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Image provided by: New York State Military History Museum
THE RIO GRANDE RATTLER PAGE 7 Going Home On Furlough Or Discharge? Mallory Line to New Y ork Connecting for all Eastern and Now Eiiglaiul points; offers you the most convenient and cheapest way back East. SA ILIN G FEOM GALVESTON 3 P. M. EV E E Y SATURDAY. Brownsville to New York first class .........................................................$5'1.55 Brownsville to New York third class ...................................................... 33.50 McAllen to New York first class ................................................................ 54.85 McAllen to New York third class .............................................................. 33.85 Harlingen to New York first class ............................................................ 53.80 Harlingen to New York third class .......................................................... 32.80 Bates include meals and berth while at sea. For further particulars see anyrailroad agent or write ' ' F. T. RENNIE, General Agent, jyiALLORY STEA M S H IP COMPANY GALVESTON, TEXAS News From Our Division Units 1ST BATTALION SIGNAL CORPS. A R e d H o t W h y W a it stack of Wheats To have your pictures Browned to perfection developed and printed. We supply the q uickest and fit for kings. service here on t h e All kinds of short orders B r d e r . P I E S GOOD WORK At Reasonable Prices A GOOD PLACE TO EAT The little place just to E. E. SCOGGINS the left of the AMUSEM THEATRE Mission, Texas. Next door to Mission W anted: A Name Times Till- (Jommitteo on Rumors has been diacliiirged with thanks, especially foi ^ its excellent work last week. Sergts. j Chillis and Best did well, and deserve the liighcst commendation for the ex, colloiit brand of “ inside” information with which they have fed u.s duiing our sojourn on the Border. “ N Y A ’ ' reports that our old friend. “ S t a t i c \ was very busy last Thursday and l->.'day, much to the annoyance of Sergt. Dros^o :iu : ' ‘ his a8sista.'.'i». The “ Wiuter-iii-Tcxas\ club, a t their last regular meeting, decided to change the name of the club. Both members voted unanimously for “ Christmas at Home*’ Club, hoping thereby to in crease their member.ship. They also have an old tin stove for sale, which they will sell cheap to any irrespon sible ))arty. We understand that last Friday was a busy day for a well known tele- prapb office in town. Company A has decided to hold t h e i r ' Captain Kennedy of the “ Bill Depart m e n t . \ Lieutenants Debaun and Ire land successfully occupied the seats closing the horseshoe ends, and between bites, operated the phonograph. Captain Schenk’s speech Was short and to tho point, for he remarked that a good dinner was not going to be spoiled by any bad speeches ami sat down, and we fell to. Due to the generosity of Mrs. W. F. Goodwin and the Veterans of Co. B, a splendid spread was set before us. Mess Sergeant Griffin, with his capa ble staff of cooks, “ J a k e \ Hoffman and Frietsche, together with his “ K. P . \ Lovell, Petersen, Evans and Wyck- off, provided such a meal as we have many times dreamed about, but alas! in vain. Just cast your eye over this menu: Olives Celery Miscen relish a ’la quartermaster Roast Texas Turkey, maitre d ’ H offman Dressing privilege especial Griffin Brooklyn Cranberry Sauce annual Holiday Week dance at the old Baked Sweet Potatoes Armory in New York. THE TH AN K S K IV IN G D INNER OF CO \ B \ SIGNAL CORPS Glorious sunshine, a cool breeze and a bright blue sky; such was Thanks giving D.ay on the Border. On o of tliose days that will remain among our pleasantest recollections of the Texas climate. After .attending to all the details necessary in a camp of mounted troops, the Conijiany turned in to help the cooks prepare that long-heralded big dinner. The mess shack was gaily decorated with signal flags, which under less happier condition.s we wave across the Company streets and surrounding coun try sending ines.sagcs relating to tho mysterious movements of those fa mous but elusive Generals X, Y and Z. Peas a ’la Frietsche G. 0. No. 7 Mince I’ie Fruits Nuts Depot Unit Plum Pudding Coffee (loncentrated issue.) Cigars aux Veterans Try to imagine our feelings, when in stead of the familiar “ NO, no sec onds, fourteen men o u t ! \ we were per mitted to have seconds, even thirds and fourths, until we regretfully had to say “ NO,—it can ’t be done.