Too old to serve in the active army and so assigned to the more unromatic, uninteresting but vital work of loading camions, tending horses, or building and repairing roads back of the lines. It has been said that the first battle of Verdun was won by the camion service. This is the kind of man who made that victory possible [Illustration: A "walking case"] A "walking case" -- France, August -18 [Illustration: Toul(?) sector days--Waiting for something to happen--] [Illustration: Un grand blessé] [Illustration: A Medal for Valor] [Illustration: A wounded chasseur and "Fritz"...] A wounded Chasseur and "Fritz" who has the next cot. They get the same treatment and neither seems to mind the proximity Meaux [Illustration: An American ambulance at a poste de secours] An American ambulance at a poste de secours (first aid station) Ostel--1917 [Illustration: An old trench in the Argonne near Montfaucon] [Illustration: The Edge] THAT QUIET SECTOR Four hours off--two hours on-- And not a thing to do but think, And watch the mud and twisted wire And never let your peepers blink. Two hours on--four hours off-- The dug-out's slimy as the trench; It stinks of leather, men, and smoke,-- You wake up dopey from the stench. Four hours off--two hours on-- Back on the same old trick again, The same old noth'n' to do at all From yesterday till God knows when. On post or not it's just the same, The waiting is what gets your goat And makes you want to chuck the game Or risk a trench-knife in your throat. Two hours on--four hours off-- I s'pose our job is not so hard,-- I s'pose sometime we're going to quit-- * * * * * The ghosts we leave--do they stand guard? [Illustration: ] [Illustration: The water wagon filled with red-hot coffee...] The water wagon filled with red-hot coffee going to the ration dump via shell fire and not losing any time about it-- Outside Belleau wood--June '18 [Illustration: He's been on every front...] He's been on every front from Chateau-Thierry to the Rhine Coblenz--1919 [Illustration: After the German Retreat] After the German Retreat Cleaning up old quarry used by Fritz as a barracks--Chemin-des-Dames [Illustration: "Wagon Soldiers" (nickname for artillerymen)] [Illustration: Made in America--France Aug. 1918] [Illustration: "Marraines" (Godmothers)] "Marraines" (Godmothers) who kept their poilu godsons at the front in good cheer with letters and packages from home, and who took their Yank cousins to their hearts in the same kindly spirit Sophie--Marie--Madeleine in Paris and the provinces-- A type to match the ideal of every man who looks [Illustration: "Papa Perrin" / Soissons / 1917] No one knows where the poilu slang word "Pinard" came from, but everyone knows what it means. It's half way between water and red wine, with the kick mostly in the taste. It is served as an army ration. The poilu's canteen is always full of it.