,a ,,jewish ,,chaplain ,,in ,,france    
,illustration3 ,logo of the ,mac,millan 
,company  ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company   
,,new ,,york 4 ,,boston 4 ,,chicago 4   
,,dallas ,,atlanta 4 ,,san ,,francisco  
,,macmillan  ,,co41 ,,limited ,,london 4
 ,,bombay 4 ,,calcutta ,,melbourne      
,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4 ,,of ,,canada4  
,,ltd4 ,,toronto   ,illustration3 ,a    
group of ,jewish welfare workers at ,le 
,mans1 ,france1 in ,march #aiai4 ,from  
left to right1 ,george ,rooby1 ,julius  
,halperin1 ,frank ,m4 ,dart1 ,chaplain  
,lee ,j4 ,levinger1 ,adele ,winston1    
,charles ,s4 ,rivitz1 ,david ,rosenthal 
and ,esther ,levy4     ,a ,jewish       
,chaplain in ,france  ,,by ,,rabbi ,,lee
 ,j4 ,,levinger1 ,m4,a41 ,executive     
,director ,young ,men's ,hebrew         
,association1 ,new ,york ,city1 formerly
 ,first ,lieutenant ,chaplain ,united   
,states ,army  ,,with ,a ,,foreword ,,by
 ,,cyrus ,,adler1 ,ph4,d41 ,president of
 ,dropsie ,college for ,hebrew and      
,cognate ,learning1 ,philadelphia  ,new 

,york ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company #aiba 
,,copyright #aiba1 ,,by ,,the           
,,macmillan ,,company4  ,set up and     
printed4 ,published ,october1 #aiba     
,,to ,a ,,good ,,soldier ,,who ,,sent   
,,me ,,to ,,france ,,and ,,brought ,,me 
,,back ,,again-- ,,my ,,wife            
,,foreword   ,the tendency to forget the
 war is not admirable4 ,such an attitude
 is in effect a negation of thought4    
,the agony which shook mankind for more 
than four years and whose aftermath will
 be with us in years to come cannot be  
forgotten unless the conscience of      
mankind is dead4 ,rabbi ,levinger's book
 is the narrative of a man who saw this 
great tragedy1 took a part in it and has
 thought about it4  ,in all the wars of 
the ,united ,states ,jews participated1 
increasingly as their numbers grew      
appreciably4 ,they served both as       
officers and privates from ,colonial    
days4 ,but not until the ,world ,war was
 a ,rabbi appointed a ,chaplain in the  
,united ,states ,army or ,navy for      

actual service with the fighting forces4
 ,president ,lincoln appointed several  
,jewish ministers of religion as        
chaplains to visit the wounded in the   
hospitals1 but the tradition of the     
,army up to the period of the ,great    
,war1 rendered the appointment of a     
,rabbi as chaplain impossible4 ,the     
chaplain had been a regimental officer  
and was always either a ,protestant or a
 ,catholic4 ,the sect was determined by 
the majority of the regiment4 ,when the 
,united ,states entered the ,great ,war1
 this was clearly brought out and it    
required an ,act of ,congress to render 
possible the appointment of chaplains of
 the faiths not then represented in the 
body of chaplains4 ,twenty chaplains    
were thus authorized of whom six were   
allotted to the ,synagogue the remainder
 being distributed among the            
,unitarians1 who were not included in   
the ,evangelical ,churches1 and the     
other smaller ,christian sects which had
 grown up in ,america4  ,in order to    

meet the requirements of the ,war       
,department and in consonance with the  
spirit of unity which the war           
engendered1 it was necessary for the    
,jewish organizations to create a body  
which could sift the applications for   
chaplaincies and certify them to the    
,war ,department1 as being proper       
persons and meeting the requirements of 
the law of being regularly ordained     
ministers of religion4  ,judaism in     
,america is far from being a united     
body4 ,its differences may not be such  
as rise to the dignity of separate sects
 but they are considerable in belief and
 even more pronounced in practice4      
,membership in the various ,rabbinical  
and synagogue organizations is voluntary
 and each synagogue is autonomous4 ,in  
the face of the awfulness of the war1   
these differences seemed minimized and  
through the cooeperation of all the     
,rabbinical associations and synagogue  
organizations1 a ,committee was created 
under the general authority of the      

,jewish ,welfare ,board which examined  
the credentials of all ,jewish          
candidates for chaplaincies and made    
recommendations to the ,war ,department4
 ,so conscientiously did this ,committee
 perform its duties that every ,rabbi   
recommended as a chaplain was           
commissioned4  ,as the law exempted     
ministers of religion and theological   
students1 no person could be drafted for
 a chaplaincy4 ,every clergyman who     
served was a volunteer4 ,it is therefore
 greatly to the credit of the ,jewish   
ministry in ,america that one-hundred   
and forty men volunteered for the       
service4 ,as there are probably less    
than four hundred ,english speaking     
,rabbis in the ,united ,states1 many of 
whom would have been disqualified by the
 age limit and some by their country of 
origin1 the response of the ,american   
,rabbinate to this call1 is a most      
gratifying evidence of their patriotism 
and of their sense of public service4   
,rabbi ,levinger's narrative is his own1

 in the main and properly enough a      
personal one1 but it is representative  
of the work of some thirty men some of  
whom ministered to the troops who did   
not go abroad whilst others had the     
opportunity of being in the midst of the
 ,great ,adventure4 ,every one who saw  
the troops overseas1 could not doubt the
 real service of the chaplain or the    
appeal that religion made to the men in 
uniform4 ,however the armchair          
philosophers may have viewed the war1 it
 strengthened the faith of the men who  
were engaged2 hundreds of thousands of  
young men turned to the chaplain who    
would have been indifferent to him at   
home4 ,that this was true of ,jewish    
young men is certain and if there has   
been a reaction on the part of these    
young men who returned from the war1 let
 it be blamed not so much upon religion1
 as upon the disappointment in the      
soldiers' minds at the attitude of the  
millions of their fellow citizens who   
remained at home and who want to forget 

the war4 ,the soldier who came back and 
found that his fellow citizens had their
 nerves so over-wrought by reading of   
the war in newspapers that they         
immediately entered upon a period of    
wild extravagances and wilder pleasure1 
might very well have had his faith1     
newly acquired if you choose1 shaken by 
this evident lack of seriousness on the 
part of his fellow countrymen4  ,i shall
 not commend ,rabbi ,levinger's book to 
his readers1 because if the book does   
not commend itself1 no approbation will4
 ,as an officer of the ,jewish ,welfare 
,board whose purpose was to join with   
other organizations in contributing to  
the welfare of the ,american soldiers   
and sailors and particularly to provide 
for the religious needs of those of the 
,jewish faith1 ,i want to express the   
obligations of the ,board to the ,rabbis
 who without experience or previous     
training for the purpose1 entered upon  
this service and carried it through with
 distinction4 ,had it not been for them1

 the overseas work of the ,board would  
have been comparatively limited and many
 a ,jewish boy would have been deprived 
of the comforts and solace of his       
religion4  ,i cannot help but think that
 the chaplain himself derived much      
benefit from his service4 ,in sections  
of the synagogue1 as ,i believe in      
sections of the church1 men are on many 
occasions a minority in the congregation
 and ministration is largely to women   
and children4 ,it meant something for   
the chaplain to have great congregations
 of men1 and of young men at that1 and  
,i am inclined to think hardened his    
mental and even spiritual fiber4 ,it    
emphasized too the importance of emotion
 and sentiment as against mere          
rationalism4 ,the worship meant more    
than a preachment1 and sympathetic human
 contact for a minute was worth a barrel
 of oratory4  ,the fine spirit of       
liberality which grew up among the      
chaplains of the various faiths1        
reflecting as it did the comradeship of 

the men themselves1 should not and will 
not be lost4 ,the brotherhood of man    
will be a mere abstraction until        
individual men can act as brothers to   
one another4 ,the ministers of religion1
 if they have any ,god-given mission    
above all others1 surely have that of   
leading men1 however different their    
physical and spiritual equipment1 into  
the bonds of a common brotherhood4 ,by  
this way and this way alone will mankind
 arrive at lasting peace4  ,,cyrus      
,,adler4 ,october #ai1 #aiba4           
,,preface   ,this book is the result of 
the profound conviction that we are     
forgetting or ignoring the lessons of   
the ,world ,war to ,israel1 ,america and
 humanity4 ,during the war such words as
 morale1 democracy1 ,americanism1 became
 a sort of cant--so much so that their  
actual content was forgotten4 ,now that 
the war is over and their constant      
repetition is discontinued1 the grave   
danger exists that we may lose their    
very real influence4  ,these personal   

experiences and conclusions worked out  
by an army chaplain as a result of his  
overseas service may have some          
historical value also1 especially as the
 same ground has not yet been covered by
 any ,jewish chaplain or welfare worker 
in the ,american ,expeditionary ,forces4
 ,the role played by ,jews in the army  
and navy of the ,united ,states and the 
,jewish contribution to the morale of   
the forces overseas deserve             
preservation1 both as a reminder to     
ourselves and to the nation4  ,when the 
possibility of this book was first      
discussed in ,paris with the late       
,colonel ,harry ,cutler1 ,chairman of   
the ,jewish ,welfare ,board1 he spoke of
 writing a foreword for it4 ,since his  
lamented death1 ,dr4 ,cyrus ,adler1 his 
successor as acting ,chairman1 has      
consented to fulfill the same friendly  
task4 ,in addition to ,dr4 ,adler1 ,i   
acknowledge my great indebtedness to    
,mr4 ,harry ,l4 ,glucksman1 ,executive  
,director of the ,jewish ,welfare       

,board1 for giving me full access to    
their records2 to ,mr4 ,john ,goldhaar  
for his personal reminiscences of the   
welfare work overseas2 to ,captain      
,elkan ,c4 ,voorsanger for the          
invaluable suggestions based upon his   
vast personal experiences2 to ,justice  
,irving ,lehman1 ,president of the      
,young ,men's ,hebrew ,association1 for 
his encouragement and friendly advice2  
to a host of coworkers and friends in   
both ,france and ,america for the       
brilliant deeds and cordial comradeship 
which are here embodied2 and finally to 
my secretary1 ,miss ,hattie ,tanzer1 for
 her invaluable assistance in seeing the
 book through the press4  ,much of the  
material used here has already been     
published in the form of articles       
appearing at various times in the       
,american ,hebrew1 ,american ,israelite1
 ,biblical ,world1 ,b'nai ,b'rith ,news1
 ,hebrew ,standard1 ,jewish ,forum and  
,reform ,advocate4  ,,lee ,j4           
,,levinger4 ,new ,york1 ,may1 #aiba4    

,,contents     ,,chapter                
,,page       ,i4 ,,the ,,chaplain',s    
,,function                          #a  
,,ii4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,holydays ,,of    
#aiah ,,in ,,the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4     #aj    
,,iii4 ,,at ,,the ,,front ,,with ,,the  
,,twenty-,,seventh ,,division   #bg     
,,iv4 ,,after ,,the ,,armistice         
#eb      ,v4 ,,at ,,the ,,american      
,,embarkation ,,center              #fi 
,,vi4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,chaplains        
,,overseas                   #ha        
,,vii4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,welfare ,,board 
,,in ,,the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4        #ib       
,,viii4 ,,the ,,jew ,,as ,a ,,soldier   
#aad     ,,ix4 ,,jew ,,and ,,christian  
,,at ,,the ,,front                 #acb 
,x4 ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,jewish
 ,,soldier             #ade     ,,xi4   
,,preaching ,,to ,,soldiers             
#afj    ,,xii4 ,,morale ,,and ,,morals  
#agj   ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,moral ,,gain     
,,and ,,loss ,,of ,,the ,,soldier       
#aij    ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,soldier 
,,and ,,judaism                 #bje    

,,xv4 ,,the ,,jewish ,,soldier ,,and    
,,anti-,,semitism           #bad        
,,chapter ,i  ,,the ,,chaplain',s       
,,function   ,in giving the story and   
the opinions of a ,jewish chaplain in   
the ,american ,expeditionary ,forces1   
some statement is necessary of the work 
of the chaplains as a whole4 ,chaplains 
are an essential part of the            
organization of a modern army and it is 
notable that ,general ,pershing         
repeatedly requested that the number of 
chaplains be doubled in the forces under
 his command4 ,hardly a narrative of    
soldiers' experiences exists without due
 place being given to the chaplain4 ,in 
every army in ,france1 chaplains were   
frequently cited for heroism and in     
innumerable instances suffered and died 
with the men in the ranks4  ,there are  
two popular impressions of the purpose  
of the chaplain in the military service2
 the one sees him as a survival of      
mediaevalism1 blessing the weapons of   
the men at arms2 the other welcomes him 

as a faint harbinger of a dawning       
humanitarianism1 one of the few men in  
an army who does not have to kill1 but  
is there to save4 ,some people think of 
the physician and chaplain as having    
non-military work to do1 as being a kind
 of concession to the pacific spirit of 
our generation4  ,the actual work of the
 chaplain is quite as unknown to the    
general public4 ,people wonder what he  
does between weekly sermons1 much as    
they wonder what the minister or rabbi  
does during the six and a half days a   
week that he is not preaching4 ,in fact1
 ,i have been greeted with frank or     
hidden incredulity whenever ,i admitted 
that in the army ,i used to preach up to
 fifteen times a week1 but never had    
time to write a sermon4 ,people wonder  
sometimes whether the soldiers and      
sailors can bear so much preaching1     
sometimes what else they demand of the  
chaplain4 ,in fact1 to the non-military 
mind the whole subject seems shrouded in
 mystery4  ,to the military man the     

subject is extremely simple4 ,there is  
no mystery about it4 ,the chaplain is in
 the army as the physician is1 as the   
thousands of other non-combatants are1  
for a strictly military purpose4 ,it    
happens that the non-combatants may use 
non-military methods4 ,one may drive a  
locomotive1 another carry a stretcher1  
another sit in an office and make out   
papers4 ,all are essential to the       
military machine2 none is in the service
 for any special humanitarian purpose2  
none is present as a survival of        
mediaevalism1 but all to take part in   
the grim conflict of the twentieth      
century4 ,the work of a physician in the
 military service is the very           
utilitarian one of saving men's lives   
and returning them to the front4 ,the   
work of a chaplain is the equally       
essential and practical one of          
stimulating the morale of the troops4   
,many factors bear upon the morale of a 
body of men1--their physical            
environment1 the strength and spirit of 

their individual units1 the temper and  
ability of their leaders4 ,in our army  
we were very fortunate in the activity  
of various civilian organizations which 
labored among the men in the service    
with the backing of our entire          
citizenry1 or at least of large and     
influential groups4 ,the home service of
 the ,red ,cross and other non-military 
organizations was of great importance in
 keeping up the morale of the families  
left behind and through them of the men 
overseas4 ,these important              
organizations1 however1 were under the  
handicap of doing civilian work among   
soldiers--a handicap whose seriousness  
only a soldier himself can ever realize4
 ,some months after the war was over1   
the army recognized its obligation by   
appointing morale officers for both     
larger and smaller units1 with others   
under them to supervise athletics1      
entertainment1 and the like4 ,the       
civilian organizations then conducted   
their activities under the orders of the

 morale officer4  ,but nearest of all to
 the men1 because themselves a part of  
the actual military machine1 were their 
own chaplains4 ,the chaplain was under  
the same orders as the men1 took the    
same risk1 wore the same uniform1 and   
naturally was regarded in every way as  
one of their own4 ,i have even heard old
 army men scorning the new advances of  
all these new war-time societies4 ,we   
have our own chaplain1 they said1 ,he   
looks after us all right4  ,the chaplain
 was first the religious guide of his   
men4 ,he knew how to talk to them1 for  
talking1 not preaching1 was the usual   
tone of the army or navy chaplain4 ,he  
knew how to speak their own lingo1 slang
 and all4 ,he knew the spiritual appeal 
which was most needed by these boys1    
transplanted1 with all their boyishness1
 into the deep realities which few men  
have had to face4 ,he knew their boyish 
shyness of emotion1 but with it their   
deep1 immediate need of such emotions as
 the love of home and ,god1 to sustain  

them amid dangerous hours of duty and   
tempting hours of idleness4 ,this       
religious need alone would have been    
enough work for the chaplain1 even with 
the intended increase in numbers to     
three per regiment1 or one chaplain for 
every twelve hundred men4 ,the need for 
religion was evident in the training    
camp1 the hospital1 the transport1 the  
trenches2 it was evident everywhere1 and
 the chaplain must be everywhere to     
satisfy it4  ,but in addition the       
chaplain had much welfare work of a more
 general kind to transact in connection 
with the various welfare agencies4 ,one 
man wanted advice about getting married 
before leaving for the front2 another   
had trouble at home and desired a       
furlough2 another found himself         
misplaced in his work and would like a  
transfer4 ,a ,jewish boy came in to ask 
that a letter be written to his pious   
father2 the old man had not wanted him  
to enlist1 but would feel better if he  
knew there was a rabbi in the camp4     

,another had a request for a small      
service 7a minyan7 that he might say the
 memorial prayer on the anniversary of  
his father's death4 ,and still another  
presented a letter from his home        
community1 for he was a fine musician   
and wanted to help out at a concert or a
 sing4  ,the many requests for service  
and the occasional offers of service    
made the circuit constantly from a      
possible teacher to a number of boys    
with defective ,english1 from a         
potential comedy team to a crowd of     
eager listeners1 from a timid boy with  
personal troubles to their remedy1      
either by a change in circumstances or  
by convincing the boy himself4          
,sometimes a complaint of religious     
prejudice had to be adjusted which might
 work grave harm in a company unless it 
were investigated and either proved     
groundless or remedied4  ,in a later    
chapter ,i shall have an opportunity to 
go into this more deeply4 ,all that ,i  
want to bring out here is the important 

and usually misunderstood fact that     
,american boys are restive under        
authority4 ,they object vigorously to   
the domination of another's mind over   
theirs4 ,and this objection too often   
took the form of bitter resentment      
against their officers4 ,therefore the  
final and most delicate work of the     
chaplain was to befriend the enlisted   
men against the oppression of their     
natural enemies and tyrants1 the line   
officers4 ,the army often reminds one of
 a school1 the men are so boyish4 ,in   
this regime of stringent rules which    
must be constantly obeyed1 of short     
periods of intense and jovial           
recreation1 of constant oversight by    
authority1 the average enlisted man     
regarded his commanding officer much as 
the average small boy regards his school
 teacher1 from whom he flees to a parent
 for sympathy4  ,that role of           
sympathetic parent was precisely the one
 which the chaplain was called upon to  
play for these boys in uniform4 ,not    

that he believed everything he was told1
 or took sides unfairly1 or was always  
against authority4 ,simply that any boy 
could talk to him1 as he could only to  
the exceptional commanding officer1 and 
that every boy was sure that the        
chaplain would help him if he could4    
,being himself an officer1 the chaplain 
could talk to officers more freely than 
any soldier could4 ,and not being a line
 officer1 he did not himself issue      
commands to any one except his own      
hard-worked orderly or clerk4  ,thus the
 chaplain was fortunately placed4 ,if he
 was even partially congenial1 he was   
the one man in the army who had not an  
enemy high or low4 ,the soldier looked  
to him for friendly aid4 ,the officer   
referred to him as the great            
cooeperating factor in building up the  
spirit of the troops4  ,during the      
stress of actual warfare the work of the
 chaplain changed in character though   
not in purpose4 ,at the front the       
chaplain was with his boys4 ,during a   

push he took his station at the         
first-aid post and worked from there as 
the first place to meet the wounded and 
dying who needed his physical or        
spiritual aid4 ,he stood beside the     
surgeon on the battle field1 he was with
 the stretcher-bearers searching for    
wounded and bringing them to safety4 ,he
 rode from post to post with the        
ambulance driver1 or tramped up to the  
trenches with a ration party4 ,and      
wherever he went he was welcomed for his
 presence and for the work that he tried
 to do4  ,after a battle1 when the men  
retired to rest and recuperate1 the     
chaplain had to remain behind4 ,he      
stayed with a group of men for the last 
terrible task of burying the dead4 ,and 
when1 that sad duty over1 he returned to
 the troops in rest1 he could not yield 
for a time like the others1 to delicious
 languor after the ordeal of the battle 
field1 hospital and cemetery4 ,then the 
chaplain must take up his round of      
duties1 knowing that after the battle   

there is many a prayer to be said1 many 
a hospital to be visited1 many a soldier
 to be befriended4 ,his task has just   
begun4  ,the military object of the     
chaplain is clear1 to stimulate the     
morale of the men4 ,but his methods were
 most unmilitary4 ,instead of reminding 
the men of the respect due him as an    
officer1 the wise chaplain took his     
salutes as a matter of course and tried 
to draw the men personally1 to make them
 forget all about military distinctions 
when they came to talk to him4 ,the     
minute a chaplain insisted upon his rank
 as an officer1 he lost his influence as
 a minister4 ,rank was useful to the    
chaplain in so far as it gave him free  
access to the highest authorities2 it   
became the greatest obstacle to his work
 whenever the boys began to talk to him 
as ,lieutenant or ,captain instead of   
,father or ,chaplain4 ,in the military  
as in the civil field the religious     
message can come only by personality1   
never by command4  ,the chaplain        

appealed for the men whenever he felt   
that the appeal was justified and had   
some chance of success1 but never when  
it would be subversive of military      
discipline4 ,he remembered always that  
he was in the army1 a part of a great   
military machine1 and that his presence 
and his work were to make the men       
better1 not worse soldiers4 ,he met the 
men personally1 with their various needs
 and appeals1 and often his best work   
was accomplished in short personal      
interviews1 which would not look at all 
imposing on a monthly report1 but which 
made better soldiers or happier men in  
one way or another4 ,he encouraged every
 effort at recreation for the men1 and  
often took part in these efforts        
himself4 ,this last applies especially  
in the navy1 where the chaplain aboard  
ship is the whole staff for religious1  
recreational1 and welfare work4  ,in the
 main the work of the chaplain differed 
little1 whatever his religion might be4 
,he was first of all a chaplain in the  

,united ,states ,army1 and second a     
representative of his own religious     
body4 ,that means that all welfare work 
or personal service was rendered equally
 to men of any faith4 ,the only         
distinction authorized was between      
,protestant1 ,catholic and ,jewish      
services1 and even to these a           
non-sectarian service was often added4  
,wherever ,i went ,i was called upon by 
,jew and non-,jew alike1 for in the     
service most men took their troubles to 
the nearest chaplain irrespective of his
 religion4 ,the soldier discriminated   
only in a special case1 such as the     
memorial prayer 7kaddish7 for the       
,jewish boy1 or confession for the      
,catholic4 ,the office at once insured  
any soldier that he had a protector and 
a friend4  ,but as there were only      
twelve ,jewish chaplains in the entire  
,american ,expeditionary ,forces1 we    
were instructed to devote our time so   
far as possible to the ,jewish men4 ,at 
the best it was impossible for one man  

to fulfill the constant religious and   
personal needs of the thousand ,jewish  
soldiers scattered in all the units of  
an entire division1 as ,i1 for one1 was 
supposed to do4 ,when instead of one    
division a ,jewish chaplain was assigned
 several1 his troubles were multiplied  
and his effectiveness divided4          
,naturally1 most of the work of the     
,jewish chaplains had to be devoted to  
the needs of the ,jewish soldiers1 which
 would not otherwise be satisfied4  ,any
 one who witnessed the labor and the    
self-sacrifice of chaplains of all      
creeds in the ,american army must       
preface an analysis of their work with a
 heartfelt tribute to the men           
themselves4 ,i think that these men were
 a unique aggregation--devoted to their 
country and its army1 yet loving men of 
all nations2 loving each his own        
religion1 yet rendering service to men  
of all creeds2 bearing each his own     
title1 yet sharing equal service and    
equal friendship with ministers of every

 other faith4 ,i could never have       
accomplished one-half of the work ,i did
 without the constant friendship and    
hearty support of such co-workers as    
,father ,francis ,a4 ,kelley and ,rev4  
,almon ,a4 ,jaynes1 of the #bgth        
,division ,headquarters1 to mention only
 two notable examples among many others4
 ,i have seen ,father ,kelley on the    
battlefield going from aid post to front
 line trench1 always most eager to be   
with the boys when the danger was the   
greatest1 always cheerful1 yet always a 
priest1 doing the noble work which won  
him his medals and his popularity4 ,i   
have seen the devotion and the regret   
which followed ,chaplain ,john ,a4 ,ward
 of the #ajhth ,infantry to the hospital
 in ,england after he was wounded in    
performance of duty1 and the burst of   
enthusiasm which welcomed his return    
months afterward4 ,i have seen one after
 another laboring and serving in the    
same spirit1 and ,i tender to them the  
tribute of a co-worker who knows and    

admires their great accomplishments4    
,the place of morale in the army has not
 yet been studied scientifically4 ,all  
that can be done as yet is to gather    
such personal and empirical observations
 as mine1 which may have bearing on the 
general problem4 ,these experiences were
 typical and these conclusions are not  
mine alone4 ,they are shared by great   
masses1 in many cases by the majority of
 thinking men who had like experiences4 
,i am here setting down the most typical
 of the incidents which ,i saw or       
underwent and summing up the little     
known work of the ,jewish chaplains and 
the ,jewish ,welfare ,board overseas4   
,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the ,,jewish          
,,holydays ,,of #aiah ,,in ,,the ,a4 ,e4
 ,f4   ,my experiences as chaplain were 
as nearly typical as possible with any  
individual4 ,a few of the ,jewish       
chaplains saw more actual fighting than 
,i did2 a few were assigned to the ,army
 of ,occupation and saw the occupied    
portion of ,germany4 ,but for nine      