\ We topped off the ineal with fine cigars and coffee. “ Ye gods,\ it was real and not issue coffee. We were posed for a group photo graph after dinner and hope \O l d S o l \ was kind to the photographer, for we expect to treasure that picture in the years to come. Tho sense of sat isfaction that stole over us as wc .sat back contentedly puffing away, is one that will not readily be forgotten by any of us. We are many thousand miles away With great delight we always managea ____ _ _____ to send most efficiently XXXXXXXj jjoijjgg ^nd our loved ones, and — — • — front. ^ B m jpjjjjy t^jjies our hearts leaped the miles today till' flags sigu:'.!'r; in ummstak aide laiu''uage that ncc* I nc cxpi'r: u- decode as “ Welcome\ and it surely was a welcome that greeted us as we entered our one-time mess shack and saw it transformed to a banquet hall. The benches ami tables had received even more than their usual spotless cleaning. Instead of the every day arrange ment we beheld the familiar horse, shoe formation of oldtime days some where in the city; and place cards, too. At the center, sat our Captain Schenk, supported on his right by our Major Hallahan and on his left by our between, f o r to all Americans, this day of Thauksgiving is essentially the home festival of the year. It is tlie day on which we make every possible effort to be with our home folks. This day, however, we men on the Border under arms, and prepared to (.’\'fend our coun try and our homos. If absent wo must be, wluit better or more laudable mis sion could we have? But as we looked around at the men we have lived with these many months, we found wc still have the spirit of Thanksgiving with us. We are thankful for the comradeship of the fellows who were strangers to many of us when first we came down here, and whom our intimate camp life has revealed to be good men and true, as no other occasion possible could. We haven't fought any Mexicans and we are thankful for that, too, but wc have fought the climate, the cactus and mesquite, the insects and the snakes,-^ 3 'os, and we have bested them all. But we are proudest of our conquest of the enemy, w’c arc especially organized to to combat, and that is distance, miles of telegrapli and telephone wires rad. iate from the camp in all directions, and are continually humming under the burden of army messages and army business. Far outside the camp limits, there arc other wires to whose construction work is a story in itself,— wild rides in auto trucks, all night guards over them when hopelessly mired, miles irom anywhere, connecting up the Bor der patrol outpo.sts after dark, and amid the cactus and thorns, all this and much more will go to tlie telling of how the wires were strung along the Border, and of the wild and interest ing country through which we worked. We have all of us down here in “ The Service,” and that is both the key note of our work as signal men—“ Ser vice. ’ ' Tlic slogan of the great public cor- portations in our cities is “ Service.\ and that means service for the public for twenty-four hours a day, and for every day of the year; such is the Sig nal Cori>8 service of the army. We are thankful for our work and for what we have been called to do. We have grumbled and growled at times,—what true soldier does not? But we are thankful we have clone our best to live up to the traditions of our liranch of the service by endeav oring to render efficient service to “ Uncle Sam . \ —A. G. K. 4TH AMBULANCE COMPANY. Members net only of the 4th Ambu lance Conijainy, but of all the sanitary units in the Sixth Division will find the following latter from Philip O. Mills, now with the American Ambu lance Gori>s in France, intensely inter esting in view of the articles appearing from day to day in the press and mag. azines. Mr. Mills writes: • ‘ Through various channels, the high ly colored articles in magazines and newspapers about “ the brave Ameri can b e y s \ at the front come floating into our corps stationed temporarily within sound and almost sight of the guns beyond the town of Verdun. “ They arc our greatest amusement and relaxation. I do -believe our Amer ican public loves to be bulldozed and stuffed. The half-baked war corres pondents who write the rot about tlie ambulance drivers at the front have an imagination that