The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-25
HUNDREDS U. S.
AMBULANCES AID
FRENCH WOUNDED
Relief Organizations Have Con-
tributed More Than 500.
30 American Universities Have
Sent Student Corps.
HOOSIER CONDUCTS SERVICE
Headquarters in Paris; Operate
on All Battle Fronts.
Nearly Eighty American Ambu-
lances Destroyed by Shells.

Paris. April 25.-When Americans
return to Paris, after the war. they
will probably have pointed out to
them the former Headquarters of the
American am bulance army during the
big war. Today these headquarters
are extremely .-ctive and busy.
1t is the American ambulance field
service. The commander in chief.
directing the work Of hundreds of
American youths who drive small
swift American ambulances on all
French battle fronts is A. Plat An
drew. formerly of La Porte. Ind, late
Of Gloucester. Mass. and former as
sistaut secretary Of the United States
treasury in Washington.
None Of the command ers- in-chiet
Of the big armies in the field know
more about their forces every minute
Of the day thar does the former
IIOosieI about his little American
army He knows. by daily reports,
every important move made by the
hundreds o cars in the field: how
many cars are in and out of commits
sion. how many have been wrecked
or destroyed by shells; how many cars
are Ell route from America, and how
mach help the American service can
give the French army next week or
nest month
Almost every part of America is
represented somewhere in the ram
bling old eighteenth century mansion
which houses Andrews headquarters.
Aside from contributions from many
sources more tn n seventy American
universities and colleges have sent
their students to save French life on
the battlefield. Never less than 500
ambulances are engaged in active
htIT HAY q
Atlantic and have been put into COM
mission since the war began Between
seventy and eighty have been de-
stroyed The Hrst car to leave head
quarters for the front is still partly in
commission
Two big garages and workshops at
tacheI t. the Paris headquarters re-
pair and re equip the American cars
when the damage is bad. If il is
trivial. the work is done by moving re-
pair shops on the field.
A few hours before the United Press
correspondent called at headquarters
a message had arrived that three cars
had been destroyed by a single shell
on the Somme. Within a short time
three newly repaired cars were on
their way to replace the wrecks
IS Cited for VaIor.
The young American college men
who enlist i'll America for the ambu-
lance service nave to date received IS
citations in French army orders for
ValOr. The decorations include two
military medals and IS CroiN de
Guerre. Two drivers have been killed
by shells. some have died of pneu-
monia and many have been wounded.
Among the latter is William Barber of
Toledo O who has recovered and re-
turned to the front.
The American cars are known in
almost every scene of campaign on
the French front-On the User, Aisne
Somme, in Champagne. at Nerdun. in
the ArgOEne. Woevre, Lorraine
Alsace and in the Balkans
There is an American atmosphere
about the headquarters of the Servfva
in Paris Located in Passy, one Of
the oldest parts of the city. on the
Seine and within shouting distance of
the famous Eiffel tower, the building
is surrounded by ten acre park in
which Benjamin Franklin first made