months ,i served as chaplain in the     
,american ,expeditionary ,forces1 first 
at the headquarters of the ,intermediate
 ,section1 ,service of ,supply1 at      
,nevers2 then with the ,twenty-,seventh 
,division at the front and after the    
armistice at the rear2 finally at the   
,american ,embarkation ,center at ,le   
,mans4 ,i worked in cooeperation with   
the ,jewish ,welfare ,board2 ,i saw     
,paris in war time and after2 ,i had two
 weeks' leave in the ,riviera4  ,my     
commission as ,first ,lieutenant        
,chaplain ,u4 ,s4 ,a4 came to me on     
,july #dth1 #aiah at ,great ,lakes      
,naval ,station1 just north of ,chicago1
 where ,i was then serving as ,field    
,representative of the ,jewish ,welfare 
,board4 ,two weeks later ,i reported at 
,hoboken for the trip overseas4 ,there  
,i had the good fortune to obtain a     
furlough of ten days before sailing so  
that ,i was able to be back in ,chicago 
just in time to see my newborn son and  
daughter4 ,i left when the babies were a

 week old to report back to ,hoboken    
again for my sailing orders and found   
myself at sea during the tense and      
crucial month of ,august #aiah4  ,the   
trip was the usual one of those anxious 
days--thirteen days at sea1 constant    
look-out for a submarine1 but finally a 
mild disappointment when we sailed into 
harbor without even a scare4 ,we carried
 our life preservers constantly and     
waited daily for the sudden alarm of a  
boat drill4 ,our ship1 the ,balmoral    
,castle1 was one of a convoy of twelve1 
with the usual quota of destroyers      
accompanying us4 ,two days from ,england
 we met a flotilla of destroyers2 later 
two mystery ships joined us and in the  
,irish ,sea we were greeted by a huge   
,blimp or dirigible balloon4 ,with this 
escort we sailed down the ,irish ,sea1  
had a glimpse of ,ireland and ,scotland 
and finally disembarked at ,liverpool4  
,our first impression was the flatness  
of a ,european metropolis when viewed at
 a distance and its entire lack of the  

jagged sky-line of an ,american city4   
,our pleasurable anticipations of a view
 of ,liverpool and perhaps a glimpse of 
,london were rudely disappointed4 ,we   
disembarked about noon1 marched through 
side streets1 which looked like side    
streets in any of the dirtiest of       
,american cities1 lined up at a freight 
station1 and were loaded at once on     
waiting trains and started off for      
,southampton4 ,all that afternoon we    
absorbed eagerly the dainty beauty of   
the ,english countryside which most of  
us knew only through literary           
references4 ,we were sorry when the late
 twilight shut off the view and we had  
to take our first lesson at sleeping    
while sitting up in a train1 a custom   
which afterward became a habit to all   
officers in ,france4  ,daybreak found us
 at ,southampton in the rest camp2      
evening on the ,maid of ,orleans1 bound 
across the channel4 ,we had not seen    
,england1 we had no place to sleep and  
not too much to eat1 even sitting room  

on the decks was at a premium1 but we   
were hastening on our way to the war4   
,at ,le ,havre we were again assigned to
 a ,british rest camp1 where we         
appreciated the contrast between the    
excellent meals of the officers' canteen
 and the primitive bunks in double tiers
 where we had to sleep4 ,after two days 
of this sort of rest and a hasty visit  
to the city in between1 ,i received     
orders to report to the ,g4 ,h4 ,q4     
,chaplains' ,office at ,chaumont4  ,my  
first train journey across ,france      
impressed me at once with the unique    
character of the landscape4 ,the        
,english landscape is distinguished by  
meadows1 the ,french by trees4 ,the most
 realistic picture of the ,english      
landscape is the fantastic description  
of a checker-board in ,alice in         
,wonderland4 ,in ,france1 however1 one  
is struck chiefly by the profusion and  
arrangement of trees4 ,they are         
everywhere1 alone or in clumps1 and of  
all kinds1 with often a formal row of   

poplars or a little wood of beeches to  
make the sky-line more impressive4 ,in  
northern ,france the houses and barns   
are all of stone1 peaked and windowless1
 with gardens that seem bent on         
contrasting as strongly as possible with
 the grayness of the walls4 ,it seems as
 though tiny villages are every few     
feet1 and always with a church steeple  
in the middle4  ,in ,paris the first man
 ,i met was my old friend1 ,dr4 ,h4 ,g4 
,enelow1 of ,temple ,emanu-,el1 ,new    
,york1 who was standing by the desk in  
the ,hotel ,regina when ,i registered4  
,as the next day was ,sunday1 ,dr4      
,enelow was able to devote some time to 
me1 taking me for a long walk on the    
left bank of the ,seine1 where we       
enjoyed the gardens of the ,luxembourg  
and sipped liqueurs at a side-walk cafe 
at the famous corner of ,boulevarde ,st4
 ,michel and ,germain4 ,paris in        
war-time was infinitely touching4 ,it   
had all the marks of the great luxury   
center of the world3 shops1 boulevards1 

hotels1 and show places of every kind4  
,but many of the most attractive of its 
tiny shops were closed2 the streets at  
night were wrapped in the deepest gloom1
 with tiny shaded lights which were not 
intended to illuminate but only to show 
the direction of the street4 ,the crowds
 were only a little repressed in the    
day-time1 for the extreme crisis of the 
summer had just passed1 but with dusk   
the streets became entirely deserted4   
,through ,dr4 ,enelow ,i met also ,dr4  
,jacob ,kohn1 who with ,dr4 ,enelow and 
,congressman ,siegel constituted the    
commission of the ,jewish ,welfare      
,board to outline its program for       
overseas work4 ,dr4 ,enelow introduced  
me also to ,mr4 ,john ,goldhaar1 the    
secretary of the commission1 afterward  
in charge of the ,paris ,office of the  
,jewish ,welfare ,board1 to whom ,i     
shall refer more fully in another       
connection4  ,at ,chaumont the first man
 ,i met was my old class-mate of the    
,hebrew ,union ,college1 ,chaplain      

,elkan ,c4 ,voorsanger1 who was there   
temporarily detached from the #ggth     
,division to arrange for the celebration
 of the ,jewish holydays throughout     
,france4 ,he welcomed me1 told me       
something of what my work was to be1 and
 listened to my month-old news1 which   
was all fresh to him4 ,for a few days ,i
 lingered at the chaplains' headquarters
 at the old chateau of ,neuilly sur     
,suisse1 not far from ,chaumont1 where  
thirty chaplains received their gas mask
 training and instruction in front line 
work1 and waited for assignments4 ,the  
chateau was a queer angular mediaeval   
affair1 set off by lovely lawns1 with   
the usual rows of straight poplars all  
about4 ,a few steps away was a little   
village with a quaint old twelfth       
century church1 beautiful in feeling1 if
 not in workmanship4 ,we chaplains newly
 arrived in ,france1 most of us young1  
and all eager to be at work1 hung on the
 words of our leaders fresh from the    
line4 ,we talked much of our ideals and 

our preparation1 as most of the men were
 graduates of the ,chaplains' ,training 
,school at ,camp ,taylor1 ,kentucky4 ,my
 assignment came very soon to organize  
and conduct services for the ,jewish    
holydays at ,nevers1 headquarters of the
 ,intermediate ,section1 ,service of    
,supply4  ,the entire ,american area in 
,france had been charted out for the    
purpose of holyday services and the     
central cities designated1 either those 
which had ,french synagogues to receive 
our men1 or those points like ,nevers   
where ,americans were to be found and   
had to be provided for4 ,i quote the    
official order which carried authority  
for our arrangements4       ,tours1     
,sept4 #a1 #aiah4       ,wherever it    
will not interfere with military        
operations soldiers of      ,jewish     
,faith will be excused from all duty and
 where practicable      granted passes  
to enable them to observe ,jewish       
,holidays as      follows3 from noon    
,sept4 #fth to morning of ,sept4 #ith   

and from noon      ,sept4 #aeth to      
morning of ,sept4 #agth4 ,if military   
necessity prevents      granting passes 
on days mentioned provision should be   
made to hold      divine services       
wherever possible4  ,this meant that all
 those had leave who were not at the    
time in action or on the move4 ,chaplain
 ,voorsanger1 for example1 was not able 
to have any service in the #ggth        
,division as his troops were on the     
march on ,new ,year's ,day and in action
 on the ,day of ,atonement4 ,most of the
 central points designated for ,jewish  
services were important cities with     
,french synagogues1--,paris1 ,toul1     
,belfort1 ,dijon1 ,epinal1 ,nantes1     
,rouen1 ,tours1 ,bordeaux and           
,marseilles4 ,three of the chief        
,american centers had none1 so ,dr4     
,enelow was assigned to ,brest1 ,dr4    
,kohn to ,chaumont1 and ,i was sent to  
,nevers4  ,i spent a single busy day in 
,tours after leaving ,chaumont4 ,i met  
the wife and father-in-law of ,rabbi    

,leon ,sommers and inspected their      
little synagogue with its seventy-five  
seats4 ,the ,rabbi was on duty in the   
,french army where he had been from the 
very beginning of the war4 ,i went to   
the army headquarters and arranged for  
the proper notices to be sent out to    
troops in the district1 then with two or
 three ,jewish families whom ,i met ,i  
discussed arrangements to accommodate   
the large number of ,jewish soldiers who
 would come in4 ,i was empowered to     
offer them the financial assistance of  
the ,jewish ,welfare ,board in providing
 such accommodations as were possible4  
,one surprise of a kind which ,i        
afterward came to expect1 was meeting an
 old friend of mine from ,great ,lakes1 
a former sergeant in the ,canadian      
,army1 mustered out of service because  
of the loss of several fingers and now  
back in ,france again as a              
representative of the ,knights of       
,columbus4 ,when he left ,great ,lakes  
for overseas1 ,i had parted with one of 

the two knitted sweaters ,i possessed1  
that if ,i did not see service at least 
my sweater would4 ,now ,i met the       
sweater and its owner again for a few   
brief moments4 ,these fleeting glimpses 
of friends became a delightful but      
always tense element in our army life4  
,men came and went like an ever-flowing 
stream1 now and then pausing for a      
greeting and always hurrying on again4  
,a single day sufficed for my work in   
,tours and then to my own city for the  
holydays4  ,nevers is a historic town of
 thirty thousand on the banks of the    
,river ,loire4 ,the streets are as wide 
as alleys and the sidewalks narrow and  
haphazard1 so that usually one walks in 
the street1 whether it goes up hill1    
down hill1 or 7as frequently7 around the
 corner4 ,but the parks and squares are 
frequent and lovely1 and the old        
buildings have a charm of their own1    
even if it is chiefly in the quaintness 
of their outlines and the contrast of   
their gray with the sunny skies of      

autumn4 ,the air was always cool and the
 skies always bright4 ,i stayed at the  
,grand ,hotel de l',europe1 a rather    
small place1 which one had to enter by a
 back door through a court4 ,with the   
men at war1 all the work was being done 
by women1 while most of the guests were 
,american officers on temporary or      
permanent duty at the post4 ,the        
cathedral 7every ,french city seems to  
have one7 is interesting chiefly to the 
antiquarian1 as it has several different
 styles combined rather inharmoniously1 
and the tower is not at all imposing4   
,of course1 a great many ,americans were
 stationed in or near the city--railroad
 engineers1 training camps of combat    
units newly arrived in ,france1         
construction engineers1 quartermaster   
units1 and two great hospital centers4  
,every company ,i visited1 every ward in
 the hospitals1 had at least a few      
,jewish boys1 and all of them were      
equally glad to see me and to attend my 
services4 ,in fact1 my first clear      

impression in ,france was that here lay 
a tremendous field for work1 crying out 
for ,jewish chaplains and other         
religious workers1 and that we had such 
a pitiful force to answer the demand4   
,at that time there were over fifty     
thousand ,jewish soldiers in the ,a4 ,e4
 ,f4 at a very conservative estimate1   
with exactly six chaplains and four     
representatives of the ,jewish ,welfare 
,board to minister to them4 ,when ,i    
took up my work at ,nevers1 ,i was      
simply staggered by the demands made on 
me and my inability to fulfill more than
 a fraction of them4  ,at first came the
 sudden rush of men into the city for   
the first day of ,rosh ,hashanah1 the   
,jewish ,new ,year4 ,the hotels filled  
up almost at once2 then came others who 
could not find accommodations1 and still
 others who had been confined to        
hospitals1 had drawn no pay for several 
months1 and could not pay for a hotel   
room or even a shave4 ,the problem was  
solved by two very helpful officers who 

stayed up most of the night until they  
had provided enough room on the barrack 
floors and enough blankets for all who  
needed them4 ,the accommodations were   
crude1 but the men were soldiers and    
glad to get them4 ,i was doubly proud1  
therefore1 that this crowd of ours1     
without official control1 coming for the
 festival and therefore released from   
the incessant discipline they had become
 used to1 never once took advantage of  
their privileges4 ,we troubled the      
authorities for their sleeping quarters 
and for special permission to be on the 
street after nine at night--but that was
 all4 ,many of the boys may have        
appreciated their leave more than the   
festival1 but all justified the         
confidence shown in them by their       
conduct4  ,imagine the difference       
between our services in ,france and     
those to which ,i have been accustomed  
in our rather tame and formal civilian  
congregations4 ,my congregation there   
was composed almost entirely of men1 and

 those men all very young4 ,we were     
meeting in a strange land1 amid an      
ancient but alien civilization1 which   
some of us liked and some disliked1 but 
which none of us could quite understand4
 ,we had no scroll of the ,law1 no ram's
 horn1 not even a complete prayerbook   
for the festivals4 ,we had no synagogue1
 and the places we used were lent us by 
people of another faith1 friends and    
co-workers1 indeed1 but with little     
interest in our festivals or our        
religious needs4  ,our services were    
held in the large ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 hut at
 the chief barracks4 ,the large1 bare   
room was turned over to us for certain  
hours2 the workers closed the canteen   
and attended the services4 ,and in      
return ,i concluded one of the evening  
services fifteen minutes early so that  
the regular clientele would not miss    
their semi-weekly motion pictures4 ,in  
fact1 ,i found the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 here1
 as everywhere1 most eager to cooeperate
 with me and to serve the ,jews as well 

as the ,christians in the army4 ,my     
cantor for most of the services was     
,corporal ,cohen of ,new ,york1 although
 several other men volunteered for      
certain portions of the prayers4 ,the   
head usher was ,sergeant ,wolf1 who     
looked after the hall and the seating   
with the thoroughness characteristic of 
sergeants everywhere4 ,among the        
congregation were ten officers1 two     
nurses1 and three families of ,french   
,jews1 as well as a mixed group of      
enlisted men from every branch in the   
army1 from every section of ,america and
 every group of ,jewry4 ,the festival   
had caught us in a foreign land1 in the 
service of ,america1 and it had brought 
us together as nothing else could have  
done4  ,we wore our hats during the     
service because that was the natural    
desire of the majority1 who were of     
orthodox upbringing4 ,of course1 a      
soldier naturally wears his overseas cap
 under any circumstances and it would   
have needed a special ruling to bring   

them off4 ,the service was read out of  
the little prayer book circulated by the
 ,jewish ,welfare ,board1 with which    
about a fourth of the congregation were 
already provided from the camps in the  
,states4 ,we read the abbreviated       
,hebrew service1 then about half of the 
prayers in ,english1 and had an ,english
 sermon4 ,the only objection to these   
innovations came from the cantor1       
,corporal ,cohen1 a young man with a    
traditional ,jewish background1 who had 
gathered the other ,jews in his company 
every ,friday evening for a brief       
service and was generally looked up to  
7although not always followed7 as a     
religious leader4 ,my only way of       
convincing him was to inquire among some
 of the other men as to the number who  
did not understand ,hebrew4 ,when he saw
 that over half of the ,jewish soldiers 
had no understanding of the ,hebrew     
service he withdrew his insistent       
request for a strict traditionalism and 
,i was saved the necessity of falling   

back on my military rank4  ,i was much  
amused after the several services at the
 number of young men who came to me1    
complaining about ,cohen's rendering of 
the services and boasting of their own  
ability4 ,i was able to give several of 
them the chance in the ensuing days and 
found out that it is easy to get a      
,hebrew reader1 quite possible to find  
one who reads with feeling and          
understanding1 but utterly impossible to
 pick up in the army a cantor with a    
trained voice4  ,our arrangements were  
made under the approval of my commanding
 officer1 the senior chaplain of the    
post1 and few features of our service   
were more appreciated than the address  
of ,chaplain ,stull at our services on  
the second day of the festival4 ,i had  
hesitated to invite him1 and was        
therefore doubly surprised when he      
assured me that this was the third      
successive year that he had preached at 
a ,jewish ,new ,year service3 two years 
before on the ,mexican ,border1 the year

 before in training camp in the ,states 
and now in the ,american ,forces in     
,france1 ,chaplain ,stull was a regular 
army chaplain of eighteen years         
standing1 and his membership in the     
,methodist ,episcopal church was less   
conspicuous in his makeup than his long 
experience in army life4 ,his sermon was
 one of the outstanding events of our   
holy season4 ,his explanation of the    
vital importance of the ,service of     
,supply to the army at the front came   
with personal weight for he had just    
come back from the fighting forces to   
take a promotion in the rear4 ,his moral
 interpretation of the significance of  
each man to the whole army was the sort 
of thing that the soldier needs and     
likes4  ,these services were unusual in 
that they were the first holy season    
which most of the men had spent away    
from home4 ,the war was still on then2  
the ,st4 ,mihiel drive took place the   
day after ,rosh ,hashana2 the news from 
the front was usually good and always   

thrilling4 ,we at the rear were deeply  
stirred4 ,some of us had been wounded   
and were now recovering2 some were in   
training and were soon to leave for the 
front2 some were in the ,s4 ,o4 ,s4     
permanently4 ,but the shadow of war was 
dark upon us all4 ,we were in the       
uncertainty1 the danger1 the horror of  
it4 ,we felt a personal thrill at the   
words of the prayers1--,who are to live 
and who to die2 who by the sword and who
 by fire4 ,we recited with personal     
fervor the memorial prayer for our      
fallen comrades4 ,many among us were    
eager to give thanks at recovery from   
wounds4 ,therefore1 the desire for a    
religious observance of our solemn days 
was all the greater4 ,men came in from a
 hundred miles1 often walking ten miles 
to a train before they could ride the   
rest4  ,brothers1 long separated1 often 
met by chance1 soon to separate again   
for an unknown future4 ,i remember      
two--one a veteran of two battles1 now  
convalescing at a hospital1 the other   

newly arrived from the ,states and still
 in training4 ,they met on ,rosh        
,hashanah1 each ignorant of the other's 
whereabouts and the veteran not even    
knowing whether his brother had arrived 
in ,france4 ,the touching scene of their
 reunion had its humorous side too1 for 
the wounded soldier from the hospital   
naturally had not a franc in his        
possession1 and the boy from the ,states
 had enough money for a real holiday and
 had reserved a hotel room with a       
luxurious ,french bed4 ,he was thus able
 to act as host for two happy days and  
nights4 ,but on ,yom ,kippur when the   
wounded soldier came again his brother  
was not there4 ,his unit had been       
ordered to the front and ,i do not know 
whether they ever met again4  ,war had  
us all in its iron grip4 ,i1 for one1   
expected soon to have my request granted
 that ,i be assigned to a combat        
division4 ,not that ,i overlooked the   
need for ,jewish work in the ,s4 ,o4    
,s41 but the most pressing need at that 

time was at the front1 and ,i was       
looking forward to taking up the more   
exacting duties there4  ,the three      
,jewish families of the city added a    
pathetic touch1 for they were glad      
indeed to attend a ,jewish service and  
for the sake of the soldiers were       
willing to sit through our ,english     
additions4 ,their situation seemed      
similar to that of most recent          
immigrants of the ,united ,states2 the  
parents spoke both ,yiddish and ,french1
 the young people like ours in ,america1
 spoke chiefly the language of the      
country4 ,it was both ludicrous and     
touching to see ,american soldiers      
competing to exchange the few ,french   
words they knew with the two or three   
,jewish daughters4 ,it was often their  
first chance for a word with a girl of  
their own class1 certainly with a       
,jewish girl1 since they had left       
,america4 ,and the fact that the girl   
with her familiar appearance could not  
communicate with them on a              

conversational basis1 did not seem to   
impede their relations in the least4    
,the isolated condition of these ,french
 ,jews in a city of #cj1jjj can only be 
compared to that of ,american ,jews in a
 country village4  ,while at ,nevers ,i 
could not overlook the opportunity to   
visit the two great hospital centers at 
,mars and at ,mesves sur ,loire4 ,i     
visited from ward to ward in both of    
them1 paying special attention to the   
,jewish boys and finding always plenty  
of occasion for favors of a hundred     
different kinds4 ,at that time we were  
short of chaplains of all denominations 
in the army1 so that even the hospitals 
had not enough to minister fully to     
their thousands of sick and wounded1    
while the convalescent camps with their 
hundreds of problems were almost uncared
 for in this respect4  ,at ,mars ,i held
 a service on ,friday night which was   
fairly typical of conditions in ,france4
 ,the service was announced as a ,jewish
 religious service1 but on my arrival ,i

 found the ,red ,cross room crowded with
 men of every type1 including four      
negroes in the front row4 ,evidently it 
was the only place the men had outside  
the wards1 so they came there every     
night for the show1 movie1 or service   
which might be provided4 ,they were not 
merely respectful to the service and the
 minority of ,jews who took part in it4 
,they were actively responsive to the   
message ,i brought them of conditions in
 ,america and the backing the people at 
home were giving them in their great    
work abroad4 ,these wounded men from the
 lines1 these medical corpsmen who might
 never see the front1 were alike eager  
to feel the part they personally were   
playing in the great1 chaotic outlines  
of the world-wide struggle4 ,and they   
responded to a ,jewish service with an  
interest which ,i soon found was typical
 of the soldier1 in his restless        
attention1 his open-mindedness1 his     
intolerance of cant but love of genuine 
religion4  ,the meetings and partings of

 war-time came home to me several times 
at ,nevers4 ,i was called to see a young
 man in the hospital1 suffering from    
spinal meningitis4 ,i found him a highly
 intelligent boy from ,chicago who knew 
a number of my old friends there4 ,i was
 able to do a few minor favors for him  
such as obtaining his belongings and    
notifying his unit that he was not      
absent without leave1 but simply locked 
up in the contagious ward4 ,but on his  
recovery the news went to his family in 
,chicago to get in touch with my wife   
and a friendship was established on a   
genuine basis of interests in common4   
,at another time ,i was approached at   
the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 by one of their     
women workers who had heard my name     
announced4 ,she turned out to be a ,mrs4
 ,campbell of my old home town1 ,sioux  
,city1 ,iowa1 and an acquaintance of my 
mother through several charity boards of
 which they both were members4 ,she was 
acting as instructor in ,french and     
advisor to the ,american soldiers in    

,nevers1 while her husband1 ,prof4      
,campbell of ,morningside ,college1 was 
on the ,french front with the ,french   
auxiliary of the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4        
,another interesting incident was my    
meeting with ,mr4 ,julius ,rosenwald of 
,chicago1 then touring ,france as a     
member of the ,national ,council of     
,defense4 ,the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 secretary
 asked me to introduce him to a soldier 
audience in one of their huts4 ,the     
first day ,i came1 however1 ,mr4        
,rosenwald was delayed and the boys had 
to put up with a new film of ,douglas   
,fairbanks in his stead1 like good      
soldiers accepting the substitution     
gladly enough4 ,on the second day ,mr4  
,rosenwald himself was there and ,i had 
the pleasure of introducing him to an   
audience of about five hundred soldiers1
 as varied a group as ever wore the     
,american uniform4 ,his simple personal 
appeal was a direct attempt to build up 
the morale of the troops through a      
hearty report of the interest and       

enthusiasm of the people at home4 ,he   
called for a show of hands of the home  
states of the different men1 then       
responded by reading letters and        
telegrams from governors and other local
 officials4 ,mr4 ,rosenwald was one of  
the very few official travelers in      
,france whose trip was not merely       
informative to himself but also valuable
 to the army4 ,we in the army grew to   
dislike joy riders so heartily that it  
is a positive pleasure to mention such a
 conspicuous exception4  ,another duty  
typical of the variety of tasks which   
welcomed me as a chaplain1 was to       
conduct the defense of a ,jewish boy at 
a general court martial4 ,he asked to   
see me during the holydays1 told me his 
story1 and ,i stayed over in ,nevers a  
few days to act as his counsel4 ,since  
that time ,i have frequently been called
 on for advice in similar cases1 for an 
army chaplain has almost as many legal  
and medical duties as strictly religious
 ones4 ,in this particular case         

circumstantial evidence seemed to show  
that the young man had stolen and sold  
some musical instruments from an army   
warehouse where he worked4 ,he was only 
a boy1 a volunteer who had falsified his
 age in order to enlist4 ,according to  
his own story he was partially involved 
in the case1 acting ignorantly as agent 
for the real criminal4  ,the trial was  
quite fair1 bringing out the            
circumstantial evidence against him1 and
 his sentence was as low as could       
possibly be expected4 ,so1 with memories
 of friendships made1 of work           
accomplished1 of a new world opening    
ahead1 ,i left ,nevers on ,september    
#bjth after only eighteen days of       
service4 ,i had to report at ,chaumont  
again to receive my orders to join the  
#bgth ,division4  ,for two months after 
that no ,jewish chaplain was stationed  
in the ,intermediate ,section1 which    
covered the entire central part of      
,france and contained many thousands of 
,american troops1 including everywhere a

 certain proportion of ,jews4 ,then     
,chaplain ,rabinowitz reported at       
,nevers temporarily and served for his  
entire time in ,france in various points
 in the ,intermediate ,section1 at      
,nevers1 ,blois and at ,st4 ,aignan4  ,i
 had been thrust into the midst of this 
tremendous1 crying need for service of  
every kind1 religious1 personal and     
military4 ,i went to my division to find
 the same or greater need1 as the       
situation was always more tense at the  
actual front4 ,for three weeks ,i had   
ministered as much as ,i could to the   
,jewish men scattered about ,nevers and 
all through the central portion of      
,france4 ,now ,i left them for good4    
,their usual greeting on meeting me had 
been1 ,you are the first ,jewish        
chaplain or worker we have met on this  
side4 ,and unfortunately1 the same      
greeting was addressed to me every time 
,i came to a new unit or city until the 
very day ,i left ,france4 ,the need     
among these two million soldiers was so 

tremendous that a hundred times our     
resources would not have been           
sufficient4 ,as it was1 we made no      
pretense at covering the field1 but     
simply did day labor wherever we were   
stationed1 serving the soldiers1 ,jews  
and ,christians alike1 and giving our   
special attention to the religious      
services and other needs of the ,jewish 
men4     ,,chapter ,,iii  ,,at ,,the    
,,front ,,with ,,the ,,twenty-,,seventh 
,,division   ,i reached my division on  
the first of ,october1 #aiah1 after a   
tedious ten days on the way4 ,i traveled
 most of the way with ,lieutenant       
,colonel ,true1 whom ,i met on the train
 coming out of ,chaumont4 ,i found that 
the higher ranking officers invariably  
approached the chaplains not as officers
 of inferior rank but as leaders of a   
different kind1 much as a prominent     
business man treats his minister in     
civil life4 ,colonel ,true was a regular
 army man of long standing who was being
 transferred from another division to   

the ,twenty-,seventh4 ,when we arrived  
at the ,hotel ,richmond1 the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4
 ,a4 hotel for officers in ,paris1 we   
found only one room available with a    
double bed1 and so for the first time in
 my life ,i had the honor of sleeping   
with a ,lieutenant ,colonel4 ,the honor 
was a doubtful one as he had at the time
 a slight attack of flu brought on from 
exposure and a touch of gas in the      
recent ,st4 ,mihiel drive4 ,colonel     
,true had received his promotion from a 
majority and his transfer before the    
drive1 but had not reported until he had
 gone through the whole fight at the    
head of his battalion4 ,i mention this  
not as a striking1 but strictly as a    
typical proceeding on the part of the   
average ,american officer4  ,for a few  
days we were held at the ,replacement   
,camp at ,eu in ,normandy--an idyllic   
spot within sight of the ,english       
,channel1 surrounded by gentle hills4   
,while there ,i made several trips to   
,treport1 a favorite summer resort on   

the ,channel before the war4 ,it is a   
quaint little fishing village with a    
typical modern summer resort            
superimposed4 ,the old stone ,norman    
cottages with their high roofs always   
had a touch of decoration somewhere1 in 
mosaic1 paint or stained glass1         
different from the plainer architecture 
of ,central ,france4 ,the modern part   
consists of several beautiful hotels and
 a number of cheap restaurants and curio
 shops4 ,of course1 the hotels were all 
used by the ,british ,army as hospitals 
at this time4 ,i visited ,base ,hospital
 #af1 a ,philadelphia ,unit1 which was  
loaned to the ,british4 ,i had a        
delightful talk with our ,red ,cross    
,chaplain and made a tour of many of the
 wards4 ,the patients were almost all   
,british with a few ,americans from the 
,august campaign in ,flanders4 ,among   
the rest ,i met about a dozen ,jewish   
boys1 ,english and ,australian1 who were
 naturally delighted by the rare visit  
of a ,jewish ,chaplain4 ,the eight      

