Connecticut western news., 1919-05-08
ONLY TWO WOMEN ON "NO MANS LAND"
 GOO Have Thrilling Experiences While Entertaining
 Our Soldiers

Our Soldiers
 GOO
 We have heard and read much of the experiences of our soldiers dur ing the past several months and some of the stories which they have told have sent thrills up and down our spinal column in such quick succession as to leave a feeling of numbness. What then would be your feelings if you heard two frail, young girls, just back from the battlefelds of Europe, tell of similar striking experiences? Of being caught unawares in "No Mans Land'' with shells shrieking over head and German snipers doing their best to 'tget you" while the truck in which you were riding was making incon- ceivable starts and stops and quick turns lodging shellholes, etc.?
 Such was the experience of the Misses Pauline Brown and Neva Bierlys of Toledo, Ohio, who are visiting their uncle, W. R. Hubbell : of Falls Village. They have just returned from France where they served for the past eight months with the Y. M. c. A. as entertainers, and the modesty with which they tell of their trials is perhaps no more striking than the many experiences through which they passed. For one thing, they have the honor of being . the only two women who were on i. "No Mans Land" during the great war;, and this is no small achieve sment as our soldiers who returned can attest.
 es Leaving the orchestra of large church in Toledo, Ohio, Miss Brown and Miss Bierly answered the call of the Y. M. c. A. to go overseas and help to keep our soldiers contented and amused. Arriving in New York last August, they immediately set sail for England, arriving there early in September. After visiting the hospitals in London and Liverpool, they were sent to Paris, reporting to the Y. M. C.. A. headquarters where their duties as entertainers began in earnest. % sa1
 Their first assignment was at Bar le-dec, and while attempting to give an entertainment the town was shelled by the Germans. Sirens were blowing with all their might to warn the population, while children were crying about the streets and men, and women were running for underground shelters. Such was the beginning of their duties while en- tertaining our soldiers and others ands still more thrilling experience followed fast on the heels of the first.
 They were at Troyon with the 18th and 33rd division for several weeks and travelled in every direc- tion from this place with piano or organ, giving concerts for the bene- fit of our soldiers, who would flock around them in hundreds to listen to girl. Often times these concerts were given in trenches where mud was knee deep, near dugouts or barns filled with shell holes and at Y. M. c. A. huts. Once a concert was given in German theater, which was libeally decorated with the black double eagle of the German empire. Then again the soldiers were entertained at the headquar- Ludendorf, who early in the war made many campaigns famous.
 Starting at Villiers, close to the front lines, concert was being given one night in a school house, with all windows darkened and only two candles for light, when sudden ly the Germans began bombarding the town, the candles were extin- guished and the concert continued in the dark We wonder how many men would have continued under such a. severe mental strain as these young women must have labored rn- der during these trying times.
 These two young ladies have the distinction of being the only Wor2~ en who were on "No Mans LGn r. during hostilities, and this is how ! happened. They were near Bellca | Wood on the Woevre front G:al were scheduled to give a conce-.. q short distance beyond, which wa3 t}lc nearest to the front any entertain CTS had ever before been. Riding in truck under the supervis:cil of a lieutenant, with another truck fol- lowing which carried their riano, they lost their way. The military police thinking they were carrying supplies passed them until they were beyond the front line trenches and could see the American snipers watching for the Germans. The lieutenant jumped from the truck and asked where they were and finding they were in "No Mans