The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-11
AMERICAN WOMAN IS BACK FROM EUROPE
 WITH GREAT RECORD
Had Distinction of Originat- ing System of Vocational Training Which Bene-
 fitted Many Soldiers

New York, May 10-Miss Julia Hey herman of San Francisco, portrait painter and writer, arrived here the other day on four months leave of absence from the British Red Cross, with a new distinction for an Amer ican woman, that of being the origin 2tor of system of vocational train ing for wounded soldiers by means of which thousands of British. Belgian, French and American fighters, crip- pied apparently beyond repair, have been restored to lives of happiness and usefulness.
 Before returning to England Miss Heyneman will make trans -conti- mental tour of America. speaking be- fore various women's clubs, Red Cross and Belgian war relief organizations on her work abroad. Her itinerary at present includes Philadelphia, Chi cago, Washington, Baltimore. Boston. San Francisco, Pittsburg, St. Louis and Denver.
 This little American woman, who landed in England the day Antwerp fell to the Germans, found herself in a whirl of war terror and confusion. Belgian civilian refugees. old and young, penniless and despairing, and Belgian soldiers, terribly wounded, were arriving in London by trainloads. She established in London, after much difficulty, an institution which she named California House" after her native state. where the disabled de- lenders of Namur and Iiege and other Belgian strongholds were nursed back to health and strength and taught lan- guages or vacations that fitted them to earn their own living.
 So successful was this adventure in big homes in London known as "Kitch- Cross two years later enlisted Miss Heyneman's services, took over her in- stitution and established three similar big homes in London known as 'iK tch- ener Houses" No. 1, and 8 The Cali fornia woman was aided in her work by other Americans, who sustained the enterprise by voluntary donations Everything was supplied free to the soldiers and in three years more than 60,000 meals were given them
 The grateful Belgians, desirous of perpetuating the work for fellow war sufferers in their native land, besought Miss Heyneman to establish a similar reconstruction center there. and to this end she visited Queen Elizabeth at Ia Panne and was assured her sympathy and support. The queen oe the Belgians, upon request, designated the Edith Cavell School for Nurses In Brussels as the institution likely to benefit most by the expansion such as Miss Heyneman proposed, that of es- tab1ishing at least 25 beds and entail ing an outlay of $5o00 each One of the founders of the school named for the martyred British nurse was Nine Marie Depage. Belgian woman who perished on the Lusitania. According to the plan. each bed is to be dedicated to the memory of some fallen Amer ican soldier. and already the mothers of two officers have indicated their desire to honor the memory of their heroic dead After her tour in the United States Miss Heyneman intends to return to Belgium to put her plan into effect.
 s4'I- have based through four and half years of the nightmare of war" said Miss Heyneman. .T never would have believed until I got into thiu work that I ever could have done it. It has been a severe but Beneficial ex- perience. Of the 500 men who have passed through California House. once practically helpless cripples. 90 per cent have been fed and cared for and made self-supporting. The British Red Cross, as the result of our initiatory efforts, is now similarly re-educating and training 5000 wounded soldiers a year in the Kitchener Houses and we believe that ultimately the British war office will nut the work upon a per- manent basis"
 Miss Heynen1an said she was mem Der of the executive committee of vo- cational training for England. of which Major General Fielding of the British army. commander of the London dis trict is chairman.