,jewish ,chaplains in the ,british      
,expeditionary ,forces were attached to 
the various ,army ,headquarters1 and so 
had to cover impossible areas in their  
work4 ,the nearest one to ,treport was  
,rabbi ,geffen at ,boulogne with whom ,i
 afterward came into communication1 and 
from whom ,i obtained a large number of 
the army prayer books arranged by the   
,chief ,rabbi of ,england for use in the
 ,british ,forces4  ,hospital visiting  
is dreary work1 especially when there is
 action going on from which one is      
separated4 ,the work is exhausting      
physically1 walking up and down the long
 wards and stopping by bedsides4 ,it is 
especially a drain on the nerves and    
sympathies1 to see so many sick and     
mutilated boys--boys in age most of     
them1 certainly boys in spirit--and     
giving oneself as the need arises4 ,and 
in a hospital so many men have requests4
 ,they are helpless and it is always    
impossible to have enough visitors and  
enough chaplains for them4 ,i was glad  

to be useful at ,treport but gladder    
still when the word came through to     
release all troops in the ,second ,corps
 ,replacement ,depot4  ,we were loaded  
on a train1 the soldiers in box-cars of 
the familiar type 7#dj men or #h horses7
 with the little group of officers      
crowded together in a single first-class
 coach4 ,broken windows1 flat wheels and
 no lights showing--we were beginning to
 feel that we were in the war zone4     
,from ,eu to ,peronne took from #d3cj   
,a4 ,m4 to #i3cj ,p4 ,m4 with three     
changes of trains and ten additional    
stops4 ,we got only a short view of the 
railroad station at ,amiens1 at that    
time almost completely destroyed4 ,our  
division was then in the ,british area  
on the ,somme sector1 and at the time of
 our arrival they had just come out of  
the great victory at the ,hindenburg    
,line4  ,our first ruined city was      
,peronne1 which will never leave my     
memory4 ,the feeling of a ruined town is
 absolutely indescribable1 for how can  

one imagine a town with neither houses  
nor people1 where the very streets have 
often been destroyed8 ,this situation   
contradicts our very definition of a    
town1 for a town is made of streets1    
houses and people2 no imagination can   
quite grasp the reality of war and ruin 
without its actual experience4 ,and     
,peronne was much more striking than    
most cities in the war zone2 it had been
 fought through six different times1 and
 its originally stately public buildings
 showed only enough to impress us with  
the ruin that had been wrought4 ,only   
one wall of one end of the church was   
standing1 with two fine ,gothic arches1 
only one side of the building on the    
square and so on through the whole town4
 ,we became inured to the sight of      
ruined villages later on1 but the first 
shock of seeing ,peronne will be        
indelible4  ,the headquarters of the    
division were then located at the ,bois 
de ,buire1 about ten miles out1 though  
for almost a half day we could find     

nobody to give us exact directions4 ,at 
last ,lieutenant ,colonel ,h4 ,s4       
,sternberger1 the division              
quartermaster1 put in an appearance and 
offered to take me and ,lieutenant      
,colonel ,true up to headquarters in his
 car4 ,the rest of our party had all    
wandered off by then in the direction of
 their various units4 ,colonel          
,sternberger was the highest ranking    
officer at the time among the thousand  
,jews in the ,twenty-,seventh ,division4
 ,lieutenant ,colonel ,morris ,liebman  
of the #ajfth ,infantry1 also a ,jew1   
had been killed in action in ,flanders  
six weeks before1 a loss which was very 
deeply felt in his regiment4 ,colonel   
,sternberger was one of the popular     
staff officers of the division owing to 
his indefatigable labors for the welfare
 of the boys4 ,his great efforts at the 
expense of much personal risk and of    
serious damage to his health were       
directed to get the food up to the front
 on time4 ,while ,i was with the        

division1 ,colonel ,sternberger proved  
both a staunch personal friend and an   
active ally in my work4  ,it took more  
than a day to become acquainted with the
 camouflaged offices in the woods4      
,small huts1 with semicircular iron     
roofs covered with branches1 were       
scattered about among the trees4 ,some  
of them had signs1 ,division ,adjutant1 
,commanding ,general1 and the rest2     
others were billets4 ,i invariably lost 
my way when ,i went to lunch and        
wandered for some minutes before finding
 home4 ,home was a hut exactly like the 
rest1 where the ,french mission and the 
gas officer had their offices during the
 day and where six of us slept at night4
 ,i fell heir to the cot of one of the  
interpreters then home on leave1        
,georges ,levy1 who afterward became one
 of my best friends4 ,my baggage had    
disappeared on the trip1 so that ,i had 
only my hand bag with the little it     
could hold4 ,my first need1 naturally1  
was for blankets to cover the cot4 ,i   

collected these from various places1    
official and otherwise1 until the end of
 the month found me plentifully         
provided4 ,i must admit that the first  
cool nights in the woods forced me to   
sleep in my clothes4 ,naturally1 my     
first task was to wire for my baggage1  
but it had completely vanished and did  
not return for four long months4        
,everybody lost his possessions at some 
time during the war2 ,i was unique only 
in losing them at the outset and not    
seeing them until the whole need for    
them was over4  ,the boys had just come 
out of the line1 worn out1 with terrible
 losses1 but after a great victory such 
as occurs only a few times in any war4  
,they had broken the ,hindenburg ,line1 
that triple row of trenches and barbed  
wire1 with its concrete pill-boxes1 its 
enfilading fire from machine guns1 its  
intricate and tremendous system of      
defenses4 ,i crossed the line many times
 during the month that followed and     
never failed to marvel that human beings

 could ever have forced it4 ,the famous 
tunnel of the ,st4 ,quentin ,canal was  
in our sector1 too1 as well as part of  
the canal itself4 ,the villages about us
 were destroyed so completely that no   
single roof or complete wall was        
standing for a shelter and the men had  
to live in the cellars4  ,one wall      
always bore the name of the former      
village in large letters1 which became  
still larger and more striking in the   
territory near the ,hindenburg ,line1 so
 long occupied by the ,germans4 ,i used 
to repay the generous ,tommies for their
 rides on the constant stream of trucks 
7we called them lorries1 like the       
,english7 by translating the numerous   
,german signs at railroad crossings and 
the like1 about which they always had   
much curiosity4  ,one could travel      
anywhere on main roads by waiting until 
a truck came along and then hailing it4 
,if the seat was occupied there was     
usually some room in the rear1 and the  
,british drivers were always glad to    

take one on and equally glad to air     
their views on the war4 ,when one came  
to a cross road1 he jumped off1 hailed  
the ,m4 ,p4 7,military ,police7 for     
directions and took the next truck which
 was going in the proper direction4 ,in 
that way ,i have often traveled on a    
dozen trucks in a day1 with stop-overs  
and occasional walks of a few miles to  
fill in the gaps4 ,between a map1 a     
compass and the ,m4 ,p4's1 we always    
managed to circulate and eventually find
 our way home again4  ,we saw the heavy 
guns lumbering on their way to the      
front1 the aeroplanes humming overhead  
like a swarm of dragon-flies4 ,day and  
night we could hear the rumble of guns  
like distant thunder1 while at night the
 flashes showed low on the horizon like 
heat lightning4 ,our salvage depot was  
at ,tincourt at the foot of the hill1   
and when ,i went over there ,corporal   
,klein and ,sergeant ,friedlander were  
quick to repair gaps in my equipment4   
,one night ,i witnessed the division    

musical comedy 7the ,broadway ,boys7 in 
an old barn at ,templeux le ,fosse1     
where we walked in the dark1 found the  
place up an alley and witnessed a really
 excellent performance with costumes1   
scenery and real orchestra4 ,in the     
middle of an act1 an announcement would 
be made that all men of the third       
battalion1 #ajhth ,infantry1 should     
report back at once1 and a group of     
fellows would rise and file out for the 
five-mile hike back in the darkness3    
they were to move up to the front before
 morning4  ,my chief effort during those
 few hurried days was to get into touch 
with the various units so that ,i could 
be of some definite service to them when
 they went into action4 ,unfortunately1 
almost every time ,i arranged for a     
service and appeared to hold it the     
outfit would already be on the move4    
,the best service ,i held was at the    
village of ,buire1 where about forty    
boys gathered together under the trees  
among the ruined houses4 ,they were a   

deeply devotional group1 told me about  
their holyday services conducted by a   
,british army chaplain at ,doulens1     
about their fallen comrades for whom    
they wanted to repeat the memorial      
prayers1 and about their own narrow     
escapes for which they were eager to    
offer thanks4 ,they had the deep        
spiritual consciousness which comes to  
most men in moments of great peril4  ,i 
managed to reach most of the infantry   
regiments1 however1 by hiking down from 
the woods and sometimes catching a ride4
 ,everywhere was action4 ,it was the    
breathing space between our two great   
battles of the war4 ,every unit was     
hoping and expecting a long rest4 ,but  
that hope could not be fulfilled4 ,the  
intensity of the drive against the      
entire ,german line was beginning to    
tell and every possible unit was needed 
in the line to push ahead4 ,so the rest 
of the ,twenty-,seventh ,division was   
brief indeed4 ,every regiment was       
starting for the front with no          

replacements after the terrific         
slaughter of two weeks before1 with very
 little new equipment and practically no
 rest4 ,and the front was now further   
away than it had been4 ,the success of  
the allied forces meant longer marches  
for our tired troops4  ,all the villages
 were devastated in this area4 ,it was  
the section between ,peronne and the old
 ,hindenburg ,line4 ,not until we came  
to the ,german side of the ,hindenburg  
,line did we find the villages in any   
sort of repair4 ,the men lived in       
cellars without roofs1 in rooms without 
walls or sometimes in barracks which    
were constructed by either of the       
opposing armies during the long years of
 the struggle4 ,of course1 many shelters
 existed such as our elephant huts in   
the woods or the perfect honeycomb of   
dugouts in the sides of the quarry at   
,templeux le ,gerard4  ,one day ,i      
lorried up to the division cemeteries   
near the old battlefield1 which were    
being laid out by a group of chaplains  

with a large detail of enlisted men4 ,i 
saw the occasional ,jewish graves marked
 with the ,star of ,david and later was 
able to complete the list and have all  
,jewish graves in our division similarly
 marked4 ,i got to know the country     
about ,bellicourt and ,bony1 where our  
heaviest fighting had taken place4 ,i   
heard the story of the eight ,british   
tanks1 lying helpless at the top of the 
long ridge near ,bony1 where they had   
run upon a mine field4 ,i got to know   
the ,ausies1 always the best friends and
 great admiration of our soldiers1 with 
their dashing courage and reckless      
heroism1 and the ,tommies1 those steady1
 matter-of-fact workmen at the business 
of war1 whom our boys could never quite 
understand4  ,finally our headquarters  
moved forward1 too4 ,i jumped out of a  
colonel's car one dark night and hunted 
for an hour and a half among the hills  
before ,i found the chalk quarry where  
they now were hidden from prying air    
scouts4 ,at last1 finding the quarry1 ,i

 met a boy ,i knew1 who took me to the  
dugout where the senior chaplain was    
sleeping4 ,i crawled into a vacant bunk1
 made myself at home and left the next  
morning for good4 ,the quarry did not   
appeal to me when wet2 one was too      
likely to slide from the top to the     
bottom and stay there2 and ,i had no    
desire to test its advantages when dry4 
,the next time ,i came back to          
headquarters they were in the village of
 ,joncourt1 beyond the ,hindenburg      
,line1 in territory which we had        
released from the ,germans4 ,the chief  
attraction of ,joncourt was an          
occasional roof--of course1 there were  
no windows4 ,the cemetery had been used 
as a strong point by the retreating     
,germans1 who had scattered the bodies  
about and used the little vaults as     
pill-boxes in which to mount machine    
guns4 ,and our message center was       
located in a ,german dugout fully fifty 
feet underground2 evidently plenty of   
precautions had been taken against      

allied air raids4 ,in fact1 from this   
point on every house in every village   
had a conspicuous sign1 telling of the  
,fliegerschutz for a certain number of  
men in its cellar4 ,in addition1 the    
placard told the number of officers1 men
 and horses which could be accommodated 
with billets on the premises4           
,evidently1 the ,germans in laying out  
their permanently occupied territory1   
went about it in their usual            
business-like fashion4  ,but between my 
glimpses of these various headquarters1 
,i was at the front with the troops     
going into the trenches and had had a   
glimpse of war4 ,my first experience    
under fire was in some woods near       
,maretz1 where ,i spent part of the     
night with one battalion1 as they paused
 before going into the trenches4 ,i     
finished the night on the floor of a    
house in the village1 having grown      
accustomed enough to the sound of the   
shells to sleep in spite of it4 ,like   
most people ,i had wondered how one     

feels under fire1 and experienced a     
queer sensation when ,i first heard the 
long whine of a distant shell           
culminating in a sudden explosion4 ,now 
,i realized that ,i was under fire1 too4
 ,but ,i speedily found that one feels  
more curiosity than fear under          
long-distance fire2 real fear comes     
chiefly when the shells begin to land   
really near by4 ,i was to experience    
that1 too1 a little later4 ,in fact1 ,i 
found out soon that every soldier is    
frightened2 a good soldier is simply one
 who does his duty in spite of fear4    
,then a report came in that ,chaplain   
,john ,ward1 of the #ajhth ,infantry1   
had been seriously wounded and ,i was   
sent to take his place with the unit4   
,in a push the chaplain works with the  
wounded2 after it1 with the dead4 ,of   
many sad duties at the front1 his is    
perhaps the saddest of all4 ,my first   
station was with the third battalion    
headquarters and aid post in a big white
 house set back in a little park in the 

tiny village of ,escaufourt1 a mile or  
so behind the lines4 ,captain ,merrill  
was in command of the battalion and one 
could see how the work and              
responsibility wore on him day by day1  
reducing the round1 cheerful soldier for
 the time almost to a whispering1       
tottering old man4 ,but his spirit held 
him to the task2 he slept for only a few
 minutes at a time1 and then was back at
 work again4 ,a conscientious man can   
have no more exacting duty than this1 to
 care for the lives of a thousand men4  
,we were under constant fire there1     
though not under observation1 but the   
little ambulances ran up to the gate of 
the chateau for the wounded1 who had to 
walk or be carried in and out from the  
house to the gate4 ,we ate upstairs in  
the stately dining room at times1 though
 we usually ate and always slept in the 
crowded cellar where the major and his  
staff were housed4 ,there eight or nine 
of us would sit on our brick seats and  
sleep with our backs against the wall1  

being awakened from time to time by a   
messenger coming in or by the ringing of
 the field telephone in the corner4 ,the
 telephone operator was always testing  
one or another connection1 day and      
night1 for the emergency when it would  
be needed4  ,one night companies ,h and 
,i of the #ajhth ,infantry were almost  
completely wiped out by gas4 ,they were 
in low lying trenches by the side of the
 canal under a constant fire of gas     
shells1 while the damp weather kept the 
dangerous fumes near the ground4 ,they  
had no orders to evacuate to a safer    
post and no human being can live forever
 in a gas mask1 so one after another the
 men yielded to temptation1 took off    
their masks for momentary relief1 and   
inhaled the gas-laden air4 ,all evening 
and night they kept coming in by twos   
and threes to our aid post1 the stronger
 ones walking1 the rest on stretchers4  
,their clothing reeked of the           
sickeningly sweet odor4 ,the room was   
soon full of it1 so that we had to blow 

out the candles and open the door for a 
few minutes to avoid being gassed       
ourselves4 ,there were three ambulances 
running that night to the ,main         
,dressing ,station1 and ,i made it my   
task to meet each car1 notify the doctor
 and bring the gassed and wounded men   
out to the ambulance4 ,most of them were
 blinded for the time being by the      
effect of the gas4 ,no light was        
possible1 as that would have drawn fire 
at once4 ,every ten minutes through the 
night our village was shelled1 and in   
walking the forty or fifty yards through
 the park to the gate1 ,i had to make   
two detours with my blinded men to avoid
 fresh shell-holes made that very       
afternoon4 ,i admit feeling an          
occasional touch of panic as ,i led the 
big helpless fellows around those fresh 
shell holes and helped them into the    
ambulances4 ,the final touch came when a
 youngster of perhaps seventeen entered 
the aid post alone1 walking painfully4  
,what outfit are you from1 sonny8 was my

 natural greeting4 ,i am the last man   
left in ,company ,h1 was the proud      
reply4  ,this was the sort of fatal     
blunder which seemed to occur once in   
every command before the lesson was     
learned that gas-filled trenches need no
 defending1 and that troops1 safely     
withdrawn a hundred yards or more1 can  
be moved forward again quickly enough   
the moment the gas lifts4 ,the ,english 
had had the same lesson more than once  
until they learned it thoroughly2 so had
 the ,germans2 now our armies1 with     
their examples before us1 had to learn  
it again through the suffering of our   
own soldiers4 ,our division was not the 
only one in which the same or a similar 
blunder cost the men so dearly1 for ,i  
have read the same incident of more than
 one unit on other parts of the         
,american line1 and have had them       
verified by officers who were present at
 those other catastrophes4 ,in the art  
of war the instruction of the generals  
costs the lives of the soldiers4  ,we   

had the peculiar experience of seeing   
the village which we had entered in good
 condition crumbling about us under the 
enemy fire4 ,even the windows were      
intact when we reached it2 the ,germans 
were just out1 and our artillery had    
been outstripped completely in the      
forward rush4 ,under the constant       
pounding of back area fire1 designed to 
prevent ammunition and supplies coming  
up to the line unmolested1 our little   
village lost windows1 roofs and walls1  
disintegrating steadily into a heap of  
ruins4  ,one evening we were assigned   
the task of evacuating some old ,french 
peasants who had clung to their little  
homes through all the world-shaking     
catastrophe4 ,at last they had to leave1
 as the danger to them was too direct   
and1 in addition1 they constituted a    
hidden menace to our troops in case even
 one of them had been left behind as a  
spy4 ,i went with a party of            
,australians and a few of our men to the
 houses in the outskirts of the town1   

where the greatest danger existed4 ,i   
remember the utterly disconsolate       
attitude of two old men and a little old
 woman in one of them1 when they were   
told they had to leave4 ,they seemed    
numb in the midst of all the rush and   
roar of warfare4 ,their little          
possessions were there1 they were of the
 peasant type and had probably never    
been out of the district in their lives4
 ,the advance of the enemy in #aiad had 
been accompanied by no fighting near    
their homes1 and now the allied victory1
 the one hope of their country1 was the 
one thing that bore destruction to their
 little village and tore them away from 
the spot where they were rooted4  ,one  
evening ,i joined a ration party going  
forward and visited the lines and       
advanced headquarters at ,st4 ,souplet1 
hearing the peculiar whistle of a       
sniper's bullet pass me as ,i made my   
way back after dusk4 ,one of the boys   
carrying a heavy bag of hardtack had a  
sore shoulder1 not quite well from a    

previous wound4 ,so ,i shouldered his   
bag for a decidedly weary mile of       
skulking along a sunken road and        
hurrying across the occasional open     
spaces4 ,when we came to his unit ,i was
 glad to turn the bag over to him2 ,i   
felt no pleasure in such lumpy burden1  
and would far rather have worn out my   
shoulder with something more appreciated
 by the boys than hardtack1--the one    
thing which nobody enjoyed but which was
 eaten only because they were           
desperately hungry4 ,on the night of    
,october #afth we all moved over1       
preparatory to the push across the      
,selle ,river4 ,we installed ourselves  
in the large building at the cross      
roads1 where the aid post was stationed4
 ,i joined a group of sleepers on the   
cellar floor1 picking my way in the     
darkness to find a vacant spot4 ,my     
trench coat on the plank floor made a   
really luxurious bed4  ,the next        
morning1 ,october #agth1 ,i was awakened
 at #e3bj by the barrage2 the boys were 

going over2 the battle of the ,selle    
,river had began4 ,by six o'clock the   
wounded began to flow in1 at first by   
twos and threes1 then in a steady       
stream4 ,they came walking wearily along
 or were carried on the shoulders of    
,german prisoners or occasionally by our
 own men4 ,as we were at the crossroads1
 we got most of the wounded1 ,english1  
,german and ,american1 as well as a     
great deal of the shelling with which   
back areas are always deluged during an 
attack4 ,in this case1 our post was just
 behind the lines at first1 but it      
became a back area within a very few    
days owing to the dash and brilliancy of
 our tired troops when the orders came  
to go over the top4 ,they stormed the   
heights across the stream after wading  
it in the first rush1 and then went on  
across the hills and fields4  ,our      
attack was a part of the campaign of the
 ,british ,third ,army and a small      
element in the great push going on at   
that time over the entire front4 ,our   

task with that of the ,thirtieth        
,division on our right was to cross the 
,selle ,river and advance toward the    
,sambre ,canal4 ,on our left were       
,british troops1 while we were supported
 by ,australian artillery and the       
,british ,air ,service4 ,in our first   
great battle1 that of the ,hindenburg   
,line1 the ,ausies had acted as the     
second wave1 coming up just in time to  
save some of the hard pressed units of  
our ,division and to complete the       
success of our assault4 ,so we knew them
 well enough and were glad indeed to    
have their excellent artillery to put   
over the barrage for our second attack4 
,the ,australians and1 in fact1 all the 
,british ,colonial troops1 had much more
 in common with the ,american soldiers  
than had the ,british troops themselves4
 ,they were like our men1 young1 hardy1 
dashing4 ,they were all volunteers4     
,they had a type of discipline of their 
own1 which included saluting their own  
officers when they wanted to and never  

saluting ,british officers under any    
circumstances4 ,i took a natural pride  
in hearing of their commanding officer1 
,lieutenant ,general ,sir ,john ,monash1
 who held the highest rank of any ,jew  
in the war4 ,it was no little honor to  
be the commander of those magnificent   
troops from ,australia4  ,meanwhile we  
were busy at the first aid post4 ,i     
found myself the only person at hand who
 could speak any ,german1 so ,i took    
charge of the door1 with a group of     
prisoners to carry the wounded in and   
out and load them in the ambulances4 ,as
 soon as my dozen or so prisoners were  
tired out ,i would send them on to the  
cage and pick up new men from the       
constant stream flowing in from the     
front4 ,our opponents here were chiefly 
,wurtembergers1 young boys of about     
twenty1 although one regiment of        
,prussian marines was among them4 ,among
 the first prisoners were two ,german   
physicians who offered to assist ours in
 the work4 ,they worked all day1 one in 

our aid post1 the other in that of the  
#ajgth ,infantry1 side by side with our 
surgeons and doing excellent work for   
,americans and ,germans alike4 ,they    
picked their own assistants from among  
their captured medical corpsmen1 and    
were strictly professional in their     
attitude throughout4 ,one of them was   
,dr4 ,beckhard1 a ,jew from ,stuttgart1 
with whom ,i had a few snatches of      
conversation and whom ,i should         
certainly like to meet again under more 
congenial circumstances4 ,i was amused  
in the midst of it all when the doctor  
noticed his brother1 an artilleryman1   
coming in as one of the endless file of 
stretcher bearers1 carrying wounded in  
gray or olive drab4 ,the doctor asked me
 whether he might take his brother as   
one of his assistants for the day4 ,is  
he any good8 ,i asked4 ,oh1 yes1 was the
 answer1 as good as any medical orderly4
 ,so ,i gave permission and the two1    
together with a real medical orderly and
 another young prisoner as interpreter1 

