New Britain herald., 1918-09-13
'Y' FOLLOWS BATTLE
 LINE IN DRIVE
Immense Stores of "EatS" Given
 Out at Chateau-Thierry.
(Bv B. A. BatchelorD

Paris August 26, (By MaiD-When Franco- American forces gave the Boche that memorable licking on the Chateau-Thierry front, the Y. M c. A. canteen department was put to 8 test few organizations of similar char acter ever faced. The battle moved swiftly. The Red Triangle had to move with equal celerity or get left. Getting left is one thing that the "Y'' objects to. It never has happened since the overseas work began.
 So swiftly did the scene of action shift during the progress of the fight that the armies ration carts couldn't always keep up. Conditions were such that it was not humanly possible to give the men the food that normally is issued to them. In some cases, it was impossible to give them any. The '. M. c. A. supplies ordinarily classed as something to supplement the ra- tions, became the means actually of sustaining some of the fighters.
 The story of how the Red Triangle kept up with the army in these excit- ing days is one of hard work, valor and efficiency unsurpassed. Toiling sometimes as much as 36 hours at stretch, almost constantly under fire, dozens of the Y. M. c. A. workers stuck to the jobs and were rewarded by being able to supply the men in olive drab with biscuits, chocolate, cigarettes and hot drinks and gave them stamina to go on with the work of beating the Boche.
 The number of ton miles gotten out of motor trucks in these days of con- stant fighting was prodigious, the number of hours of labor that the men were able to put in was almost inconceivable. The dangers incident to the service make the small size of the Red Triangle casualty list seem miraculous.
 Racing to Battle.
 Just as soon as the news came that a big push was on, the canteen de- paBtment temporarily suspended all other activities and devoted it's en- tire attention to rushing supplies to the front. Biscuits, chocolates and cigarettes destined for points in the reserve areas were requisitioned and loaded on trucks bound for the scene of tn hottest fighting. Even the ware house filled with supplies to be used against the possibility of an evacua- ton of Paris was emptied in order that the army might be fed.
 No matter how fast or how far the fighting units went, Y. M. c. A. man was right on the heels of the soldiers. The trucks were taken as far as pos sible and then, when it would have been suicidal for wheeled traffic to venture closer to the lines, the work CTS packed food and smokes in on their backs.
 There were so many instances of heroic conduct under fire that before matters was a day old the army had ceased to remark on the courage of a Y. M. c. A. secretary remaining at his post when men were being killed all around him.
 One wearer of the Red Triangle, Rev. Walter Rue Murray of East Orange, N. J., was killed by shell con- cussion while actually distributing food to the men in his canteen. Sev- eral cases of shell shock and gassing were reported but in most cases the victims insisted on sticking until it was all over.
 It is estimated that an average of 200 tons of supplies a day were han died by the canteen department in the week when the struggle was fierc- est. A large proportion of this was distributed gratis, as the field workers were instructed to see that no soldier wanted for anything that could be supplied him, whether he had money to pav for it or not. The idea was to serve and let the exechequer take care Hof itself.
 It must be remembered that the a distribution of supplies was greatly ghampered by the fact that the French railroads were already overtaxed by the demands of strictly military bus mess. Motor transportation was re- lied on and, because the desired 8amount of cargo space for bringing BY. M C. A. trucks cannot be had, there were not anywhere near enough trucks to do the job according to the normal estimates. But by making 8every driver and every vehicle do un- Rheard of things, the line was kept open.
 1sO, 900, 900 Smokes Monthly.
 The Y. M. c. A. canteen department Elm France qualified as Big business' glong ago and it is constantly getting I bigger. Here are some figures that will give a slight idea of the quantl- des it handles.
 The post exchange department esti- hates that there were distributed dur ne the month of August 5,00O,0OO SOars of chocolate, 8,000,000 packages Df biscuits, 2,500,00O packages of gun. 1000, 900 two-ounce cans of to- sbacco and 80,000,000 cigarettes.
 ID manufacture the chocolate bars, Ss 3so tons of sugar were required and G50 tons of flour went into the bis quits.
 one If the largest confectionery manufacturing concerns on the con &hnent was chartered to make the AehocoIate bars and the job was rushed