The Ocala evening star., 1919-05-19
FACTS ABOUT THE SALVATION ARMY
By ELIZABETH TYLER

II Is for one Of the most worthy OF all
causes,-the Salvation Army Home
Service Fund
When war was declared the Saliva
ton Army workers went over seas
with our boys and down into the
trenches into the very jaws OF death.
They crossed the sea with our boys
with never thought of personal in
Jury-neVer dreaming Of the wave OF
popularity or publicity they would get
ior this humble Christian service;
tney had only one desire and that
was TO serve our boys when they most
needed friends. They spent much or
the money that it had taken them
many years to collect in small change
spent 1t grudgingly-because they
saw that our boys needed it.
All they asked in return was that
tney be allowed by their every day
examples to teach the Christianity our
Savior taught while ON earth.
Many soldiers tell of the wonder
IuI work the Salvation Army has done
overseas To me there is nothing
unusual about that work, but it is
the same kind of work and service
the Salvation Army has always given
mere at home-at our very own doors.
1t has taken the stories told by the
returning soldiers who have come to
know the Salvation Army to bring
about this wave of popularity for the
Salvation Army, but the Army has al
ways worked and served as they are
now serving
1t reaches a class of people that
no other religious organization can or
attempts to reach The men and
women that are too ragged and mis-
cradle to attend the services at our
churches-they reach the poverty
that hides and shrinks in the by-ways
OF life. A man or woman can never
fall so low, but that this army or
earnest workers stretch out helping
hand to them. Every man, woman and
child in America should contribute to
this Home Service fund because there
is not a corner in our beloved land,
however remote, that does not receive
direct benefit from the Salvation
Army, for fifty per cent of the popu-
lation Of the cities is made up OF
people that come from small towns
and from those remote sections and
ninety per cent of the boys and girls
that appeal to the Salvation Army
for assistance are those who have
come to the large cities and find them
selves unequal to the struggle for ex-
istence.
The Salvation Army conducts Res
cue Homes, Day Nurseries, Homes for
the Helpless and Aged and Blind,
Lodging Houses for the men and Wom-
en- that are unable to pay and free
clinics-it extends its services every
where that misery and poverty exists.
Soldiers Tell OF Overseas Work.
The soldiers that are returning
from France after their hard strug-
gle have nothing but words Of praise
for the Salvation Army, and from the
lips of a soldier now at Camp Gordon
comes a story of a frail Salvation
ARMY lassie that defied the shot and
shell of the Hun and carried him
three miles to a first aid station and
saved his life-that man is Sergeant
James Mccoy of Co. E 18th Infan-
try. Sergeant Mccoy is the proud
possessor of the Croix de Guerre, and
the famous Belgium medal for brav-
ery was among the first Americans to
ioin the Allies in the great world
war.
1T was on my twentieth birthday,
August s, 1918, in the famous Argonne
Forest that / received five machine
gun bullets in my legs as a sort OF
a birthday present from the Hun,
says Sergeant Mccoy, OF Camp Cor
don, Atlanta, Ga, as he extolled the
work Of the Salvation Army abroad.
'The rain OF bullets from the ma
chine guns brought me to the ground
with hundreds Of my comrades. In
spite of the pain, crawled along, and
after making two miles towards a
first aid station I fell In a faint and
Law there with shot and shell burst
ing around me. I will never know
who found me, but when awakened
I was looking into the eyes of frail
Salvation Army laSsie, who had
bound my wounds to check the flow
of blood and who was bathing my face
bringing me back to consciousness.
cit was after midnight, and the
only light around us came from the
bursting bombs and the hand gre
nades which were being hurled by one
OF the strongest DdCLdlAOnS VI INC NCA-
man Crown Prince. She bade me
have courage and said that she would
carry me to the nearest first aid sta
ton. which was three miles away.
She unloosened my equipment and
carried me in a military fashion
straight out over that perilous jour
ney three miles away. Time and
again she stopped to regain her
strength and each time after she was
ready to go on she would battle my
face and make me as comfortable as
possible. How long it took her to
bring me through that shot ridden
land l will never know, for / after
wards learned that / tainted several
times during the journey. 1t was
daylight when the lassie carried me
to the first aid station and after she