ran one room of the first aid post in   
their own way4 ,i kept an ,american     
soldier on guard there chiefly to be    
prepared for any eventualities2 as a    
matter of fact the ,german surgeons     
treated ,american wounded and ,american 
surgeons treated ,german wounded with   
the same impartial spirit4 ,the two     
physicians joined the other prisoners at
 the end of the day bearing letters of  
appreciation written by ,captain        
,miller1 the surgeon in charge of our   
post4  ,about a year later when         
communication with ,germany was opened  
again1 ,i found that this chance meeting
 at the front proved an odd means of    
communication with my ,german cousins4  
,when ,dr4 ,beckhard returned to        
,stuttgart he lectured on his           
experiences at the front1 mentioning    
among other things that he had met an   
,american ,rabbi by the name of         
,levinger4 ,some distant relatives of   
mine living in the city heard the talk  
and wrote to a nearer branch of the     

family living in another part of        
,wurtemberg1 so that shortly after the  
actual experience they knew of my being 
in the army and serving at the front4   
,only the small ,ford ambulances could  
come as near the front as our post1     
while the larger ones came only to the  
,advanced ,dressing ,station at         
,busigny4 ,these smaller ambulances were
 unable to accommodate the constant     
stream of gassed and wounded men coming 
from the lines4 ,those who had minor    
wounds1 especially in the arms1 had to  
be directed along the proper road       
according to that ironical term1 walking
 wounded4 ,cases which in civil life    
would be carried to an ambulance1 given 
full treatment1 and then driven gently  
to the nearest hospital1 were here given
 emergency dressings and told1 ,the     
,advanced ,dressing ,station is two     
miles down that road1 boys4 ,walk slow  
and don't miss the sign telling where to
 turn to the left4 ,other more serious  
cases for whom there was no room in     

ambulances1 at the moment were carried  
on stretchers by prisoners4 ,i would    
assemble three or four such cases1 take 
a revolver left by some wounded officer 
or non-com1 and give it to a walking    
wounded with instructions to see that   
they get safely to the next point4      
,naturally1 these boys with minor wounds
 of their own were safe guardians to see
 that the ,german prisoners did their   
duty4 ,i can still see their grins as   
they assured me3 ,those fellows are sure
 going to stick on the job1 sir4 ,i'll  
say they will6 ,the attitude of the     
slightly wounded men was often full of  
grim humor4 ,i remember one ,australian 
carried in on a stretcher who called me 
to his side with their customary ,here1 
,yank1 and when ,i responded handed me  
very gravely a ,mills bomb which he had 
used to overawe his captive bearers1    
apparently threatening to blow them up  
with himself should they prove          
insubordinate4  ,a constant worry of    
mine were the weapons which the wounded 

men dropped in front or within the aid  
post4 ,knowing that all army supplies   
would be reissued to them on release    
from the hospital1 the soldiers did not 
care to carry heavy rifles or even      
revolvers and bombs back with them4 ,the
 result was a pile of weapons at just   
the point where my prisoner             
stretcher-bearers could have easy access
 to them4 ,i kept an ,m4 ,p4 busy much  
of the time removing these to a place of
 comparative safety4  ,behind the aid   
post we found a shed which served as    
temporary morgue for the men who died   
before we could give them emergency     
treatment and rush them off in the      
ambulances4 ,the extreme tension of the 
actual fight and the tremendous pressure
 of administering to the living         
calloused the heart for the moment to   
these horrible necessities1 which come  
back to memory in later days with the   
full measure of ghastly detail4  ,the   
chaplain is the handy man at the front1 
one of the few who is not limited by    

special duties or confined to a         
particular spot4 ,he works forward or   
backward as the need exists4 ,he ladles 
out hot chocolate with the ,red ,cross1 
carries a stretcher with the ,medical   
,corps1 ties up a bandage when that is  
needed1 and prays for ,jew and          
,christian alike4 ,i ministered to a    
number of ,jewish and ,christian        
soldiers who were dying1 leading the    
,jews in the traditional confession of  
faith1 and reading a psalm for the      
,protestants4 ,one of the surgeons came 
to me and said1 ,captain ,connor here is
 dying1 and ,chaplain ,hoffman our      
priest is at ,battalion ,headquarters   
acting as interpreter to examine some   
prisoners4 ,what can we do8 ,so ,i      
borrowed the surgeon's rosary and held  
the cross to the lips of the dying      
,catholic4 ,this incident1 so impossible
 in civil life1 is really expected among
 soldiers1--it has been repeated so many
 times and in so many different ways4   
,we were constantly under heavy shell   

fire1 as our place at the cross roads   
was not only convenient of access1 but  
was also the only route for bringing    
supplies and ammunition to our part of  
the front4 ,once as ,i was in the middle
 of the road with several prisoners     
loading stretchers on an ambulance1 a   
shell burst in a pool about twenty feet 
away1 covering us with a shower of mud4 
,my prisoners1 who had a wholesome      
respect for their own artillery1 could  
hardly be prevented from dropping the   
stretcher4 ,however1 we were too near   
the explosion to be hurt1 as the        
fragments flew over our heads1 killing  
one boy and wounding four others across 
the street4 ,one of the wounded was an  
,american runner from the front1 who was
 enjoying a hasty bite at the army field
 kitchen around the corner4 ,he came    
over in a hurry to have his cheek tied  
up and then went calmly back to the     
field kitchen to finish his interrupted 
lunch4 ,the man who was killed was      
standing about seventy-five feet from   

the spot of the explosion beside the    
motor-cycle which he drove1 waiting for 
his commanding officer to come and use  
the side-car4 ,he pitched forward as    
though falling to avoid the explosion1  
just as we would have done if we had not
 been holding a stretcher4 ,when he did 
not rise1 ,father ,kelley and ,i went   
over to him and found that a fatal bit  
of metal had struck him in the head just
 below his steel helmet4  ,and so the   
work went on4 ,the next day we heard of 
some wounded who had not yet been       
brought in from ,bandival ,farm4        
,chaplain ,burgh of the #ajgth ,infantry
 and ,i gathered together a few         
volunteers of our ambulance men and     
several prisoners to go out and carry   
them in4 ,it was about a mile and a half
 out across the battlefield under       
intermittent shell fire4 ,i placed my   
captured ,luger revolver1 which one of  
the boys had brought me the day before1 
in a conspicuous position with the      
handle projecting from my front pocket4 

,i had had the thing unloaded as soon as
 ,i got it because ,i preferred not to  
run any unnecessary risks4 ,being a     
non-combatant both by orders and        
inclination1 ,i was afraid it might go  
off4 ,but my prisoners did not know that
 and so ,i had no difficulty in         
silencing their muttered protests       
against such a hard and dangerous hike4 
,working prisoners under fire like this 
was strictly against international law1 
but that sort of a provision we violated
 frankly and cheerfully4 ,on the way    
back with our wounded across the muddy  
and shell-pitted fields1 we passed      
,german machine gun emplacements with   
the dead gunners still beside the guns1 
,americans lying with their faces toward
 the enemy1 and constant heaps of       
supplies of all kinds strewn about4 ,one
 of our stretchers was put down for a   
moment's rest near such a scattered     
group of ,german knapsacks4 ,one of the 
prisoners asked if he might help        
himself1 and when ,i nodded all four    

made a wild dash for the supplies and   
each man came back carrying an army     
overcoat and a bag of emergency rations1
 the little sweetish crackers which they
 carried instead of our hard tack4  ,on 
the third day of the attack ,i joined   
two men of the ,intelligence ,department
 in walking out to the front line1 then 
over five miles from the village4 ,it   
was a hard hike through the mud and     
about the shell holes4 ,finally we found
 our friends dug in 7for the fourth time
 that day7 on a little ridge4 ,each time
 their temporary trenches had been      
completed orders had come either for a  
short retreat or a further advance1 and 
now by the middle of the afternoon the  
boys were digging another at the place  
where they were to stay till the next   
morning4 ,across the ravine in a little 
wood the ,germans were hanging on for   
the time being until their artillery    
could be saved4 ,i visited the #ajhth   
,infantry in reserve and emptied my     
musette bag of the sacks of ,bull       

,durham which ,i had brought along from 
the ,red ,cross4 ,then the boys wanted  
matches1 which ,i had forgotten1 and    
their gratitude was lost in their       
disgust4  ,i found ,captain ,merrill    
with his staff inspecting two captured  
,german #gg's1 on which they had just   
placed the name of their unit4 ,by that 
time1 after three consecutive battles   
without replacements1 our units were so 
depleted that a regiment had only #bej  
rifles in the line instead of the       
original #c1jjj4 ,captain ,merrill's    
battalion consisted on that day of #hg  
riflemen4 ,just as we finished our      
inspection of the guns the enemy        
artillery started strafing again1 so we 
jumped into a shell-hole which had been 
hollowed out into convenient form and   
finished our conversation there4 ,i then
 visited some of the #ajgth ,infantry in
 the front line rifle pits1 one hundred 
yards or so ahead1 and turned back again
 toward the village4  ,i was just losing
 my way among the hills with approaching

 twilight1 when ,i met an ,australian   
artillery train on their way back for   
supplies1 and climbed on a limber to    
ride into town4 ,it was a wild ride1    
with the rough roads and the drivers'   
habit of trotting over the spots where  
shell-holes showed that danger might    
linger4 ,i held on in quite unmilitary  
fashion and wondered if the horse behind
 would be careful when ,i fell4 ,but    
they brought me in safely and added one 
more means of locomotion to the dozens  
which ,i had utilized at various times3 
ammunition lorries1 ambulances1         
side-cars and even a railway            
locomotive--everything in fact except a 
tank4  ,the next day we breathed more   
freely again4 ,our tired boys1 reduced  
in numbers1 weakened in physical        
resistance1 but going forward day after 
day as their orders came1 were at last  
to go out of the lines4 ,their job was  
done2 they had reached the ,sambre      
,canal2 and though we did not know it1  
they were not to go into battle again4  

,i lorried back to ,joncourt1 the       
temporary division headquarters1 for the
 night1 changed my clothes1 slept in a  
borrowed cot1 read a very heartening    
pile of home letters which had          
accumulated for some weeks1 and returned
 to ,st4 ,souplet the next day for the  
burial detail4 ,it was the #bast of     
,october2 while the division as a whole 
marched back to the railhead1 five      
chaplains with a detail of a hundred and
 fifty men stayed behind for the sad    
work that remained to be done4  ,at this
 time ,i stopped off at the #ajhth      
,infantry for a few minutes1 as they    
halted for a meal after coming out of   
the lines1 and had my orderly1 ,david   
,lefkowitz1 detached from his unit to   
serve with me for my entire remaining   
period with the division4 ,i had become 
acquainted with him during my first few 
days in the division and found that he  
would be interested to work with me as  
orderly and assistant4 ,the order       
assigning him to this special work was  

made out before we left the woods at    
,buire4 ,but our various units were so  
depleted at the time that ,i arranged to
 leave him with his outfit for the      
battle4 ,it was a serious deprivation to
 me1 as ,lefkowitz had been through the 
earlier battle at the ,hindenburg ,line 
and could have given me much assistance 
and advice in the front line work4 ,now 
that the fighting was over1 he left his 
company to go with me and enjoy the     
comparative luxury of division          
headquarters until he rejoined his      
company to sail home from ,france4 ,he  
was one of the many ,jewish soldiers who
 welcomed the presence of a chaplain and
 gladly cooeperated in every possible   
way to make my work successful4         
,chaplain ,francis ,a4 ,kelley1 in      
charge of our burial work1 laid out the 
cemetery on a hill overlooking the      
village and the battlefield4 ,the rest  
of us searched the field with details of
 men1 brought in the bodies on limbers1 
searched and identified them as well as 

possible4 ,in doubtful cases the final  
identification was made at the cemetery1
 where men from every regiment were     
working and where most soldiers would   
have some one to recognize them4 ,in    
addition1 we buried ,german dead on the 
field1 marking the graves and keeping a 
record of their location for the ,graves
 ,registration ,service4 ,a hundred and 
fifty-two men were buried there at ,st4 
,souplet1 the last cemetery of the      
,twenty-,seventh ,division in their     
battle grounds of ,france4 ,the last    
body of all1 found after the work had   
been finished and the men released from 
duty1 was buried by us chaplains and the
 surgeon1 who went out under the        
leadership of ,father ,kelley and dug   
the grave ourselves4 ,every evening the 
six of us gathered about our grate fire 
and relaxed from the grim business of   
the day4 ,if we had allowed ourselves to
 dwell on it1 we would have been        
incapable of carrying on the work3 it   
was so ghastly1 so full of pathetic and 

horrible details4 ,we sang1 played      
checkers1 argued on religion4 ,imagine  
us singing the ,darktown ,strutters'    
,ball1 or discussing the fundamental    
principles of ,judaism and ,christianity
 for several hours6 ,the five of us were
 all of different creeds1               
too--,catholic1 ,baptist1 ,christian1   
,christian ,scientist and ,jew4 ,our    
cooeperation and our congeniality were  
typical of the spirit of the service    
throughout4  ,on the last day we held   
our burial service4 ,we gathered        
together at the cemetery with a large   
flag spread out in the middle of the    
plot4 ,i read a brief ,jewish service1  
followed by ,chaplains ,bagby and       
,stewart in the ,protestant and ,father 
,kelley in the ,catholic burial service1
 and at the end the bugle sounded taps  
for all those men of different faiths   
lying there together4 ,we could see and 
hear the shells bursting beyond the     
hill1 probably a hostile scout had      
caught sight of us at work4 ,above      

floated a ,british aeroplane4 ,some     
,english soldiers working on their      
burial plot nearby stopped their digging
 and listened to our service4  ,and so  
we said farewell to our lost comrades   
and to the war at the same time4        
,,chapter ,,iv  ,,after ,,the           
,,armistice   ,,after the burial work at
 ,st4 ,souplet was over1 great covered  
lorries took us back the sixty miles or 
more to ,corbie1 in the vicinity of     
,amiens1 which was to be our rest area4 
,we greeted its paved streets1 its      
fairly intact houses1 its few tiny      
shops1 as the height of luxury4 ,here   
and there a roof was destroyed or a wall
 down1 for the enemy had come within    
three miles of ,corbie in their drives  
earlier in the year4 ,but we were in    
rest and comparative plenty at last4 ,we
 saw real civilians again1 not merely   
the few old people and little children  
left behind in the towns we had         
liberated4 ,we had regular meals again  
and a chance to purchase a few luxuries 

beside1 such as ,french bread at a shop 
and hard candy at the ,y4 ,we no longer 
heard the whine of the shell or whistle 
of the bullet1 nor smelled gas1 nor     
slept in cellars4 ,i was even lucky     
enough to capture a thick spring        
mattress which1 with my blankets1 made a
 bed that even a certain staff colonel  
envied me4 ,a home-made grate in the    
fire-place fitted it for a tiny coal    
fire2 the window frames were re-covered 
with oiled paper2 we read the ,london   
,daily ,mail in its ,paris edition only 
one day late1 instead of seeing it every
 ten days and then often two weeks out  
of date4  ,my billet1 which ,i obtained 
from the ,british town major1 was a     
tall1 narrow house just off the         
principal square1 very pleasant indeed  
in dry weather4 ,its chief defect was a 
huge shell-hole in the roof through     
which the water poured in torrents when 
it rained1 so that we had to cover      
ourselves with our rubber shelter-halves
 when we slept at night4 ,the           

shell-hole1 however1 was a constant     
source of fuel1 and we burned the laths 
and wood-work1 of which small pieces    
were lying all about the top floor1     
until we found means to obtain a small  
but steady supply of coal4 ,the house   
afforded room1 after ,i had preempted   
it1 for the ,senior ,chaplain of the    
,division1 the ,division ,burial        
,officer and myself1 together with our  
three orderlies4  ,even in dry weather  
there was some excitement about the old 
house4 ,there was the time when some    
tipsy soldiers1 seeing the light in the 
,senior ,chaplain's room late at night1 
mistook the place for a cafe and came   
stumbling in for a drink4 ,when they saw
 the chaplain1 they suddenly sobered and
 accepted very gravely the drink of     
water he offered them from his canteen4 
,on another day the old woman who owned 
the house came in with her son1 a       
,french lieutenant1 to take away her    
furniture4 ,we did not mind losing the  
pretty inlaid table--we were soldiers   

and could stand that--but our mattresses
 and chairs were a different matter4    
,none of us could argue with her        
torrential flow of ,french1 but         
,lieutenant ,curtiss1 the ,burial       
,officer1 suddenly felt his real attack 
of flu redoubled in violence and had to 
take to his mattress4 ,so the old lady  
finally relented sufficiently to leave  
us our beds and a chair or two1 while   
her son became our devoted friend at the
 price of an ,american cigar4  ,i think 
that ,i shall never forget ,corbie1 with
 its narrow streets1 its half-ruined    
houses1 its great ancient church of     
gray1 with one transept a heap of ruins1
 and the straight rows of poplars on    
both sides of the ,somme ,canal1--a bit 
of ,corot in the mist of twilight4 ,i   
remember the quiet1 gray square one day 
with the ,american band playing a medley
 from the ,chocolate ,soldier1 for all  
the world like a phonograph at home4 ,i 
remember the great memorial review of   
the division by ,general ,o',ryan in    

honor of our men who had fallen2 the    
staff stood behind the ,general at the  
top of a long1 gentle slope1 with three 
villages in the distance1 the church    
looming up with its square1 ruined      
tower1 and the men spread out before us1
 a vanishing mass of olive drab against 
the dull shades of early winter4  ,i    
remember the day when three of us       
chaplains made the long trip back to our
 division cemeteries at ,st4 ,emelie1   
,bony and ,guillemont ,farm to read the 
burial service over those many graves1  
the result of the terrible battle at the
 ,hindenburg ,line4 ,chaplain ,burgh1   
,protestant1 of the #ajeth ,infantry1   
,chaplain ,eilers1 ,catholic1 of the    
#ajfth ,infantry1 and ,i were sent back 
the fifty miles or more by automobile   
for this duty4 ,it happened that it     
rained that day1 as on most days1 and   
the car was an open one4 ,so the few    
soldiers still about in that deserted   
region had the rare sight of three cold 
and dripping chaplains standing out in  

the mud and rain to read the burial     
services1 one holding his steel helmet  
as an umbrella over the prayerbook from 
which the other read1 and then accepting
 the same service in return4 ,there was 
none of the panoply of war1 no bugle1   
firing party or parade1 just the prayer 
uttered for each man in the faith to    
which he was born or to which he had    
clung4 ,we did not even know the        
religion of every man buried there1 but 
we knew that our prayers would serve for
 all4  ,we were lucky to be in ,corbie  
on ,november #aath when the armistice   
was signed4 ,day after day we had       
stopped at ,division ,headquarters to   
inspect the maps and study the color    
pins which were constantly moving       
forward across ,france and ,belgium4 ,it
 was a study that made us all drunk with
 enthusiasm4 ,we were under orders to   
move toward the front again on the #ith 
of ,november and to enter the lines once
 more on ,november #adth4 ,the men had  
had very little rest and no fresh troops

 had come up to fill the losses made by 
wounds1 exposure and disease4 ,our men  
could never hold a full divisional area 
now2 only the knowledge of the wonders  
they had already accomplished made us   
consider it possible that they could    
fight again so soon4 ,time after time   
when their strength and spirit seemed   
both exhausted they had responded and   
gone ahead4 ,now they deserved their    
rest4  ,we greeted the good news very   
calmly2 the ,german prisoners were a    
little more elated2 the ,french went mad
 with ecstasy4 ,it was the only time ,i 
have ever seen ,frenchmen drunk1 heard  
them go home after midnight singing     
patriotic songs out of key4 ,in ,amiens1
 where several thousand of the          
inhabitants had returned by that time1  
the few restaurants were crowded and    
gaiety was unrestrained4 ,i heard a     
middle-aged ,british lieutenant sing the
 ,marseillaise with a pretty waitress in
 the ,cafe de la ,cathedral the         
following evening1 and respond when     

asked to repeat it in the main dining   
room4 ,he returned to our side room     
decidedly redder than he had gone out4  
,why1 the whole ,british general staff's
 in there6 he gasped4 ,but he received  
only applause without a reprimand4 ,the 
war was over and for the moment all     
,france was overcome with joy and all   
the allied armies with relief and       
satisfaction4  ,after the armistice the 
front line work1 with its absorption on 
the problems of the wounded and the     
dead1 became a thing of the past4 ,the  
chaplain could now turn to the more     
normal aspects of his work1 to religious
 ministration1 personal service1 advice 
and assistance in the thousands of cases
 which came before him constantly4 ,in  
fact1 on the whole his work became much 
the same as it had been in training camp
 in the ,states4 ,a few differences     
persisted2 in ,france the chaplain was  
without the magnificent backing of the  
,jewish communities at home1 which were 
always so eager to assist in            

entertaining and helping the ,jewish men
 in the nearby camps4 ,the ,jewish      
,welfare ,board with its excellent      
workers could never cover the entire    
field as well as it could at home in    
,america4 ,then there were special      
problems because the men were so far    
away from home1 because the mail service
 was poor1 because worries about        
allotments were more acute than if home 
had been nearer1 and because the alien  
civilization and language never made the
 men feel quite comfortable4  ,in the   
,corbie area the #bgth ,division was    
scattered about in twelve villages1 the 
farthest one eight miles from division  
headquarters4 ,transportation was still 
common on the roads1 though often ,i had
 to walk and once ,i made the trip to   
,amiens in the cab of a locomotive when 
neither train nor truck was running1 and
 found a ride back in an empty ambulance
 which had brought patients to the      
evacuation hospital4 ,the villages were 
almost deserted1 and were in rather bad 

condition after their nearness to the   
,german advance of #aiah1 so that the   
men could be crowded together and were  
very easy to reach in a body4 ,i began  
making regular visits to the various    
units of the division1 meeting the men1 
holding services1 receiving their       
requests and carrying them out as well  
as possible4 ,and ,i was constantly     
making new acquaintances1 as the wounded
 and sick began coming back from the    
hospitals to rejoin the division4  ,i   
had the opportunity of an occasional    
visit to ,amiens1 a city built for a    
hundred thousand1 but at the time       
inhabited by only a few thousand of the 
more venturesome inhabitants1 who had   
returned to open shops and restaurants  
for the ,british1 ,australian and       
,american troops4 ,on account of lack of
 competition1 prices were extreme even  
for ,france in war-time4 ,the great     
cathedral was piled high with sandbags  
to protect its precious sculptures1 but 
it stood as always1 the sentinel of the 

city1 visible ten miles away as one     
approached4 ,the ,church ,army ,hut of  
the ,british forces afforded separate   
accommodations for enlisted men and     
officers1 and ,i had the pleasure of    
afternoon tea once or twice with some of
 the latter4 ,amiens was an             
unsatisfactory place to shop1 but my    
baggage had not been found and winter   
was coming on fast1 so ,i had to replace
 some of my possessions at once at any  
prices that might be demanded4  ,our    
mess held its formal celebration on     
,november #agth1 with ,lieutenant       
,robert ,bernstein1 the ,french liaison 
officer1 as the guest of honor because  
of his exact prediction of the date of  
the armistice when he had returned from 
a visit to ,paris several weeks         
previously4 ,our mess1 officers' mess   
number two of division headquarters1 had
 an international character through his 
presence and that of ,captain ,jenkins  
of the ,british army1 and a special tone
 of comradeship through the influence of

 the president of the mess1 ,major      
,joseph ,farrell1 the division          
disbursing officer4 ,so for once we had 
the rare treat of turkey and wine1      
feeling that the occasion demanded it4  
,i felt little pleasure in the jollity  
of the evening1 however4 ,i had just    
received a letter that day telling me of
 the death of one of my twin babies of  
the flu2 it had happened almost a month 
before1 while ,i was on the lines and   
quite out of reach of any kind of word4 
,the war1 through its attendant         
epidemics1 gathered its victims also    
from among the innocent1 far from the   
scene of struggle4 ,i felt then that my 
grief was but a part of the universal   
sacrifice4 ,with all these other        
parents1 whose older sons died at the   
front in actual fighting1 or whose      
younger ones were caught denuded of     
medical protection at home1 ,i hoped    
that all this sacrificial blood might   
bring an end to war4 ,to-day that faith 
is harder and that consolation seems a  

mockery1 for we seem to be preparing for
 another struggle even while children   
are dying of hunger in central ,europe  
and massacres of helpless ,jews are     
still not yet ended in the east4 ,when  
,i received the news ,i took a long walk
 amid the most peaceful scene ,i ever   
knew1 up the tree-lined banks of the    
,somme ,canal1 with the evening slowly  
coming on and the sun setting behind the
 stiff rows of poplars4  ,at last we    
were detached from the ,british ,third  
,army and received orders to entrain for
 the ,american ,embarkation ,center 7as 
it was later called7 near ,le ,mans4    
,our headquarters there were in the     
village of ,montfort1 where we arrived  
on ,thanksgiving ,day and stayed for    
three weary months4 ,montfort le        
,routrou is a village of nine hundred   
people1 with one long street which runs 
up the hill and down the other side4    
,the hill is crowned with a typical     
village church and a really fine        
chateau1 where the ,general made his    

headquarters4 ,the tiny gray houses     
seemed all to date from the time of     
,henry of ,navarre2 my billet was a low 
cottage with stone walls over three feet
 thick1 as though meant to stand a siege
 or to uphold a skyscraper4 ,the floor  
was of stone1 the grate large and fuel  
scarce1 no artificial light available   
except candles4 ,the bed alone was real 
luxury1 a typical ,french bed1 high1    
narrow and very soft--an indescribable  
treat to a man who had slept on         
everything from an army cot to a cellar 
floor4  ,the surrounding country was    
rolling1 with charming little hills and 
constant knots of woods4 ,the division1 
as we had known it on the ,british      
front1 was housed in forty villages1    
widely scattered about the countryside1 
and our artillery1 which had fought in  
the ,american sector1 was contained by  
ten more1 located near ,laval about     
fifty miles away4 ,the men lived chiefly
 in barns1 as the houses were occupied  
by peasants1 who needed their own rooms4

