The Delta of the Triple Elevens | Page 5

Reserve.
On August 13th, pursuant to authority contained in a telegram from the Adjutant General of the Army, a detachment of the Reserve Officers from the Second Battery at Fort Niagara were ordered to active duty with the New National Army, proceeding to and reporting in person not later than August 29th to the Commanding General, Camp Meade, for duty.
A day's brief span after their arrival at Camp Meade--while the officers, who were the first of the new army units on the scene of training, were busily engaged in dragging their brand new camp paraphernalia over the hot sands of July-time Meade,--the dirt and sand mingling freely with the perspiration occasioned by the broiling sun,--to their first assigned barracks in B block, an order arrived on August 30th, assigning the officers to the various batteries, headquarters, supply company, or regimental staff of the 311th Field Artillery, that was to be housed in O block of the cantonment.
Captain Albert L. Smith, of Philadelphia, Pa., was placed in command of Battery D. Other assignments to Battery D included: First Lieutenant Arthur H. McGill, of New Castle, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Hugh M. Clarke, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Robert S. Campbell, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Frank F. Yeager, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Frank J. Hamilton, of Philadelphia, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Berkley Courtney, of Fullerton, Md.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles G. Mortimer was placed in command of the regiment on August 28, 1917. He remained in command until January 17, 1918, when Colonel Raymond W. Briggs was assigned as regimental commander. Both are old army men and were well trained for the post of command. On March 31st, Col. Briggs, who had been in France and returned to take command of the 311th, was again relieved of command, being transferred to another outfit to prepare for overseas duty a second time. Lieut. Col. Mortimer had charge until June 10th, 1918, when he was promoted to Colonel, remaining in command until the regiment was mustered out of service.
Major David A. Reed, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was placed in command of the 2nd Battalion of the 311th at organization and remained with the outfit until put on detached service in France after the signing of the armistice. Major Herbert B. Hayden, a West Point cadet, was assigned to the command of the 1st Battalion of the regiment. When time to depart for overseas came he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment. Capt. Wood, of Battery A, was made Major of the 1st Battalion and First-Lieut. Arthur McGill, of Battery D, was placed in command of Battery A. Later he was given the rank of captain.
Major-General Joseph E. Kuhn was commanding officer of the 79th Division and Brigadier General Andrew Hero, Jr., commanded the 154th Field Artillery Brigade.
"O" block, in the plan of Camp Meade, was designated as the training center of the 311th Field Artillery and barrack No. 19 was the shelter selected for Battery D.
Barrack 019 was situated in a small glade of trees which fringed the edge of the horse-shoe curve that the general plan of cantonment construction assumed. The spurs of the great horse-shoe were at Disney and Admiral. The blocks of regimental areas starting at Disney, designated by A block, followed the horse-shoe, encircling at the base hospital in alphabetical designation. "N" and "O" blocks nestled in a glade of trees, partially sheltered from the Southern sun, just around the bend in the curve of the road from the base-hospital. "Y" block formed the other end of the spur at Admiral--while divisional headquarters rested on the knoll in the center of the horse-shoe.
It was at "O" block the newly assigned officers established themselves and made ready to receive the first influx of the selected personnel. Blankets and cots and barrels and cans and kitchen utensils began to arrive by the truck load and the officers in feverish haste divided the blankets, put up as many cots as they could, and established some semblance of order in the mess hall. They were pegging diligently at their tasks when the first troop trains pulled in at Disney on September 19th and unloaded the first detachment of future soldiers.
Scenes of home-leaving and farewells to the home-folks and loved ones, which first transpired on September 19th, to be repeated with similarity as subsequent quotas of recruits entrained for military service, were of too sacred a nature to attempt an adequate description.
What might have been the thoughts of the individual at the breaking of home-ties and during the long, tiresome railroad journey to Camp Meade, were buried deep in the heart, to be cherished as a future memory only. Personal griefs were hidden as those seven hundred young men in civilian clothes stepped from the train at Disney, grasped their suit case, box, or bundle, firmly and set out