The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-01-04
COMPLAIN OF CAMPS
IN THIS COUNTRY
Investigations Are Being Made Into
Charges of Neglect Of Wounded Sol
dlers-some Complaints Unfounded

Investigations Are Being Made Into
Charges of Neglect Of Wounded Sol
dlers-some Complaints Unfounded
New York, Jan. 3.-The announce
ment that Secretary Baker had order
ed an investigation OF conditions a.
the embarkation camp, near Brest.
France, known as Camp p0ntenazen.
0ccasioned no surprise among medi-
cal officers on duty in the New York
district, where most Of the officers
and enlisted men from pontenazen
are disembarked on their arrival. The
complaint upon which Secretary Bak-
er acted is only one of numerous
ones that have been made regarding
conditions in the Brest camp. Fur
thermore, it is the opinion OF officers
familiar with conditions that the Pom
tenazen investigation is the forerun-
ner of many other investigations.
which win include not only camps and
institutions IN France, but many in
America also.
Investigation has already shown
that in some instances the complaints
are not based on facts. while in 9th
ers the sources of the information are
such as 10 merit the attention of the
authorities. The complaints range
: from poor conditions in hospitals to
failure on the part of the Government
: to pay the wounded and i'll money
that is due them, In many instances
the pay due being anywhere from one
TO slN months in arrears That the
sltuauon as regards pay amounts al
most TO scandal is not denied in re
sponsible army circles. That sanitary
ana other conditions can be improved
Is also admitted while il is main
tanned that the improvement is steady
ana conditions are being rectified a.
last as it is humanity possible to do so
One complaint about Camp Pom
tenazen Is contained in letter from
an ofllcer of the army, which saws:
In October Captain X was wound
ca IN France. He had been slightly
gassed in July While in a base hos
pital near Toul his wound healed bui
ne came down with other patients
with Influenza At the end of the sec.
ond week in November he with other
wounded officers and enlisted men
were loaded on a hospital train az &
a. NJ The day was cold and the train
was without heat. The engine IN
draw The train away or furnish heat
ana not arrive until noon. IT was
shortly after this that the journey to
the coast began. After thirty.siv
hours OF travel this train arrived M
Hrest at a. m. No information was
gwen as to the eventual destination
OF lnyalids. but an order that no one
should leave the train was issued
mere was no food on the train and
during the day coffee was the only
nonrishment.
Al O'Clock in the afternoon amin
lances arrived and took these A5o
wounded officers and enlisted men to
rohtenazen Barracks, three miles ont
siue the walls of Brest. For four
weeks these men lived under most
rigorous and unsanitary conditions
wretched food little or no medical
care, miserably housed. and with no
sustaineding hope OF information that
they would be put on a transport and
taken home.
P0ntenazen Barracks, holding 5000
men, was only one OF several barracks
III or near Brest where invalids ware
oaded. The inmates of the others
nad the same story to tell. leaky roofs
camps in two inches of mud. no heat
scarcity OF hospital equipment
Wretched food. (many had to use
wooden tongue depressors. there he
ing neither knives forks. nor spoons !
Another complaint concerns condi.
lions at the army hospital al Secau.
Gus, n. j. This is New Jersey in.
shtuuon under Government control
used principally for the treatment OF
contagious cases. The complainant
against Sccaucus is a man from the
Middle West who went there to see q
boy who had been invalided HON,
from France. The charge is that m,
food served was not of the kind n,
quality that i'll men should have ant
mat sanitary conditions could b,
greatly improved. The patient IT wa,
further stated, had received only tw,
= weeks pay during a service of NOR,
nan one year The complainant
states that he talked with several 9th
er patients and that all had the sam,
complaint to make as regarded fooi
conditions and failure to pay
stu another complaint is LODGE
AGAINST conditions at Camp Dix. n ]
This complaint was made by a vel
Known New York lawyer. who youch
* for thn cnn, nla inou, al, . ....I