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
After deciding that the General’s garage was the only logical place for
them the Salvation Army representative called upon the General, who
asked him where he would propose establishing a hut. The Salvationist
told him the only suitable place in the town was that used by him as a
garage. He immediately gave most gracious and courteous consent and
ordered his aide to find another garage.
The place in question was an old frame barn with a lofty roof which had
already been partly shot away and was open to the sky. They were not
permitted to repair the roof because the German airplane observers
would notice it and know that some activity was going on there which
would call for renewed shell fire. However, the top of one of the
circus tents was easily run up in the barn so as to form a ceiling.
Ansauville was between Mandres and Menil-la-Tour, not far from advanced
positions in the Toul Sector. Five hundred French soldiers had been
severely gassed there the night before the Staff-Captain and his helper
arrived, and every day people were killed on the streets by falling
shells. There was not a house in the village that had not suffered in
some way from shell fire; very few had a door or a window left, and
many were utterly demolished.
Approaching the town the roads were camouflaged with burlap curtains
hanging on wires every little way, so that it was impossible to see
down the streets very far in either direction. There were signs here
and there: “Attention! The enemy sees you!”
About midnight the Staff-Captain and his officer arrived and after some
difficulty found the old barn that the Colonel had told them was to be
their hut, but to their dismay there were half a dozen cars parked
inside, including the Commanding General’s, and it looked as if it were
being used for the Staff Garage. Looking up they could see the stars
peeping through the shell holes in the tiled roof. It was the first
time either of them had been in a shelled town and the experience was
somewhat awe-inspiring. Moreover they were both hungry and sleepy and
the situation was by no means a cheerful one. They had a large tent and
a load of supplies with them and were at a loss where to bestow them.
In the midst of their perturbation a courier arrived with a side car
and dismounted. He stumbled in on them and peered at them through the
darkness.
“As I live, it’s the Salvation Army!” he cried joyfully, shaking hands
with both of them at once. “All of the boys have been asking when you
were coming. Are you looking for a place to chow and sleep? There’s no
place in town for a billet, but we have a kitchen down the street. We
can give you some chow, and it’s warm there. You can roll up in your
blankets and sleep by the stove till morning. Come with me.”
The cook awakened them in the morning with his clatter of pots and pans
in preparation for breakfast. They arose and began to roll up their
blanket packs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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