The Adair County news., 1919-07-30

~ lean Red Cross has been
the comfort and welfare
o: the American boys in service.
The Red Cross as an organization
has been growing with the growing
needs of the soldiers, sailors and ma
rines since the first transport started
overseas.
Under the Department of Military
Relief of the Red Cross a plan was
formed and is being carried out which
brings every possible comfort and
help to the fighting men-out of lines
or in-sick, well, convalescent,
MANNED or "whole!"
Having taken them comfortably all
the way over the Red Cross will con-
Linue to provide for their welfare IN
til the last man steps off the gang
plank of the last transport or leaves
the doorway of the last hospital.
Care of the returning soldier falls
into three branches: Miscellaneous
Service for the Comfort and Welfare
of Soldiers-Home Service in the
Camp-and Recreation. 1t is difficult
to say which of these is the most i'm
portant, so greatly does each depend
On the other, weaving an allcover.ng
mantle of comfort and relief that
/ spreads over each and every soldier.
How the Red Cross Helps
! The soldier is not discouraged, but
he can't help thinking, as he lies
there in the base hospital, with his
stump of an arm or his twisted knee,
and waits for the transport that will
take him home.
When the day comes at last. he is
carried aboard on a stretcher. Be
side him are a pair of new pajamas, a
Red Cross comfort kit and plenty of
smokes" Aboard there is a Red
Cross man with his hands always
filed with extras" On the way to
tie debarkation hospital, there is the
same old Red Cross smile and the sue
ce5sion of sandwiches, pies and coffee.
AT night, while the train speeds
towards the army hospital near his
own town, there are the canteen wom-
en- at the stopping places.
When the soldier reaches the con-
valescent stage, there is the Red
Cross house with its home-like fea-
lures, easy chairs, rugs, music, games,
books, newspapers and magazines
the fireplace, the sun parlor or the
porch, according to the season On
fine days there is the Motor Corps
that takes the soldiers for delightful
country spins. 1t is by these many
small attentions, that mean so much,
that the Red Cross endeavors to make
getting well' easy. A sick or wound
ed soldier does not get well soon if
bis mind is not happily attuned and
his personal troubles at rest.
Sick, convalescent or well, a soldier
may have recourse to Home Service,
one phase of Red Cross work. Anxiety
over home affairs over
the safety and welfare of loved ones
have done more to weaken the morale
Of the men than most grievous wounds
received in battle, or even the endur.
ance of short rations, or trying days
and nights under fire. Red Cross
Home Service endeavors to bridge the
| gap between the soldier and his home
and to act as the intervening agent to
whom all petitions may be trusted
and all cares consigned. Five hundred
Red Cross Home Service representa-
tives are working in the camps of this
country and in the army hospitals
with their $4,000 patients.
Among the latest innovations arr
the banking agencies, established in
| twenty-five Rehabilitation camps, un
der the authority Of some nearby
clearing house or bank, enabling a dis
charged soldier to deposit part of his
discharge money for transmission tt
any bank he may designate, in ex
change for a non-negotiable receipt
At Camp Taylor alone, s152,215 wal
deposited in this way within the space
of eleven days.
The breadth and scope of the Rec
Cross peace program, as it concerns
the returning soldier, is readil!
appreciated He cannot feel neglected
or fcrlorn as long as the Red Cross Il
with him, and surely no possible com
fort, no possible need has been over
looked. The three great arms worl
together amicably, smoothly, jointly
each performing the tasks that fal
within its immediate field, yet extend
ing its activity to dovetail happil,
with the other branches.
In the field, in the camp, in tn
home, the Red Cross is omnipresen
wherever the soldier goes or whereve
his interests lie 1t knows no armis
tice in its fight against sickness: