Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-11
WOMAN WON
MAJORS RANK:
Mrs. Maude Radford Warren
Entered ~" Service
as Buck Private
HUNTED ACTIVE SECTOR
Carried 40 Pounds Of Choco-
Iates and Cigarettes to
Boys in Trenches
HUNTED ACTIVE SECTOR

From buck private in May. 1903. to
ma jor in November of the same year Is
q record for rapid promotion In the
American expedtionary forces. record
hat Is held by a woman-Mrs. Maude
Radford warren, the popular writer OF
magazine articles and stories.
The boys of the 117th Field Signal
Corps of the Forty second Division know
that the foregoing statement is true.
There was no sign of mutiny among
them that day at Ahrweler after the
armistice was signed when the bat
talon was presented" to Mrs. Warren
by Colonel Ruby D. Garrett following
a speech which she said embarrassed
her greatly and left her in a state Of
confusion not a all military as he
ended
Men, your new major! Obey her in
all her commands"
II am sure" said Mrs. Warren on her
eturn 10 America. that those boys loved
and honored me prior TO that day on the
River Abr. The colonel, not I, put obey
in the ceremony"
1t was in Alsace that Mrs. Warren re-
ceived her first promotion and became an
Befort by the Y. NJ. G. A. to join the
lone "Y" women worker in that so-called
quiet sector. Being in quiet sector was
not Mrs. Warren's idea of the errand for
which she had gone overseas and when
she learned that three camionettes or
'chuck wagons" were going into the
front lines she inquired which was going
nearest to the German lines When the
camionettes left Belfort Mrs. Warren
was on the one that had the longest
trip ahead.
when we reached a point two and
half miles from the front line" Mrs.
Warren continued 1--WE met lieutenant
who wanted to buy all our supplies for
his company. We knew, however, hat
there were two companies in the trenches
which had had no ~ supplies for more
than two weeks and had been reduced 10
smoking coffee as substitute for the
desired weed. The ~ truck driver.
Clergyman, and / stated the case to the
lieutenant. and right there he showed
that he was a regular American. lie as
signed five of his men to help us get our
supplies to those fellows in the trenches.
I'VE started with a much stuff as
we could carry, and how they did pro-
test when I lifted a bundle weighing
forty pounds to my shoulder and pre-
pared to 90. They insisted that I was
undertaking too much. but / just tod
them that 1 knew my capacity, having
made as a feature of my training for
Y. M. c. A. service the carrying of my
yodsons up and down stairs and around
the grounds of their American home.
one of them weighs forty-eight pounds
and the other fifty-two. / convinced the
" men and the soldiers that forty
pounds was not too great burden
AT Chatcau-Thierry I had another
opportunity to prove that mere men
cont know It all. When we ~ workers
were in the thick of the fighting several
officers protested that | was running w
necessary risks in carrying my gas mask
at my side. Well, | just replied that II
interfered with my work when worn on
the chest and when ! showed them that
I could adjust it from the side almost
as quickly as they could, they didn't IN
sist"
From the Marne Mrs. Warren went to
the St. Mihiel salient, where she be-
came a lieutenant for faithful service
in the first laid stations. Then she joined
the Forty-second Division and went into
the Argonne to become major She was
on the Meuse when the armistice was
signed.
"If ever the Y. NJ. c. A. made blum
ders," she maintained, they were more
than atoned for by the devotion and
self-sacrifce of the 'Y' workers in the
fighting areas. Our divisional secret
tary. Theodore Smith. of Philadelphia.
set the pace for all Of us. During the
heaviest fighting it was virtually I'M
possible to get supplies to the men by
the usual methods of transportation
We resorted to all sorts of devices in
our distribution Of comforts. The most
spectacular device that I noticed was
employed by a rotund 'Y' secretary who
had salvaged baby carriage, had load
cd it with chocolate and cigarettes and
was guiding the vehicle through maze
of ammunition trucks and artillery in
order to get it where the cargo was
most needed"