The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-05-31

Names were a fund Of humor in
themselves. From a Southern state
came an application from Henry
Beddo Goodnight who lives on Sun
set avenue. One state bank ex-
aminer signs himself Oscar La Rogue
Among others were Joseph Pullman
Porter. Frank Day knight j. Gar
land Flowers and John Paul Jones.
Such was the comic relief" scat
tered through two years of intensive
effort to build an Unprecedented civil
ian war service organization for the
American army at home and abroad.
But humor was a minor quantity,
from the time the National War Work
Council of the Y. NJ C. A. began to
mobilize its workers, in April of 1917,
until the urgency of the need abated
with the signing of the armistice, and
the release of men of the A. F. F., for
"Y' service. in the months that fol-
lowed.
Beginning with the task OF ade-
| quateiy manning the "Y" activities in
the home camps. the war work coun-
Gil was confronted by the immediate
| need of men abroad. and this need
grew with each new shipment of men,
until, with the request of General
/ ParshkHg that the '.f'.< take over the
canteen service. new demand for
specialists such as accountants, pur-
| chasing agents, warehouse superin-
tendents and clearical workers pre-
scented itself
Instead of one worker to every see
/ soldiers. as on the Mexican border.
the "" found that it needed one
worker abroad for every 200 men.
The twenty-seven secretaries who
sailed for France in June of 1917,
grew to $40 in May of 1918. Then
! the ''Y" faced the concrete problem
Of supplying the $50 additional men
needed, of supplying 1000 more by
September |. Of sending $50 men for
the French army and 22o for the
Z; Italian army. af+-t NJ 3--'
And these men had to be found
among the men in the country who
were not eligible for military service
who could pass physical examina
lions almost as severe as those of the
army, who were not disqualified by
German or Austrian ancestry. or rela
nves in the enemy countries. whc
could give up their earnings anG
lowance granted by the "Y." averag
ing less than 800 a month. while
they themselves received no salary
Those men were found. They came
out of fortynine different professions
and occupations, They were recruited
under the supervision of the War Per.
sonnet Board OF the '.Y" by recruit
ing organizat tons for each of the 81,
military departments of the country
subdivided into state. county and cit,
recruitin~ organizations, In the of
nee of the central recruiting depart
ment alone. at the time of creates
activity, 207 employees We're required
to handle the business OF Clearing
them for service
Up to April s, 1919 the Y NJ c. A
/ had sent 11,229 men and womel
| overseas, $3.50 of whom still wer,
there 1t had sent STo7 worker
into the home camps, with 1895 still
! there at the end of February 1t hat
sent over 342 entertainers. and
, through the Overseas Theater League
1913 men and women. This was tn
| strength OF the greatest civilian arm,
, for war service.
, The casualty list OF this "Y" arm,
, shows fourteen workers killed in &C
ton. fifty-seven died of other causes
, overseas: forty-three died at home
and 13s were gassed and wounded.
, Six ~" workers won the America
Distinguished Service Cross. twenty
two ~ French Croix de Gucrre. sixty
one the Italian Croce de Guerra
sixteen won other special decorations
and eighty nine were cited by mill
tary officers for conspicuous bravery
IL was in preparation for the achicv
m Mt OF this record that the humoru
side OF "Y" mobilization developed.