The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1918-03-22

dSCcItdIII tIlclI WHEREABOUTS
During the last month, the bureau
received thirty-five letters, and
was able to trace twenty-one Of
the boys.
No detective agency ever work
ed on such meagre clues as the
bureau of missing soldier and
sailor boys must do. Sometimes
only the boys name is given. Of
ten, the sole hints are such as
these: my boy graduated from
Yale in 1916" Charley sailed
from America on the 'Espagne'
June 49," THE lad was in Am
bulance Section %, but dropped
out, to try to enter aviation"
1t takes infinite patience 10 fol-
low such clues to the end, just to
bring comforts to the hearts of
anxious mothers back home.
Perhaps only woman could be
expected to understand how other
women worry about their soldier
boys. AT any rate, at the head
or the heart-of the bureau to
trace missing soldier and sailor
boys, there is woman, Miss A.
Evelyn Newman, who for seven
years directed the Studio Club for
Girls, in New York. my boys"
she calls the missing soldiers and
sailors, and every letter that comes
from their families at home she
considers personal, and answers
as soon as she can, knowing how
that answer is waited for at home. |
The method of following clues
depends largely upon the inform
alton given in the parents letter.
Sometimes the University Club in
Paris, s Rue Richelieu, can give
hid; sometimes the steamship
records are of help,
the aviation headquar-
ers supply the missing informa-
ion. The Amy Register handles
huge location department, in
lelping the homefolks to keep the
les unbroken, and the Red Cross
as cabinet cases full of filing
ards on the problem. Both CO.
perate warmly with the Young q
lens Christian Association in the r
fort to trace missing sons and a
ay never goes by without many
lquiries being exchanged.
By far the greatest number of .
,tters deal with boys whose cor
ect address is supposedly known l
5, for instance: is there any
ilitary reason why my son in "
egiment, -Engineers, can not
rite me, or receive letters from
ome?" In these cases it is Il
lestion of verifying the address. o
ften the Young Mems Christian "
ssociation bureau finds that the II
ldress is correct, and the peri D
us mail service accounts for the d
lxiety of the father or mother. +
r the fault may lie with the son W
no has failed to write through q
,glect. le
The Y. M. C. A. writes both to II
W, asking him to write home, IL
i'd to The mother, saying that the W
n has been communicated with "
ID was found safe and we'll.
Some letters come to the bur-
u that have knocked nearly
ound the world. A Canadian
y was traced to France, then az
Palestine, then to Gallipoli, and tu
board another transport for W
,yDt. Then the trail was lost. of
d he go down on the Hispanola? Al
he shipwrecked on an island, SUI
a prisoner in a German U-boat? | be
lother lad come to France as an DC
lbulance driver. At the taking ev
er of the ambulance by the Am w
can army he dropped out of tuf
hit. His chum had received a be
stall from some hotel in Paris. flo
hen last seen he was consorting
IN some mysterious woman. ms
uld the Y. M. C. A. possible Nc
ate him and get him home?
mother sort of letter OCCASION flo
comes to the bureau from flo
American girl. She wants to rol