Camp Upton—September 10th to April 5th
NVITED—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.
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.