Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1918-11-27
'YANKSDON'TKNOW
HOW TO RETREAT
Most Wonderful Boys in the
World, Say Woman Can
teen Workers.
WOUNDED ALWAYS cheerful
Come Back From Battle Laughing and
Jokins-Y. M. c. A. Women Re-
main Under Shell Fire to
Serve With Troops.

Paris.-~They can't retreat They
are the most wonderful boys In the
world |"
This was the summary Of the A. Z.
r. that two American women, Mrs VIM
cent Astor and Mrs. Henry Russell,
have Just brought back from the
front. where they were the last women
( to see the troops of the - division
as they went over the top and the
first to greet them as they marched
back again.
With gas masks over their arms
and helmets at hand Mrs. Aston and
Mrs. Russell laid a plank over two
boxes for Y. NJ. C. A. canteen in
wood just back of the trenches. Here
they watched the men march by into
battle and dropped cigarettes and
candy into their tin bonnets as they
marched back again, triumphant from
the big drive.
There was never such return
from battle before, surelyi" Mrs. AS
tor and Mrs. Russell said, on their
return to Paris. THE boys came back
joking; they came back laughing.
Those who had been wounded seemed
to be just as happy and just as sure
of victory as the others.
Wounded Are Cheerful.
"'Here's where l get a dimple ont
of this one boy who had been wound
ed in the face and who had lost all his
teeth said to us. And that is the way
they all were. When you went up TO
boy who lay so still that you feared
he was dead you would find cigar
cite waving between his teeth and a
grin on his face"
As the men marched back past the
inpromptu Y. NJ. C. A. canteen they
gave Mrs. Aston and Mrs. Russell
souvenirs of the battlefield.
The two have now in their posses
sion such menentos as a German belt,
"A cap. an indelible pencil formerly
used by a Hun and any amount of
German money.
zone boy who had an Iron Cross
said that he had bargained with
wounded German for it." Mrs. Astor
related. "He told us that he had OF.
fered the German a drink of water
and to lift him up where the Red
Cross streteher bearers could see him
more easily in exchange for the Iron
Cross. He got it."
Mrs. Russell said that she had
talked with one man who said that he
had seen q German woman behind a
machine gun. but that most of the
information on the subject had been
secondhand and vague enough to
make one doubt the report.
Fury of Battle Upon Them.
II asked him how he would treat
such woman If he captured her and
he replied that he would shoot her
without hesitation" she said. The
fury of the battle was still upon the
men when they came back. We found
very little disposition among them TO
sympathize with the 'kamerad cricrs
They had a ferocity about them when
they came back that they hadn't had
when they went over the top, and a
new courage and self-assurance."
In one of the villages near the front
Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Aston met three
Y. NJ. c. A. women who had remained
under shell fire to serve the troops un.
til they were moved back by the gen.
erals orders. The three were Mrs
Clara Simmons, Miss Elizabeth Drott
and Mrs. Oril E. Henthorne.
Mrs. Aston and Mrs. Russell expect
to be stationed at Y. NJ. C. A. cam
teen at the front within a few weeks.
Some one suggested that such an adj
vanced position was extremely dam
gerous in case our troops should re-
treat and the Germans should follow.
"Our boys don't retreat" said Mrs.
Astor. 'iThey can't retreat. They
don't know how"