registered for the night.

Twenty-six men and twenty-six packs in one tent. Crowding was more
than a necessity; it was a torture, as was soon evinced when twenty-six
men stretched themselves out on the board floor of the tent for the
seeming purpose of sleeping. Extra blankets had been drawn from the
quartermaster, which, combined with the blankets the soldier carried
in his pack, furnished mattress and coverings for the sweet but hard
repose. No blue-print diagram was furnished as to how the sleeping
space was to be allotted in twenty-six portions; with the result that
one fellow was awakened out of a sweet dream of eating pie and cake,
to find his buddy's feet pushing him in the face.

Reveille sounded at C Camp Woodley at 7:20 o'clock on the morning of
August 1st, when Battery D received its first taste of British mess.
Details of varied description were furnished from the battery roster,
while the battery spent most of the first day in camp trying to figure
out the English system of mess. The outfit was assigned places at
tables, by squads, in mess-tents. Two from each squad were delegated a
committee to go to the kitchen and bring on the chow.

For breakfast the committee brought back an iron-bound kettle of
oatmeal; another kettle of prunes and a quantity of bread. The system
then was one of "help yourself and pass it on," which was all right
for the fellow at the head of the table, but the fellows on the
opposite end had to do the figuring.

The same procedure was followed at noon when slum was served. Night
mess in England invariably was cheese and tea and jam, which was
always good as far as it went. The entire 311th regiment was served
from one kitchen. It was good fortune that the Americans had
individual mess kits with them and that there occurred no sanitary
inspections of said eating utensils while in C Camp where fifteen
hundred mess kits were washed in a two by four bucket.

During the first day in an English camp many of the soldiers slipped
past the M. P.'s and made their way to the town; a quaint market town
and municipal borough, numbering almost 4,000 inhabitants, in the New
Forest Parliamentary division of Hampshire. As far as sight seeing,
the only thing of interest in the town was an old abbey. Cafes were
numerous, while English ale signs were more numerous.

An American Y. M. C. A. was housed under canvas at Camp Woodley. The
workers in charge prepared a royal entertainment, while the regi