GENERAL LENIHAN, LIEUTENANT GROSE, COLONEL MITCHELL, FATHER DUFFY, MR. GEORGE BOOTHBY OF THE “Y,” AND JUDGE EGEMAN OF THE K. OF C. 142 MAP OF THE BATTLEFIELD OF THE OURCQ 181 AT QUENTIN ROOSEVELT’S GRAVE. THE CENTRAL FIGURE IS COLONEL MCCOY 238 MAP OF THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT 245 MAP OF THE BATTLE OF THE ARGONNE 295 OPERATIONS MAP: 165TH INFANTRY, 1917-1919 354 FATHER DUFFY’S STORY FATHER DUFFY’S STORY CHAPTER I PREPARATIONS AT HOME RECTORY, CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR, BRONX _June_, 1917 War with Germany was declared on April 6th, 1917. Immediately the National Guard Regiments, knowing that they would be the first to be called from civilian occupations, began campaigning for recruits. Ours was conducted with little noise or speech making. An Irish Regiment has its troubles in time of peace, but when the call to arms was sounding we knew that if they let us we could easily offer them an Irish Brigade for the service. We were more occupied with quality than with numbers. The one bit of publicity we indulged in was to send round our machine-gun trucks through the city streets with the placard, “Don’t join the 69th unless you want to be among the first to go to France.” That was the only kind of men we wanted—not impressionable youth who would volunteer under the stimulus of a brass band or a flood of patriotic oratory. The old-timers were told to bring in friends who had the right stuff in them. The Catholic Clergy were asked to send in good men from the Parish athletic clubs. The response was immediate. Every night the big reception rooms were packed with men taking the physical tests. The medical staff had to be increased at once to meet the situation and officers and enlisted men were impressed into the service for taking the minor tests. These tests were rigid. Nobody was taken who fell below the standard in age, height, weight, sight or chest measurement—or who had liquor aboard or who had not a clean skin. Many of those who were turned down for underweight or imperfect feet were readily accepted in other Regiments which had more difficulty in getting men. And when we received contingents from those regiments later on I often had to listen to the humorous reproach, “Well, I got in in spite of the lot of you.” Amongst the sturdiest and brightest of our recruits were two young men who had recently been Jesuit Novices. I amused one Jesuit friend and, I am afraid, shocked another by saying that they were exercising a traditional religious privilege of seeking a higher state of perfection by quitting the Jesuits and joining the 69th.