One Grand Time All The Way To Camp (1917)

The Evening Post ~ Saturday, September 22, 1917

The forty-seven men from Whitley county who composed the second [sic] contingent of men from this locality, had a fine trip to Louisville, Ky., according to letters received by relatives Friday morning. All along the line people were out by the hundreds and thousands to greet them, and they could not but feel proud of the honor that was paid them throughout the state.

They report that they had lunch at Denver. It was served in a box car. The men lined up and Edgar Lorber had hold of the coffee pot, pouring it out to the fellows. They were served with ham and veal sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, bananas, cake and coffee, and they had all the smokes they wanted. More men kept joining their crowd until they had eighteen coaches, totaling 414 men, all bound for Louisville. Logansport was the only place that had more men than this county, as the quotas were not as large from some of them, owing to the number of volunteers who had gone.

At Logansport, women pulled flags off of their houses and rushed over and gave them to the boys, and at Kokomo, a woman took a big silk flag off of the rear of her automobile and ran over to the Whitley county bunch and said she wanted to give her flag to them. They fastened it on the rear of their car.

According to a letter from Edgar Lorber, the fellows were singing nearly all the way to Kokomo. They got quiet there as the Y. M. C. A. men boarded the train and distributed letter paper and envelopes and most of the wrote home. He also stated that the fellows all got acquainted before they had gone very far and the very best of spirit prevailed among them. They were a happy lot and the new surroundings occupied their thoughts and their attention. They were all impressed by the receptions which they received all along the line. At some places, girls were at the train, giving the boys their addresses and telling them that they will write to them if they furnish their addresses. It is hardly probable that any of the boys will furnish their addresses under such circumstances.