Train had been commended for its work in the Argonne by our own
Divisional Commander, as well as by the Commanding General of the
division that relieved us. The work in battle had been without fault,
but at this time we were informed that discipline was very lax, and
instead of the much needed rest, we were put through a period of
training which lasted until the division relieved a division of French
in a sector north of Verdun.

THE VERDUN FRONT

While at Vaubecourt we received word that we were to go to the front
again, and that news surprised us not a little, because of the fact that
we had only been out of the Argonne some two weeks.

On October 15th, the division occupied a new sector east of Verdun,
extending from near Fresnes to Eix. As usual, Ambulance Company 139 took
position near the front lines, to evacuate the division. On October
16th, headquarters of the company was located at Fontaine Brilliante, a
very beautifully situated triage near Somme-Dieue. This triage evidently
had been a most busy place during the great drive on Verdun in 1916.
Immense Red Crosses were painted on the tops of the various buildings,
and two very ingenious Red Crosses were constructed upon the hillside,
of small red and white stones. These were placed there to protect the
triage from Boche airplanes.

Immediately upon arrival at Fontaine Brilliante, Lt. Monteith, with a
detachment of twenty-six men, started to the front and established a
dressing station at Deramee. Two cooks were with the detachment, and a
kitchen was set up in the same building with the dressing station.
Rations were drawn from the first battalion of the 110th Engineers and
it was not a rare thing to have hot cakes for breakfast. In the kitchen
was a wire cage which could be locked, and which looked for all the
world like a large rat trap. One night the cooks had written several
letters to their wives and put them into this cage and locked it. The
rats, which had already carried away some very sizable articles,
including dippers, frying pans and what-nots, got the letters out of the
cage in some magic way that night, and to this day those two cooks are
marveling at the cleverness of French rats.

Litter and ambulance posts were placed at Tunis, Bellvue Farm and
Joffre. There were a few camps near, which were merely billeting places
for soldiers in reserve, and for supply organizations of the line
troops. They were all in easy shelling distance for