The Benson signal., 1919-03-22
UNSUNG HEROES
Of THE BATTLEFIELD
MEN WHO DROVE AMMUNITION
AND FOOD TRUCKS TO FRONT
LINES DESERVE MEDALS.
NO THOUGHT OF OWN SAFETY
Made Their Way Along Shel-Swept
Roads In lnky Darkness, Determined
Only to Get Their Loads to Des-
tination.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

|
coming for the most part as individu-
ais, are arriving in Washington day by
| day. Among them, as in other places
| in the country, are many of those un-
sung heroes of the war-the men who
drove the ammunition and food trucks
to the front lines along shell-rained
roads in the darkness of the nights.
When a soldier returns to his home
town and people ask him what he did
and his modest answer is, II drove a
from him as one little worthy of atten-
tion as soldier Of the line. In truth
many of these truck drivers were in
the highest sense soldiers Of the line.
They ran risks as great as those of the
men who went up against machine-gun
nests and, unlike the doughboys, the
engineers and the others, they have
been given little credit outside of the
army for what they did.
German airplane observers day after
day marked out the roads leading to
the American front. When night fell
and the trucks started for their deS-
tinatiOns laden with the neceSsaries of
the cOmmiSsary, or of front-line action,
the Hun would open with his batteries
on the lines Of communication. The
driver felt his way along the black
roads with no light Of his own or Of
another to guide him, not knowing at
what moment a dropping shell would
bring death to him and destruction to
his charge.
Herolsm Of the Truck Drivers.
It is the testimony of soldiers all
along the front that the truck drivers
thought more of the safety Of the mu
nitions and the food intrusted to them
than they did Of their lives. They
knew that the men at the front were
depending upon them to do their full
duty and to get there though hell broke
along the way.
Nerves were unknown to the army
truck drivers at the front. A shell
dropping into or near q truck load of
high explosives meant that of the load
and the driver nothing again would be
seen. 1t did not mean death merely
for the man on the seat, but it meant
that of him no fragment would remain
for the burial, the flag and the firing
party.
The truck drivers, especially those
who were plotting loads Of high explo-
sives, were more or less fatalists. Oc-
casionally an attempt would be made
to stop them because of particularly
heavy shelling along one sector Of the
way. Some Of the men refused to be
stopped, for their thought was 'this
stuff must get there" and it either did
get there or the driver died.
Some of the drivers of the indis-
pensable trucks with their indispen-
sable loads have been given medals
for their high service. 1t is necessary
when medal is given that the deed of
the recipient shall have been attested
by witnesses. It Is certain that hun
dreds Of devoted drivers did things
deserving of the highest recognition
that the government can give, and yet.
because their deeds were unseen and
unattested, they must go along through
life with no outward and visible evil
dences Of their herOism, but must con-
tent themselves with the inward salts
faction which always is that Of a man
who did his duty.
Return to Civil Life Not Easy.
In congress every day during the
winter some one or other had some
thing to say about the economic and
Industrial readjustmentS necessary be-
cause of the effects of war. No one
adjustments, but that they are neces-
sary before some millions of men and
women settle down to the proper equl-
'ibrium of life no one in Washington
seems to deny.
Possibly it is more marked in the
capital of the nation than elsewhere,
but the men and women here of the
civilian population seem to be "float-
Ing mentally" What is so marked in
the men and women in civilian attire
here is ten times more strongly mark
ed in the men and women in uniform
who have seen actual service. It must
be remembered that many women
donned nurses or canteen workers
garb and served abroad.
1t probably will not take long time
to restore the warriors and workers to
their normal condition, but today the
men and women Of Washington who
have engaged in war work at home are
wondering what they are going to do
next, and are certain that they must
do something in the future that is
more strenuous and more useful than
anything they did prior to the outbreak
Of the war.
All Wish to Keep Busy.
Organizations of men and women
here are casting about for new fields
Of endeavor. 1t was only the other
day that 600 women met at big din
ner party to discuss what their sex
must do to keep all Of it's members
usefully employed for the years to
oopoo in tho odd bO11rc which oop ho