New Britain herald., 1919-04-14
TELLS OF
 WORK IN FRANCE
Rev. H. ". Maier Relates Many
 Interesting Incidents

! A large congregation greeted Rev. 1 Henry w Maier, pastor of the Center Congregational church yesterday 1 morning. when he told of his expert ences with the Twenty sixth division 1 overseas as a casualty worker. on the ! Red Cross commlsslon
 He declared that this branch of the work developed in importance to- ] ward the close of the war. He de- l scribed his trip overseas, saying that 1 in his party were PA welfare workers ] 125 of whom were Y. M. C. A. work CTS and II men workers, 21 K. of c. workers and 50 boys under the age of 1 IS years, who were to drive Red Cross ! motor truck transports
 During the voyage" he continued, i've did not suffer any of the incon- veniences that were experienced at the outbreak of the war. Lights were on. and the port holes open. and the 1 only precaution taken was to attach a mine sweeper to the ship. This was q device which swept the mines to the side of the ship, and the chains Were | cut by clippers. The mines came to the surface, and when the lookout de- tected them he opened fire with @ rife and the mines exploded
 We landed at Havre, and there we were met by a man who took us to a hotel where we were detained and al 1 lowed on the streets only at certain | Intervals
 He spoke about the antaganistic feelings which prevailed between the soldiers of the allied nations. Ut was a great surprise to us when cap- Iaih said to me, The seeds of the next war are already sown: it will be be- tween the colonies of England and those of the United States. I saw a lsht one day between a British and a canadian soldier, but an American sammy came along and imm ed diately got In on the side of the Canadian Ihis feeling, however, said Mfr
 Ma1er, was only on the surface, for i deep Tn their hearts was loyal pur- | pose which was found only in conl-
 mon ties.
 Any fellow who was yellow was
 sure out of luck,'' he declared. "He
 might commit any sin, but if he
 showed signs of cowardice, heaven ! help him.
 Speaking of the casualty research ! work, in which he was engaged. he
 spoke of the lack of coordination be-
 tween hospital authorities and the
 army. He said that men were often ] transferred from one hospital to an-
 other, without notification from the 1 authorities, and SO the men were oft
 en reported missing in action.
 He gave 8 variety of instances of
 his research work telling of 8 mem
 Der of Company F, who was reported
 as killed in action, while in reality the
 soldier had been seriously wounded
 and taken to hospital. It was here 1 f01nd tc T
 a transfer to another hospital, and he ! was sent to three different hospitals
 and to replacement camp, while mo- ! tice had been served that he had been l killed
 He spoke of the case of a youn g ! mas who was a member of one of ] the companies of the 102d Regiment,
 and no knowledge of his whereabouts l had been given for some weeks. There l fore his company commander report 1 ed him absent without leave. It de- 1 veloped that the soldier had charge
 Of the company's funds, and when 1 last seen, had in his possession 8 sum | equalling 500 francs.
 l The Rev. MT. Maier personally in- 1 vestigated the case, and found that ! the unaccounted man was dead, and l according to the story of his soldier ! informant had been killed by q ma
 chine gun bullet, while with a recon ! noitering party. MT. Maier reported l the true facts of the case to the l American Red Cross.
 '"The soldiers,' he said, "are com l ing back with changed standards.
 They have set an example that men
 ought to recognize. The army will
 come back with a message to us,
 which is Meet your duty, no matter