Sidney D. Light's WWI Diary, Postcards & Letters, 329th Battery Book Accounts

But it all blew over finally and then, as Noah once remarked, "The floods came." Glory Hallelujah! what a time we had draining the corrals and keeping the stalls dry. We had a healthy duck pond running under the fence between us and "A" Battery’s corral. That neighbor’s husky mud gang promptly drained it into "F" Battery’s corral and they could not pass it on so were literally flooded out.

After the floods came the mud. The old corral was one of the fanciest seas of mud you ever saw and the entire camp was a mass of sticky "goo." Nothing short of hip boots would have ever kept our feet dry in those days. But the mud passed, as most curses do in the army, and we soon found there were other things besides squads east and west in the {U.S.N.A}. Every day we spent a large part of our time at the stables and after a month’s training became expert "groomers." Our horsemanship instructor, Lieut. Goble, soon convinced us, though, that we were not artillery men until we received our mounted instructions. These had been quite a joke in the past with wooden horses but after several ineffective attempts at mounting "Whiskey Dick" and old "100" we decided that the real horses had the joke on us. After we learned to stick on a horse with the aid of only a blanket and surcingle, we drew some ancient harness and some of the guns which rumor said were used by the Indians about the year 1600. With the aid of this equipment we learned the rudiments of mounted drill.

About this time a Brigade School for non-coms was started and there our battery stars had their first lessons in actual firing. The guns used were American 3-inch light field pieces, and on a cold winter morning the battery was marched out to the range to see the practice. There we heard for the first time the whistle of shells as they passed through the air–a sound which was to become one of our most vivid memories after we had been "over there." Shortly afterward these guns were issued to the regiment and we had considerable firing practice. We found that on account of the ground being so sandy the guns had considerable kick and the gunners were warned not to sit with their eyes too close to the panoramic sight when the piece was fired. Corporal Daw discovered that he would in the future have to make allowances for the length of his nose as he was put out of business for a short while through one miscalculation. Corporal Sullivan also discovered that it was an easy matter to make an error of 100 miles or so deflection. Fortunately it was only an innocent old cow that he killed. The observing party claimed that they were also in considerable danger, but if they were it was not for long for they "sure did run." Even the Colonel decided that safety was more to be considered than dignity.

While we were in Camp Custer we had two division and two brigade reviews, in all of which Battery B showed up to advantage. We were also right in front when it came to sports and our baseball team, under the able leadership of Sergeant Harold A. Klees, always gave a good account of itself. The battery had several leaders in sport events and the results are shown in the sport sections.

The death of Arnulf Gloetsner while at Officers’ Training School was a distinct shock to us all. He was battery clerk previously to entering school and during this time endeared himself to all in Battery B by his courtesy and cheerfulness.

Several of our old men went to Officers’ Training School and of the original sixteen only the following men went right through with us: 1st Sergeant Charles H. Price, sergeants W.A. Gustafson, S.D.Light, and N.I.Balter. To counteract the losses of non-coms some of the privates were promoted and the battery was reorganized by Captain Frazier who instituted classes and spent a lot of time teaching firing data, fire control, etc.

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