ADIN TYGART
I like the place and am enjoying the work. I have been here three weeks and am beginning to realize there is a difference between fours right and a column left. They kept me in the awkward squad for two weeks but I have now reached the point where I march in the first set of fours, but lest you think me conceited will say that it is due to my height and not my proficiency.
The work here is entirely military. It is presumed that we are already conversant with the professional side of it. We have about four hours drill per day, which is supplemented by letter drill, drill with the gas masks, with ambulances, and one day each week in cavalry drill. We have about three hours per day of lectures which are mostly on the management of hospitals, ambulance corps, etc. It is surprising how little the ordinary doctor knows of what constitutes an army surgeon.
We have a delightful camp very desirably situated, good barracks, and the table fare is excellent, well cooked and well served, but I regret to say very little in fact no table manners are exercised. The idea is to get what you can before the other fellow “beats you to it.” We do anything except walk up and down the table.
It will no doubt be a surprise to you as it was to me to learn that I had the pleasure of meeting our friend Shaw Anderson this afternoon. I was never more surprised in my life, and needless to say I was pleased as well. He has been sent here from Jackson. Miss, for examination, and probably will only be here a few days.
I have made application for assignment to an Ambulance Co. and will probably be sent to it next week with a prospect of early service in France I am beginning to realize that we are really at war and to realize something of its seriousness, something impossible for you there as it was for me there. No one here looks for a termination of it short of three years, and many think five years a conservative estimate. And that is the opinion of a great many of our instructors, many of whom have a personal knowledge of the condition of affairs, having only recently returned from the front.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by Lieut. L. Wallen, a doctor, serving in the Medical Officers Training Camp at Camp Greenleaf in Camp Oglethorpe, Georgia. He was writing to his friend Mr. C. R. Bates.
TRANSCRIBED BY ADIN TYGART