Friends of France : $b The Field Service of the American Ambulance described by its membersVarious
History
Friends of France : $b The Field Service of the American Ambulance described by its members
Various
American Field Service; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
The drivers of these cars are all American volunteers: young men who,
for the most part, come from prominent families in the States. All
parts of the Union seem to be represented. The Sections are composed
of from fifteen to twenty-five cars each, and are under the direction
of a Section commander. While the cars are allotted to the Sections
by the American Ambulance Hospital, directed by its officers, and
in part supported by the organization, they nevertheless become an
integral part of the Sanitary Service of the French army, to which
they are assigned as soon as they enter the war zone. The cars and
_conducteurs_, as the drivers are called, are militarized, and all
general orders come from the French medical officers. The French
Government supplies the gasoline, oil, and tires, and the _personnel_
of the Sections are housed and fed by the army. They are given the
same good food and generous ration that the French soldier receives.
Attached to each Section is a French non-commissioned officer who
attends to various details and acts as interpreter. Section Y is
favored by the addition of an army _chef_, and the Section commander's
orderly has been put in the general service of all the members.
It is forbidden to give the location of any of the active units of
the French army, and as this restriction holds good for Section Y,
which is at the very front, I cannot give any details that would
indicate the point in the line where the Section is stationed. I
believe it is allowable to say that the town is very old and possesses
a rare beauty. I have never seen a place that could boast of such a
number of exquisite gardens or such a lovely encircling boulevard.
The surrounding hilly country is charming and pregnant with the most
romantic historical associations. Its reputation as a history-making
region is certainly not suffering at the present.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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