The War Romance of the Salvation ArmyHill, Grace Livingston
History
The War Romance of the Salvation Army
Hill, Grace Livingston
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Salvation Army
Perhaps in the future I’ll meet her again,
In that world where no one knows sorrow or pain;
And when that time comes and the last word is said,
Then place on my bosom her band of red.”
_By “Jack” Caddigan and “Chick” Stoy._
That day a shell fell on the dugout where they had slept the night
before, and a little later one dropped next door to the canteen;
another took seven men from the signal corps right in the street near
by, and the girls were ordered out of the village because it was no
longer safe for them.
One of the boys had been up on a pole putting up wires for the signal
corps. These boys often had to work as now under shell fire in daytime
because it was necessary to have telephone connections complete at
once. A shell struck him as he worked and he fell in front of the
canteen. They had just carried him away to the ambulance when his chum
and comrade came running up. A pool of blood lay on the floor in front
of the canteen, and he stood and gazed with anguish in his face.
Suddenly he stooped and patted the blood tenderly murmuring, “My Buddy!
My Buddy!” Then like a flash he was off, up the pole where his comrade
had been killed to finish his work. That is the kind of brave boys
these girls were serving.
IX.
The Argonne Drive
That night they slept in the woods on litters, and the next day they
went on farther into the woods, twelve kilometres beyond what had been
German front.
Here they found a whole little village of German dugouts in the form of
log cabin bungalows in the woods. It was a beautifully laid out little
village, each bungalow complete, with running water and electric lights
and all conveniences. There were a dance hall, a billiard room, and
several pianos in the woods. There were also fine vegetable gardens and
rabbit hutches full of rabbits, for the Germans had been obliged to
leave too hastily to take anything with them.
The boys were hungry, some of them half starved for something different
from the hard fare they could take with them over the top, and they
made rabbit stews and cooked the vegetables and had a fine time.
The girls up at the front had no time for making doughnuts, so the
girls back of the lines made 8000 doughnuts and sent them up by trucks
for distribution. They also distributed oranges to the soldiers.
News came to the girls after they had been for a week in Nonsard that
they were to make a long move.
Back to Verdun they went and stopped just long enough to look at the
city. They were much impressed with St. Margaret’s school for young
ladies, and a wonderful old cathedral standing on the hill with a wall
surrounding it. Just the face of the building was left, all the rest
shot away, and through the concrete walls were holes, with guns
bristling from every one.
[Illustration: Here they found a whole little village of German
dugouts]
[Illustration: The girls who came down to help in the St. Mihiel drive]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account