were eager to replace them and aid in the fighting of the division
along the Meuse river.

After the holiday season Battery D spent its time in Blancheville with
mounted hikes forming the mainstay of the schedule. Each day the
outfit looked for orders to join the division and proceed to German
territory.

The horses and mules brought to the regiment by the convoy, were
distributed to the various batteries. Driver squads were immediately
reorganized and great preparation attended all the hikes.

The latter part of January an official order was issued citing the
individual members of Battery D as entitled to wear a gold service
chevron, an indication of six months service on foreign soil. With the
award of the gold stripe came the selection of the Lorraine Cross as
the divisional insignia and the granting of leaves of absence to visit
the beauty spots of France, with Paris included in the schedule as a
possible three-day leave center. The first men left the battery on a
fourteen day leave, at Blancheville. A waiting list was established
and passes were issued in order of application. During the remainder
of the battery's stay in France names were on the leave list.

The famous Mediterranean Riviera was the favorite leave center,
although St. Malo and Grenoble were cited in official division
orders. Many of the members of Battery D got the opportunity to
spend a vacation in the Southern part of France, where the land is
sheltered by the mountains from the North winds, and lit and warmed by
a resplendent sun in a sky, the azure of which is seldom dulled by
clouds. Nice, Monaco with its Monte Carlo and a trip across the
Italian border near Menton, were included in the majority of the leave
itineraries. While en route to the Southern clime it was customary for
the soldier on leave to mistake trains; get on the wrong train and
find himself landed in the City of Paris. This, in most cases, was the
only opportunity the majority had of seeing the French metropolis,
although a number of three-day leaves to the capital city were granted
battery men.

Leave privileges in the A. E. F. kept the French railroads busy. The
demand for furloughs became so popular that troop specials to the
leave centers came into being and opportunity of individual travel was
curtailed. Scores, however, took advantage of the troop specials to
the land of vacation ease.

While Battery D was in Blancheville Lieut. Hugh M. Clarke was
transferred to