y died when it
came.

Upton to France--April 6th to April 20th

On the night of April 5th we were ordered to roll packs. We stacked our
bunks and drew ammunition. And we were posted on a vigil of waiting.
April 6th, 1918, Saturday, was the first anniversary of America's
declaration of war. At two-thirty on that morning, in an air pleasantly
crisp and flooded with moonlight, we marched to the railroad and
entrained. Leaving Camp Upton at three-fifteen, we pulled into Long
Island City just in time to be greeted by the usual six o'clock factory
whistles.

A waiting ferry engulfed our battalion and we were transported down the
East River, around the Battery, and up the Hudson to Pier 59, at the
foot of West Eighteenth Street, Manhattan. A methodical transfer was
accomplished from the squat and stunted ferry to the gigantic but little
known _Justicia_.

While still under process of construction in the shipyards at Belfast,
in Ireland, for the Holland American Line, the _Statendam_ was
commandeered by Great Britain at the beginning of the European war and
was operated as a transport under the name _Justicia_ by the White Star
Line. She was at the time the fifth largest vessel afloat and that she
was the especial prey of the German undersea navy is indicated by the
fact that a submarine attacked her on a subsequent trip from England to
the United States, on July 20th, and after a dramatic engagement lasting
some twenty-four hours, she was sunk. Fourteen of a crew of seven
hundred were lost.

All day men and equipment poured onto the decks and into the hold of the
giant transport. Our entire regiment and one battalion of the 308th
Infantry were quartered between decks. Next morning, before reveille,
the _Justicia_ slipped quietly down New York Bay, thru Ambrose Channel,
and into the Atlantic.

B Company had no quarters _de luxe_. We were crowded into small
space--Section K--far down on D deck, with sleeping hammocks slung over
our mess tables. And our mess, served by the British, was a sorry series
of meals. We were compelled to wear during the day, and to sleep with
during the night, ungainly life preservers. But discomforts were
subordinated to the interest in our new surroundings. The mysteries of
the big ship, its spotless engine-room, the intricacies of navigation,
the precautions against possible attack,--all held us.

[Illustration: _Among Those Present--A Group of NCO'S at Camp_]

On leaving New York we p