Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1918-10-10
BAKER SEES YANk E.
SOLDIERS GRITTY,
EAGER FOR FRAY
Secretary Of War Gives His I'M
preSSionS of the First United
States Army After Visit TO
Battle Fronts,
(By Harold f.. Bechtol)
| european Manager of the Newspa-
per Enterprise Association).


per Enterprise Association).
London, Oct. I'm an interview
at the home of General Biddle here
in London Secretary of War Baker
gave me his impressions of the First
United States army.
Baker was just back from France,
where he spent many days with the
American fighters and watched them
in battle-the first complete Ameri-
can army to take part in the war.
Serious soldiers" he called them.
Determined and efficient"
He told of incidents he had wit
messed to illustrate their grit; their
eagerness to have 60 at the Ger
Mans their gaiety.
He termed their morale superb"
and told how they all smile-broad
| American smiles
But the outstanding impression
| the American soldier makes" he adj
! ded earnestly, 'the impression / car
| ry away, is one of a soldier who un-
| derstands perfectly well the righteous
cause for which he is fighting!'
Secretary Baker made it very en-
phatic that the American splendid
=! spirit-their ight-heartedness--in no
sense dulled their determination. or
their appreciation of the serious BUSH
| ness ahead. He continued:
| THE transformation of these young
/ Americans, fresh from civil life, into
/ determined, competent units of
| thoroughly efficient army. in so short
time. is simply wonderful"
| He recalled seeing these Americans
when they were rockies" back home
| in training camps.
| L. s. Boys Apt Pupils.
Their astonishingly rapid Develop
ment has been made possible by their
/ aptitude and intelligence; their zeal
and energy; and the whole-hearted
spirit in which they dropped every
thing else and set about to learn their
| jobs in the army"
| Baker stood on a hill and watched
their victorious advance east of st.
| Mihiel.
1T was an advance by thoroughly
competent troops" said Baker. Their
| conduct was magnificent"
Illustrates Yankee Grit.
The secretary visited hospitals
where the wounded men just back
| from the firing line were being cared
| for. This incident, he said, illustrates
the grit of the wounded Americans
and the solicitious care they receive:
when / entered one hospital two
orderlies were trying to pull off a
wounded soldiers boot. A bullet had
| gone through the boot into the leg.
Don't try to pull that boot off
| like that!' ordered surgeon.
but the wounded man gritted his
teeth said it didn't hurt and started
to help orderlies get it off.
Hurt? or course it hurts in
sisted the surgeon. Slit the boot
clear down the leg!' And the boot
was slit"
Speaking of the Americans phys
| ical fitness. Baker said:
"In the German army and in the
| French army there are older men and
younger boys; and in a lesser degree
this is true even in the British army.
But the Americans are almost all be-
! tween twenty and thirty-strong.
muscular fellows in perfect physical
| trim"
Baker talked with scores of SOL
diers-soldiers of practically every
branch of the service, and of every
rank-from General Pershing to Pri-
waite Jones.
Eager to $50 Over"
! And he found everywhere the same
eagerness to get at it." He related
this incident to illustrate their spirit:
/ ''An officer going about on inspec-
ton out at the front, asked group
of men whether they had any COM
plants.
mo one answered"
"'Oh, come on the officer insisted.
You can't tell me that not one of
you fellows has a thing to complain
about
"There was another silence Final
ly one sturdy American could hold in
no longer.
"'Yes,' he said. I've got COM
plant We had good weather today,
and good weather yesterday, and good
weather day before yesterday. and
--' pointing toward the German
lines there those sons-o' guns are.
right over there and we don't go
oyer!n
The war secretary, in st. Mihiel just
after the French and American at
tack had sent the Germans scurry-
ing, talked to many citizens. They
told him that the Germans had been
very strict, but not cruel
Although the Germans had been
gone only a very short time. when
we entered st. Mihiel all the women
and girls from the smallest toddlers
to the oldest women were logged out
in remarkably good Clothes" Baker
continued.
II asked some Of the women where
they got such nice clothes.
We've been saving these for four
years. they said.
Even more surprising was the re-
markable number of French flags
flying everywhere. The Germans had
just left. mind you. So inquired
about the flags.
"'Those, too said an elderly wom-
an, we have had hidden away for
four years. waiting for our soldiers
to come fack.'"
Can Now Eat and Sleep in Comfort.
II II troubled with indigestion or
sleeplessness you should read what
Miss Agnes Turner, Chicago, Ill. has