Camp Sheridan
Alabama
148th Ambulance Co.
Dec. 19, 1917
My Dear Dad: -
Your Telegram rec. Will meet the train if possible. We have the room, etc., for her & Mrs. Donaldson.
Went to the dentists this afternoon. He filled three small cavities in my molar teeth. Sat. P.M. I am to go back, and have the fillings polished. He said my teeth were in very good condition, and had had very good attention, for which I should thank my father. So - I thank you.
One of the fellows in our tent, who we have been trying to get moved out, because he was a thief, got in an argument, with one of the other fellows, and stabbed him with a long bladed pocket-knife, the fellow he stuck, preferred charges against him, and he is now, held in the Stockade, awaiting trial - charges, Stabbing, with intent to kill. He is 31 years old and there is no excuse for his actions. He, in my mind, is affected similar to Paul Van Pelt, the fellow who went bugs, when we were in Toledo.
No other news of interest.
Love to All
You Son,
Howard
I found the newspaper clipping attached in this letter both clever and disturbing. For its time, it probably would have been funnier, knowing that these young men came out of the tear gas tests ok. However, we all know the grim side of what chemical warfare would turn into, starting in World War I but getting more-and-more dire up until its use today.
From what I could find in The Chemical Warfare Service: Organizing for War, it wasn't initially common for troops to be researching tear gas. Only 200 officers and 500 enlisted men across different departments - Ordnance, Engineers, Signal, and Sanitary Corps, of which Howard's unit was a part. The book mentions these officers and men as being centralized at American University in D.C., but it doesn't say anything about testing by the "boots on the ground". Not sure if the two were linked, but I'm guessing it was likely if the Sanitary Corps was included.
I also found information about the Army Medical Department assigning defensive chemical training to its Sanitary Corps at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Getting close, but still no specific mention of the fellows in Alabama. Here's the closest I could find:
The Army Staff decided to expand the number of training sites to thirty-six to provide for a force that would grow to over 3 million. A central Army Gas School specifically trained division, brigade and regimental Gas Officers at Camp A. A. Humphreys, Virginia and later at Camp Kendrick, adjacent to Lakehurst, New Jersey. The program included a four-day general information class for junior officers and NCOs and a twelve-day course for Chief Gas Officers at division and higher echelons. A lecture on all aspects of gas warfare was followed by a gas mask drill five days a week during the training cycle. Men were then tested by masking in a chamber filled with chlorine gas and then unmasking in one with tear gas.[8]
I was also curious about dental hygiene in Howard's time. I thought I would see some gory details or ridiculous recommendations, but a book written in 1916. makes it seems like dental hygiene wasn't a whole lot different than today. It was relatively new though - the book about 5 pages to explain how to brush your teeth. It also recommended visiting the dentist every six months. Novocain and fitted gold fillings had been in use for about a decade, although x-rays weren't in use yet.
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