Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-03-13
Keepsakes Of Soldier Dead
New York Evening Post.

II may have been memento of his mother
a gift from his sweetheart a keepsake dad had
slipped into his pocket when he left, or bit
of fraternity jewelry, but whatever it was that
the young American cherished when he fell in
battle his family cherish ii q thousand times
more, simply because it was his and so a war
machine that cannot always be human estab-
lished the effects bureau, port of embarkation,
at Hoboken.
1t is the brain Of great system, a highly
sensitzed system, whose nerves are rooted in
France, Italy, Belgium, in hospitals, and every
where an American soldier paid his last full
measure of devotion. II recognizes no distine-
ton; the dead are without class, and as far as
this bureau is concerned a brass ring on the
finger of dead private is worth az much as the
elaborate equipment Of any officer.
Intrinsic value 10 nothing, associations are
everything. That 10 the spirit In which the
corps of workers set about their task OF return
ing to relatives and friends the little keepsakes
that every life picks up In the stream OF ex-
istence. These workers do Il with the care and
sympathy which they themselves would expect.
To them the loss OF the things q family cher
ishes is almost as great q tragedy as the other
of the battlefield, for 1t leaves q vacancy which
might have been filled.
For that reason there are card indexes, tags,
and files checking and recheckng at Hoboken,
so that not even the slightest trinket may be
lost. In the warehouse there is q nondescript
assortment of baggage, trunks, boxes, weirdly
shaped bags, every one a treasure OF some
relative or friend, who expected the owner to
return, but who bows before the sacrifice, and
accepts with mute gratitude the things that
have come to mean so much because they were
his. There are crutches and stretchers, too,
grim reminders, but precious
There are small boxes, though size means
nothing. II may contain q pipe, 3 tobacco
pouch, package of cigarets, perhaps a photo
hgk ap9rn Ne
may contain souvenirs, trophies of battle,
German knife, or a bit of shrapnel. The va
riety is limited only by the fancy of an Ameri-
can soldier.
And this Is the first war In which the United
States has been engaged that concerted and
official report has been made to save the effects
of the men who died in battle. Effects they are
called in a sort of coldly official way, but to
those who are working to save them they mean
much more. Instead Of becoming hardened to
the work, as might be expected where such de-
tail and routine are involved, the staff at Ho-
boken takes an Increasingly personal interest in
restoring the belongings Of those who died to
their relatives and friends.
Naturally, the work at Hoboken would be
futile were it not based on the work of others
on the battlefield and in hospitals, for some one
must be responsible for the collection of the
effects. Organization commanders in France
and commanders of hospitals everywhere were
all men killed in action or who, for any cause,
died within their jurisdiction.
After the belongings of q soldier are col
lected, they are sent to base sections. If he dies
in France, Italy, or with the army of occupation
in Germany, his effects are sent to Base Section
No. /. If he dies in England, they are sent to
Base Section No. 5. After they are packed the
first time, they are inspected and rechecked
every time they are moved, and duplicate checks
are forwarded to the headquarters at Hoboken.
When the package or luggage containing the Ell
fects arrives here, they are checked again, by
the list already sent, and joint record from both
lists is placed in the card index in the bureau.
The next step is to find the person who
should receive the effects, and this is often rem
dered difficult by the naming of persons other
than relatives on enlistment blanks. Many men
wishing to save the family from shock give the
names of friends as those who should be mott
fed in case of DEATH and then rely upon them
to make It as easy as possible Letters are
written to the person named on the enlistment
papers, and they are not cold formal letters, but
individual letters. No stereotyped expressions
of sympathy or rubber-stamped tears clutter the
mail of the effects bureau In many instances
the person addressed gives the address of those
to whom the effects should be sent If there is
any doubt as to who has legal claim to the
property of the deceased, staff of lawyers EN-
ployed by the bureau settle ali technicalities.
All of these are inbued with the spirit Of
hepfulness. and whether it be a request for the |
watch fob of one who sleeps in Flanders fields, |
or plea to straighten out an allotment tange, |
something is done about it, and that something |
usually gets results.
There are two classes of mail which come |
into the bureau, almost equal in size now that |
the work has been going along so we'll One !
class is made up of appeals for aid or requests
for the property Of those who were killed in |
action the other, expressions of gratitude for
the dispatch and feeling with which the request
has been fulfilled.