But we drilled, drilled, drilled. And we had schools--lots of 'em. When we were not doing the "school of the soldier", we attended bayonet school. The "school of the squad" divided time with gas instruction. The study of the automatic rifle was complicated, but so was the "school of the platoon". We practiced the manual of arms and learned how to throw hand grenades. Little by little we were perfected in the art of thinking, and knowing, and doing, the right thing at the right time. [Illustration: _Camp Upton, New York. Bird's-eye View from Tower Hill_] Early in 1918 we felt ready. On Washington's Birthday our division paraded down Fifth Avenue a complete fighting machine. We were prepared for the next move and the cheers of the crowds had barely died when it came. Upton to France--April 6th to April 20th On the night of April 5th we were ordered to roll packs. We stacked our bunks and drew ammunition. And we were posted on a vigil of waiting. April 6th, 1918, Saturday, was the first anniversary of America's declaration of war. At two-thirty on that morning, in an air pleasantly crisp and flooded with moonlight, we marched to the railroad and entrained. Leaving Camp Upton at three-fifteen, we pulled into Long Island City just in time to be greeted by the usual six o'clock factory whistles. A waiting ferry engulfed our battalion and we were transported down the East River, around the Battery, and up the Hudson to Pier 59, at the foot of West Eighteenth Street, Manhattan. A methodical transfer was accomplished from the squat and stunted ferry to the gigantic but little known _Justicia_. While still under process of construction in the shipyards at Belfast, in Ireland, for the Holland American Line, the _Statendam_ was commandeered by Great Britain at the beginning of the European war and was operated as a transport under the name _Justicia_ by the White Star Line. She was at the time the fifth largest vessel afloat and that she was the especial prey of the German undersea navy is indicated by the fact that a submarine attacked her on a subsequent trip from England to the United States, on July 20th, and after a dramatic engagement lasting some twenty-four hours, she was sunk. Fourteen of a crew of seven hundred were lost. All day men and equipment poured onto the decks and into the hold of the giant transport. Our entire regiment and one battalion of the 308th Infantry were quartered between decks. Next morning, before reveille, the _Justicia_ slipped quietly down New York Bay, thru Ambrose Channel, and into the Atlantic.