was established near the French Forestry Headquar- 

 ters, known as the "Rendsevouz." The camp consisted 

 of some 10 or 12 "squad tents" arranged on either 

 side of a company street, which soon became a river 

 of mud. A rude frame kitchen with a tarpaulin roof 

 was also constructed, and a pole frame barn with a 

 similar roof was put up for the horses. It was very 

 soon necessary to put some sort of rude tent floors 

 in the tents as they became literally "knee deep." 

 This camp was more or less of a permanent camp for 

 nearly twelve months. It was completely vacated for 

 a short time during the fall, after we left to join the 

 1st Army, but was soon filled with colored troops who 

 cut fuel wood during the fall. No mess hall was 

 provided and the men ate their meals standing or 

 wherever they could find a stump or something to sit 

 on. It was nice and "picnicky" when it didn't rain, 

 but unfortunately that was seldom. The camp was but 

 two miles from Neuf chateau which was one of the 

 important American bases during the war, and the 

 first headquarters of the 1st Army. It was some 

 seven or eight miles from the company headquarters 

 at Chatinois. An officer was stationed at this woods 

 camp part of the time, but the man who planned and 

 executed the logging was an enlisted man, Sergeant 

 Hugh Martin, an old time Minnesota lumber jack 

 from Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Martin knew logging 

 from every angle and was given full responsibility in 

 most matters pertaining to the supplying of logs. It 

 was due to his ability as a logger that each increase 

 in output of the mill was always met with an ade- 

 diiate supply of logs. The camp organization con- 



9 



