The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-01-04
SICK SOLDIERS
| ARE NEGLECTED. /
Improper Care and Lack OF
C0nveniences Are
i Charged
BOTH AT HOME
AND IN FRANCE
An Investigation Being Maidstone
/ Charges Not Sustained-Ill Soldiers
Made Worse by Exposure and Poor
Accommodations

Accommodations.
3 NEW YORK; Jan. 4.-The announce
ment that Secretary Baker had ordered
an investigation of conditions at the en-
barkation camp, near Brest, France,
known as Camp Pontenazen, oecasioned
no surprise among medical officers on du-
ty in the New York district, where most
of the officers and enlisted men from Pom
tenazen are disembarked on their arrival
The complaint upon which Secretary Ba-
ker acted is only one of numerous ones
that have been made regarding conditions
in the Brest camp. Furthermore it is the
opinion of officers familiar with conditions
that the Pontenazen investigation is the
| forerunner of many other investigations,
which will include not only camps and in
situations in France, but many in Ameri
ca also.
| Investigation has already shown that |
in some instances the complaints are not
based on facts, while IN others the sources |
| of the information are such as to merit |
| the attention of the authorities The com
plants range from poor conditions in hos
pItals to failure on the part OF the gov
eminent to pay the wounded and ill
money that is due them, in many instan-
Ices the pay due being anywhere from
one to SIX months In arrears. That the
situation as regards pay amounts almost
to scandal is not denied in responsible
army circles. That sanitary and other
conditions can be improved is also admit
ted, while it is maintained that the inn
fprovement is steady and conditions arc
being rectihed as fast as it is humanity
possible to do so.
One complaint about Camp Pontenazen
IS contained in a letter from an officer
OF the army, which says:
In October Captain y was wounded
in France. He had been slightly gassed
in July. While in a base hospital near
Tonl his wound healed, but he came down
with other patients with Influenza At
the end of the second week in November
he with other wounded officers and EN-
listed men were loaded on a hospital train
at s am. The day was cold and the
train was without heat The engine to
draw the train away or furnish heat did
not arrive until noon. 1t was shortly
after this that the journey to the coast
began. After thirty-six hours of travel
this train arrived at Brest at 5 a. m. Nc
! information was gwen as to the eventual
destination of invalids, but an order that
no one should leave the train was issued
! There was no food on the tram and dur
ing the day coffee was the only nourish
| ment
cat o'clock in the afternoon ambu
lances arrived and took these 450 wounded
officers and enlisted men to PontenazeI
barracks. three miles outside the wall.
nf Bfest. For four weeks these mer
lived under the; most rigorous and unsani
I tary conditions; wretehed food, little o.
{. no medical care, miserably housed. ant
with no sustaining hope or information
J, that they would be put on transpor
y and taken home. They heard OF plenty o
I transports in the harbor,, but none 10
them. The following boats were all Their
during this interval: the De kalb, Mar
tina Washington, Mongolia, Leviathan
George Washington, and Manchura
Whatever place there was these ship
was filed by casuals, officers, and soldiers
Pontenazen barracks, holding 800
men, was only one of several barrack
g III or near Brest where invalids were IN
loaded The inmates of the Others ha
the same story to tell, leaky roofs, camp
in two inches of mud. no heat, searcit
of hospital equipment, wretcled food
tmany had to Use wooden tongue deprcl
nor spoons
"On Dec is the steamship France too
: about 1000 OF these invalids aboard. jus
before sailing eas,fals were sent on an
many invalids had to give up good qua
tiers assigned to them to make room ia
casual officers higher up who were III
. wounded
"The France arrived in New York Ha
Dor early Dec u, at 4.30 o'clock in I'll
, afternoon. The officers and men fne
: litter eases) were placed on board harg
q At $50 pm. they were placed on boar
= train that was to take them to Dl
mont, Camp Merritt. y ! Two TRAN
carried them. The last train arrived
., ll.30 pm. Many whose lungs had bee
weakened by gas contracted new inasn
nation from having to stand III the dri
zling rain to get ON their trains and Il
long subsequent Journey in unheated car
t. None Were allowed to leave this cam
lie for more than twenty-iour hours no ma
I'd ter how good their physical condition
e. Most of these men had outlived their us
lie, fulness to the service owing To maine
u conditions, and they bat begged to be q
th lowed to return to their own famile
It, Why is it?'s
n his complaint was submitted to OF
al OF the highest ranking officers of Il
ed medical corps assigned to duty in the Ne
lie York district. This officer had no i
lis formation that would confirm or dispro-
II, ! the charges regarding conditions at Pc
tenazen He pointed out. however th
to the writer was in error regarding Il
kind of passengers brought to this cou
al try on the Ieviathan and other shi
named in his letter The records sho
ot- that each of the ships named came aero
- with large numbers Of wounded or i'll s.
IL diers on board. The charges regardil
ps the alleged treatment of the men vi
IN came over in the France. IN their a
tef rival, was matter. it was stated.
de Washington to take cognizanee of
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pit. Mans mind, not BIRTH, determines |