 ,as far as the enlisted men were       
concerned1 living accommodations were   
better in partially ruined territory1   
where they could at least occupy the    
houses1 such as they were4 ,because we  
were in a populous region1 only smaller 
units could be billeted in a single     
village1 which meant less access to     
places of amusement4 ,the typical       
,french village has no single room large
 enough for even a picture show1 except 
the one place of assembly1 the church2  
apparently the farmers and villagers    
have no amusements except drinking1     
dancing 7in tiny1 crowded rooms7 and    
church attendance4  ,such cheerless     
lives hardly suited the ,americans4     
,often the men had to walk a mile or    
more to the nearest ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4     
canteen1 and those were improvised on   
our arrival by our own divisional ,y4   
,m4 ,c4 ,a4 staff1 which we had been    
permitted to bring with us on the       
earnest request of the chaplains of the 
division4 ,after our long sojourn in the

 area1 we left a completely equipped    
series of canteens and amusement        
buildings for the following divisions4  
,the nearest available place for light  
and warmth1 out of the mud and chill1   
was usually the ,french cafe1 and that  
was available only when the men had     
money4  ,the greatest handicap on any   
effort for the morale of the men at the 
outset was the uncertainty of our       
situation4 ,we were semi-officially     
informed that our stay in the area would
 be for only a few weeks1 and that no   
formal program of athletics1 education  
or entertainment could be arranged4     
,when life grows dreary and monotonous1 
as in the ,embarkation ,center1 the     
chief diet of the soldier is such rumors
 of going home4 ,in our case three      
orders were promulgated for our troop   
movement1 only to be rescinded again    
while the wounded1 sick and special     
small detachments went ahead4  ,another 
difficult problem was the one of        
covering ground4 ,at the front it had   

been easy because the division was      
concentrated for action and because of  
the constant stream of trucks with their
 readiness of access4 ,even in the      
,corbie area the division had been so   
crowded together that seven services    
would reach every man who wanted to     
attend one or to meet me4 ,at the rear  
the division would be billeted in       
villages1 scattered about over twenty   
miles of countryside2 it was impossible 
to get from place to place without      
transportation1 and that was very       
scarce4 ,the army gave the chaplains    
more encouragement and friendship than  
actual facilities for work2 the         
chaplains' corps was just making its    
position strong at the end of the war4  
,fortunately1 the ,jewish ,welfare      
,board came to the rescue here4 ,it     
procured ,ford cars for the ,jewish     
chaplains about the first of the year   
#aiai1 thus doubling their scope for    
work and making them the envy of all the
 chaplains in ,france4  ,my work became 

a matter of infinite details1 with      
little opportunity for organization but 
plenty for day labor4 ,i arranged as    
many services as possible1 getting to   
the various units by train1 side-car1 or
 walking until ,i obtained my own       
machine for the purpose4 ,these         
services1 from one to ten a week1 were  
arranged through the battalion chaplains
 as a rule1 though sometimes ,i         
established connections with some of the
 ,jewish boys or with the commanding    
officer1 especially in cases of detached
 companies without any chaplain at hand4
 ,every service had its share of        
requests for information1 advice1       
assistance1 even for errands1 as the men
 had difficulty in getting to the city  
to have a watch repaired or in reaching 
divisional headquarters for information4
 ,some men would want to know about     
brothers or friends who had been        
wounded4 ,many had difficulty with their
 allotments1 in which case ,i worked    
through the army1 ,red ,cross1 and      

,jewish ,welfare ,board4 ,others wanted 
information about relatives in ,poland  
or ,roumania1 or to be mustered out of  
service that they might join and assist 
their parents in eastern ,europe2       
unfortunately1 neither information nor  
help was possible during the time we    
were in ,france4 ,some men wished to    
remain for the ,army of ,occupation or  
other special service2 far more were    
afraid they might be ordered to such    
service and wanted advice how to avoid  
it and return home as soon as possible4 
,citizenship papers1 back pay1          
furloughs1--the requests were legion1   
and the chaplain had no difficulty in   
being useful4  ,naturally1 one of my    
tasks was to gather accurate statistics 
of the #fe ,jewish boys in our division 
who had been killed1 to find exactly    
where they were buried1 have their      
graves all marked with the ,magen       
,david1 the six-pointed star1 and keep  
the list for the benefit of their       
families when ,i should return4 ,i even 

made one trip to ,tours to discuss the  
possibility of making such a list for   
the other divisions which came into the 
area1 though the task was too           
complicated to carry out completely in  
any but my own4 ,often men were lost to 
view entirely when they went to         
hospital2 sometimes it transpired months
 later that a certain man had died or   
been assigned to another unit or sent   
back to the ,states4 ,but little by     
little the facts all came to light4     
,even here humorous incidents would     
occur1 such as the time when ,i read a  
list of dead from their unit at one     
battalion service1 only to have one of  
the men on the list speak up3 ,why1 ,i'm
 not dead1 ,chaplain6 ,it transpired    
that this man had been wounded on the   
head in an advance and had been reported
 as dead by two comrades who had seen   
him fall4 ,so ,i had him in my records  
as killed in action--grave unknown1 when
 he was actually in the hospital1       
recovering slowly but completely4 ,if he

 had been returned from the hospital to 
another division1 as was often the case1
 ,i might never have known his fate4    
,in spite of such conditions ,i found   
the exact graves of all but three of the
 men on my list1 and in the entire      
division1 with its almost #b1jjj dead1  
only fifteen graves were unknown at the 
time we returned4 ,this was largely due 
to the untiring efforts of ,lieutenant  
,summerfield ,s4 ,curtiss1 the ,division
 ,burial ,officer1 who was my room-mate 
in ,corbie and with whose methods ,i    
became familiar at that time4 ,with the 
cooeperation of the various chaplains   
and line officers1 he was able to       
inspect and certify to the valuables    
left by men killed in action1 to record 
every grave1 and in the few instances   
where both identification tags and      
personal acquaintances were lacking1 to 
take the finger-prints of the men before
 burial and thus preserve the only      
remaining traces of identity4  ,at this 
time ,i had the opportunity of seeing   

our division reviewed by ,general       
,pershing4 ,the review was held at the  
,belgian ,camp near ,le ,mans in massed 
formation4 ,the men marched by in heavy 
masses2 the ,general bestowed           
decorations on over a hundred heroes1   
including six ,jewish boys2 at the end  
he gave the officers an informal talk1  
telling us of the special need that     
existed for keeping up morale during the
 tedious period of waiting to go home4  
,that very subject had been discussed   
only a few days before by the chaplains 
of the division1 meeting with ,general  
,o',ryan for the purpose4 ,chaplains'   
meetings were frequent1 under the call  
of the ,senior ,chaplain1 ,almon ,a4    
,jaynes1 where we took up not only      
details1 such as arrangement of services
 in the various units1 but also the     
broader moral and educational problems4 
,the ,general's interest in our work and
 our aims was evident in every word     
spoken at the meeting1 especially his   
searching queries as to drunkenness1    

dissatisfaction1 and remedies for such  
evils as we brought out4  ,the three    
months of waiting had been in many ways 
harder than the previous months of      
battle4 ,interest in our military       
purpose was gone2 the men had few       
amusements and much work to fill in     
their time4 ,we had very little athletic
 or educational effort2 that was        
prevented by our constant expectation of
 an early departure4 ,mail service was  
often bad1 especially for the men who   
had been transferred repeatedly4 ,pay   
was unreliable when a man had been      
transferred or sent to hospital and his 
records lost or mixed up4 ,and the      
,french winter is a rainy season1 with  
occasional days of clear cold4 ,no      
wonder that the soldiers were disgusted 
with ,france1 war1 army and everything  
else4 ,in the midst of this growing     
irritation1 their pet phrase became1    
,little old ,u4 ,s4 ,a4 is good enough  
for me4  ,the average soldier did not   
meet the better class of ,french people1

 only the peasants and the prostitutes  
of the towns4 ,he had little taste for  
the wonderful architectural and         
historical treasures of the country2 he 
could not speak the language beyond his 
elementary needs2 and--one of his great 
objections--the ,french undeniably have 
poor plumbing and bathing facilities4   
,on the other hand1 the ,french country 
people did not like our soldiers over   
much4 ,the soldier of any nation was    
rather noisy1 rather rough1 and had no  
idea whatever of property values4 ,he   
took anything he needed1 simply finding 
it1 the worst possible trait to thrifty 
,french country people4 ,then1 talking  
only a few words of ,french1 the        
,american naturally left out phrases    
like monsieur or s'il vous plait1 and he
 was considered to be ignorant of       
ordinary politeness1 a wild ,indian1 the
 brother of the savage still supposed to
 be thronging our plains4 ,a small      
minority of our men did penetrate into  
,french life and grew to love it2 a     

minority of the ,french made the        
acquaintance of ,americans and came to  
respect them4 ,unfortunately1 the two   
peoples were introduced to each other   
under most unfavorable circumstances4   
,these conditions1 together with the    
constant flood of rumors1 had the worst 
possible influence on the spirit of the 
men1 which went down steadily from its  
magnificent power at the front1 until   
the news of our actual orders to move   
toward ,brest brought it suddenly up    
again4 ,as the first division in the    
,american ,embarkation ,center on the   
way home1 we had to suffer for the later
 units1 all of which had a program of   
athletics1 entertainments and schools   
ready for them when they arrived4       
,working to build up the spirit of the  
men under the most discouraging         
circumstances1 we received a powerful   
object lesson of the influences most    
destructive to morale4  ,the value of my
 work was at least doubled by the ,ford 
touring car lent me by the ,jewish      

,welfare ,board4 ,i received it on ,new 
,year's ,day1 #aiai1 in ,paris and drove
 back to ,le ,mans1 almost transfigured 
by the fact4 ,my driver1 assigned for   
the trip only1 was splendid2 ,i could   
stop for a brief view of the chateau and
 park at ,versailles and the cathedral  
of ,chartres2 ,i knew that from that    
time on ,i could go from unit to unit so
 long as the machine stuck together and 
the army store of gasoline held out4    
,with this car ,i was able to visit the 
artillery in the ,laval area1 about     
fifty miles from our headquarters1 and  
conduct one service in each of their    
regiments4 ,the artillery had not been  
on the ,british front at all1 but on the
 ,american1 so they had quite different 
adventures from ours4 ,they had         
supported several other ,american       
infantry units in the ,st4 ,mihiel      
sector and north of ,verdun1 and had    
received mercifully few casualties      
compared with our infantrymen and       
engineers4 ,the trip to them by car was 

unusually delightful1 over smooth roads 
which the great army trucks had not yet 
ruined1 through country where ,american 
soldiers were a rarity and the children 
would crowd the doorways to cheer us as 
we went by2 over the gentle wooded hills
 of western ,france1 with the trees hung
 with mistletoe2 through the tiny gray  
villages1 with their quaint ,romanesque 
churches1 many of them older than the   
great ,gothic cathedrals of the north4  
,while in ,paris on ,new ,year1 ,i      
enjoyed the rare treat of a family      
dinner at the home of my friend ,georges
 ,levy1 an interpreter with our         
division4 ,through him and ,lieutenant  
,bernstein ,i reached some sort of an   
impression of the state of ,french      
,jewry to-day4 ,to tell the truth1      
neither ,i nor the average ,jewish      
soldier received a very flattering      
impression4 ,the shadow of the ,dreyfus 
case seemed still to hang over the ,jews
 of ,france4 ,they feared to speak a    
word of ,yiddish1 which was often their 

only mode of communication with the     
,american ,jewish soldiers4 ,one        
shopkeeper1 asked whether he was a ,jew1
 took the visitor far in the rear out of
 hearing of any possible customers      
before replying in the affirmative4     
,for one thing1 except in ,paris and the
 cities of eastern ,france1 ,jews exist 
only in very small groups4 ,i have      
mentioned the four families of ,nevers  
and the little synagogue of ,tours1 with
 its seventy-five seats4 ,le ,mans      
possesses an old street named ,rue de la
 ,juiverie1 so that at one time there   
must have been enough ,jews to need a   
,ghetto1 but in #aiai ,le ,mans had only
 four resident ,jewish families and one 
or two more of refugees from the        
occupied territory4  ,another menace to 
the loyalty of ,jews is the general     
difficulty of all religious liberalism  
in ,france4 ,religion to most people in 
,france means orthodoxy1 ,jewish and    
,catholic2 this naturally suits only    
those of conservative background or     

temperament4 ,almost the only other     
movement is irreligious in literature1  
art1 government and philosophy4 ,those  
large groups of liberals who in ,america
 would be adherents of liberal          
movements1 ,jewish or ,christian1 in    
,france are usually entirely alienated  
from religion4 ,the liberals are        
intelligent but weak in numbers4 ,as a  
converse of this1 the synagogue is      
largely content with past glories1      
making little effort to adjust itself   
either in thought or organization to the
 conditions of the time4 ,the ,american 
,jews were always interested to hear    
about the ,jews of ,france1 of the      
greatness of ,rashi in former days1 and 
eager to inquire about the present      
status4 ,they never could quite         
understand the condition of a country   
where the government had been divided   
for years by a pro and anti-,jewish     
issue1 as was the situation at the time 
of the ,dreyfus case4 ,american         
democracy1 even in the young and        

unskilled mind of the average soldier1  
had no concept for anti-,semitism4      
,when we knew finally that the division 
was on its way home1 ,i preferred a     
request through ,general ,o',ryan that  
,i should go home with it4 ,but ,g4 ,h4 
,q4 ,chaplains' ,office could not grant 
my wish2 there were too few chaplains of
 all religions overseas2 and we ,jews in
 particular needed every worker there4  
,i was detached and assigned to the ,le 
,mans area1 under the senior chaplain of
 the ,american ,embarkation ,center4    
,naturally1 ,i regretted deeply seeing  
my old comrades go without me4 ,i       
reported at ,le ,mans1 obtained fourteen
 days leave to the ,riviera1 which had  
been due me for over two months1 and    
said good-by4 ,the ,twenty-,seventh was 
the first division to reach the         
,embarkation ,center1 the first to leave
 for home as a unit1 and it finally     
paraded1 without its ,jewish chaplain1  
up ,fifth ,avenue to a tremendous       
ovation4 ,i studied the pictures several

 weeks later in the ,new ,york papers1  
and actually thought ,i saw the vacant  
place in the column where ,i should have
 been4     ,,chapter ,v  ,,at ,,the     
,,american ,,embarkation ,,center       
,when ,i knew for certain that ,i was to
 remain in ,france ,i asked for my two  
weeks' leave and departed for the       
,riviera via ,paris4 ,it was my fourth  
visit to the metropolis1 a city which   
grows only more wonderful at every view4
 ,its boulevards and parks1 public      
buildings and shops were always         
attractive2 in addition1 the art        
treasures were now beginning to come    
back to their places1 and the crowds    
were taking on the gaiety of peace time 
in the brilliantly lighted streets1 so  
different from the sober groups and     
dismal streets during the war4 ,this    
trip carried me beyond to a land of     
myriad attractions and surpassing       
loveliness4 ,the mediaeval monuments of 
,avignon1 the ,roman antiquities of     
,arles and ,nimes1 the splendid modern  

city of ,marseilles1 ,toulon with its   
quaint streets and charming harbor1     
,hyeres of the palm trees1 and on to    
,cannes1 to ,nice1 that greater         
,atlantic ,city1 ,grasse with its       
flowers and perfumes1 and ,monte ,carlo1
 garden spot of the whole--all blended  
in a mosaic whose brilliant colors can  
never fade4 ,overhanging mountains and  
sub-tropical sea together unite all the 
types of attraction of all beautiful    
lands the world over4 ,the palms and    
flowers never seemed quite real to me1  
while one was quite bewildered by the   
works of man--ancient monuments1        
mediaeval art1 and the most modern      
trappings of contemporary play and      
luxury4  ,at ,cannes ,i met ,captain    
,limburger1 in charge of the ,motor     
,transportation ,corps there1 who helped
 me to reach the officers' convalescent 
hospital at ,hyeres to search for a     
friend4 ,the trip of eighty-five miles  
by side-car was the bright particular   
spot in the whole gorgeous festival of  

the ,coast of ,azure1 up the heights of 
the ,maritime ,alps into the clouds and 
down again to the edge of the blue      
inland sea1 past ruined castles of the  
,roman time and through the quaint      
southern villages of nowadays2 ending   
finally at the hospital1 which turned   
out to be the ,san ,salvador1 one of the
 most splendid winter hotels on the     
,mediterranean4 ,i even heard ,francis  
,macmillan1 a captain in the            
intelligence corps1 give a violin       
concert for the officers during my one  
evening there4  ,nice and the           
surrounding territory were crowded by   
,americans1 as it was the most popular  
leave area for the ,american army4 ,the 
great casino on the pier was the ,y4 ,m4
 ,c4 ,a4 for enlisted men1 while the    
officers had their club on the square4  
,in fact1 all the arrangements by the ,y
 in the various leave areas were        
magnificent4 ,this1 probably its most   
successful single piece of work1 has    
hardly received the attention it        

deserves4 ,i found the same to be true  
of every leave area ,i visited1         
including ,grenoble1 where ,i stopped   
for a day among the ,alps on my return  
trip4 ,altogether the brief fourteen    
days were one of those unforgettable    
experiences which linger in the memory4 
,one of the fine achievements of the    
army was that it was able to give an    
experience such as this to many         
thousands of officers and enlisted men1 
for their own elevation and their       
greater knowledge of ,france4  ,i should
 like to emphasize1 if ,i could1 the    
importance of the leave areas for the   
morale of the troops and their better   
appreciation of ,france4 ,during actual 
hostilities men were willing to give up 
their leave1 especially ,americans who  
could not visit their homes but wanted  
only a change4 ,after the war1 however1 
military discipline became constantly   
more irksome to the soldiers1 and the   
week or two without orders1 in a real   
hotel with sheets and tablecloths1      

sight-seeing or merely resting1 was the 
one thing necessary to bring them back  
to their units content to work and wait 
till their turn came to go back home4   
,it was also a rare opportunity to see  
the best side of ,france and the        
,french1 when they had seen only the    
worst4 ,no soldier admired the ,france  
of the war zone1 with its ruined        
villages1 its waste stretches1 and its  
shell holes4 ,neither did he care for   
the ,france of the rest areas1 where he 
knew only the smallest villages1 with   
the least attractive people to a young  
progressive from the western world4 ,now
 he was able to enjoy the beauty and    
luxury of that older and more           
sophisticated civilization which always 
considered him either an amiable savage 
or a spoiled child4  ,the trip back to  
,paris and ,le ,mans was an experience  
in itself4 ,i met three young and       
congenial medical officers on the train1
 with whom ,i traveled the rest of the  
way1 stopping off for a half day at the 

little known town of ,digne in the      
,basse ,alps1 where we saw the ancient  
church with its crypt1 the art gallery  
with its painters of local prominence1  
and the old ,roman sulphur baths1 still 
used to-day4 ,another day at ,grenoble  
brought us into the heart of the ,french
 ,alps4 ,we reveled in the city with the
 snow-caps about4 ,i felt the usual     
thrill at the tomb of the ,chevalier    
,bayard1 and more than ordinary pleasure
 in the beauty of the city itself4  ,i  
now settled down at ,le ,mans for the   
work of the ,embarkation ,center4 ,le   
,mans is too well known to ,americans   
who have recently been in ,france to    
require much description4 ,it is a city 
of about #ge1jjj people1 with the       
customary narrow streets in the heart of
 the town1 the fine parks and boulevards
 of every ,french city1 and the very    
interesting cathedral overlooking the   
whole4 ,there are fragments of the old  
,roman walls of the third century1 and  
as an ironic contrast a fine street     

running through a tunnel which is named 
after ,wilbur ,wright1 whose decisive   
experiments in aerial navigation were   
carried on nearby4 ,my billet was a     
pleasant home opposite the very lovely  
park1 the ,english ,gardens1 and my     
landlady a tiny old gentlewoman1 who    
used to bring me a ,french breakfast and
 a ,french newspaper every morning1 and 
indulge in the most formal compliments1 
reminding me of a romance of the ,third 
,empire4 ,and for some time ,le ,mans   
was the center of #bjj1jjj ,american    
troops on their way home6  ,instead of  
one division to cover1 ,i now had from  
three to six1 varying as units came from
 their old locations and departed on    
their way to ,america4 ,and if it had   
been impossible to cover one division   
thoroughly1 in a great area such as this
 a chaplain could do only day labor4 ,i 
traveled from one point to another1 had 
a schedule of services almost every     
night of the week in a different camp1  
visited the transient divisions as they 

came in1 and thus came into the intimate
 contact with the men by which alone ,i 
could be of use to them4 ,the territory 
was an immense one1 though much of the  
time ,i did not have to cover it alone4 
,the #ggth and #bfth ,divisions had     
,jewish chaplains while they were with  
us2 ,chaplain ,james ,g4 ,heller was    
associated with me until he was         
transferred to the ,second ,army 7in    
fact1 he was in ,le ,mans while ,i was  
still with the #bgth71 and after his    
departure ,rabbi ,reuben ,kaufman of the
 ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was assigned to religious  
work under my direction4 ,but even so   
the task was staggering4 ,so many       
regiments and companies scattered over  
an area eighty miles long and sixty     
miles wide was no feasible proposition1 
even with the best of cars and a        
sergeant to drive it for me4  ,in       
addition to the billeting accommodations
 in every village1 the area contained   
several large camps of importance4 ,the 
,classification ,camp1 within the city1 

was an old ,french barracks turned over 
to our use1 which housed a constantly   
changing stream of casuals and          
replacements1 flowing from hospitals1   
camps and schools toward their various  
units4 ,the ,spur ,camp held a large    
group of construction units1 engineers  
and bakers4 ,the ,forwarding ,camp was a
 replica of a training camp at home1 and
 contained a division at a time1 at     
first in training1 later in transit     
toward the ports4 ,the ,belgian ,camp1  
originally built for ,belgian refugees1 
now had long rows of wooden barracks for
 soldiers1 a huge and always busy rifle 
range1 and special camps of various     
types1 including one for venereal       
patients1 who underwent a mixture of    
medical treatment and discipline4  ,the 
purpose of the ,embarkation ,center was 
to provide a stopping place on the way  
to the busy ports of ,brest and ,st4    
,nazaire1 where the men might be        
deloused1 have fresh clothing and       
equipment issued to them1 undergo       

thorough inspections of every kind1 and 
in all ways be divested of the effects  
of war and prepared to return to        
,america4 ,this task usually took a     
month or more1 but sometimes a division 
had been partially equipped in its      
former area and if the ships happened to
 be ready it might stay in our area less
 than a week4 ,on the other hand1 it    
might not pass the various inspections  
at once1 or at the time the             
transportation home might be lacking1   
and hence its departure would be delayed
 time and again4 ,this uncertainty of   
tenure made all work very difficult1    
especially work such as the chaplains'  
which depended entirely on personal     
contact4  ,the problem of these         
divisions1 as of the #bgth1 was chiefly 
to preserve the splendid morale of the  
front while the men were in the dreary  
tedium of waiting4 ,this was done by    
cutting down the drill to an hour a day1
 which made enough work in addition to  
the delousing1 inspecting and other     

necessary activities4 ,the rest of the  
time was devoted to athletics1 an       
educational program1 and a great amount 
of entertainment1 all three under the   
,welfare ,officer appointed by the      
commanding general of the ,embarkation  
,area1 while all the welfare agencies   
contributed to these various ends under 
his general supervision4 ,my work1 of   
course1 was directly under the ,senior  
,chaplain1 according to army regulation4
 ,and as the various units moved toward 
their goal more rapidly and more        
steadily1 the need for special efforts  
to keep up morale grew less4 ,men keep  
up their own morale when they really    
know they are going home2 the           
difficulties had been largely caused by 
the complete uncertainty and endless    
delays4  ,such success as ,i had was due
 very largely to the excellent          
cooeperation of the ,jewish ,welfare    
,board4 ,sergeant ,charles ,rivitz1 who 
had charge of the work in the area1 was 
deeply interested in the welfare of the 

boys and shared the resources of the    
organization freely with me in my work4 
,i had always found this same attitude2 
the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 furnished me a car1 an  
allowance for welfare work1 an office in
 its building1 and offered its rooms for
 services in the various camps4 ,where  
it had no huts1 ,i was accorded the same
 privilege by the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4       
,whenever its aid fell short1 it was    
because it had no more to give4 ,by this
 time ,le ,mans had a large and active  
group of ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 workers1 both men  
and girls1 with their center in the city
 and huts in many surrounding points4 ,i
 found the workers' mess the most       
friendly and pleasant in the city1 quite
 as congenial as the one at the ,junior 
,officers' ,club1 which ,i often        
frequented4  ,even in the stress and    
turmoil of the ,le ,mans area 7the      
madhouse1 as the boys called it7        
striking or humorous personalities      
appeared from time to time4 ,there was  
,abie1 the wandering musician1 a little 

