The Republican journal., 1920-01-15
SACRIFICES OF "Y'
MEN INSPIRATION
American Army Officers Saw
Them Under Fire.
''Their Deeds Will Never Be Forgotten" Says
Maj. L. D. Turner, goth DIV, US.R.

Paris-'During the many months
which my division has been
on overseas service, much of this
time has been spent il the trenches
in the front line, and we have had an
excellent opportunity to know and
appreciate the value of the work the
Y. M. C. A. is doing, said Maj. L. D.
Turner, Infantry, Goth Division,
U. S. R., in a recent statement made
here.
II have personally witnessed the
Y. M. C. A. delivering cigarettes,
chocolates and newspapers to our
men while in the front lines under
almost continuous artillery and ma
chine gun fire.
''The highest compliment you can
pay a soldier is to say that he did his
duty. Can l say more when | say
that the Y. NJ. C. A. workers have
Aot OhiS 0OuC lACII uuIy, puS AN' y
gone often times far beyond that and
made personal sacrifices which have
been an inspiration to all who saw
them.
The Y. M. c. A. workers have
taught the soldiers of the United
States army many lessons in self
sacrifice and have left a memory of
deeds well done which will never be
forgotten by those who saw the"
Capt Dudley T. Dawson, 357th
Field Hospital, A. E. F., supplements
Maj. Turner's statement with this
opinion of the 'Y."
While the general tendency to
criticise the Y. M. C. A. service with
the army exists, let me pay my re-
spects to the loyalty and devotion
which was characteristic of the vast
majority of their workers, in the at
tempt to do one of the hardest jobs
of the entire war program. They
had received no preliminary training
for this work and it is only fair and
reasonable to assume that a perfect
ly working system was absolutely
impossible under the circumstances. -
Capt. Dawson calls attention to the
problem of securing, Transporting
and delivering canteen supplies for
an army of 1900 600 men, especially
when troops were being rushed from
one point to another under secret
orders and Y. M. C. A department
heads were not informed by military
authorities where to send their sup
plies. That the Y. M. c. A, in the
amount of stationery alone that it
distributed to the soldier, deserves
great credit is the statement made
by the officer.
IF the average critics will only
take the time to compute the enor-
nous amount of work done by the Y
NJ. C. A. for the good of the American
soldier and his family, he will be
greatly surprised by the volume of
things actually accomplished states
Dawson.
During three weeks in which !
was located at Baccarat l had the
pleasure OF meeting the majority of
the Y. M. c. A. men who were with
our Division, and as a whole | found
them to be patriotic and sincere in
their efforts to accommodate and
serve the American officers end sol
diers. One of my duties was to 20
tho forward ho
Of familiarizing myself with the
roads and terrain, and in all these
trips | made it a custom to look uu
the Y M. C. A. hut in every little vii
lage where our troops we're CHARTERED
meet the secretary and investigate
the character and size of the stock
in his canteen, and his general capac-
ity to meet the needs of the soldiers
The last two weeks of our occupancy
of this sector | was stationed al
Mervillon, a little village some -four
kilometers toward the front line
from Baccarat, and my company had
charge of the abulance service OF
the whole sector. This gave me q
splendid opportunity to observe the
work of the Y. M. C. A. in this sector
and l would say that on the whole i,
was highly satisfactory.
AFTER a total stay of five weeks in
this sector the Division was taken
by convoy into the Argonne- Mouse
sector Realizing with what diff
Guilty We as an army made this move
can easily see that it was quite a
difficult task for our Y. M. C. A. unit
to follows us, for there was ALWAYS
such a shortage of transportation ir
our Division that we could scarcel,
move ourselves and maintain on,
supply department, so we were
usually unable to offer assistance tt
the Y. M. c. A. in the transportation
of their canteen supplies.
yet, l recall quite wildly my com
plete surprise to find on the mex
day after or arrival in the Bots d,
Hesse that the Y. NJ c. A. had opene,
a large stock room and canteen onl,
two kilometers to our rear in thu
village of Recicourt. immediatel,
went to the canteen and purchase,
goodly supply of cigars, cigarettes
cakes and chocolate for the mem
bers of my command