[ NOTE: IF YOU ARE READING THIS SERIES FOR THR FIRST TIME, IT'S BEST TO START AT THE BEGINNING]

More diary entries -

Oct. 1, 1917, Mon., Fair - cool breeze - warm sun

Our first Monday in camp. 3rd day. Worked all day grading Co. St., bldg. side walk, burning refuse, making rustic fences, etc. Nearly finished. Tired. Air full of smoke tonight. Wrote letters.

Oct. 2, 1917, Tues., Fair - cool air.

Worked all day, building the "Cuckoo Club." Put up big tent & fly, built fire place of logs, 6 ft. high. I was engineer of job. It's great. Worked on it all day. Smoked and read all evening. Cool tonight. No letter from Sis since Frid.

Oct. 3, 1917, Wede., Fair. Fairly warm.

Up 5:50. Drilled good and stiff from 7:30 - 11:30. Bum mess at noon. Slept until 4. Washed up & shaved.

Oct. 4, 1917, Thur., Fair. Warm.

Up early. Drilled from 7:30 - 11:30. Still drill from 1 - 5, too. Short arm inspection in a.m. Hiked to P.O. after supper. Rec'd 12.18 from press. Had run in with Folts - up to see Capt. Non-com school.

Oct. 5, 1917, Frid., Windy. Warm. Fair.

Stiff drill 4 hours in a.m. Hiked around to Spartanburg, etc. - a distance of about 12 miles in p.m. Came in dead tired. Cleaned up. Sick at night. Bed 7:30

Oct. 6, 1917, Sat., Fair, OK weather

Sat. a.m. insp. This a.m. 3 hours drill. Went to P.O. and cashed m.o. Loaned Al $3.00. Purchased some stationery. Wrote letters in p.m. Had hair cut over at Co. G. Met chap named Shutters. Bed early. Feel bum. Very cold.

Oct. 7, 1917, Sun., Fair - Cool breezes.

Went over to field for trench digging this forenoon - sick this p.m. Men went just the same. Back 4:40. Slept all afternoon. Wrote few letters. Bed early. 

Oct. 8, 1917, Mon., Cool. Partly cloudy.

Regular drills and lectures all day. Pretty sure that we'll be transferred soon. Non-com school in evening. Wrote letters. Feel bum. "Al" Swain's birthday - 29 years old.

Oct. 9, 1917, Tues., Cold - Rain

No drill. Cold as Hell. Lectures for 1 1/2 hrs. this p.m. Co. meeting about our breaking up and going into 7th, 22nd, & 3rd Field Artillery. Committee of myself, Corps. Jeal & Barber & Privates Moshier & Lotheridge were elected to choose disposal of truck, money, & Edison phone. Met - voted on question. Sent truck home, div. money. Wrote letter to Aunt Nell. Bed - 10 p.m.

Letter to Aunt Nell -

Camp Wadsworth

Spartanburg, S.C.

Oct. 9, 1917

Dear Aunt Nell:-

Your letter just arrived a few moments ago, and I will take the opportunity to reply at once by the neck - here goes!

Our Regiment - the famous old up-state First Infantry - is soon to be shattered. That's official! It was so announced - definitely today by our company commanders. Most of us - the best - go into the 7th Inf. (N.Y. City) - to be, in the newly organized 27th Div. - the 107 th Inf. U.S.N.G. (or possibly 107th U.S. Inf.) We will probably go within a week. All men hold the same rank in the new outfit; I am, by the way, still a sergeant! Ha! Ha! Our address will, however, be the same - Co. M, etc. Will let you know when we transfer.

Answering your questions about the food - after my scrap - and I went before the Capt. - it improved - so much, in fact that our mess sergeant ran $182 in debt in four or five days. But we still lack many things which we cannot buy - as Spartanburg is 3 1/2 miles away.

Your new hours, I believe, are much better - from the point of a teacher's welfare - are they not? I'd like to meet this Professor Erskine - but - I'm afraid you'd have to introduce me to him as your horrible example in training in matters grammatical!

I have read up, daily - the big race for the Mayoralty in New York - also "the world's series." Who's going to win - Chicago or New York? I'm betting 4 to 3 on Chicago now. They're real ball players. 

Wilson is developing, isn't he? I believe he'll be the most all 'round efficient President we ever had by the expiration of his term. He's mighty real! 

