The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-18

! overlooked in the rush was the es- | tabIishment of an adequate military postal system. h didn't seem to oc-
 cur to anybody that the Tank would 1 ever find time to lay aside his gun and take up the pen. He showed | that he could write as well as he i could fight and do both at the same ] time.
 The American soldier is undoubt- | edly the worlds champion letter ! writer. He would "jot a line' or drop a post card'' on the slightest provocation and the folks back home
 were always generous with their re- plies.
 There's an interesting story in con nection with the handling of the American military mails, which some 1 one has called "the biggest under l taking in the history of letter writ l ing"
 The Postal Express Service. i Until July l, 1918, all A. E. F. | mail was handled by civilian agents ! of the U S. Post Office Department. ! They did their work well, but the diff | faculties of coordination and Iaison ] and the need of military knowledge | soon made it apparent that the postal
 | organization should be an integral ! part or the army.
 The Postal Express Service was | therefore established and took the
 work over in July, 1918. Its officers | and personnel, taken from the ranks, were with rare exceptions absolutely unfamiliar with the highly special | ized business of handling mail Fur l thermore, the A. E. F. became it's 1 own postmaster, at just that period i when the army grew from one million | to two million almost overnight. The l new postmaster realized he was up | against it as he saw that stream of | mail turn into a flood. But he rolled | up his sleeves and stayed up nights ! and gradually got his affairs in order. 1 Service Difficulties. At the outset the new postal de- ! partment encountered many almost | impossible difficulties in doing bus | mess in France. Thousands of miles | from home, it was required to serve a long line of communications from l the base ports to armies scattered | over a wide area. Movements on gigantic scale were being conducted quickly and secretly. It was not un- common for ten divisions to move overnight. A less difficult situation would confront the postal authorities back home if some night the entire population of Washington, D. c. were to leave for parts unknown without telling the postman. War time prob Iems are without contrast in the civil establishment during normal years The postal problems of the A. B. F. were more difficult and more in tricate than those of our allies. France, at home, operated her postal system upon long established lines. England, near her home base, had short hau1s and easy communications. The postal problems of the Canadians and the Australians, alone, parallel ed ours. But our monthly increase was greater than the entire Canadian
 Force.
 Great difficulty was experienced at first in having the mail properly sorted before being loaded aboard ship. This was due to the fact that the postal people in America were unfamiliar with the organization Of the A. E. F., and on account of the difficulties of communication and the secrecy attached to troop movements. i Eventually it became necessary to send Iiaison officers back to the pos | tai terminals in America to direct | this work.
 The submarine menace delayed the mails on the water and the chaotic | condition of the inadequate and
 worn-out French railways delayed the | mails on land. Equipment was lack | ing and so were the necessary records ! of troop movements and the move | ments of individuals. People back home with no knowl- edge of matters military or pos tai were illegibIy addressing letters | to John Smith, France" But the ! undermanned, inexperienced Postal | Express Service remembered the fei- 1 low who delivexed the message mark | ed Garcia, Rush." and got busy. | Getting Established. | Conferences were held with ' the | French railway officials and with the i French and British authorities. Car
 penter shops were opened for build i ing equipment that could not be i bought. New departments were creat- 1 ed, new post offices were established. 1 and more and more soldiers became ! mailmen.
 i When the -armistice came. four months after the establishment of the P. F. S., the American Army in France had a mail service that was in keeping with American military ideals It was doing a big job in big way. In the great majority of cases the mails were getting through and the letters being delivered .satis- 1 factorily and promptly. It was no un- usual thing for Garcia, and even | Smith. to get letters from home in less than three weeks, and Garcia l had been to a hospital twice and Smith had belonged to three different | organizations How The Letters Game. It is interesting to note the various
 stages through which letter passed from the sender in the United States 1 to the addressee in the trenches The postmarked letter was forwarded to | the Chelsea Terminal In New York. 1 to be sorted. loaded aboard ship and l started for France. At Bordeaux, St- Nazaire or Brest it was unloaded. l sorted again and started inland by train to the post office of the region | c- division to which it was addressed. Up 10 this time the letter may have | had a fairly successful career, but
 when trouble came il generally start l ed here From the Army Post Office l the letters passed out of the hands