Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1919-01-23

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A sort Of sub-hospital ship has been
working at Huboken for some weeks
in conjunction with the arrival OF
manned and sick troopers. She Is the
Shinnecock, under command Of Lieut..
Collins, which in peace times used to
ply between Moptauk Point and Block
Island.
She, too, has been equipped for
medical purposes and reconstructed to
hold many berths and cots. Every
day, sometimes two or three times a
day, she edges against returning
transport and takes away wounded
men, landing them at the base hos
pital on Ellis Island or the Fox Hills
hospital on Staten Island.
Good Samaritans.
Not q small part of the work of
transferring the men has been looked
after by scores of Red Cross nurses
under command of Col. Dorothy G.
Smyley, head of the ambulance divis-
ion of the Red Cross. Her workers
have seen to it. with the cooperation
Of the National League for Womens
Service, that easy-riding military am
balances have been at the piers In
sufficient numbers. Red Cross nurses
accompany each ambulance and re-
main with the transferred patients
until they have been safely placed on
hospital cots.
A less vital, perhaps, but neverthe-
less important work done by the Red
Cross women has been in the greet
ings extended the returning troops.
They have been at the pier edges
every time transports have pulled In,
good weather or bad, waving flags,
swapping jests, flinging cigarettes
and newspapers, boarding the ships
when they had docked, and going
among the men with tobacco, chOco.
late and other comforts that have
drawn from many Of them such ex-
prcssions as: Gee! but you women
did great work in France, and you're
doing it here too!'
The knights of Columbus have
boarded the transports at quarantine
and the docks aud have given to the
troops stamped postcards so that
they could communicate Immediately
with relatives. In hundreds Of in.
stances the Knights have sent tele'
grams for men who did not have the
"price."
Army chaplains have gone among
the troops on the ships, taking mes
sages for relatives, jotting down
phone numbers, extending cheer ano
facilitating the removal Of the
wounded
Y. NJ. G. A. men have given away
thousands of newspapers daily to re
turning soldiers, meeting them as
their transports put into quarantine.
Officers In Charge.
Some of the most difficult tasks con
nected with the return of the soldier.
have been those of Major Gen
Shanks, in command Of the port OF
embarkation; Brig. Gen. McManus, di
rector Of troop movements, and Vice
Admiral Gleaves.
The service of Gen. Shanks has EN-
braced the period of heaviest trooI
departures from Hoboken. which wa:
the most important port Of embarka
ton in America and which sent
large bulk Of the record number OF
100000 troops in one month wheI
troops were badly needed at tht
front.
1t was the work of Gen. Shanks to
see to 1t that there were sufficient
transports for the soldiers, plentiful
accommodation and utmost secrecy OF
departure. In one night, in the record
month, half a dozen large transports
stole out of The Hoboken piers, load
ed to capacity with soldiers, and no
inkling Of 1t reached the public.
1t was the job of Admiral Gleaves
to make certain that the seas were
bridged with conveys so that no mis-.
hap should occur to the transports
Gen. Shanks sped away. That he did
his work satisfactorily Is attested by
his promotion u few weeks ago from
rear admiral to vice admiral. Not a
transport was lost on Europe-bOund
trip.
Gen. McManus was in command Of
'lAnlVOCTnk u0N0RE0