We have suffered a real pang in the transfer of Colonel Hine to the Railway Service. It gives a foretaste of what we are to be up against in this war. There is evidently to be no regard for feelings or established relations of dependency or intimacy, but just put men in where they will be considered to fit best. I was ready for that after the battles began, but it is starting already. First Reed, now Hine. I shall miss Colonel Hine very much—a courteous gentleman, a thorough soldier, a good friend. He was a railroad man for many years and they say he is needed there. God prosper him always wherever he goes. His successor was picked by General Pershing from his own staff: Colonel John W. Barker, a West Pointer, who had seen much service and had been on duty in France since the beginning of the war. He is a manly man, strong of face, silent of speech, and courteous of manner. We have learned to like him already—we always like a good soldier. We are also beginning to get some real training, as the weather is more favorable and our officers are getting back from school. CHAPTER III THE LUNÉVILLE SECTOR ARBRE HAUT _March_ 1st, 1918 The trenches at last! We have all read descriptions of them and so had our preconceived notions. The novelty is that we are in a thick woods. You go out from Lunéville (where we have been having the unwonted joys of city life for a week or so) along the flat valley of the Vesouze to Croix-Mare, and east to Camp New York, where some Adrian barracks, floating like Noah’s Arks in a sea of mud, house the battalion in reserve; then up a good military road through the Forest of Parroy to Arbre Haut, where a deep dugout forty feet underground shelters the Colonel and his headquarters. A mile further on, at Rouge Bouquet, one arrives at a Battalion Post of Command dugout now occupied by Major Donovan, Lieutenants Ames, Irving, Lacey and Captain Mercier, an energetic, capable and agreeable officer of the French Mission. Duck-board paths lead in various directions through peaceful looking woods to a sinuous line of trenches which were, when we arrived in them, in considerable need of repair. Company D, under Captain McKenna, had the honor of being first in the lines. They were followed by Companies B and A, Company C being in support. Off duty the men live in mean little dugouts thinly roofed, poorly floored, wet and cold. But they are happy at being on the front at last, and look on the discomforts as part of the game. Their only kick is that it is too quiet. Their main sport is going out on patrols by night or day to scout through “No Man’s Land,” to cut wires, and stir things up generally. With our artillery throwing over shells from the rear and our impatient infantry prodding the enemy, this sector will not be long a quiet one. CROIX-MARE _March_ 10th, 1918