Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1919-06-04
gee, BOYS, AN
American WOMAN!"
How Officers of Rainbow Divis
ion Found "Y" Worker witt
26th, in Deserted French
Town Under Fire

1t was in the little town of La Fer,
which is the last stop before you ar
rive at Chateau-Thierry; and the ser
ond battle of the Marne was in prc
gress. Over in Belleau Woods til
Marines of the End Division We,
lighting savagely; while in and abol
La Ferte was large portion of tt
Goth, resting up from heavy work
the Toul sector.
One afternoon French plane Wa
noticed circling high over the tow!
About bedtime the same plane r
turned and to the terrible dismay
the townspeople it dropped a BONE
The plane had been captured by tn
Germans and was being used by thel.
to locate the hospital, railroad heat
and other important landmarks.
So terrified was the local popula
ton by the bombardment which fo1
lowed that they could not get out
hours every house was deserted.
Twenty four hours later the pelt
ing tempest of shells ceased and som
regiments Of the Rainbow Divisic
entered the place and occupied ]
Four officers looking for a compare
lively whole house to make regiments
headquarters came across one
which the lower part was an old dar
little wineshop. Up the stairs tn"
tramped to the living rooms. The
opened a door. Out Of the bed cam.
| weak but CHEEKY voice:
Hello, boys, l am sorry I cannn
get up to welcome you. But l a..
going to be better now. And If 70,
should come back in an hour l will
have some hot coffee far you"
"GEE!" said one Of the officers t
hts comrades as he closed the door
IAN AMERICAN WOMAN!~
II the officers had had presence o
mind to look about the room befor'
they retired they would have seer
hanging on a hook the dark gree,
coat with the blue collar OF Red Tri
angle canteen worker The woma'
was Mrs Louise w. Fleming of VOL
laston, Mass, who was one of over
so "Y" secretaries attached to tn
Yankee Division The "" canteeI
IN La Ferte, her first assignment, hat
run short OF supplies. and to be usefu
Mrs. Fleming had been WORKING nigh
and day in the hospitals only few
klometers back Of the front lines un
Ill she had to take to her bed from
exhaustion. Thus OF the entire pop
uiatiCn Of La Ferte she had been tn
only one unable to scuttIe when thu
bombardment opened. And through
those hideous lonely hourA she hat
convalesced.
Mrs. Fleming returned home a few
weeks before the YD began sailins
home. She had been with her divi
sion, close to the front lines, al
through the heavy bloody work O
| 1918. Shortly after General Edwards
arrival in Boston ,one Of his first Off
| cial acts was the rendering to Mrs
Fleming of his military citation. Sh,
and Miss Alice Carey of Manchester
Conn, private secretary to Or. Hessel
grave of the same town, who was Di
visional Secretary of the ~" wit
he 26th, were the only womel
workers to be thus honored by tn
! General.
while we were at Verdun in DC
.ober," relates Mrs. Fleming, wv
were shelled every hour of the da,
and night for six weeks. Miss Care.
was the only other woman with me
The shells fell around our hut as nea
as the width of a city street. Tn
boys would come in with their gas
masks on.
For a couple of weeks we were tn
only people in Verdun-men or We
men-who slept above ground. W
were living in a cunning little nous
that stood up alone among wide
spread ruins. There were no win
dows left of course, and hardly
wall remaining. The cathedral, tn
Bishops palace, the town ball,-ev
erything was razed but this one littl
house. How 1t escaped after fou
years of bombardment was an I'LL
solvable mystery.
Somehow we could not make u
our minds to leave the little house
there seemed to be a holy spell SUI
rounding it,-and go down in the cit
adel' which was 60 feet under groun
and which smelled something like tn
subway, although it was as well yer
tilated as possible. We preferred tai
ing a chance and having the fres
air.
But finally the Colonel got aftt
us and told us we would have to leaN
Verdun if we didn't change to SAT,
quarters. When the boys heard
that they raised walls of protest ar
appeal. And we had to succum
Some of the officers led the way to
dugout, and one of them warned u
You had better hug the walls as yC
go. The others laughed, and one ,
them remarked: IT'S come to preti
pass when an American girl has not
ing 10 hug but a wall"
Since the boats bringing in the h,