At 9 o'clock on the morning of November 2 the Battalion detrained at Neufchateau with hungry, travel-worn men willing to unroll their packs in any place having the slightest appearance of being a stationary camp, but it took all their optimism to greet enthusiastically the mud-surrounded barracks provided for the Company about three and a half miles southeast of Neufchateau near the village of Certilleux, in the department of the Vosges.
Surrounded as it was by hills characteristic of that part of France, and isolated from the other units of its command, A Company developed its community along lines approved by itself. The barracks, of which there were four on the east side of the road and one on the opposite side, all of that temporary type of structure manufactured in sections and reared without much attempt at making them comfortable, were connected with wide stone walks. The material for these walks was brought from the hill near at hand after hours of labor which took the kinks out of unused muscles and increased appetites, which were far from being satisfied because of the addled condition of the supply service then prevailing with the American Expeditionary Forces.
Three of the group of four barracks were adopted for the use of the Company, floors were laid, bunks of heavy green wood which had to be carried from the railroad station nearly a mile distant were gradually put into place, the kitchen was installed in one of the barracks with the mess hall as an adjunct and the orderly room occupying a small space near the end of the latter. Finally the small cylindrical stoves, the only available means of heating the barracks, were installed, three to a building. The single barracks on the west side of the road was fitted up for a guard house and supply room until the horses, mules and gun carts claimed it for their own.
Detail work was plentiful, for water was supplied by a small brook originating in springs near the top of the hill and it was necessary to carry it a hundred yards to the kitchen. Coal for the barracks stoves was only obtainable by carrying it from points of distribution, for transportation was scarce early in the fall of 1917. To supply the kitchen with wood, chopping details were sent into areas designated by the French authorities and the sticks were carried to camp by the Company.
Getting settled in the barracks was a comparatively short operation, for the men had been making new homes during the past month under more trying conditions each time, until they considered board floors and more or less dependable roofs downright luxuries. The bunks, most of which were of the "double-deck" variety, that is, one superimposed over another, with staunch wooden posts, were finally arranged in double rows on each side of the barracks, leaving a broad aisle through the center of the building. Sergeants who were fortunate enough found small single bunks which they placed in the middle of the barracks clustered around the stove which occupied the aisle there. These bunks also made seats for the rest of the men when winter nights made the space around the stove a coveted commodity.
Upon invitation the 102d Regiment Band came to the mess hall the Sunday following the Company's arrival at Certilleux and raised the spirits of the men with a concert. Tuesday a march was made to Neufchateau where steel helmets and full machine gun equipment, as far as the guns and carts were concerned, were drawn from the French ordnance depot there. The equipment was hauled back to camp on a hike memorable for its strenuous character.
Spare time had been curtailed in attempts to make the camp tenable, but now was spent in gaining a first-hand knowledge of the surrounding territory. These walks of exploration were cut short by the announcement, November 10, that Mechanic Curtiss had developed a case of measles and been sent to the hospital. His case was followed by others, so the quarantine, applied immediately, hedged in the Company and prevented it from passing the borders of the little camp for nearly a month. First Sergeant Bell, whose boundless energy was responsible for the improvements made about the camp, took command of the situation and did all within his power to add to the meager pleasures of the men by holding impromptu entertainments in the mess hall. The first of these was his trial and conviction by a mock court on serious charges preferred by Dockendorff; the sentence recommended by the jury, of which Captain Wolf was foreman, involved the loss of his whistle. Judge Carroll suspended execution of judgment in view of the accused's early record and Tony Scandore's band completed the program.
Other gatherings of equal interest were arranged, during which the Morning Scratch was presented with its ephemeral owners and contributors and its policy of "charity to none and malice toward all." This remarkable paper not only attracted the attention of the divisional censor, but outlived three editions in which plain fabrication vied with outspoken truth in ferreting out the peculiar qualities of well-known men in the organization. Sergeant McCarthy and Corporal Malone acted as editors of this worthy "sheet" but shielded the names of contributors to the last.
Robinson and Stearns valiantly attacked the "general's march" unceasingly when the word was passed down that General Pershing was coming to inspect the Company on November 11. Clothing and equipment were scrubbed as never before, but the stigma of a quarantine saved the men the nerve-racking experience of an inspection by the General, and the only sight they had of him was when his car flashed past to Landaville where the headquarters of the 102d Regiment was located.
After patiently translating most of the French handbook on the Hotchkiss machine gun which was issued to the Company the previous week, Lieutenants Carroll and Nelson transmitted their information to the rest of the Company officers and the men were called out for the first demonstration. Described as being "air-cooled, gas operated and strip-fed," the gun was extremely heavy but at the same time one of the most dependable machine guns used in the war, and its comparatively simple mechanism soon was well known by most of the men.