,jew who had a gift for rag-time but no 
great intelligence1 military or         
otherwise4 ,abie had gone to ,france    
with a replacement unit1 was located    
near ,le ,mans and spent his spare time 
playing for the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 and the 
officers' dances4 ,when his unit moved  
toward the front to be incorporated in  
some fighting division1 he stayed       
behind1 not as a deserter1 but to play  
the piano for the outfits that followed4
 ,he managed even to live at the local  
hotel by the tips they gave him4 ,after 
that time he reported1 giving his full  
story in detail1 to every commanding    
officer who entered the village1 always 
to be given enough to eat1 but never    
accepted into any unit as he had no     
transfer from his original one4 ,at last
 his story got abroad1 he was brought in
 by the ,criminal ,investigation        
,department and investigated1 only to   
prove the truth of his every word4 ,so  
,abie1 happy once more1 was stationed in
 the ,classification ,camp and detailed 

to the ,jewish ,welfare ,board as a     
pianist1 improvising his rag-time       
adaptations of serious music and getting
 many privileges and a steady income for
 doing the work he enjoyed best4  ,a    
different sort of man was the soldier in
 a famous fighting division1 who sought 
a private interview with me4 ,it seems  
that in the advance on the ,st4 ,mihiel 
sector he had rescued a ,torah1 a scroll
 of the ,law1 from a burning synagogue4 
,throwing away the contents of his pack1
 he had wrapped the scroll up in the    
pack carrier instead1 and carried it    
over the top three times since4 ,now he 
wanted permission to take it home to    
give to an orphan asylum in which his   
father was active4 ,a soldier was not   
ordinarily allowed to take anything with
 him besides the regulation equipment   
and such small souvenirs as might occupy
 little room1 but in this case a kindly 
colonel became interested and the ,torah
 went to ,america with the company      
records4  ,the great event of my service

 in ,le ,mans was our ,passover         
celebration on ,april #adth1 #aeth and  
#afth1 #aiai4 ,the general order for    
,passover furloughs read3       ,where  
it will not interfere with the public   
service1 members of      the ,jewish    
faith serving with the ,american        
,expeditionary ,forces      will be     
excused from all duty from noon1 ,april 
#adth1 to midnight1      ,april #afth1  
#aiai1 and1 where deemed practicable1   
granted passes to      enable them to   
observe the ,passover in their customary
 manner4  ,among the central points     
designated for ,passover leaves was ,le 
,mans1 and the ,jewish ,welfare ,board  
and ,i labored to arrange a full        
celebration for the thousand ,jewish    
soldiers who came in from four different
 divisions4 ,quarters were provided in  
the ,classification ,camp for all the   
men who did not have the money or the   
previous arrangements for hotel rooms1  
as well as full accommodations for the  
,passover feast1 the ,seder4 ,the       

,jewish ,welfare ,board obtained full   
supplies of ,matzoth1 unleavened bread1 
as well as ,haggadoth1 or special prayer
 books for the ,seder4  ,the spirit was 
as strong a contrast as possible to that
 of my other great service at the fall  
holydays4 ,among our congregation were  
two men from the isolated post of       
military police at ,st4 ,calais1 fifty  
miles to the east1 and five from among  
the students at the ,university of      
,rennes1 a hundred miles west4 ,we had a
 number of officers among us1 while five
 ,french families1 several ,jews in the 
horizon blue of the ,french army1 and   
two in the ,russian uniform--labor      
battalions1 since ,russia had withdrawn 
from the war--worshiped beside us4 ,and 
when the crowd began to assemble1 the   
first men ,i saw were a group of        
engineers whom ,i had not seen since    
,atonement ,day1 seven months before4   
,they were on the way home now1 their   
presence emphasizing more strongly than 
anything else the change that had come  

to us and the world in the intervening  
time4 ,again there were the meetings of 
friends and brothers1 but without the   
pang of parting afterward4 ,one of the  
most touching features of the ,seder was
 the large number of requests that ,i   
should inquire whether ,sergeant ,levi  
or ,private ,isaacs was present4 ,then  
how the whole gathering would be        
electrified when a voice cried out1     
,here1 and cousins or comrades who had  
not known even of each other's safety   
were able to exchange festal greetings  
and rejoice together4  ,for the two and 
a half days' leave the ,jewish ,welfare 
,board and ,i tried to keep the men     
busy1 with something for every taste4   
,the full program included a ,seder1    
four services1 a literary program1 a    
vaudeville show1 a boxing exhibition1   
two dances and a movie4 ,all were well  
patronized1 for the soldier had a       
cultivated taste in diversion1          
especially after the armistice4 ,but    
certainly the most popular of all was   

the ,seder4 ,the soup with matzah balls1
 the fish1 in fact the entire menu made 
them think of home4 ,we held the dinner 
in an army mess hall1 standing at the   
breast-high tables4 ,the altar with two 
candles and the symbols of the feast was
 at the center of the low-roofed        
unwalled structure4 ,toward evening the 
rain1 so typical of winter in western   
,france1 ceased2 the sun came out1 and  
its last level rays shone directly upon 
,rabbi ,kaufman and his little altar4   
,it was a scene never to be forgotten1 a
 feast of deepest joy mingled with      
solemnity4 ,afterward we adjourned to   
the ,theatre ,municipale for a full     
religious service with a sermon4 ,two of
 the shows of the festival leave were   
too big for the hall of the ,jewish     
,welfare ,board1 so we were offered the 
,y4 ,d4 ,hut1 the great auditorium of   
the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 which had been     
named after the famous #bfth ,division4 
,one of these entertainments was the    
last performance in ,france of the      

,liberty ,players of the #ggth          
,division1 who were about to leave for  
the ,states that very week4  ,finally my
 work in ,france drew to a close4 ,on   
the first of ,may1 #aiai1 ,i received   
the orders for which ,i had been hoping 
so long4 ,i was to be relieved and sent 
home to ,america4 ,rabbis in the uniform
 of the ,jewish ,welfare ,board were now
 at hand1 the number of men in ,france  
was decreasing1 and my request to be    
relieved could at last be granted4 ,a   
final two days in ,paris for a          
conference with the heads of the ,j4 ,w4
 ,b41 ,chaplain ,voorsanger and ,colonel
 ,harry ,cutler1 another day at ,le     
,mans to turn my records and office over
 to ,rabbis ,kaufman and ,leonard       
,rothstein1 and then ,i was off to      
,brest4 ,i had the special good fortune 
of being held in that busy and rather   
uninviting place for only four days and 
then finding passage assigned me on the 
slow but comfortable ,noordam1 of the   
,holland-,american ,line4 ,my last duty 

in ,brest was to conduct a funeral1 in  
the absence of the post chaplain1 of    
four sailors drowned in an accident just
 outside the harbor4 ,we had a guard of 
honor1 a bugler1 all naval1 and ,i had  
the rare experience of an army chaplain 
conducting a navy funeral1 as well as of
 a rabbi burying four ,christian boys4  
,we were at sea twelve days altogether1 
being delayed by a gale of three days   
and also by a call for aid1 which took  
us a hundred miles out of our course    
without finding the sender of the       
message4 ,we entered ,new ,york harbor  
late one evening1 and anchored off      
,staten ,island for the night4 ,there   
was little sleep that night2 the        
officers danced with the cabin          
passengers1 while the men sang on the   
decks below4 ,the next morning early    
every one was at the rail as we steamed 
in past the ,statue of ,liberty1 which  
stood for so much to us now1 for which  
we had longed so often1 and which some  
of our company had never expected to see

 again4 ,after the customary half day of
 formalities at the dock1 we were       
directed to different camps for         
discharge according to our branches of  
the service4 ,i reported at ,camp ,dix1 
,new ,jersey1 where ,i was mustered out 
of service1 receiving my honorable      
discharge on ,may #bfth1 #aiai1 eleven  
months from the date of my commission1  
nine of which were spent with the       
,american ,expeditionary ,forces4       
,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the ,,jewish          
,,chaplains ,,overseas   ,my            
experiences1 which were fairly typical  
throughout1 showed clearly the great    
need for ,jewish chaplains in the army  
overseas4 ,even my trip on leave to the 
,riviera was typical1 showing the effect
 of release from discipline combined    
with a pleasure trip on thousands of our
 soldiers1 most of whom needed it far   
more than ,i2 for the privileges of a   
chaplain1 just a little greater than    
those of most officers1 certainly had   
prevented my morale falling as low as   

that of many of the enlisted men4 ,the  
,jewish chaplain was not only a         
concession to the very considerable body
 of ,jewish citizens who felt that they 
should be represented in the military   
organization as well as men of other    
faiths2 he had a definite contribution  
to make to the moral and spiritual      
welfare of the forces4 ,we had to       
conduct ,jewish religious services for  
both holydays and ordinary seasons1 to  
assist the dying ,jew1 and to pray for  
him at his grave4 ,we had to defend the 
,jewish boys in the rare cases of       
prejudice against them1 or1 what was    
just as important1 to clear up such     
accusations when they were unfounded4   
,we had to serve the special needs of   
the ,jewish soldier1 whatever they might
 be1 at the same time that we did the   
chaplain's duty toward all soldiers with
 whom we might be thrown4  ,the         
,american ,expeditionary ,forces never  
had sufficient chaplains at any time for
 the work that was planned for them4    

,the proportion desired by the ,g4 ,h4  
,q4 ,chaplains' ,office and approved by 
the war department was one chaplain to  
every thousand men1 or one to an        
infantry battalion1 besides those       
assigned to administrative work as      
senior chaplains of divisions and areas1
 and the very large number detailed to  
hospitals4 ,the total number of         
chaplains who went to ,france was #abhe1
 just half the number needed by this    
program1 and from this total we must    
subtract a considerable group of deaths1
 wounds and other casualties4 ,the      
chaplains' corps was undermanned at all 
times1--we ,jews were simply the most   
conspicuous example4 ,compared to the   
general proportion of one chaplain to   
every two thousand men1 and the ideal   
one of a chaplain to every thousand1 we 
had one chaplain to every eight thousand
 men1 and those tremendous numbers were 
not even concentrated in a few units but
 scattered through every company1 every 
battery1 and every hospital ward in the 

army4  ,the ,british forces contained   
one ,jewish chaplain for every army     
headquarters1 or nine in all4 ,i had the
 pleasure of meeting ,rabbi ,barnett1   
the chief ,jewish chaplain in the ,b4   
,e4 ,f41 although ,i never met his      
predecessor1 ,major ,adler4 ,through    
their long experience and the           
cooeperation of the ,chief ,rabbi of    
,england1 the ,english chaplains were   
well equipped with suitable prayerbooks 
and other material1 which ,i obtained   
from one of them for the use of our men 
while ,i was on the ,british front4     
,still1 even with their larger          
proportion of chaplains to the ,jews in 
service1 the lack of transportation     
facilities and the tremendous rush of   
war-time1 especially at the front and in
 the hospitals1 made their actual duties
 impossible of complete fulfillment4    
,to cover the enormous field before us  
was plainly impossible4 ,the chaplain   
could only work day by day1 clearing a  
little pathway ahead of him but never   

making an impression on the great jungle
 about4 ,when ,i first reached ,france1 
,i grew accustomed to the greeting3     
,why1 you're the first ,jewish chaplain 
,i've met in ,france6 ,that was hard    
enough then1 but it grew harder when the
 same words were addressed me in ,brest 
just before sailing and on shipboard on 
the way home4 ,and yet it was inevitable
 that twelve chaplains could not meet   
personally the hundred thousand ,jewish 
soldiers scattered through the two      
millions in the ,american uniform       
through the length and breadth of       
,france4 ,under these circumstances we  
all feel a natural pride at the work    
accomplished against adverse conditions4
 ,i for one feel that we did all that   
twelve men similarly situated could     
possibly have done1 and ,i gladly bring 
my personal tribute to those others1    
chaplains1 welfare workers1 officers1   
and enlisted men1 whose cooeperation    
doubled and trebled the actual extent   
and effectiveness of our work4 ,this    

includes especially the ,christian      
chaplains and welfare workers2 their own
 field was great enough to take all     
their time and energy1 but they were    
always ready to turn aside for a moment 
to lend a hand to us1 in order that the 
labors of twelve men serving their faith
 in the great ,american army might not  
be quite futile4  ,the first of the     
,jewish chaplains to reach ,france was  
,rabbi ,elkan ,c4 ,voorsanger1 who gave 
up his pulpit in ,st4 ,louis in ,april1 
#aiag1 to join the ,st4 ,louis ,base    
,hospital as a private in the medical   
corps4 ,as his hospital unit was the    
third to reach ,france in ,may1 #aiag1  
,rabbi ,voorsanger was one of the first 
five hundred ,american soldiers in the  
,american ,expeditionary ,forces4 ,in   
the medical corps he rose from private  
to sergeant1 gaining at the same time an
 intimate first-hand knowledge of the   
problems of the man in the ranks4 ,when 
the bill was passed by ,congress in     
,november1 #aiag1 ordering the          

appointment of chaplains of sects not at
 that time represented in the army1     
,rabbi ,voorsanger was the first ,jew   
commissioned under its provisions4 ,he  
was examined by a special board         
appointed overseas by ,general ,pershing
 at the direction of the ,secretary of  
,war2 his commission was dated ,november
 #bdth1 #aiag4 ,in ,january #aiah he was
 assigned to the #dast ,division and in 
,march to ,base ,hospital #aja at ,st4  
,nazaire4 ,while posted there he        
conducted his first important service   
overseas in ,passover #aiah1 the first  
official ,jewish service held in the ,a4
 ,e4 ,f4 ,he was assigned to the #ggth  
,division in ,may #aiah on their arrival
 in ,france where he served with a most 
enviable record1 receiving the ,croix de
 ,guerre and being recommended for the  
,d4 ,s4 ,m4 for exceptional courage and 
devotion to duty in time of danger4 ,the
 midnight patrol on the banks of the    
,meuse1 by which he won these honors1   
was both a courageous and a useful      

exploit4 ,he was promoted to ,senior    
,chaplain of his division with the rank 
of ,captain1 the only ,jew so           
distinguished4 ,finally in ,april #aiai1
 instead of accompanying his division   
home he resigned his commission to      
become the head of the overseas work of 
the ,jewish ,welfare ,board4 ,he        
returned to the ,united ,states in      
,september #aiai1 after two and a half  
years with the ,american ,expeditionary 
,forces4 ,since that time he has        
continued his self-sacrifice and his    
devotion to his people in the service of
 the ,joint ,distribution ,committee for
 the ,relief of ,jews in eastern        
,europe4 ,in #aibj and #aiba he         
conducted two relief units to ,poland   
and carried on their life-saving work4  
,when ,i arrived in ,france1 ,chaplain  
,voorsanger was stationed at ,chaumont  
for the time being1 to take charge of   
the arrangements for the ,jewish        
holydays of #aiah4 ,i have already      
described how these were carried out1 by

 designating central points for         
services1 getting in touch with the     
,french rabbis and synagogue authorities
 and assigning the few ,american rabbis 
at hand to fill in the deficiencies4  ,i
 was the fifth ,jewish chaplain to reach
 ,france4 ,those who preceded me were   
first ,voorsanger and then ,chaplains   
,david ,tannenbaum of the #hbnd         
,division1 ,harry ,s4 ,davidowitz of the
 #ghth and ,louis ,i4 ,egelson of the   
#iast4 ,all these men served at the     
front1 as did also ,chaplain ,benjamin  
,friedman of the #ggth ,division1 who   
took up the ,jewish work of that unit   
when ,chaplain ,voorsanger was promoted 
to the ,senior ,chaplaincy4 ,chaplain   
,davidowitz was the only ,jewish        
chaplain to be wounded1 receiving severe
 injuries from shrapnel2 these put him  
in the hospital for several months and  
occasioned his being sent back home1    
invalided1 the first of us all4 ,the    
others1 in order of their arrival1 were 
,chaplains ,jacob ,krohngold1 of the    

#hgth ,division2 ,israel ,bettan of the 
#bfth ,division2 ,harry ,richmond1 at   
the port of ,bordeaux2 ,elias ,n4       
,rabinowitz1 at ,blois2 ,solomon ,b4    
,freehof1 at ,first ,army ,headquarters2
 and ,james ,g4 ,heller1 at ,le ,mans4  
,the last two left ,new ,york on the day
 following the armistice1 so that on    
,november eleventh1 #aiah1 the ,jews of 
,america were represented overseas by   
just ten chaplains and two              
representatives of the ,jewish ,welfare 
,board1 ,rev4 ,dr4 ,hyman ,g4 ,enelow   
and ,mr4 ,john ,goldhaar4  ,the twelve  
of us represented all three ,jewish     
seminaries in this country1 although the
 majority were naturally from the       
oldest1 the ,hebrew ,union ,college at  
,cincinnati1 where ,rabbi ,freehof was  
even a member of the faculty4 ,we came  
from every section of the country1 east1
 west and south1 including ,krohngold   
and myself from little towns in         
,kentucky and ,richmond from ,trinidad1 
,colorado4 ,rabbi ,richmond had the     

unusual distinction of not claiming     
exemption in the draft as a minister4   
,he therefore entered the service as a  
private and was promoted to the         
chaplaincy just before his division went
 overseas4  ,the chaplains who were     
commissioned before the armistice and   
served in the ,united ,states were      
thirteen in number2 ,rabbis ,nathan ,e4 
,barasch1 ,harry ,w4 ,etteleson1 ,max   
,felshin1 ,samuel ,friedman1 ,raphael   
,goldenstein1 ,abram ,hirschberg1       
,morris ,s4 ,lazaron1 ,emil ,w4         
,leipziger1 ,julius ,a4 ,liebert1       
,abraham ,nowak1 ,jerome ,rosen1        
,leonard ,w4 ,rothstein1 ,israel ,j4    
,sarasohn4 ,three of them1 ,rabbis      
,rothstein1 ,felshin and ,barasch1 soon 
after resigned their commissions and    
came overseas as representatives of the 
,jewish ,welfare ,board4 ,when the great
 need for morale agencies was realized  
after the armistice1 the ,war           
,department refused to relax its        
prohibition against the transportation  

of more chaplains or other special      
branches of the service1 but favored the
 passage of large numbers of welfare    
workers instead4 ,rabbi ,david ,goldberg
 was the only ,jewish chaplain in the   
navy1 with the rank of ,lieutenant1     
junior grade2 he served at sea on the   
transport1 ,president ,grant4  ,we were 
almost all reassigned as our divisions  
left for home and as the need grew in   
various areas1 especially in the base   
posts and the ,army of ,occupation4     
,chaplain ,davidowitz was sent home     
wounded1 and ,friedman accompanied his  
own division back4 ,krohngold1 ,bettan1 
,heller and ,freehof joined the ,army of
 ,occupation in the order named1        
although for a long time ,rabbi         
,krohngold was the only ,jewish chaplain
 there4 ,rabbi ,egelson left his        
division for the port of ,st4 ,nazaire1 
,rabinowitz was transferred from ,blois 
to ,st4 ,aignan1 and ,i was left behind 
at ,le ,mans together with ,heller1 who 
shortly after was transferred to the    

,third ,army in ,germany4 ,tannenbaum   
while stationed at ,bordeaux was also1  
by special arrangement1 appointed as    
supervisor of the ,jewish ,welfare      
,board for that area2 and ,voorsanger   
was mustered out of service to become   
executive director of their overseas    
work4 ,rabbi ,richmond alone held the   
same post to the very end of his        
overseas service4  ,as ,i have mentioned
 repeatedly in my personal narrative1 so
 long as a man was assigned to one      
division he had some chance of          
establishing personal contacts with his 
men and doing effective work among them2
 as soon as he was assigned to an area1 
he had to spread himself thin over a    
wide expanse of territory and could     
cover it in only the most cursory       
fashion4 ,the problem was larger than   
the matter of transportation1 although  
that was serious enough4 ,the larger    
aspect lay in the number of men1 the    
number of companies1 the infinite       
possibility of individual service if one

 were only able to know all these       
soldiers personally1 to understand their
 needs1 and to minister to them4 ,every 
hospital ward with its forty beds       
presented forty distinct individual     
problems1--often1 indeed1 more than     
forty4 ,sometimes the same man would    
need pay1 mail1 home allotment1 reading 
matter1 and contact with his original   
unit and comrades4 ,with the constant   
shifting to other hospitals further from
 the front and then to convalescent     
camps1 the ward would always contain a  
new forty men and the work was always   
beginning over again4 ,this situation   
was not in the least unique4 ,the       
hospital simply represents the extreme  
case of what was true in a less degree  
in every branch of the service and every
 unit4  ,during the post-armistice      
period ,i had several very agreeable    
reunions with my fellow chaplains1 which
 were at the same time valuable for our 
common information and cooeperation4 ,at
 my very first visit to ,le ,mans1 on   

,december #fth1 ,i quite unexpectedly   
met ,chaplains ,freehof1 ,bettan1 and   
,heller1 as well as ,rabbi ,enelow1 who 
had just come to the city for the       
dedication of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4           
headquarters4 ,i devoured their         
comparatively fresh news from home as   
eagerly as ,voorsanger had absorbed mine
 several months before1 when he was     
already entering his second year in     
,france4 ,the second time was on the    
last day of the year1 when ,i met       
,rabbis ,friedman1 ,egelson and         
,rabinowitz in ,paris1 all coming there 
as ,i did for the cars which the ,j4 ,w4
 ,b4 had ready for us4 ,at the same time
 ,rabbis ,martin ,meyer of ,san         
,francisco and ,abram ,simon of         
,washington were in the city1 both      
captains in the ,american ,red ,cross4  
,their six months of duty in ,france had
 just expired and they were then making 
ready for their return home4 ,we all had
 dinner together at one of the famous   
,parisian restaurants and discussed war 

and peace1 ,france1 ,america and        
,israel1 until the early closing laws of
 war-time sent us all out on the        
boulevards and home4 ,chaplain ,egelson 
and ,i saw the ,new ,year in together1  
first hearing ,romeo and ,juliet at the 
,opera and then watching the mad crowds 
on the streets1 headed always by        
,american or ,australian soldiers1 the  
maddest of them all4  ,the most         
important meeting1 however1 was the one 
called by ,chaplain ,voorsanger for     
,february #bdth at the ,paris           
headquarters of the ,jewish ,welfare    
,board4 ,six chaplains were present1    
,voorsanger1 ,tannenbaum1 ,richmond1    
,heller1 ,bettan and ,i1 together with  
,mr4 ,john ,goldhaar of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 
,our chief object was to work out a     
program of cooeperation with the ,j4 ,w4
 ,b41 our second1 to discuss our        
personal methods for the benefit of our 
own work4 ,voorsanger was chairman2 we  
decided to form a ,jewish ,chaplains'   
,association1 which never developed     

afterward2 and planned to hold another  
meeting soon1 which owing to military   
exigencies1 we never did4 ,but we did   
adopt a program of cooeperation with the
 ,j4 ,w4 ,b41 which indicates the mutual
 dependency and the closeness of contact
 which were almost uniformly the case4  
,our program provided that the ,j4 ,w4  
,b4 should submit to the chaplain the   
weekly report of the area in which he   
was stationed and should have relations 
with the military authorities through   
him4 ,the chaplain1 on the other hand1  
was to make suggestions to the worker in
 his area1 and in exceptional cases to  
the ,paris office and was to be in      
complete charge of all ,jewish religious
 work in his area1 although religious   
workers were personally responsible to  
their superior in the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4       
,finally1 provision was made for        
frequent conferences between the        
chaplain and the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 worker in  
the same organization4 ,this program was
 approved1 not only nominally but also  

in spirit by all the ,jewish chaplains  
and welfare workers throughout the ,a4  
,e4 ,f4 ,i know that in ,le ,mans our   
contact was so close that ,mr4 ,rivitz  
instructed his religious workers to     
report directly to me for assignment of 
services and other division of labor1   
and ,i included their work with mine in 
my weekly reports to my senior chaplain4
  ,on my final visit to ,paris at the   
end of ,april ,i found a host of ,jewish
 celebrities gathered together in the   
interests of the ,jewish ,welfare       
,board1 the ,joint ,distribution        
,committee for the relief of ,jews in   
,eastern ,europe1 the ,american ,jewish 
,committee1 and the ,american ,jewish   
,congress4 ,at the office of the ,j4 ,w4
 ,b41 ,i had a farewell conference with 
,rabbi ,voorsanger and ,colonel ,harry  
,cutler1 giving them a summary of the   
latest situation in my area4 ,colonel   
,cutler was busy as chairman of the ,j4 
,w4 ,b41 one of the ,american ,jewish   
,congress delegates to the ,peace       

,conference1 and a member of the ,joint 
,distribution ,committee4 ,i met my old 
friend1 ,rabbi ,isaac ,landman1 who was 
reporting the ,peace ,conference for his
 paper1 the ,american ,hebrew1 and he   
introduced me in turn to ,miss ,harriet 
,lowenstein1 at that time the ,paris    
purchasing agent of the ,joint          
,distribution ,committee1 especially in 
the important work of buying supplies   
originally sent to ,europe for the use  
of the ,american forces4 ,i encountered 
also three of the active workers of     
,american ,jewry1 sent to represent us  
before the ,peace ,conference in such   
matters as might concern the ,jews2     
,judge ,julian ,mack1 representing the  
,american ,jewish ,congress2 ,dr4 ,cyrus
 ,adler1 for the ,american ,jewish      
,committee2 and ,mr4 ,louis ,marshall1 a
 representative of both organizations4  
,the two last were also active in the   
,jewish ,welfare ,board1 and ,dr4       
,adler1 vice-chairman of the ,board1    
took charge as the representative of the

 ,board after ,colonel ,cutler's        
departure for the ,states4 ,even on the 
ship going home ,i met two ,jewish      
workers1 ,rabbi ,b4 ,levinthal of the   
,american ,jewish ,congress delegation  
and ,mr4 ,morris ,engelman1 returning   
from his work in ,holland for the ,joint
 ,distribution ,committee4 ,by that time
 world ,jewry was fully aroused and its 
delegates were busy1 both at the seat of
 the ,peace ,conference and in the lands
 of eastern ,europe1 where ,jewish      
suffering was becoming daily more       
intense4     ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,the     
,,jewish ,,welfare ,,board ,,in ,,the   
,a4 ,e4 ,f4   ,the ,jewish ,welfare     
,board in the ,united ,states ,army and 
,navy was the great authorized welfare  
agency to represent the ,jews of        
,america1 as the ,young ,men's          
,christian ,association represented the 
,protestants and the ,knights of        
,columbus the ,catholics4 ,it was       
organized on ,april #i1 #aiag1 just     
three days after the declaration of war1

 and was acknowledged by the ,department
 of ,war as the official welfare body of
 the ,jews in ,september1 #aiag4 ,it was
 not so much a new organization as a new
 activity of a number of the leading    
,jewish organizations of the ,united    
,states3 the ,united ,synagogue of      
,america1 the ,union of ,american       
,hebrew ,congregations1 the ,central    
,conference of ,american ,rabbis1 the   
,union of ,orthodox ,jewish             
,congregations1 the ,agudath            
ha-,rabbonim1 the ,jewish ,publication  
,society of ,america1 the council of ,y4
 ,m4 ,h4 and ,kindred ,associations1 the
 ,council of ,jewish ,women1 the        
,independent ,order ,b'nai ,b'rith1 the 
,jewish ,chautauqua ,society1 the ,order
 ,brith ,abraham1 the ,national         
,federation of ,temple ,sisterhoods1 the
 ,new ,york ,board of ,jewish           
,ministers1 the ,independent ,order     
,brith ,sholom1 the ,independent ,order 
,brith ,abraham1 and the ,women's       
,league of the ,united ,synagogue4 ,in  

the camps and cantonments at home it did
 a large and important piece of work1   
establishing #dij representatives at    
#bjj different posts and putting up #dh 
buildings for its work at various       
important points4 ,this great field1    
however1 is outside the scope of the    
present study1 which can take up only   
the overseas activities of the ,j4 ,w4  
,b4  ,one home organization must be     
mentioned in this place1 the ,chaplains'
 ,committee which made recommendations  
to the ,war ,department for the         
appointment of ,jewish chaplains4 ,this 
was composed of representatives of the  
leading religious bodies of the country3
 for the ,central ,conference of        
,american ,rabbis1 ,dr4 ,william        
,rosenau and ,dr4 ,louis ,grossman2 the 
,united ,synagogue of ,america1 ,dr4    
,elias ,l4 ,solomon2 ,eastern ,council  
of ,reform ,rabbis1 ,dr4 ,maurice ,h4   
,harris2 the ,new ,york ,board of       
,jewish ,ministers1 ,dr4 ,david de ,sola
 ,pool2 the ,union of ,orthodox ,jewish 