My cold has ceased to be a cold and developed into la grippe - with a cold in the lungs, can hardly breathe or swallow - or - speak! Then - of course there's that "sappy" nose - bum head and aching bones! Am not bothering with any correspondence school army doctor - but just letting it wear off naturally by drilling 8 hours a day.

The weather - (echo - "damn the weather") is a night-mare! In fair weather - it is hot and dusty - with the air full of blowing sand - (that makes you cough) in the day time! At night - you simply freeze stiff - with three blankets. Damp weather is simply H---! A cold cutting wind that put a man with grippe on the road to pneumonia! We're having it now! No tent stoves - so - it's so damp inside the tents - they're like a cellar - with breezes every time the door is opened. All in all - this is one H--- of a country. "The Sunny South" - H---! So much for this part of the country!

I'll appreciate the papers, as every newspaper boy is so damned suspicious of us that he only comes in the mid-day while we are out at drill - so our reading matter is practically second hand from the officers & cooks.

Now - about our drills - well - they're hummers!  Get up at 6:00 - dress by candlelight - and answer roll call while the moon still shines - (before sunrise)! Breakfast at 6:30. At 7:30 we go out & drill until 11:30. Then from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 we drill four hours more.

We have close-order drill [practice in formation marching and other movements, in the carrying of arms during formal marching, and in the formal handling of arms for ceremonies and guard], extended order drill [practice in battle formations and maneuvers], skirmish work, trench digging, trench fighting practice, bayonet practice, hurdling, athletic exercises & drills (including physical drill, running, jumping), and bomb throwing work with make-believe hand grenades. Then there are lectures, rifle practice, shooting & aiming drills and evening schools from 7-9 on all nights but Sat. & Sun.

In the new organization we have 1 Capt., 3 - 1st Lt.s and 2 - 2nd Sgts. Sergts. carry a rifle and a pistol - and - in fact - it's altogether different. Later - when we get into the 7th and commence to organize for France, I'll describe it all to you.

A Sergeant of ability will now be the Lieut's (in command of platoons) - assistant. There will be no more squads - now it is to be sections. The organization and executive command of a company is altogether changed. 

Just finished an article by Eric Fisher Wood [Eric Fisher Wood, Sr. (1889–1962) was an American civil engineer, architect, author, and officer in the United States Army, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General. Wood is best remembered as one of the key founders of the American Legion veterans' organization in 1919], called - "The English Platoon." It was in the Sat. Eve. Post of Sept. 29th. It's a wonderful article. If you have the opportunity, I believe you would enjoy it - for the knowledge you would gain thereby.

I must close, as I am coughing so I can hardly write - hoping to hear from you soon - as ever - and make your next letter as near perfect as the one I just received.

With love, / Clyde

More diary entries -

Oct. 10, 1917, Wed., Fair. Cool.

Went out to drill. Too sick so came in, Slept most of day. No drill this p.m., had laundry done, shaved & wrote Sis. Bed early. Bunch in from 7th Inf. squad & a Sergt. MacDowall.

Oct. 11, 1917, Thur., Cool. Fair.

Sick. Confined to cot. Bronchitis. Wrote a few letters. Stretched and slept all day. Cold night.

Oct. 12, 1917, Frid., Cool. Breezy. Fair.

Did not get up until 10:15. Pretty sick. M.D. visited me - in quarters all day. Wrote & sewed. Bed early. Throat very sore. Wrote news (?).

Oct. 13, 1917, Sat., Cool. Fair.

Went to hosp. Limit duty. Did not drill today. Wrote letters. Ernest Ward of former Troop G. called on me today. Bed early.

Oct. 14, 1917, Sun., Cool in a.m. Warmed up OK.

Paid this a.m. Sent newsletter $7. Called on Co. G. I rec'd $38.00 as usual. Good dinner. Made a few purchases. Read. Pkg. of candy from home. Bed early.

Oct. 15, 1917, Mon., Warm. Fair.

Had some paperwork to help 1st Sergt. out on today so did not drill. Feel some better. Went for stamps. Wrote letters. 3 Co.'s transferred to the 7th today - inc. Co. I. Bed fairly early.

Observations - Clyde is adjusting to the new environment. Also, he's keeping up with current events.

Next up - More diary entries and a letter. There's some speculation on a reorganization.