The horses and mules brought to the regiment by the convoy, were distributed to the various batteries. Driver squads were immediately reorganized and great preparation attended all the hikes.
The latter part of January an official order was issued citing the individual members of Battery D as entitled to wear a gold service chevron, an indication of six months service on foreign soil. With the award of the gold stripe came the selection of the Lorraine Cross as the divisional insignia and the granting of leaves of absence to visit the beauty spots of France, with Paris included in the schedule as a possible three-day leave center. The first men left the battery on a fourteen day leave, at Blancheville. A waiting list was established and passes were issued in order of application. During the remainder of the battery's stay in France names were on the leave list.
The famous Mediterranean Riviera was the favorite leave center, although St. Malo and Grenoble were cited in official division orders. Many of the members of Battery D got the opportunity to spend a vacation in the Southern part of France, where the land is sheltered by the mountains from the North winds, and lit and warmed by a resplendent sun in a sky, the azure of which is seldom dulled by clouds. Nice, Monaco with its Monte Carlo and a trip across the Italian border near Menton, were included in the majority of the leave itineraries. While en route to the Southern clime it was customary for the soldier on leave to mistake trains; get on the wrong train and find himself landed in the City of Paris. This, in most cases, was the only opportunity the majority had of seeing the French metropolis, although a number of three-day leaves to the capital city were granted battery men.
Leave privileges in the A. E. F. kept the French railroads busy. The demand for furloughs became so popular that troop specials to the leave centers came into being and opportunity of individual travel was curtailed. Scores, however, took advantage of the troop specials to the land of vacation ease.
While Battery D was in Blancheville Lieut. Hugh M. Clarke was transferred to the Supply Company of the regiment and Lieutenant Leo C. Julian, of Lakeland, Fla., was attached to the battery.