The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-07-07
PUBLIC DISCUSSION
; FOOD IN THE ARMY. 2

To The News Scimitar;

To The News Scimitar;
May / say a few things relative to
an article | noticed in today's issue or
your paper under the caption, "Yahks
In World War Grow Fat on New Army
Ration"
The writer, until recently a member
of the regular army, attached to the
2Sth (Keystone) division, believes he is
qualified to make a few comments on
the article.
Soldiers who were with the Iron dtyl-
sion in France, as n general ralle,
weighed less than they did when me Sc
lective service act, their own volltioh,
brought them into the army, | mean
every word OF 1t. 1t Is al indisputable
fact and the author OF the aforesaid
article evidently does not know whereof
he speaks, | grant that food In ton
lots was sent to France, but who got 1t?
The 2Sth division didn't, We oniy re-
ceived a small portion Of It,. My onlnion
IL that most OF 1t remained In the
s, o. 4. service OF auppllesl area, /
lost. considerable weight, even though
| was In charge of liaison where | could
get to the rear occasionally, aud didn't
Increase any until | was ordered to lie
Mons preparatory to sailing for home.
You don't have to accept my word FOR
II, as l can submit names and ad-
dresses of many who went through
practically the same experience.
An the white bread you folks back home
hadto go without never got to us. The
only bread | ever ate IN action ~wasFrench
bread The quantity of butter and
o%lemargarine | was issued from August
until November wouldn't sufficiently
supply a platoon. II sugar was an an
tidote for gas burns | couldn't scrape
up enough to treat a squad. Regard
Ing tho emergency ration referred to
In the article, will state that | never
until now heard OF 1t. The only ration
(war ration) we were issued consisted
Of corned beef Canned williel, IL cakes
OF French hard tack, or a TN OF Amerl-
can hard tack, The statement that the
soldiers sweet tooth was satisfied and
that the army issued II and hal
pounds Of candy TO each individual sol
der seems ridiculous to me, The only
large quantities OF candy We were Is
| sued came from the a. T.. f. paper
Stars and Stripes In cold print only
| could count tho issues o. = re' ;
cigarets and cigars on my fingers and
toes that | received from July, 1918, un-
III April, 1919. This does not Apply te
| smoking or chewing tobacco. We die
| get a fairly good portion Of Bull Dur
ham and pipe tobacco, and there are q
goodly number OF my old comrades who
will vouchsafe the same Information. L
It were not for the salvation Army
knights Of columbus and Y Nj. c. A
we would have been, in the parlance o
the doughboy, 3, Q. f,
In closing will say that in tn,
s, ., S, (serNice Of supplies) area, neal
lie Mons. France, |. with a detail, one
day noticed thousands OF cases of fielC
and garrison r%ations, candy, cakes. eli
garets and cigars piled up. This stut
had been there so long that the stral
iron around the cases was past the In
4, Ciptent rust stage and many had rustet
through. Some Of The cases were rot
ten and had sagged and broken through
due to the weight, Some of us. surrep
titiously, helped ourselves 10 what wa
NJ to eat,
Far be It from me to inveish agains
the government, because moving thi
Stupendous quantity of stuff over 500
miles was quite an undertaking., but
object to the unsophistiCated cominI
out with camoutlaging statements AM