ember 11, that we arrived at Guer.

[Illustration: Machine Gun Mounted for Air Craft]

[Illustration: Three Sergeants in Romenoville's Ruins]

[Illustration: Three Corporals Ready to Hike]

[Illustration: The Battery Clerk and the Courier]

CHAPTER II

TRAINING AT CAMP COETQUIDAN

The trip up the long hill on which lay Camp Coetquidan was made in
trucks. The distance was not more than two miles, but the steady upward
climb fatigued the boys many evenings, when they returned from a supper
at the Hotel de France, or at Mme. Legrey's chocolate shop, or at one of
the places that sprang up to supply the demand of the soldiers for food.

The camp was situated on the top of the highest hill in a region of
gentle slopes of varying heights. From it was a wonderful view of the
red and brown fields and purple woods that composed Brittany's winter
scenery. But the minds of the boys were not on this, nor on the
gloriously colored sunrises, as they marched out in mud and snow to the
drill field early each morning.

In previous years the French had had a large camp here, particularly for
manoeuvres in the summer. After the outbreak of the war, it came to be
used as a prison camp. When the Second Battalion of the 149th arrived,
the French troops were no longer there, save such as guarded the prison
camp, and the German prisoners of war were being moved to other quarters
a short distance away. To clean out the barracks vacated by them, and
prepare them for habitation by the men of the 149th was the job of the
Second Battalion.

Clad in dungarees and slickers, instead of their uniforms, so that by
shedding all their working clothes they could avoid carrying cooties and
lice into their own barracks, the men set to work. The job was done
thoroughly. First the barracks were cleaned of all refuse, which was
immediately burned. Then they were sprinkled carefully with
creolin--walls, ceiling and floor. Next the dirt floor was spaded up,
sprinkled with creolin once more, and then tramped down into a hard
surface again. Finally the walls and ceiling were given three coats of
whitewash. So painstakingly was the work done, and so well were the
sanitary conditions of the camp maintained, that cooties were unknown in
the regiment while it was there, save in exceptional cases.

At the end of the week the First Battalion arrived, and the batteries
moved into their permanent quarters. Drill on the guns commenced the
following Mon