CONSCRIPT 2989
EXPERIENCES OF A DRAFTED MAN
ILLUSTRATED BY
H. B. MARTIN
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1918
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
Service Flag Design on Cover Patented November 6, 1917
Reproduced by Permission of Annin & Co., Flag Makers, New York
TO
MY MOTHER AND FATHER
and every other Mother and Father, who spend hourswondering about the welfare of their son, this book isdedicated. And with it comes the assurance that lifein the big cantonment contains a full measure of realhappiness, and that all hardships are mitigated by asense of humor which develops even in the worst ofpessimists. We are contented, for to compensate forthe absence of you and all that you mean, comes theknowledge that we are doing everything that brave menand women, the world over, would have us do at timeslike these. We are doing a man’s work and by thetoken of the service flag in your window you shouldknow that the days of patched trousers, darned stocking,of toy fire engines, play soldiers, and noisy drums,were not spent in vain.
1CONSCRIPT 2989
Thursday:
Once when I was an enthusiastic freshman(it seems ages ago) I joined a Latin societythat had for its inspiration the phrase, forsanhaec olim meminisse juvabit.
All I can remember about the society is themotto, and there is nothing particularly pleasantabout the recollection, either. But somehowto-night that fool phrase comes back to meand makes a pessimist of me right off. I wonderhow pleasant these things are going to be andwhether I will want to remember them hereafter.Perhaps I won’t have much choice. I’llprobably remember them whether I want to ornot. Already my first eight hours of activeservice as Conscript 2989 have some sharp edgessticking out which I am likely to remember,though many of them are far from pleasant.
I am now truly a member of the army of thegreat unwashed and unwashable—no, I take thatback. They are washable. I saw a grizzly old2Sergeant herding four of them out to the washroomthis evening. Each of them carried aformidable square of yellow soap and a mostunhappy expression. But the Sergeant lookedpleased with his detail.
Never in my wildest flights of fancy can Ipicture some of these men as soldiers. Slavs,Poles, Italians, Greeks, a sprinkling of Chineseand Japs—Jews with expressionless faces, andwhat not, are all about