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Early in January, when we reported for duty with the 7th Field Artillery, the entire First Division was engaged in field maneuvers. When we got to ^[[Orley]] Marly, the regular station of Battery C, we found there only so-called "rear echelon", a home base unit of 30 or 40 men. The only officer there was second lieutenant Julian Hume. of Norfolk, Virginia. 
Hume had dinner for the four of us brought from the men's mess. Such are the vagaries of memory that I do not remember any further contact with Murphy or with the other Saumur man after that evening. I think they rode away early next morning, on telephoned orders, to join the main body of the battery on its maneuvers. At any rate Hume had a lot to tell me over the next two or three days, and I do not remember that anyone else was present at our talks. I liked him very much, and always regretted that our acquaintance lasted less than three weeks. 
Hume told me that the First Division had suffered repeated shortages of supplies. The worst was that once for some weeks there had been nothing to feed the horses but scanty supply of hay, Several horses had been lost, When a horse lay down and could not get up, the veterinarian would be called in to condemn the animal and it was shot. For a week or so no bread had come through armay channels. The Americans could not buy bread from local bakeries without making the villagers go hungry. Hume took me to see three or four men billeted in a barn loft, who had been excused from any outdoor duty. Their shoes were completely gone and there were none to replace them.
That was not encouraging news. Actually, at the higher levels of the AEF, a service of supply was then being organized. By the summer of 1918 it was working admirably. But I did not enjoy the perspective that General Pershing had. All I could think of was the big German drive expected in the spring and the strain it would put upon the French railroads. In short, I didn't see how the supply situation for the Americans could improve. I had heard by the grapevine that we then had just [[strikethrough]] six [[/strikethrough]] ^[[four]] divisions in France, The question in my mind was, how we could hope to support a full-sized army. 
The commander of C battery at that time was a West Point man,