The Washington herald., 1918-05-24
WHAT DOES TIE RED CROSS MEAN
TO A WOUNDED SAMMY
"BELIEVE ME, IT MEANS A LOTT"
SAY PERSFITNC'S. MEN
SAY PERSHING'S MEN

there" think of your money and your
nurses and tobacco and comfort kits.
Three Of Black Jack" Pershing's
own men give you their word for It.
They've been in the trenches.
They've been laid out by shell shock.
They were gassed, and woke up more
dead than alive. with oxygen tank
tubes in their teeth. and Red Cross
nurse standing guard.
They have been in the middle Of It
all-and the Red Cross Is the big.
bright spot that makes their eyes
glow and starts them all talking at
once-"Believe US. the Red Cross is
SURE all right"
Sergt. Willard. Corp. Henry. and
17-year-old Private Heath are three
OF the wounded men sent back by
Gen. Pershing to tell the folks back
home what it's really like and make
us blush to be caught squeezing a
dollar when Red Cross appeal
comes by.
1kco NEOoB AAas.
These soldiers three have seen the
Red Cross in action-and the acton
made a hit with them.
when does the Red Cross nrst
touch you when you are wounded!
they were asked. Corporal Henry an
swered:
"Well, the FIRST thing when the
stretcher bearers pick you up you go
to the field dressing station-thats the
army surgeons, you know, and from
there you go to the Casualty Clear
ing Station-where they sort out the
wounded - do the worst operations
and send on the others to the base
hospital. You know We three all got
gassed. We were knocked out by
shell-shock and couldn't get our masks
on before gas came over. So we
didn't know anything about those frst
| two hospitals. l was unconscious
forty-eight hours.
when / woke up I was in the
American base hospital and there
was an American Red Cross nurse
beside me. Gee! those nurses certain
ly are fine!
And wars done a lot for them
too; you ought to see 'em. You can
tell that before they got into this
mess they were kind of stin and-oh,
stand-ofish. you know, but now-say
they are the finest women you ever
saw and have the kindest faces.
We'll, had the oxygen tube In my
mouth and felt pretty good, SO I
told the nurse she didn't have to stay
with me, I was all right. She smiled
and said, I'll stay right here; you
don't know how sick you are And
she Just did everything for me. too"
Yes. and I was in a hospital the
Huns shelled once" broke in Sergt.
Willard. THE Hun plane came-o over
and dropped fourteen bombs all
around it. They took all the pa
tients and nurses to the cellar.
'T was on the second floor. and
the only man in the place too sick
to be moved. I told my nurse to
run, didn't care and she might
get killed. But she said. No. I'll
stay and she did They are great!
And the best thing Of all are
those comfort kits!
Yes. they sure are" Corpl. Hen
ry chimed in.
Heath.
II every American woman could
see the eyes and hear the voice of
just one Sammy who has had a
comfort kit-well, there'd be more
comfort kits.
Out of three khaki pockets came
three crumpled bits OF paper, one
{ penciled scrap from two girls in
Ontario, one from Chicago and one
from Nevada-the addresses of the
three donors Of those kits that fell
to soldiers three.
And every one is acknowledged
you bet-we write to them too"
1t was about the comfort kits that
they all talked at once, and their
eyes shone. Nursing Is well enough
but comfort kits! They are just
| Heaven-to hear Sammies tell it
and they know.
'wonderfuI.'
And as soon as you get to the
hospital you get a comfort kit
! (He said 1t with three exclamation
points, as one would say they give
you a halo! ~
Wonderful"
You can't think how wonderful
that seems. You know in the trenches
we had nothing but our clothes, our
blanket, and our mess kits. And
with those kits there were two clean
towels. white ones, and say, there
was Just everything-soap and tooth
brush and tooth paste, and pins and
needles and thread, buttons, scissors
comb, pencil. paper and envelopes,
ripe, tobacco. cigarettes. a mouth
CrEan. and even playing cards! Say.
We hadn't had even one of those
! things-and then to get them ALL
And they let us take them with us
when we leftp'
Those Red Cross canteens are fine
too" put in Private Heath. They
have them in every goodsized town
back OF the lines and it's nearly like
home. You can buy all kinds OF
things, and II you haven't the money
they give you anything you need"
80 you think the Red Cross money
Is being well spent?" he was asked.
More fellows are going over ali
the time and they certainly need the
Red Cross" he answered. N you are
going to write about II you can say
the Red Cross needs all It can get
and we can tell you they know how
10 use 1t for US soldiers"
KAT N zee -