The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-06

excellent food, plenty of meat, milk, |
bread, jam, cheese and eggs. In their
headquarters they live in no particu- |
lar danger unless the Germans find
that a particularly large French gun
is nearby and strain for it by a long
throw, or unless the headquarters I
happens to be near a big field hospital, |
then when the Germans lose a hill or
fail in an attack, they vent their wrath
by sending an airman over to raid
hospital. After a recent kick-up at /
Verdun, in which the Germans lost
their last important hill, four French
hospitals were bombed. killing nurses,
doctors and wounded, and the ambu-
lance boys nearby were saved only be-
cause they had no great Red Cross en-
blems on their roofs as the hospitals
had. Nothing makes a German so
angry after a defeat a Red Cross
sign. But the French are wise. They
began keeping German wounded in
their field hospitals, knowing that the
German spies would report it and that
the French wounded would be safe
So far it has worked!
These 500 American youths who
operate in the thirteen sections of the
American Ambulance corps are under
the leadership of Richard Norton of
Cambridge, Mass He has an office at
No. Rue Francois Premier in Paris,
but he is in the office little of the
time. Generally he lives in the field
with the men and the success of the
corps is due greatly to the care which
he has used in recruiting his men.
Ninety per cent of them are college
men, and most of them are young
men; the few who are beyond military
age are men of affairs-men of indie
pendent fortunes who have a desire TO
serve. Since the draft age has been
decided upon in America, the recruits
for the ambulance corps have come
from men who for merely technical
a a fat
foot, the loss of a finger or toe, or
a few years under or over the age
limit, would not be accepted in the
army. After the men were chosen
for the service they were carefully
trained and then sent to the various
sections under experienced chiefs
The distinguishing difference in field
operations between the American Am
bulance corps and the field service is
/ in the fact that Mr.. Norton always
has required two men to man an am
bulance. The field service permits
one man to go, but Mr.. Norton's ex-
perience has been that two men give
each other courage under shell-fre;
that two can handle the wounded
| better than one, if the car is hit, and
that if one is wounded. the other can
| finish the wounded mans work. This
two-man rule largely is responsible
for the record of courage and eff
cheney which the ambulance corps
has made, that and the character of
the men who are chosen for the serv-
ice And then, of course. there is
Richard Norton. More than any one
else he has made the American Am
| bulance corps work out to the glory
OF his country and the honor of his
associates. AS he went about last
week, bidding the men goodbye Wis
ltlng each of the thirteen sections
the affection of the boys for him was
! beautiful to see. 1t was the big thing
I one saw at the nonchalant ceremony
of parting. Always a cheer for him
arose, often modified college yell
of some kind, when he appeared; and
When ne left, they crowded around
his car, poked out eager hands and
with glistening young eyes and
aoashed faces, hiding their deep and
beautiful emotions, cried carelessIy,
We'll, so long, Chief" and turned
quickly away when they dropped his
hand.
Richard Norton organized the
American Ambulance corps in Sep
TENDER. 1914, when the retreat to tie
Marine and the rise of the French in
i that battle made it obvious that the
need to serve the wounded was dire
He went from Paris to London, where
he overhauled some friends in a club
and Communicated their automobiles
in the name of the need of the hour
He began with two-ca and four men
and gradually the service grew to four
cars, then five cars, then ten and the
section now known as Section Seven,
which is this week being mustered
out, was formed. 1t was the mother
section of the corps. In it are men
who have been with Mr.. Norton from
the beginning. Its members time and
time again have been decorated by
france for valiant service, and Mr.
Norton three times has received rec
ognition from the French government
! The section was in the battle of Hebu-
terne in 1915; at the Champagne drive
of the autumn of 1915; all thru the
defense of Verdun and in the action
about Chemin des Danes. The story
of Section Seven is one of the man,
| splendid chapters in the American
history of the Great War, which may
be written or may be forgotten, but
which on the hearts of thousands of
wounded Frenchmen always will be
engraved in gratitude. For the serv-
ice of these men was a service purely
altruistic. They punished no enemies;
they glutted no vengeance. got no
gains, had no rewards of glory. They
stood and waited under shen-fire and
they also served.
The Corps Self Supporting.
Beginning back of the Arras sector
of the line with ten cars and Is men,
the American ambulance corps incor-
porated as the American Volunteer
Motor Ambulance Corps under the
laws of Great Britain and went to
work Its books were inspected by
a public accountant, and it's lawyer
saw that it ran a straight legal course
1t operated with the British Red Cross
until the winter of 1915 when the
English withdrew, leaving the Asneri-
cans. with twenty cars and fifty men.
The corps has raised its own funds in
America, paid its own way and was
as busy a little angel of mercy as
ever wore suspenders over his wings
In May, 1915, the corps took in a
| section known as the Harjes section
operated under the direction of II H
HarJes of the Morgan house of Nor
gan, Harjes & Co. in Paris Mr.
Harjes found himself unable to give