is stupendous and awe-inspiring. They should head their articles VV'ar as-She A i n ’t. “ Stories of regiments returning from the trenches crowding around ambu lances to thank them are bull pure and simple. They are either too tired to do anything except keep walking or else are apt to sling the usual soldier jokes—same the world over. “ Any fellow who cannot distinguish the sound of one of lus own guns going off from a shell coming is apt to spend a miserable life if he stays long in these parts. Most wounded are too busy keeping their own nerve in both hands to both er about ballroom speaehes. The first wounded loatl I had any acquaintance with had one among them who spoke httle English, and his first question was, when does the train leave for I’aris? “ Rules of the load—there aren’t any. Motors pass horse wagons be cause they are quicker. Oamioos pull out when they hear you, if they hear, ami can pull out. “ One man has written: .\mbulancea come .after troops, after amunition and food wagons. Well, what is there left on the road after all these but ambu lances? Thi.s road business is all a mutter of expediency. If you can squeeze past a string of camions, you do, otherwise you fail in line and wait your chance. “ Because you see u star shell it doesn’t mean you arc within sight of tho Bosche, and right behind the first line by a long shot, for you can sea them twenty miles from behind th© lines. “ Sentries asking lor passwards ou. roads under fire is foolish—and you can go right up to any f ront line trench if you arc big enough fool without worrying about any pa.ssword. Every one takes it for granted you wouldn’t be around there unless you had to. Ona night I went way out toward Verdun toward the linos back through the tow’n and half way to Bar-le-Dus and no one wanted to know anything. “ Vou can ’t make all life serious out lierc, and this ‘driving by the stars with an iron grip on the steering wheel ’ ' may please some people, but I can't see why. \ I w'ish you could have seen our {•orjis the other day indulging in an afternoon game of one-old cat whe» five German Taubes came sailing over When they began dropping bombs everyone did a 220 in record style, and in all directions, and did not wait for ‘Taubebomb’ checks either. Bnt even as they started to run the gang began to laugh, and it developed into a pur suit race in two minutes. “ Don’t get the idea, though, that they come over every afternoon—they don't. « « \ D o n ’t get the idea t h a t the daring little ambulance driver li^e3 in a con stant atmosphere ‘of shell strewn roads, dashing through fires of bar- riage,' for he don’t—thank heaven, I don’t believe they ever put a barriage fire on a road an ambulance had to t:avel. They have put roads under heavy shelling for hours and days at periods, but no ambulance or any* thing else can go through a bari'aige- — t h a t ’s cold fact. “ .4t times the corps has been through periods of night and day work all night and day, but it hasn’t lasted more than two or three weeks at a time—and the work has been danger ous to a degree. It has been a mirael© that it has come through with no eas- ualitiea, but mostly it goes on its way doing its daily task and making no fuss over it—but the French govern ment and the army division to which it is attached are more than appreciat- (Continued on Page 8.) r s 5 X ^pROWNSVILLE Finish the Story Yourself “We pulled into Galveston about nine the next morning—it’s only two hours from Houston, you know—and got ready for a lovely day. A little chilly it was, but the water was just fine. Of course we went swimming, and those hot, dusty days back in the old army camp at McAllen faded away into memory. Maybe it wasn’t good to get the feel of concrete sidewalks again, and eat at a regular eating-place and be treated like an indivi dual instead of one of ten thousand. But that wasn’t all we did. We had a boat-ride, and a room at the Galvez, and the next morning ......... ” ' But finish the story yourself, laddie! You can go to Galveston. You can swim and eat and have the good time that everyone has when they visit this wonderful Gulf city. On your way you pass through Houston. GULF COAST LINES OIL-BURNING PA 5 J 5 ? VICE—NO SMOKE <» 9 j S PYEATT, Pres and Gen. Mgr., Houston C. W. STRAIN, Gen. Passenger Agent Houston G. M. McCLUEB, Asst. Gen Pass. Agt., Houston. THE NATIONb B^T” “ r ■ < i . A.
