Letter, Howell D. McKnight to his sister, July 28, 1918

Correspondence from Howell D. McKnight to his sister. In the letter, he writes about how he's adapting to camp life and says, "It is nothing more than a row of tents with beds in them, dirt floors, clothes racks, barracks bags, shoes, suitcases, and guns."

World War, 1914-1918

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Gettysburg, PA.
Camp Colt
JCMA 333 Bn. Co. C.

July 28, 1918

My dear sister,

Your letter calling my attention to the fact that I hadn’t sent a line to came two or three days ago and to you I am writing my first letter this Sunday.

I hardly know what to say now that I have begun.

I am in a company with Lieut. A.N. Horn a classmate of mine. Our battalion (Bn.) was the last to be organized and we have only half a company. Don’t know when it will fill. Soon though I hope. We are busy with fatigue duty about half the time – at least two days out of each week and we can’t progress as fast as we could if we had a full company.

The first three weeks I was assigned a company I went to the machine gun school. And am now a qualified instructor in the Marlin aircraft, Colt, Hotchkiss, machine guns and the 37mm. Don’t know when this company is going to start on machine guns.

Here is what we have to learn: Semaphore, wigwag, wireless, gas engines, machine guns, besides the infantry drill. We spend the morning drilling – take an hour and a half hike every morning. The afternoon we spend at school not very much different from being at A and M only we have more drilling. I can see now whey it was that Capt. Gunning said the enlisted personnel in the T.C. is the highest in the army but I don’t see for the life of me where he got the idea in his head that we would go over in a month or even three months. His confidential information must have been wrong.

I had a funny joke come in a letter the other day. Aunt Levania wanted to know how it felt to ride in a tank. I have seen one at close range. They look like the one on the envelope but it would have been as much as my life is worth to have got in. She also asked me to send a list of things I needed. I just send a bundle of clothes home and am thinking of sending some more stuff home. Please don’t give me a surprise by sending me something.

I now know what bare necessities are and have found out that the expressions means half the things you bring from home and then the Lieut wants to know what you are doing with so much junk lying around.

But after all and in spite of everything I am feeling better every day. I don’t know whether I am putting on weight or not. Haven’t had an opportunity to weight but I am putting on a little muscle and gaining endurance. You cautioned me against smoking too much. I am not smoking very much now about half as much as I did before I came in. That remind me I am out of cigarettes. (You don’t have to take care of them.)

When I was going to the machine gun school one of the lieutenants bet me a package of cigarettes I wouldn’t hit the target five times out of twenty from a moving trailer. I just did manage to luck five hits. (Haven’t got the smokes yet.)

We moved tents yesterday. Put all the fellows the same heighth in the same tent. We worked from one o’clock to eight thirty getting ours in decent shape and still it needs about a days work from all of us. Will send you some views of the camp the first time I go to town.

Haven’t seen Wellborn for two or three weeks. He went to the last officers training school. Don’t know whether he got his commission or not. From now on the T.C. will furnish its own officers. No outsiders are allowed to attend the training camps.

A fellow in the next tent just mentioned that today is the fourth anniversary of the War. Up at the end of the company street an officer has a phonograph going at full speed has kept it on for an hour with intermissions only for changing records. Wish he would stop. If he wasn’t an officer I would like to tell him a few things
1) What I think of a man who would own a cheap phonograph
2) What poor taste the person used who selected the records
3) A phonograph needs at least twenty four hours rest every day.

These two incidents illustrate as well as I know how camp life. It is nothing more than a row of tents with beds in them, dirt floors, clothes racks, barracks bags, shoes, suitcases, and guns.

Everybody in the company has a mania for being clean. Everyone braves the cold water anywhere from four to seven times a week. So you see we keep clean. I did my washing this morning which was, four suits of underwear, three pairs of socks, one pair of leggings, two pairs of trousers, a belt, two towels, and one handkerchief. I also washed clothes last Thursday. You can readily see that I can easily make my living by taking in washing.

Write when you have time. How did your Red Cross drive come out. How is Togo.

Love,
Son

Have the film developed and see what you can see
Had to fold paper to fit envelope.