,congregations1 ,dr4 ,bernard ,drachman2
 the ,agudath ha-,rabbonim1 ,rabbi ,m4  
,s4 ,margolies4 ,dr4 ,cyrus ,adler1 the 
,acting ,president of the ,jewish       
,theological ,seminary of ,america1 was 
chairman of this committee4 ,they had   
the task of reviewing the applications  
of one hundred and forty-nine rabbis1 of
 whom thirty-four were recommended to   
the ,war ,department and twenty-five    
were commissioned by the time the       
armistice put an end to more            
appointments4 ,i have already given in  
some detail the story of the twelve of  
us who served in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f41 while 
the other thirteen did their service in 
cantonments in the ,united ,states4     
,the ,jewish ,welfare ,board began to   
take up the overseas problem as early as
 ,august1 #aiag1 when ,rabbi            
,voorsanger1 then ,sergeant in the ,army
 ,medical ,corps1 received a letter from
 ,colonel ,harry ,cutler1 asking for    
such information as he had at command   
and also how far he might be able to    

cooperate personally with the ,jewish   
work4 ,some months later1 after         
,voorsanger had been appointed chaplain 
he was again asked for information4     
,this time he was in a position to give 
a great deal together with              
recommendations4 ,a certain amount of   
supplies was furnished him at once1 but 
no welfare workers were sent until the  
overseas commission had made its        
investigation and report4  ,the overseas
 commission of the ,jewish ,welfare     
,board1 consisting of ,congressman      
,isaac ,n4 ,siegel1 chairman1 ,rabbi ,h4
 ,g4 ,enelow1 ,rabbi ,jacob ,kohn1 and  
,mr4 ,john ,goldhaar1 secretary1 went to
 ,france in ,july1 #aiah1 and were the  
first friends ,i met when ,i reached    
,paris4 ,their general work was to study
 the nature and scope of the overseas   
field so as to make recommendations on  
their return2 incidentally to this1 they
 were to establish contact with kindred 
organizations and with the army1 open   
headquarters1 and cooperate with the    

chaplains in the field in the holyday   
services4 ,they made their surveys      
during the summer by constant traveling 
and numerous interviews with officers   
and welfare workers as well as with     
,jews in the service4 ,congressman      
,siegel made a trip to ,general         
,pershing's headquarters and to the     
sector then occupied by the #ggth       
,division1 where ,chaplain ,voorsanger  
was taken into consultation regarding   
the problems ahead4 ,the ,congressman   
then returned to ,america1 while ,mr4   
,goldhaar was left as executive         
secretary pro tem of the ,paris office  
and ,rabbis ,kohn and ,enelow conducted 
holyday services at different points4   
,afterward ,dr4 ,kohn also returned     
home1 and ,dr4 ,enelow devoted himself  
to field work1 establishing welfare     
centers at various points4 ,later on1   
when the army educational program was   
undertaken1 he became the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4   
representative on the faculty of the    
,army ,university at ,beaune4 ,dr4      

,enelow was recommended for a chaplaincy
 by the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 ,chaplains'         
,committee1 but was among those         
prevented by the armistice from         
receiving the rank4 ,meanwhile he       
labored in any capacity at hand1 for he 
was determined not to return to ,america
 while work remained to be done among   
the soldiers in ,france4  ,all this was 
entirely inadequate for the task at     
hand1 as we all realized at the time4   
,at that time the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was       
functioning in the overseas forces1 not 
as a separate entity1 but through the   
,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 ,this naturally         
prevented the full expansion of its     
independent viewpoint or the direct     
contact with the army officials which   
alone could give it standing4 ,the      
arrival of the overseas commission made 
some difference in this respect1 but the
 ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was not fully recognized as
 one of the responsible overseas welfare
 organizations until ,colonel ,harry    
,cutler1 its national chairman1 had come

 to ,france and presented his case at   
,general ,pershing's headquarters4      
,there were more than the usual         
difficulties with passports and vises1  
owing to the ,german or ,austrian       
ancestry of some of the most desirable  
workers2 this was finally overcome by   
the chairman of the ,board vouching     
personally for the loyalty of every     
individual recommended4 ,the selection  
was limited1 as with all welfare        
organizations1 to men not subject to    
draft4 ,with these obstacles the        
difficulties proved for the time        
insuperable4  ,this situation made it   
impossible for the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 to       
undertake any independent work before   
the armistice4 ,it could only support   
and assist the work already being done  
by chaplains and by the dozens of ready 
volunteers among the officers and       
enlisted men themselves4 ,the early     
history of ,jewish welfare work abroad  
is that of a scattered band of eager1   
self-sacrificing workers who gave up    

their own time to labor incessantly for 
the welfare of the ,jewish men in the   
service4 ,the first task was to acquaint
 the soldiers with the fact that there  
was a ,jewish ,welfare ,board1 even     
though its ,paris staff consisted only  
of ,mr4 ,goldhaar1 one stenographer and 
one office boy4 ,advertisements in the  
,stars and ,stripes and the ,paris      
editions of ,american newspapers and    
correspondence with ,jewish and         
non-,jewish chaplains1 ,american1       
,french and ,british1 did the work4     
,letters began to pour in for supplies1 
advice1 information1 and a great        
correspondence school of welfare work   
began4  ,the center of this work was    
naturally the ,paris club rooms1 in     
connection with the office at #da       
,boulevarde ,haussman4 ,mr4 ,john       
,goldhaar was in immediate charge of    
both1 with a mountain of mail on his    
desk from every part of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 
and a constant crowd of doughboys       
outside in the club rooms4 ,his         

indefatigable labors and his profound   
sympathy for the boys in the service won
 him thousands of friends through the   
length and breadth of the forces4 ,he   
continued in this position1 with its    
constantly growing duties1 until        
,captain ,voorsanger was appointed      
,overseas ,director of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b41 
when ,mr4 ,goldhaar was made ,overseas  
,field ,director and put in charge of   
the field work4 ,his ,medaille          
d',honneur from the ,french government  
was earned by the hardest and most      
valuable kind of war work4 ,mr4         
,goldhaar gathered about him in the     
,paris club rooms a group of ,american  
,jewesses and a few of their ,french    
coreligionists as an entertainment      
committee to make the boys feel at home4
 ,every afternoon they served tea--a    
little thing in itself1 but a big one to
 lonesome boys without a friend nearby4 
,it meant much effort1 too1 on the part 
of the ladies themselves1 especially    
their leaders1 ,mrs4 ,ralph ,stern1     

,mrs4 ,zacharie ,eudlitz1 ,mrs4         
,engelman and ,mrs4 ,hertz4 ,some of    
them came from the suburbs every        
afternoon1 rain or shine1 to render this
 devoted service4 ,monsieur and ,madame 
,henri ,bodenheimer opened their hearts 
and their homes1 both in ,paris and     
,tours1 to receive the ,americans2 every
 ,friday evening saw their table crowded
 with lonesome buck privates1 especially
 the ones whom other people would       
overlook4 ,with the assistance of these 
same people hospital visitation was     
begun4 ,a registration book in the      
office began to fill up with the names  
of ,jewish soldiers and officers1 and   
letters sent home recorded the fact of  
their visits and often established an   
important connection for the welfare of 
the men themselves4  ,at the same time1 
among the hundreds of letter-writers and
 visitors eager to do something1        
anything1 for their fellow-soldiers1 a  
few began to stand out here and there as
 effective and central workers4 ,the    

soldiers were always ready to cooperate2
 ,i found that out from my first service
 at ,nevers to my last at ,le ,mans4 ,so
 it was only natural that far more of   
them volunteered for this work than ,i  
can possibly mention4 ,i shall simply   
have to speak of a few outstanding      
names1 and leave it to the imagination  
of the reader to multiply these examples
 many times4 ,in ,chaumont there was    
,field ,clerk ,a4 ,s4 ,weisberger1      
formerly of ,scranton1 ,pa4 ,sandy      
,weisberger mimeographed a little       
newspaper1 the ,junior ,argus1 for his  
fellow-soldiers from ,scranton2         
organized the ,jewish soldiers at ,g4   
,h4 ,q4 for services and sociability2   
and referred any number of men to the   
,jewish ,welfare ,board for such advice 
or assistance as it could give4 ,he was 
later mustered out of service to become 
a ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 worker and met his death  
most tragically by an accident in the   
,paris headquarters1 during the         
festivities of ,passover week1 #aiai4   

,in ,dijon there was a group1 ,major    
,jacob ,jablons1 ,medical ,corps2 ,miss 
,bessie ,spanner1 a regular army nurse2 
and ,sergeant ,j4 ,howard ,lichtenstein1
 of ,baker ,co4 #cci4 ,they organized   
hospital visiting in the many hospital  
centers in that area1 celebration of the
 high holydays1 ,simchath ,torah        
parties1 and group gatherings of all    
kinds4 ,this work was spontaneous and   
needed only supplies of stationery1     
prayerbooks and the like to make it     
completely effective1 furnishing a      
fertile field for the welfare workers   
when they opened their community center 
there4 ,by that time the two last were  
also in the service of the ,welfare     
,board1 ,miss ,spanner in the unique    
position of head of the women workers   
overseas4 ,in ,tours the outstanding    
figure was ,colonel ,max ,b4 ,wainer1 at
 that time a ,major4 ,he gathered a     
group of active workers among the       
soldiers1 used the local synagogue as a 
center1 and organized a full welfare    

program1 including ,friday evening      
services and round table discussions1   
hospital visiting1 and distribution of  
stationery and prayerbooks4 ,i dropped  
in at ,tours for a day to arrange for   
the holyday services2 the local         
committee of soldiers saw that special  
meals were provided for the ,jewish men2
 and the bills were paid by the ,jewish 
,welfare ,board4  ,in the ,le ,mans     
area1 which before the armistice was    
used as a classification camp from which
 soldiers were sent as replacements to  
units in the field1 the first ,jewish   
work was started by ,sergeant ,charles  
,s4 ,rivitz of ,army ,post ,office #gfb 
through the aid and assistance of his   
commanding officer1 ,lieutenant ,willing
 of ,cleveland4 ,lieutenant 7later      
,captain7 ,willing1 though a non-,jew1  
had taken a deep interest in the ,jewish
 men in his unit while still in camp in 
the ,states and continued this interest 
to ,france4 ,with the approval of ,gen4 
,glenn1 in command of the area1 ,rivitz 

was detailed to the ,jewish ,welfare    
,board under the supervision of the     
senior chaplain of the area and ,capt4  
,willing4 ,sergeant ,rivitz was not a   
social worker at all1 but had one source
 of strength which made his good will   
effective4 ,he was a soldier1 had       
attained his sergeancy through force of 
personality2 he knew what the soldiers  
wanted and insisted on giving it to     
them4 ,he rented a chateau as a club    
house largely on his own responsibility1
 and the ,jewish ,welfare ,board soon   
found that both the structure and his   
method of conducting it were excellent4 
,his chief assistant was ,corporal      
,george ,rooby1 who after his discharge 
from the service volunteered for the    
first unit of the ,joint ,distribution  
,committee in ,poland1 and continued    
serving ,jewry there4  ,in fighting     
units also the ,jewish officers and     
enlisted men were early active in       
welfare work4 ,two officers occur to me 
whose work ,i saw personally2           

undoubtedly there were many others with 
the same sort of interest4 ,captain     
,leon ,schwartz of the #abcrd ,infantry1
 #cast ,division1 was active from the   
outset in his own division and the ,le  
,mans area4 ,later1 during the time when
 the army was trying every means to keep
 up the morale of the troops1 and the   
temporary organization of ,comrades in  
,service was being pushed through the   
,g4 ,h4 ,q4 ,chaplains' ,office1        
,captain ,schwartz was assigned to this 
work as the ,jewish representative1 and 
addressed hundreds of gatherings of     
soldiers1 together with the ,catholic   
and ,protestant spokesmen for morale and
 comradeship4 ,in the #bfth ,division1  
the ,yankee ,division1 ,captain ,bernard
 ,i4 ,gorfinkle of the ,judge           
,advocate's office was one of the first 
and most effective ,jewish workers in   
,france4 ,captain ,gorfinkle organized  
an overseas branch of the ,new ,england 
,y4 ,m4 ,h4 ,a41 deriving his first     
funds from the ,young ,men's ,hebrew    

,associations of ,new ,england4 ,later1 
when the ,jewish ,welfare ,board        
arrived1 he joined forces with its      
,paris office for the benefit of his    
men4 ,mr4 ,goldhaar tells how surprised 
he was after the battle of ,chateau     
,thierry to be highly complimented for  
the work of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 in marking  
the ,jewish graves4 ,of course1 at that 
time no such work had yet been          
undertaken4 ,on investigation he found  
that the graves of ,jews of the #bfth   
,division who fell in action had been   
marked with a crude ,magen ,david by    
their comrades under the initiative of  
,captain ,gorfinkle4  ,wherever a       
,jewish chaplain existed the ,welfare   
,board had a means of contact with the  
men4 ,and here and there throughout the 
,a4 ,e4 ,f41 volunteers sprang up1      
establishing their little groups and    
doing their own work1 large or small4   
,in the #dbnd ,division1 to cite only   
one more example1 some of the boys came 
together and held holyday services      

during the actual campaign1 and         
afterward instituted their own hospital 
visiting4 ,but then came the armistice1 
and at the same time the passport       
difficulty was disposed of4 ,workers    
began to come2 new plans were being     
issued daily by the army authorities2   
the whole viewpoint of the work was     
revolutionized and the facilities       
suddenly enlarged4  ,the determining    
factor was that troops were no longer   
being scattered for training and        
fighting but concentrated for their     
return home4 ,hence the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4     
centered its work on the ,american      
,embarkation ,center and the base ports1
 established a line of centers in the   
chief points of the ,service of ,supply1
 and went with the ,army of ,occupation 
to ,germany4 ,the last to be supplied   
with workers were some of the combat    
divisions not in the organized areas4   
,thus the work grew4 ,the club-house at 
,le ,mans was dedicated on ,november    
#bh1 #aiah1 in the presence of ,major   

,general ,glenn1 with speeches by ,dr4  
,enelow and the prefect of the          
,department of the ,sarthe1 and a       
vaudeville show and refreshments to wind
 up the evening4 ,buildings were rented 
in the ports of ,brest1 ,st4 ,nazaire1  
,bordeaux and ,marseilles1 and a line of
 centers established across ,france1    
from ,le ,mans on through ,tours1 ,st4  
,aignan1 ,gievres1 ,bourges1 ,beaune1   
,is-sur-,tille1 ,dijon and ,chaumont4   
,the headquarters for the ,army of      
,occupation were at ,coblenz1 where the 
,b'nai ,b'rith ,building was employed   
and seven huts established through the  
area4 ,finally as workers continued     
coming1 they were assigned to seven of  
the combat divisions1 staying with them 
in their movements through ,france and  
saying farewell only after the troops   
were embarked for home4 ,these divisions
 were the #eth1 #fth1 #gth1 #bith1      
#ccrd1 #gith1 and #hast4 ,when ,antwerp 
became an important port for army       
supplies a center was established there 

as well4  ,altogether the ,jewish       
,welfare ,board employed #ajb men and   
#gf women in #eg different centers in   
the ,american ,expeditionary ,forces4   
,of this personnel1 #bd men and one     
woman1 ,miss ,spanner1 were mustered out
 of the service for this purpose1 while 
the others were transported from the    
,states4 ,of the buildings1 #bc were    
located in towns and were rented2 the   
other #cd were provided by cooeperation 
of other organizations1 #bh by the ,u4  
,s4 ,army1 two by the ,knights of       
,columbus1 two by the ,red ,cross1 one  
by the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 and one by the   
,belgian ,government4 ,in camps rough   
barracks or tents were usually the      
thing2 in cities the equipment varied1  
and in some places was complete with    
kitchen1 dance hall1 writing room1 and  
offices4  ,i can speak of the large work
 in the ,le ,mans area through personal 
acquaintance4 ,there the personality of 
,mr4 ,rivitz was the decisive factor4   
,with his unerring knowledge of the     

soldier1 he established at once the     
policy of everything free1 which was    
soon adopted by the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4         
throughout its overseas work4 ,religious
 services were provided1 hot chocolate  
and cigarettes served1 contact          
established with thousands of soldiers  
for the personal needs which they       
brought to the welfare worker4 ,as the  
needs of the area grew1 other centers   
were established4 ,when the #ggth       
,division1 with its thousands of ,jews1 
was in the area1 five huts were         
established in its various regiments and
 the men provided with everything       
possible right at home4 ,in other units 
where the ,jews were more scattered1 the
 centers were at the ,division          
,headquarters4 ,in cases where units    
stopped in our area for only a few days 
or a week1 an automobile load of        
supplies with two workers was sent out  
on an extensive trip1 meeting the boys  
and giving them as much personal cheer  
and physical sustenance as possible     

under the circumstances4  ,i have       
described this type of activity several 
times in connection with my own personal
 story4 ,here and there1 however1       
special personalities or incidents stand
 out in the constant1 exhausting labor  
to which the workers subjected          
themselves in the terrific rush of the  
morale agencies during that period of   
waiting to go home4 ,in ,germany at the 
head of the work was ,mr4 ,leo          
,mielziner1 son of the late ,professor  
,moses ,mielziner of the ,hebrew ,union 
,college1 a man of high reputation as an
 artist and of commanding personality4  
,mr4 ,mielziner1 who had two sons in the
 service1 conducted the work in the     
,army of ,occupation with the finest    
spirit of fellow-feeling for the        
enlisted man4 ,under his direction the  
,jewish ,welfare ,board maintained such 
a high standard that when the ,red      
,cross closed its railroad canteens in  
the occupied territory the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4  
was requested by the army to take them  

over4  ,at ,gievres1 where the great    
bakeries of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 were        
located1 the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was the center 
for the bakery units4 ,so when ,purim   
came both ,jews and non-,jews cooperated
 in baking a gigantic cake for the      
celebration4 ,the cake1 which had to be 
baked in sections1 occupied not only the
 stage but also an addition made for the
 purpose4 ,it was cut into #aj1jjj      
portions and every man in that camp     
received a slice4 ,as the crowning      
achievement of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 bakeries1
 that ,purim cake received a reputation 
of its own4  ,the ,paris office1 and    
still later the club rooms on ,rue      
,clement ,marot1 were the entertainment 
center for the ,paris district and all  
its many visitors4 ,after its formal    
opening on ,simchath ,torah1 every      
,sunday afternoon an entertainment was  
provided1 with vaudeville1 speeches or  
dancing1 concluding with the famous     
chocolate layer cake made by volunteer  
workers among the ,american women living

 in ,paris4 ,the wounded were visited in
 the nearby hospitals and usually a     
group of convalescents was present in   
the front seats at the entertainment4   
,the registrations in the big book      
served to unite many friends and        
brothers who had lost track of each     
other in the constantly moving          
wilderness of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 ,a family 
wrote in from ,kansas ,city that their  
son was complaining at not hearing from 
home2 when the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 wrote him1 it
 was his first news from home in his six
 months as a casual in ,france4 ,through
 the ,paris office and the workers in   
the field the whole immense field of    
personal service and entertainment had  
to be covered1 including much of the    
same work which was being done by the   
chaplains and in addition the furnishing
 of immense amounts of supplies which we
 and others could use up but could not  
provide4  ,during the high holydays the 
,paris clubrooms presented a remarkable 
mingling of ,jewish soldiers of all the 

allied armies4 ,mixed with the olive    
drab and the navy blue of the ,united   
,states were the ,australians with their
 hats rakishly turned up on the side1   
the gray capes of the ,italian1 the     
,french troops from ,morocco1 the       
,russian in ,cossack uniform1 and a few 
,belgians4 ,during ,chanuka1 which      
coincided with ,thanksgiving in #aiah1  
special services were held at the       
synagogue in the ,rue de la ,victoire1  
the largest in ,france4 ,the synagogue  
was crowded with ,french men and women1 
all at a high pitch of enthusiasm1 and  
with #cej ,american soldiers1 the heroes
 of the occasion4 ,the impressive       
service of the ,french rabbi was        
followed by a brilliant ,thanksgiving   
sermon by ,chaplain ,voorsanger1 who had
 been invited to come to ,paris for the 
occasion4 ,after services turkey and    
pumpkin pie were served at the club     
rooms1 and while ,i was not there that  
day1 ,i can testify that the pumpkin pie
 served at the ,jewish ,welfare ,board  

on ,new ,year's day1 #aiai1 was one of  
the most poignant reminders of the      
,united ,states during my stay abroad4  
,due to the intense pressure of the     
situation1 the actual volume of work    
done by the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was surprisingly
 large4 ,the entertainments and dances  
conducted at every center numbered fully
 #e1jjj1 with an aggregate attendance of
 #b1gej1jjj4 ,among the conspicuous     
units which toured the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 under
 ,welfare ,board auspices1 was ,who ,can
 ,tell8 the ,second ,army show1 which   
was underwritten by request of the      
,welfare ,officer and was one of the    
most elaborate of the army musical      
comedies1 with a full complement of     
chorus girls acted by husky doughboys2  
this production toured for five weeks   
and while in ,paris was seen by         
,president and ,mrs4 ,wilson4 ,there was
 the ,dovetail ,troupe1 a vaudeville    
unit which likewise went on tour4 ,and  
there was the ,tuneful ,trio1 led by    
,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,henry ,gideon of        

,boston1 which came to ,france under the
 ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 and gave many         
excellent concerts under ,j4 ,w4 ,b4    
auspices2 ,i heard one of their programs
 in ,le ,mans and felt not only the     
musical excellence of their work1 but   
also the special appeal of their program
 of ,yiddish folk songs to the ,jewish  
men2 this troupe delivered #ha concerts 
to fully #fj1jjj men4 ,the army         
educational work received much support  
in the various huts1 and two of the best
 equipped men in the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 service
 were assigned to it1 ,dr4 ,h4 ,g4      
,enelow for the ,university of ,beaune1 
and ,professor ,david ,blondheim of     
,johns ,hopkins1 for a time executive   
director of the overseas work1 for the  
,sorbonne in ,paris4 ,the bulk of the   
daily work in the huts throughout       
,france appears from the fact that      
#b1ejj1jjj letterheads were distributed 
and refreshments served without charge  
to a total of #c1jjj1jjj men4  ,the     
records of religious work are equally   

imposing1 as #a1gdj services were held1 
with a total attendance of #ahj1jjj men4
 ,the constant cooeperation with the    
chaplains meant that far more than these
 were indirectly influenced and aided4  
,eighteen thousand prayer books were    
distributed and ten thousand ,bibles4   
,on ,passover of #aiai the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4  
provided unleavened bread 7matzoth71    
which had been furnished through the    
,quartermaster ,corps1 for the ,jewish  
soldiers in the ,american forces1 as    
well as for ,french and ,russian        
soldiers4 ,the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 even provided
 matzoth for six thousand ,russian      
prisoners in ,germany during ,passover  
of #aiai4 ,at the request of the        
military officials1 the ,jewish ,welfare
 ,board took charge of welfare work for 
the sixty thousand ,russian troops in   
,france1 who had come originally as     
fighting units1 but after the withdrawal
 of ,russia from the war had been       
transferred to agricultural labor4 ,no  
other welfare agency had provided for   

them and so they were assigned to the   
,j4 ,w4 ,b4 which had a few workers who 
could speak ,russian4 ,it was rather    
ironical that these men in ,cossack     
uniform1 most of whom were non-,jews1   
received their only friendly service in 
,france at the hands of the despised    
,jew4  ,the whole work of the ,j4 ,w4   
,b4 abroad culminated in the ,passover  
of #aiai4 ,the most intense moment for  
us chaplains had come during the high   
holydays when feeling was most profound 
and suspense at its deepest and when1 in
 addition1 we had to carry the burden   
almost unaided4 ,by ,passover the       
feeling had changed1 the war was safely 
over1 the men were rejoicing at their   
imminent return home1 and we had the    
,jewish ,welfare ,board to arrange our  
celebration for us4 ,fully #cj1jjj of   
the ,jews in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 ate the    
,seder dinners furnished by the ,welfare
 ,board4 ,i have already described our  
celebration at ,le ,mans1 with its many 
features in which the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 and ,i

 worked together4 ,a similar program was
 carried out everywhere4 ,at ,dijon     
,rabbi ,schumacher of the local ,french 
synagogue1 who had been most active     
throughout in the interest of the       
,american soldiers1 led a great         
congregation of #b1jjj men through the  
rain to the synagogue for worship and   
afterward to the ,seder tables4 ,in     
,germany1 the city of ,coblenz became   
the leave area for soldiers of ,jewish  
faith and was closed for all other      
furloughs during the three days4 ,the   
,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 and the ,k4 of ,c4      
assisted in giving proper honor to the  
,jewish festival and proper pleasures to
 the ,jewish men1 and with their aid    
boat rides on the ,rhine1 entertainments
 in the ,festhalle1 and all the features
 of a full amusement program were       
provided4  ,most striking of all was the
 great ,seder at ,paris1 with its crowd 
of ,american1 ,australian1 ,english1    
,french and ,italian soldiers1 some of  
them former prisoners in ,germany1 all  

of them united in the great occasion of 
their faith4 ,among the speakers and the
 guests of honor were some of the great 
leaders of ,jewry1 as well as personal  
representatives of ,marshall ,foch and  
,general ,pershing4 ,colonel ,harry     
,cutler1 ,mr4 ,louis ,marshall1 ,judge  
,julian ,mack1 ,dr4 ,cyrus ,adler1 and  
,dr4 ,chaim ,weitzmann were there1 as   
well as many other celebrities4 ,at that
 time and in that place the highest     
honor for any man was to worship and eat
 side by side with the soldiers1 who had
 carried love of their country and      
loyalty to their faith to the last      
extreme of service and of sacrifice4    
,decoration ,day of #aiai1 which was    
observed by all ,france together with   
its ,american visitors1 was another     
important ceremony for the ,jewish      
,welfare ,board1 together with its      
,french hosts at the great synagogue on 
the ,rue de la ,victoire4 ,the sermon   
was delivered by ,rabbi ,voorsanger1 the
 service read by ,rabbi ,levy of ,paris2

 and again the great throng of          
,americans in uniform and their ,french 
friends joined in the common worship of 
their faith and the common exaltation of
 their patriotism4  ,in addition to the 
overseas commission and the men in the  
field1 several of the prominent officers
 of the ,jewish ,welfare ,board went to 
,france at various times and took       
personal part in the work4 ,the first   
was ,mr4 ,mortimer ,l4 ,schiff1 who     
spent the months of ,december #aiah and 
,january #aiai in ,france as a member of
 the commission of eleven of the ,united
 ,war ,work ,organization1 which had    
just completed its great financial      
drive4 ,in that capacity ,mr4 ,schiff   
was equally interested in all the       
welfare agencies2 naturally1 he gave the
 full benefit of his advice to the ,j4  
,w4 ,b4 ,in ,february #aiai ,colonel    
,harry ,cutler1 chairman of the ,jewish 
,welfare ,board1 came to ,france4       
,although burdened with duties for other
 organizations as well1 he accomplished 

wonders for the work of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 
during his four months in ,france4 ,his 
enthusiasm and vigor showed at once1 as 
in any matter he ever undertook4 ,he    
traveled throughout the ,a4 ,e4 ,f41    
observed conditions for himself1 and    
then accomplished two important pieces  
of work4 ,first he obtained an order    
from the ,general ,headquarters         
releasing the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 from its      
former dependence on the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4
 and allowing it to work directly in    
cooeperation with the military          
authorities2 this was certainly         
advisable under post-armistice          
conditions1 and many others felt with me
 that it would have been the preferable 
system at all times4 ,second1 he        
persuaded ,chaplain ,elkan ,c4          
,voorsanger1 then completing his second 
year overseas1 to allow his division to 
return home without him1 while he stayed
 on from ,april to ,september as        
,overseas ,director of the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4  
,together with ,chaplain ,voorsanger1   

