History of the 305th Field Artillery

our midst. Thirty-five of the charter members accompanied the regiment to France. After the armistice there remained only nineteen.

The eternal changes of the army system were largely responsible for these losses, as they accounted also later for the passing of many enlisted men, but whenever we meet the old friends we think of them as belonging peculiarly to the 305th. Some we can't see again, because the Vesle, the Aisne, or the Argonne holds them forever away.

But it is a dreary business to anticipate. They were very much with us and very much loved at Upton.

So the first week ended, and we were, speaking sketchily, on our feet, if still unsteady.

II

IT HAS GROWING PAINS

GOING into the second week the colonel talked daily with his organization commanders. Such conferences revolved largely about the almost scented forms from the Adjutant General's Office. These, it developed, would, when the men arrived, have to be decorated with countless, neat statistics. Soldier