South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-05-11


war. She is a 60-year-od Saliva
ton Army lassie and shell hole
heroine Of the Toul sector. where
she was regarded as an angel by
the soldiers OF the a. r. T., who
p adopted wholesale as her own
son Mrs. Burdick Is assisting in
the Salvation Army Home Service
campaign for S13, 900, 600 May 1926.
The kindly mi~nistrations OF this
war heroine made her one OF the
best beloved Of all women war
workers, for she mOthered the
boys during the saddest moments
OF their lives; at a time when their
OWn mothers we're thousands Of
miles away. and when the chances
or ever seeing their home folks
again seemed slim. She braved the
Of dangers working over
"a camp stove fashioned from scrap
iron. frying LAP jacks for the boys
while German Big Berthas" burst
all around her. She has gentle.
tender mother hands and eyes, and
her SMILE is a benedictlon. She
brought this smile back from
France with her. She also brought
"a steel regulation trench helmet
which protected her silvered head
from bullets and shell spiinters.
Il Not TaIkative.
Mother" Burdick is not talka-
tive n has small regard for her
war accomplishments, so part of
her story has 10 be told for her.
She worked in the open. in stables
and cellar holes while rain fell in
torrents. She worked day and night
cooking and sewing fo~ the boys
and held three gospel meetings a
week at which there were many
conversions She finally worked
herself into "A state OF exhaustion
and was found III in the loft Of a
sheIl-torn stable. Carried back 10
"a Red Cross hospital in France. she
partly recovered after three weeks
and worked in the hospital for two
months when she insisted on re-
turning 10 the boys at the front.
yes. did all those things you
have mentioned" she said, but
really now. IL was nothing. We
mad no c]onveniences but when you
compare our hardships to those
suffered by the boys in the trench
es. we did not suffer 50 much. Yes,
the rains were terrible.
Got Used 10 Shells.
"Oh. the shells. why do you know
they were terrifying just at first.
but you Don got used to them and
paid no attention to them.
1--WE could feel the shock Of the
big shells and one burst not more
than a block away from our hut
which was in an stable.
sheltered by a tarpaulin, but it
really was nothing after one got
used to IL.
On the same boat With Ma"
Burdick returned her Il Is5and. who
chopped wood for her camp fires
and worked with her for the
doughboys, her son. Elmer. who
served in the trenches with the
sixth field signal battalion. and her
daughter. Cecil, who wore the Sal
vation Army uniform and worked
at other points in the TOul sector.
we were the third party Of Sal
vationists to leave the United
States" said Mother Burdick. With
our party was Gladys Mcintyre. her
sister did not come until later. Ny
daughter. too. and my son arrived
in France a few months after we
were on the ground.
Wont IN Trnfnfnp Stations
We went forward 10 the ad-
vanced training stations s2d there
] worked with a sewing machine
cutting the long tails from soldiers
coats and making them fatigue
caps of the goods salvaged. Ny
husband mended the boys watches
and served them anyway he could.
Ny first stove had an oven made
from metal cracker boxes and a
chimney made from the lard pals.
but really there is nothing 10 that
we Just made the best Of things.
Yes. I broke the pie-haking record
i'm hat tin oven by baking SEA .es
tn 10 hours"
The boys would form i'm line
and We would give them coffee.
dOughnuts. pieces OF pie or what
ever we had. Sometimes we han
died as many as 5000 IN one OF
those lines in n night. The thing
that impressed me most was the
tenderness OF these boys in their
treatment OF US women. They
seemed TO realize hat He were try.
ing 20 mother them, SO they were
good boys and good sons. 1t used
To touch my heart when they would
talk 10 me about their home folks
wanted 10 cry. but had L,
smile, because il was no time tC
permit ones spirits TO droop.
e Refugees.
As we went forward In thoS,
early days we passed lone lines O.
Saddened women and children. De-.
ing rushed back from what wa.
once their homes. TO safer place,
I'M the rear We We're MT allowct
20 speak with these refugees. fol
the lines were not allowed TO hest
tate for an instant but were KEEP
ever moving. You dill not need {,
speak with these poor people Z,
have your heart wrunE becaus,
shof~ eforFre v-~r. u--stfa, 80 vh,+,