The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-08-02
THE RED TRIANGLE IS
| KEEPING ITS PROMISES
N. 81. c. A. Secretaries Follow The
Soldiers Out into No
| Mans Land
Ne Job Too Small For The Biggest
OF Men

b The American Y. M. c. A. is keep
Eng its promises. American secretaries
re now, and have been for many
seeks, at work in the forward areas
Wong the battle front in France. To
b indeterminate number of Red Tri-
Rgle men "over there" gas and shell
re and mud and actual battle are a
rim reality-a part Of the days
work.
A personal letter of absorbing inter
It was lately received from Mr.. Ralph
@arbison, president of the Pittsburgh
NJ G. A. and a well known business
man Of that city, who has been in
France on a special Y. N. G. A. Mis-
The Letter,
l{"Casualties had occurred among our
kpldiers just before we arrived at our
Village" the letter reads, and we were
Edered to get under cover Of our de
ehite. After supper of chocolate. war
head. and canned beef. the six of US sec
Astaries were ordered to the cellar OF
khe ~ together with fifty soldiers who
happened to be in the old shell-torn
Building, as the hoche we're beginning
Ees, q big basketful Of canteen sup
Naies, to last us in case we should have
% be dug out later, overcoets and blan-
khts. We fitted our gas masks on 70
he sure they were working well, and
hen settled down-or tried to-in the
Dungeon. We expected to have to stay
4ll night, bat in an hour sentry call
I'd, All OUT and up we gladly went
Che rest of the evening we spent up
4airs in one of the reasonably whole
HDoms, with piano and songs and sto-
szes and the ever~prcsent and wonder
hl canteen, at which took my turn.
Needless to say, slept none that
Aght, with all the bang and noise out
Ade, but nobody does, I'm told. the
hst night. The night before I got
about two hours Of doing with stiff
mack, sitting up in q crowded night
ksain, but, strange to say, never felt
me lack Of 1t for a minute.
I'VE were up the next morning at
ksne bonnie heure, and after breakfast
A4 the officers mess Clarke and
started off for the trenches, each OF
ms ladened with about fifty pounds of
canteen supplies besides our helmet,
gas masks, carried at all times at
,Aierte,' etc.
For two hours we pursued a tor
kuous way among the various lines of
trenches and connecting trenches,
stopping frequently to dispense our
popular wares among the boys, some
repairing the trenches, some building
new ones, some on sentry duty, some
sleeping in the dugouts, some man
hing guns and watching for German
heads.
LAS we entered the frOnt-l1ne
trenches, we suddenly ran into Score
fary Baker and accompanying officers.
I stepped aside as well as / could, sa'
Mted and said, Good morning. Mr..
Becretary' AS they passed l heard
me of the officers say to the Score
kary, You see, Mr.. Secretary, the ~"
men are right up in the front-line
trenches with the boys
thine was flying. and we know
there were still more soldiers further
On who would be glad to see us. Soon
We entered No Mans Land by means
of q trench, a land which we had
seen from the rear lines in the dis
lance an -Four earlier, all uprooted ami
torn ami desolate, and after some min
rites we crawled, hot and winded, into
4 shell hole-the furthermost listening
most in our lines and found six SOL
aters on guard, ell very much alert.
They gave us warm welcome, ana
NE conducted our communications IN
low whispers, for there were three |!
herman snipers in three different di-
rections only seventy-five feet away.
Needless to say, our gunnysacks
were empty when we came out. We
buried back to the sign OF the Red
triangle in the village, drank a cup
Of hot chocolate, and started In again
ta another direction.
I'VE watched the explosions getting
closer and closer, each one preceded
hy the weirdest kind of wall and |
whine through the air, and then dur
Ing a Iet-up we rushed across the open
and into the dugouts In an embank-
ment. where our second pack OF sup
plies disappeared.
1.-TWO Of the secretaries had been
gassed the day before we arrived at
This place, and one slightly wounded
nv shrapnel, while others were break
Ing under the physical strain and need
nd relief. I'm sure we will hear OF
Ratalities soon, but since my expert
ence in the trenches l don't ask the
question any more = is it worth
Ehile?' Never was such an opportun-
lty given to man to serve his fellow
men as this.
"Pass the word on, and pass
s.,iekIy, that five hundred of the most
eapabie, earnest, and bio-souled Chris
kian mel, are needed here today In ad-
ditjon to the weekly stream that 10
coming. We are cabling New York
frequently, but they don't come. 1t 10
Ritical, and we must not fail, but we
MIL unless more and better men come
Az see it, there Is no
& N. C. A. job over here too small
n0v the biggest men in America"