Invited--all of us. And we trooped down Yaphank-way, out
on Long Island, as tho bound for a picnic. Which, for a week, it was.
Then we were brought up short. On September 17, 1917, the 77th Division
came to life. One of the first units to be organized within the division
was Company B--307th Infantry, formed also on September 17th.
Immediately we were on paper as a regular unit, we quickly took
semblance of a military organization. Under the leadership of Captain
Blanton Barrett, 1st Lieutenant Alexander D. B. Pratt, and 2d
Lieutenants Philip Cheney and Everett A. Butterfield, we were gradually
whipped into an efficient machine. Corporals were made and
unmade--sergeants came and went--and we were drilled, drilled, drilled.
We had exchanged our hair mattresses for straw, our china for tin, our
homes for barracks, and they made us like it. At first we occupied but
one building,--a rambling two-story affair having bunk rooms on all the
upper floor. The lower floor was given over to kitchen, mess hall, and
recreation room. The recreation room, however, was short lived, for as
we grew in numbers it became necessary to fill it with bunks. And then,
when we had grown to full strength--two hundred and fifty officers and
men--we overflowed into another barracks of which we occupied half of
both upper and lower floors.
The advantages of a billiard table, a piano, and a talking machine were
ours. We supported a miniature barber shop and a tailor. Talent we had
a-plenty, and we ran our own shows.
But we drilled, drilled, drilled. And we had schools--lots of 'em. When
we were not doing the "school of the soldier", we attended bayonet
school. The "school of the squad" divided time with gas instruction. The
study of the automatic rifle was complicated, but so was the "school of
the platoon". We practiced the manual of arms and learned how to throw
hand grenades. Little by little we were perfected in the art of
thinking, and knowing, and doing, the right thing at the right time.
[Illustration: _Camp Upton, New York. Bird's-eye View from Tower
Hill_]
Early in 1918 we felt ready. On Washington's Birthday our division
paraded down Fifth Avenue a complete fighting machine. We were prepared
for the next move and the cheers of the crowds had barely died when it
came.