Battery D was not long in getting acquainted with the French 75's. On September 16th, just a brief span after the first instruction on the mechanism of the gun, the boys fired the first salvos on the range at La Courtine. September 19th was the beginning of what was almost incessant work on the range. Rolling out at 5 a. m., the boys toiled on the range through the rain and mud, returning to barracks at 6:30 p. m. Training continued in intensity. September 30th was one of the days reveille sounded at 4:30 a. m. The weather was miserable--rainy, windy, dreary. The battery left the barracks at day-break and hiked to the range with field-packs, to sleep in pup tents on range grounds, to be on hand early the following morning. Gas masks and steel helmets were additional implements of war issued to the soldiers at La Courtine. Then followed hour after hour of gas instruction. Gas masks were carried by the battery on all hikes and drill formations. Besides adjusting the mask a countless number of times a day, a regimental order made it mandatory that the masks be worn for at least one-half hour continuously each day. Influenza struck the regiment while encamped at La Courtine early in October. On October 5th, the camp Y. M. C. A. was closed under quarantine. The quarantine in the regiment was accompanied by strict daily inspections. The barrack squad rooms were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected each day and all blankets were taken out for a daily airing. There was a plentiful supply of ammunition at La Courtine. The battery spent the days at range practice when thousands of dollars worth of shells were fired at a great variety of targets from several different battery positions that were established. While the battery was fitting itself at range practice, specialists were qualifying in all the attendant duties of artillery work. Toward the last of October it looked as though the outfit would soon see active service, as perfection in firing was rapidly being reached. On October 15th the battery camouflage detail, headed by Sergeant Leo Delaney, of Pittston, Penna., began the construction of camouflaged gun positions on the range, after which Battery D participated in the firing of a brigade problem. Several days previous, October 11th, William Reynolds, of Pottsville, Penna., was killed when acting as No. 1 man of the first gun crew, in charge of Sergeant James Duffy, of Parsons, Penna. Standing in the rear of the piece, Sergeant Duffy had given the command to fire. The execution of the command was immediately followed by an explosion in the gun's tube, a portion of steel flying and striking Private Reynolds, almost decapitating him. Nicholas Young, of Pottsville, Penna., acting as Number 2 man on the gun-crew, sustained a compound fracture of the leg. Gunner-Corporal John Chardell, of Hazleton, Penna., sustained injuries about the body which confined him to the camp hospital for several weeks.