Page:The history and achievements of the Fort Sheridan officers' training camps.djvu/239

 practically every organization to indulge in a "Farewell Banquet, " where happy and humoious experiences of the three months might be reviewed, and due honor paid to instructors w^ho had so successfully piloted their ships through the seething sea of struggling candidates. Dining rooms in neighbor- ing clubs and hotels w^ere chartered for the purpose, and the fun, speeches and stunts w^hich took place made these farew^ell celebrations occasions of the happiest sort.

The turning in of all possible equipment commenced on Saturday, August I 1 th. Then, too, those who had been holding back for fear of not meeting with success, began to busy themselves in an attempt to secure officers' uni- forms and equipment of every sort. Others, who had taken a chance in ordering clothes, had their final fittings.

No w^eek-end passes w^ere allow^ed the last Sunday in camp. The men w^ere held, aw^aiting new developments or instructions from Washington.

Monday and Tuesday, August I 3th and 1 4th, were occupied with lectures and the turning in of more equipment. Definite w^ord also arrived stating that men w^ho w^ere to be assigned to the National Army would be allowed two weeks' "leave, " reporting to their various stations — Camps Custer or Grant — on August 29th. Men who w^ere to go overseas must make ready at once and sail within a very few^ days.

August 15, 1917, found in the United States of America a new type of man. Of these, there were 30,000. Three months before, they had volun- teered for training, many of them civilians, unschooled in the art of war. They had felt the call, made the decision, w^on on the first lap of the race. The camps had filled them with a spirit of patriotism not felt before. The training had given them a greater confidence. Some few hundred sailed for impor- tant service abroad. The greater portion, held temporarily in sixteen canton- ments throughout the United States, undertook the training of and brought into being the finest type of soldier that America or Europe has ever seen. Where duty bid them go, the "first 30,000' went. And not least among them, striving ever to accomplish their work with thoroughness, loyalty and patriotism, were members of that memorable group who trained on the shores of Lake Michigan from May to August, 1917, at that camp, the record of which as an oflFicers' training center in the United States has been unsurpassed Fort Sheridan.

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