The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1918-08-23
Mr.. MacCartee Writes Us from France
Headquarters Second Division
American Expeditionary
Forces, France.
I,,lx, OQtb 1919

American EXpeQlllOnary
Forces, France.
July 28th, 1918.
Mr.. Frederick Sasscer,
Upper Marlborough, Pr. Geo. Co.
MARYLAND, U. 5. A.
Dear Mr.. Sasscer:-
have intended changing my address
on the "ENQUIRER" mailing list from
Hq. 18th Field Artillery to that given
below, but have always delayed it in
the hope of rejoining my old outfit. 1t
appears at the present time that shall
probably remain at Division Headquart-
ers more or less permanently, and while
| have not given up hope of getting
back to the 18th F. A, think l had
better have my mail come straight here
rather than let the boys back at the
reglmental echelon forward it to me,
which makes a difference of two or
three DAYS sometimes.
1t is almost as good as getting
dozen letters when the Enquirer comes,
sometimes a month after issue, and
again three weeks and less, and While
the local items are unintelliglble to
boys from other States. yet they can
always find something worth reading
when l pass the paper around, especial
ly the editorials and the items on war
subjects.
You have always been pretty active
in Y. M. C. A. matters and l think you
ought to known how much we apprecl-
ate the work they have done for us,
not only in preparing US for the trip
overseas but in the training camps OF
France and, last but not least, at the
front.
The Y. M. C. A. building at Camp
Merritt, N. j., was always occupied with
fellows writing home, playing the
piano, putting records on the Vlctrola,
playing chess and checkers, reading
books, magazines and newspapers, and
on Sundays when services were held
we were packed to the doors. They
handed out little red-bound Army song
books containing all the standard OLD
songs and hymns that it does fellow
good to stand up and sing out with MS
comrades, no matter what branch OF
Christianity ne clings to. Catholic and
PRESBYTERIAN stood shoulder to shoulder
as we sang abide with Me-, Lead,
Kindly Light, "Rock of Ages, and
all those good old rock bottom hymns.
Then they used to give US some long
talks, not intended as sermons, but
you might call them soldiers sermons,
in language that every man can under
stand | think all these things went
great ways to holding up lot of boys
who might have Jared otherwise than
| what they intended when they left
home.
When we arrived in England the first
thing we asked for was the 7. M. Z.
A. Hut, and while it was not so elabor-
ate as the ones in the States, yet with
in it's smoky walls, broken windows and
creaky floors, with American men and
| women behind the counters, we gather
ed in the evenings and felt almost at
home again. The Y. M. c. A Huts
of Winchester were like little bits of
America planted in Britain. The Brit
ish soldiers were about as numerous as
our boys there, and they all tried to
make US feel at home, saying "Cheer
up, lads, we're all soldiers far from
home, and we're going to France to-
gether.'
The first night our band played there,
with the Stars and Strips, the French
Tricolor and the British flag all stream
ing from the ceiling over the platform,
we put on the program, Keep the
Home Fires Burning, which was a
popular song in England before it
struck America, and you ought to have
heard the way the Tommies took it up
| and blended their voices with ours. I'll
tell you, we felt like one big family
then. Later, in France, when then
"Marseiilaise" brought US to our feet
and at attention and the French salut-
ed the "Star Spangled Banner, we
came to the conclusion that we were,
in truth, Allies.
The last night we spent in England
| we stayed at the Y. M. G. A. till clos
ing time, gathering around the piano
while Jonathan Huntington, of Newark,
N. j., whom we call HOLLY" went
three times through big book of
songs, playing over and over some of
the favorites-"Home Fires, Long,
Long TraiP', 'Huckleberry Finn. and
lot of other songs that have been
sung piecemeal all over France. Hunt
| ington can play like Paderewski and
sing like John Mccormack.
l think the very sight of pen and ink
and letter paper lying on the counters
of the Y. M. G. A. huts is an incentive
to us to write home when we would
otherwise put 1t off.
The Y. M. C. A. of England and in
the training camps of France were
more in the nature of social gatherings,
with the sales counter as side.lssue,
compared with the Y. M. C. A. at the
| front, where you sometimes have to
walk three-quarters of mile along a
muddy road and make couple of turns
into by-paths till you get to a camou-
| haged shack with the red triangle half
hidden in dry leaves. And inside there
is no pretense of style; just a shaky
wooden shelf and piles of broken boxes
and cans of jam, boxes of chocolate
bars, cigarets and tobacco, and little
glass jars of ink and pens scattered
over the counter, with room for about
six or eight fellows to crowd in and
write letters if they have no conven
lent place to write at their shack or
dugout. We generally managed to
have the same Y. M. C. A. man with
name, but we were always glad to see
his long wrinkled face and iron-gray
hair, spectacles and all-welcoming
| managed to locate the ''Y" the first
| night in a new place. They used to
| limit the quantities of stuff sold, except
when one fellow would come a long
ways to buy for several others. The
boys from my company, when we were
in the Verdun sector, had to travel
quite ways to the "Y" and we were
allowed to purchase larger quantities
because we could not come often, and
the Marines, who were within easy
reach of the "Y'', understood and
never kicked bit. knowing what a
hard road we had to travel to get
| there.
Sometimes we would be unable to get
down to the "Y" on account of shells
hitting the road that led to it, and we
would have to wait till the affair was
over before hiking after chocolate and
| smokes The ''Y'' man staid there all
by himself and slept in a little back
room alone at night, his meals generally
coming from his own wares, which,
while splendid between meals and some
times taking the place of meals for us,
are not so good for steady diet. We
always held out standing welcome to
him to participate in our mess whenever
he had time to come our way, and al
ways felt that he was one of US, camp
ing in the woods and taking his chances
with sha11 and paS alODU with tho rost