Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-11-30
GRAND FORKS HERALD, NOVEMBER SO, 1918.
HANNA TELLS
OF HIS WORK
Former Governor, in Red
Cross Service, has Great
Experiences in France.

Fargo, N. D., Nov. 3d.. B. Han
ma, former governor of North Dakota,
now a captain in the Red Cross serv-
ice in France, writes at length of his
experiences in charge of q hospital.
In three months, Mr.. Hanna writes he
has come in. contact with between
10000 and $4,000 wounded Yankees,
some of them totally blind. but he
never heard a single complaint.
Mr.. Hanna's letter to The Forum Of
Fargo follows:
"A little of some of the experiences
that came to me during h past three
months at one of the large base hos
pital centers in France.
this center the Red Cross has
charge of all activities. The reading
and writing rooms in the hospital were
entirely under the Red Cross. The
canteen vas operated by it, the recre-
alton hut, and three moving picture
shows; in fact, every activity at this
center were Red Cross and none of
the kindred organizations were .pres-
ent in any way.
THE soldiers sent to his place were
wounded and gassed men. Very few
of them were suffering from any dis
ease. 1t was the custom for the Red
Cross personnel to meet every train Of
wounded men coming in, day or night,
and during the summer months to
oCA We tA1C 1IlCIl WILL lCC zulu lcllOllduSs
crackers and cigarettes. Since the
weather has turned cold, hot chocolate
is served in place of lemonade.
The hospitals at this center are all
hotels that now have been taken over
by the American Red Cross. In nine
of these the Red Cross have establish
ed reading and writing rooms, and
papers, and $500 magazines a month,
being an average Of one magazine for
every patient. Thirteen hundred issues
of Stars and Stripes are distributed.
Since the cold weather there has been
an enormous increase in the outgoing
mail matter.
"In tour instances, boys have come
to u.s.. shown us newspapers citing
them as having been killed in action,
and in each case the Red Cross has
cabled to their friends in America the
fact that they were alive and recover
ing from wounds.
Most of the boys coming from the
front come simply in their pajamas
and rolled up in blankets, all of their
the Red Cross furnishes them comfort
bags, tooth brushes, shaving soap,
tooth powder and all Of the little
necessities SO much needed.
Last July we had a young soldier
suffering from shell shock. 1t had at
IeCIeo MIN SO Lnat ne cOulQ not SPEAK
nor even laugh. The doctors had done
everything they could to make him
normal again. One night when one OF
the pictures of Charlie Chaplain was
being shown, the young soldier forgot
himself and before he knew it was
laughing and talking to the soldier
next to him. So Charlie Chaplain and
the American Red Cross moving pic.
ture gave back to that boy that which
the doctors had been unable to re.
store to him.
Recently we had 400 men come IL
from the st. Mihiel drive. There wa.
hardly a mar in the crowd that hat
any clothes except their pajamas. The,
attended a show in a body, Inc whel
the performers were introduced, at
tention was called to the fact that tn
boys were in their evening DRESS
A I think over the experiences O
the last three months. rememberin,
the American soldiers that I have met
it makes me prouder than ever that
am an American citizen. With Ameri
ca throwing every ounce of her infu
ence into the fight and backing up GU
soldiers, and with the Red Cross an,
all the kindred organizations doin,
their part, there "a be out one re
suit. (The letter was written Oct. 1O)
Before long peace must come t tn
whole world, and in helping t. brinI
this about, America, our country
Gods country, will have done he
part"