,colonel ,cutler administered the ,j4   
,w4 ,b4 during the period of growth1 and
 then left him to carry it on           
successfully during the time of         
retrenchment1 until finally he also     
returned home with the ,paris ,staff1   
and the only representatives left in    
,france were those working in           
cooeperation with the ,graves           
,registration ,service4  ,another       
important worker for the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 was
 ,dr4 ,cyrus ,adler1 vice-chairman of   
the national organization1 who reached  
,france in ,march1 #aiai as a           
representative of the ,american ,jewish 
,committee4 ,on ,colonel ,cutler's      
return in ,may1 ,dr4 ,adler took over   
his duties for the ,welfare ,board1 and 
worked with ,chaplain ,voorsanger until 
the end of his mission1 in ,july #aiai4 
,one necessary part of the work of the  
,jewish ,welfare ,board1 after all its  
efforts on behalf of the men in the     
service had been accomplished1 was to   
care for the graves of those ,jews who  

gave their all in the service of        
,america4 ,the ,graves ,registration    
,service1 later called the ,cemeterial  
,division of the ,war ,department1 had a
 great and necessary work4 ,the ,jewish 
,welfare ,board obtained in ,february1  
#aiah a ,war ,department order that all 
graves of ,jews should be marked with   
the ,magen ,david1 the double triangle4 
,this order was confirmed by a response 
from ,general ,pershing on ,july #bi1   
#aiah4 ,temporary ,jewish headboards    
were supplied overseas1 together with   
the temporary crosses1 and whenever we  
knew definitely that a particular       
soldier had been a ,jew they were used4 
,unfortunately1 that information was not
 always available4 ,most units had no   
religious census1 certainly none was up 
to date including the replacements4 ,the
 order for marking the identification   
tag with an additional letter--,p for   
,protestant1 ,c for ,catholic1 and ,h   
for ,hebrew--was issued after most of us
 were overseas1 and hardly any of the   

tags had it2 ,i know ,i never had the ,h
 put on mine4 ,often a man would carry a
 prayerbook in his pocket1 but if the   
bodies were searched by one detail and  
buried by another that did not help4 ,i 
know that it took me three months to    
verify my list of ,jewish dead in the   
#bgth ,division1 so that one can imagine
 the task for the entire ,a4 ,e4 ,f4    
,in ,may1 #aiai1 the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4        
undertook this duty of identifying the  
,jewish graves1 so that the ,war        
,department could mark them all         
properly4 ,they have thus identified    
#a1ejj altogether and where a cross had 
already been put up the headboard was   
changed4 ,in this connection1 a peculiar
 situation arose through the efforts of 
the ,red ,cross to photograph all graves
 in ,france for the benefit of the      
families at home4 ,such graves as had   
not been identified as ,jewish still had
 the cross1 and some families had their 
religious sensibilities shocked by the  
photographs4 ,hence the photographs in  

all such cases were detained until the  
changes had been carried out1 and the   
,jewish ,welfare ,board had the graves  
photographed for the benefit of the     
families4 ,naturally1 this work is being
 continued in the funerals of such      
soldiers as are being returned and in   
the care of such graves as shall remain 
permanently where our heroes fought and 
fell4  ,the sad death of ,colonel       
,cutler occurred in ,england during the 
summer of #aibj1 on a trip which he     
undertook in the interest of the ,graves
 ,registration work1 against the advice 
of his physicians and solely through his
 profound interest in the cause4 ,his   
life was a sacrifice to his duty1 to the
 tremendous efforts he had made for the 
,jewish ,welfare ,board and the other   
great national movements of ,jewry4 ,he 
gave1 as so many others gave1 another   
sacrifice for ,judaism and ,america4    
,on the whole1 the field workers of the 
,jewish ,welfare ,board made an enviable
 record in ,france4 ,in this respect a  

minor organization had the advantage in 
being able to choose its representatives
 so much more carefully than in the     
enormous machine of the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 
,the women workers were especially      
conspicuous for their steady1           
uncomplaining service4 ,their work was  
anything but romantic2 it was driving1  
wearing labor4 ,they tended canteen all 
day and danced almost every evening1 a  
regime that was hard physically and     
exhausting mentally4 ,only those in the 
larger cities could enjoy the luxuries  
which are so commonplace in             
,america--electric lights1 a bath tub1  
and the other conveniences of           
civilization4 ,i have marveled to see   
them living for months in tiny ,french  
villages or in army camps1 giving       
devoted service to the men in uniform1  
without distinction of rank or creed4   
,through these workers the ,jewish      
,welfare ,board was able to render the  
personal touch which was missing in much
 of the war work overseas4 ,this applied

 especially to the ,jewish man1 who felt
 overjoyed to meet a ,jewish girl from  
,america1 to attend a ,seder1 to write  
home on the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 letterhead4 ,he 
had found a touch of home in a foreign  
land2 his personal needs could be       
understood and satisfied so much more   
easily and directly now4 ,but many men  
of many creeds found themselves at home 
in the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 huts4 ,men learned to
 know ,jews1 to respect ,judaism in the 
army who had been ignorant of both at   
home4 ,they often attended a ,jewish    
service1 met a ,jewish chaplain1 or     
simply preferred the home-like          
atmosphere to that of other welfare     
organizations4 ,for one thing1 the ,j4  
,w4 ,b4 was run according to the tastes 
of the soldiers2 there was no charge for
 anything1 even a nominal one2 there was
 no condescension and no dictation1 none
 of the things which the soldiers hated4
 ,in the ,le ,mans area1 which was      
typical1 from #ef to #fj per cent of the
 men patronizing the ,j4 ,w4 ,b4        

building were non-,jews4 ,this          
constituted a return for the thousands  
of ,jews who patronized ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 
and ,k4 of ,c4 huts1 as well as our     
contribution to the morale of the       
forces4  ,in some areas the ,jewish     
,welfare ,board was the most popular of 
all the welfare agencies2 in all1 it was
 very popular with the men of all       
faiths4 ,the high caliber of the women  
workers1 the personal touch and         
home-like spirit of the work1 gave it a 
hold on the affections of the men4 ,for 
a long time the ,jewish soldiers had    
felt neglected by their own1 not knowing
 the obstacles which had to be overcome4
 ,then they found their own huts1       
suddenly springing up in all the central
 points1 crowded and popular with all   
the groups of soldiers in ,america's    
composite army4 ,the ,jewish soldier    
became proud and the ,christian soldier 
became appreciative4 ,the excellence of 
the work brought forgiveness for        
everything1 even though the soldier was 

not used to listening to reasons but    
formed his opinions quickly from the    
facts nearest at hand4 ,the contribution
 through happiness and unity to the     
morale of the ,american ,expeditionary  
,forces was one that did full justice to
 the eagerness and good will of the     
,jews of ,america4     ,,chapter ,,viii 
,,the ,,jew ,,as ,a ,,soldier   ,the    
,jewish soldier demands no defense and  
needs no tribute4 ,his deeds are written
 large in the history of every unit in  
the ,a4 ,e4 ,f42 they are preserved in  
the memory of his comrades of other     
races and other faiths4 ,he was one with
 all ,american soldiers1 for in the     
service men of every type and of every  
previous standpoint were much alike1    
under the same orders1 holding the same 
ideals1 with similar responses and      
similar accomplishments4 ,the ,jew was  
an ,american soldier--that really covers
 the story4 ,for historical purposes1   
however1 a further statement of numbers1
 honors1 personalities1 may be worth    

while4 ,the ,jew was in the ,american   
army1 as in all the allied armies1      
because he exists among the population  
of every land4 ,the studies made in     
various lands show that over #ijj1jjj   
,jews fought in the ,world ,war         
altogether1 of whom over #hj1jjj were   
killed in action or died of wounds4 ,in 
the ,british forces casualties included 
the names of #h1fjj ,jews1 and in the   
,french forces1 out of less than a      
hundred thousand ,jewish population in  
the nation1 #b1bjj were killed in the   
service4 ,these figures1 picked         
practically at random from enormous     
masses of similar material1 tend to show
 the participation of ,jews in every    
army1 just as they participate          
everywhere in the national life4  ,in   
the ,american forces the ,jewish soldier
 ranked with the best2 he was an        
,american soldier1 and there is no      
higher praise than that4 ,with all the  
panegyrics on the ,american doughboy    
during and since the war1 not enough has

 been said or can ever be said about    
him4 ,his good humor1 his self          
sacrifice1 his heroism1 won the         
affection and the admiration of every   
one4 ,his officers loved him2 his       
enemies respected him2 his allies       
regarded him with mingled enthusiasm and
 patronage4 ,they loved his youthful    
dash and were amused at his youthful    
unsophistication2 at the same time they 
were profoundly grateful for his        
forgetfulness of self when the time for 
action came4 ,i have mentioned some of  
the incidents in my own experience1     
illustrating the magnificent courage and
 abandon of ,americans at the front--the
 youngster who came to the aid post     
seriously gassed but proud that he had  
stayed on duty the longest of any man in
 his company2 the weary boys on the brow
 of a hill1 digging in for the fourth   
time in a day of advances and fighting2 
the little ,italian who stood on the    
edge of the shell hole that his comrades
 might advance--but the number and the  

variety of them was endless4 ,reading a 
list of the dry1 official citations for 
decorations is like opening a mediaeval 
romance of the deeds of knightly heroes4
 ,there was ,captain ,ireland who came  
to our aid post to have his wounds      
dressed and then started out without    
waiting for the ambulance4 ,where are   
you going1 ,captain8 ,i asked4 ,oh1 back
 to the boys1 was the answer1 ,i'm the  
only officer left in the battalion1 and 
,i don't want to leave them4 ,there was 
the chaplain's orderly1 himself a       
student for the ministry1 who           
voluntarily organized a stretcher party 
to bring in some wounded men out beyond 
the barbed wire4 ,every type of heroism 
and self sacrifice existed1 all carried 
off with the good humored bravado of    
school boys at a football game4  ,among 
these heroes the ,jewish soldiers were  
equal to the best1 as their comrades and
 commanders were quick to recognize4 ,a 
typical attitude toward them was that of
 a lieutenant colonel1 telling me a     

story of his first battle1 when we were 
on shipboard coming back home4 ,i was   
rather nervous about that first time    
under fire1 he told me1 because ,i had a
 number of foreign boys in one company  
and didn't know how they might behave4  
,among them was a little ,jew who was   
medical man of the company1 carrying    
bandages instead of weapons1 but going  
over the top with the others1 a restless
 fellow1 always breaking orders and     
getting into trouble of some kind or    
another4 ,and when ,i came to that      
company on the front line the first     
thing ,i saw was that little ,jew       
jumping out of a shell hole and starting
 for the rear as fast as he could run4  
,i pulled my revolver1 ready to shoot   
him rather than have an example of      
cowardice set for the rest4 ,but ,i was 
surprised to see him turn aside suddenly
 and jump into another shell hole1 and  
when ,i went over there ,i found him    
hard at work bandaging up another       
wounded soldier4 ,he was simply doing   

his duty under fire1 absolutely without 
sign of fear as he tended the boys who  
were hurt4 ,i was sorry ,i had misjudged
 him so badly and watched his work after
 that1 with the result that ,i was later
 able to recommend him for a decoration4
  ,ignorance1 suspicion1 ripening with  
knowledge into understanding and        
admiration--that was the usual course of
 events4 ,i quote ,colonel ,whittlesey1 
commander of the famous ,lost ,battalion
 of the #cjhth ,infantry1 a ,new ,york  
unit with a very large proportion of    
,jews3 ,as to the ,jewish boys in the   
,battalion1 ,i cannot recall many of    
them by name1 but certain figures stand 
out simply because they are so          
unexpected4 ,the ordinary run of        
soldiers1 whether ,jews1 ,irish1 or     
,americans--the big1 husky chaps who    
simply do what they are expected to     
do--naturally pass from our memory4 ,it 
is the odd figures who stick in your    
mind4 ,there was one chap for example   
7,herschkovitz was his name7 who seemed 

the worst possible material from which  
to make soldier-stuff4 ,he was          
thick-set1 stupid looking1 extremely    
foreign1 thoroughly ,east ,side1 and    
yet1 one day when we were holding the   
bank of the ,vesle1 and it became       
necessary to send runners to communicate
 with our commands1 ,herschkovitz was   
the only man who volunteered for the    
job4 ,it was a nasty physical job4 ,it  
would have been a difficult thing if it 
had not been under fire1 because it     
meant cutting through under-brush1 up   
hill and down hill4 ,under fire this    
became almost impossible1 and the boys  
knew it1 so none of them cared for the  
job1 but ,herschkovitz made the trip    
four times that day4 ,what was it8      
,well1 just plain pluck1 that's all4    
,there were a great many fellows of this
 type--,east ,siders of whom the regular
 army men expected nothing at all--but  
the #ggth ,division just seemed equal to
 anything4444  ,in the same unit was    
,private ,abraham ,krotoshinsky1 who was

 awarded the ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 for bearing the
 message which informed the division of 
the exact location of the unit1 and was 
instrumental in releasing them4         
,krotoshinsky was an immigrant boy1 not 
yet a citizen1 a barber by trade4 ,his  
own words give the story simply enough3 
,we began to be afraid the division had 
forgotten us or that they had given us  
up for dead4 ,we had to get a messenger 
through4 ,it meant almost certain death1
 we were all sure1 because over a       
hundred and fifty men had gone away and 
never come back4 ,but it had to be done4
 ,the morning of the fifth day they     
called for volunteers for courier4 ,i   
volunteered and was accepted4 ,i went   
because ,i thought ,i ought to4 ,first  
of all ,i was lucky enough not to be    
wounded4 ,second1 after five days of    
starving1 ,i was stronger than many of  
my friends who were twice my size4 ,you 
know a ,jew finds strength to suffer4   
,third1 because ,i would just as soon   
die trying to help the others as in the 

'pocket' of hunger and thirst4  ,i got  
my orders and started4 ,i had to run    
about thirty feet in plain view of the  
,germans before ,i got into the forest4 
,they saw me when ,i got up and fired   
everything they had at me4 ,then ,i had 
to crawl right through their lines4     
,they were looking for me everywhere4 ,i
 just moved along on my stomach1 in the 
direction ,i was told1 keeping my eyes  
open for them4444 ,it was almost six    
o'clock that night when ,i saw the      
,american lines4 ,all that day ,i had   
been crawling or running doubled up     
after five days and nights without food 
and practically nothing to drink4 ,then 
my real trouble began4 ,i was coming    
from the direction of the ,german lines 
and my ,english is none too good4 ,i was
 afraid they would shoot me for a       
,german before ,i could explain who ,i  
was4444 ,then the ,captain asked me who 
,i was4 ,i told him ,i was from the     
,lost ,battalion4 ,then he asked me     
whether ,i could lead him back to the   

battalion4 ,i said1 ',yes4' ,they gave  
me a bite to eat and something to drink 
and after a little rest ,i started back 
again with the command4 ,i will never   
forget the scene when the relief came4  
,the men were like crazy with joy4  ,in 
high position and in low the same kind  
of service came from the ,american ,jew4
 ,this is the official citation of a    
,colonel1 who is in civil life one of   
the prominent ,jews of ,chicago1        
,illinois3  ,colonel ,abel ,davis1      
#acbnd ,infantry4 ,for extraordinary    
heroism in action near ,consenvoye1     
,france1 ,october #i1 #aiah4 ,upon      
reaching its objective1 after a         
difficult advance1 involving two changes
 of directions1 ,colonel ,davis's       
regiment was subjected to a determined  
enemy counterattack4 ,disregarding the  
heavy shell and machine-gun fire1       
,colonel ,davis personally assumed      
command and by his fearless leadership  
and courage the enemy was driven back4  
,judge ,robert ,s4 ,marx of ,cincinnati1

 ,ohio1 is now national president of the
 ,disabled ,veterans of the ,world ,war 
and a member of the national committee  
on hospitalization and vocational       
education of the ,american ,legion4 ,but
 in #aiag and '#ah he was ,captain ,marx
 of the #ijth ,division1 operations     
officer of his regiment during the ,st4 
,mihiel and ,argonne offensives1 and    
reported dead on the day before the     
armistice1 when he was struck on the    
head and wounded severely4 ,and on the  
other extreme1 ,i notice the case of    
,first ,sergeant ,sam ,dreben of the    
#adast ,infantry1 a soldier of fortune  
in many revolutions and a member of the 
,regular ,army in the ,philippines      
several years ago4 ,discovering a party 
of ,germans coming to the support of a  
dangerous machine-gun nest1 ,sergeant   
,dreben with thirty men charged the     
,german position1 killed forty of the   
enemy1 took several prisoners1 and      
captured five machine guns1 returning to
 his own lines without losing a man4    

,for this daring and important act he   
was awarded the ,d4 ,s4 ,c4  ,of the    
various types of distinction emphasized 
during the war1 all were as true of     
,jews as of any other group4 ,numerous  
cases exist where four or more members  
of a single family were in the service4 
,there was the ,fleshner family1 of     
,springfield1 ,mass41 from which four   
sons of an immigrant father and mother  
entered the service1 the oldest of them 
only twenty-three4 ,the oldest of these 
boys lost an arm and an eye while       
carrying ammunition through a barrage1  
but exclaimed later in the hospital3    
,i'm the luckiest ,jew in the army4 ,any
 other man in my place would have been  
killed4  ,the ,new ,york ,herald during 
the war described an indefatigable ,red 
,cross worker1 ,mrs4 ,louis ,rosenberg  
of ,north ,bergen1 ,n4 ,j4 ,this old    
,jewish mother had six sons in the      
service2 the two oldest1 each the father
 of two children1 when summoned for the 
draft refused to claim exemption1 and   

having invested their savings in two    
small notion stores1 they left their    
wives in charge of them and accepted the
 call to military service4 ,mrs4 ,liba  
,goldstein1 of ,cambridge ,springs1     
,pa41 a woman of eighty-four1 born in   
,russia1 had twenty grandsons in the    
allied armies1 ten as officers in the   
,british army1 eight in the ,american   
forces1 and two with the ,jewish ,legion
 in ,palestine4 ,and so one might bring 
out one example after another1 if one   
desired1 all showing the eagerness of   
loyal ,jews to serve their country4     
,the ,office of ,jewish ,war ,records of
 the ,american ,jewish ,committee has   
made a remarkably interesting           
preliminary study of the number of ,jews
 in the ,american forces4 ,the office   
possesses #aej1jjj individual records1  
gathered by extensive cooeperation with 
national and local ,jewish              
organizations4 ,the success of certain  
local efforts at intensive covering of  
the field indicate that the total number

 of ,american ,jews in service during   
the ,war may amount to as much as       
#bjj1jjj4 ,of these about #dj1jjj came  
from ,new ,york ,city1 #h1jjj from      
,philadelphia and #e1jjj from ,chicago4 
,instead of their quota of three per    
cent41 according to the proportion of   
,jews throughout the nation1 the ,jews  
in service actually constituted fully   
four per cent4 of the men in the army   
and navy4 ,the causes of this excess are
 not easy to establish4 ,the draft may  
have been more fully enforced in cities 
than in many rural districts1 and the   
bulk of the ,jews are city dwellers4    
,the proportion of young men among the  
various groups of our population would  
apply only if the ,jews have more than  
their quota of young men1 and we possess
 no facts to confirm that4 ,but         
certainly the number of volunteers was  
an element in causing this large number 
of ,jews in the service4 ,the records   
show #dj1jjj volunteers among the       
,jewish men1 practically one-fourth of  

the total ,jewish contingent and a far  
higher record than that of the army as a
 whole4  ,in certain outstanding cases  
this record is even more conspicuous4   
,the little colony of immigrant ,jewish 
farmers at ,woodbine1 ,n4 ,j41 not over 
three hundred families altogether1      
contributed forty-three men to the      
service1 of whom seventeen men1 or forty
 per cent41 were volunteers4 ,of the    
students at the rabbinical seminaries1  
who were all exempt by law1 a           
conspicuously large number volunteered  
for service in the line1 in addition to 
the chaplains among the graduates and   
the large number of both students and   
graduates who acted as representatives  
of the ,jewish ,welfare ,board1         
lecturers in the training camps and     
similar capacities4 ,in fact1 the       
seminaries were almost empty for a year4
 ,eleven students of the ,hebrew ,union 
,college and four of the ,jewish        
,theological ,seminary waived exemption 
for regular service in the army and     

navy1 including a number of men with    
very exceptional records4 ,jacob        
,marcus1 now ,rabbi and ,instructor at  
the ,hebrew ,union ,college1 volunteered
 in the ,ohio ,national ,guard and won  
his lieutenancy by brilliant work in the
 ranks4 ,three of the students there    
entered the ,marine ,corps during the   
first weeks of the war and served for   
over two years in that branch4 ,one1    
,michael ,aaronson1 serving in the #cast
 ,division overseas1 was completely     
blinded while helping a wounded comrade 
in ,no ,man's ,land2 now he is finishing
 his studies at the ,college with the   
same spirit which he showed in entering 
the service and in his work as a        
soldier4  ,the ,jewish boys went into   
the army to fight4 ,that appears in     
their proportion in the combatant       
branches of the ,american ,expeditionary
 ,forces4 ,while these                  
branches--,infantry1 ,artillery1        
,cavalry1 ,engineers1 and               
,signal-,aviation--constituted #fj per  

cent4 of the total1 among the #aad1jjj  
records of ,jewish soldiers in the hands
 of the ,war ,records ,office the       
distribution among these combatant      
branches is fully #ge per cent4 ,the    
,infantry constituted #bf4f per cent4 of
 the entire army1 while among the       
,jewish records it constituted #dh per  
cent4 ,artillery was #ad per cent4 of   
the ,united ,states army1 #h per cent4  
of the ,jewish total4 ,in cavalry the   
rate for the entire army was #b per     
cent41 for the ,jews only #a4c per cent4
 ,the engineer corps contributed #aa per
 cent4 of the army strength1 and but #c 
per cent4 among the ,jewish records4    
,the signal and aviation corps          
represented #g per cent4 of the ,united 
,states total1 and #ae per cent4 of the 
,jewish total4 ,the medical corps was #h
 per cent4 of the army total1 #i per    
cent4 of the ,jewish total4 ,ordnance   
was #a4g per cent4 of the army total1   
and #a4e of the ,jewish total4 ,the     
quartermaster corps was #f4b per cent4  

of the army total and #e4i per cent4 of 
the ,jewish total4  ,the ,army1 ,navy   
and ,marine ,corps altogether had nearly
 #aj1jjj ,jews as commissioned officers1
 and a really tremendous number of      
non-commissioned officers4 ,the ,army   
records show more than a hundred        
colonels and lieutenant colonels of     
,jewish faith1 including such           
distinguished officers as ,colonel ,abel
 ,davis1 whom ,i have already mentioned 
in connection with his ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 for  
heroism displayed on ,october #i1 #aiah2
 ,colonel ,nathan ,horowitz1 of ,boston1
 ,mass4 who spent #bg months in ,france 
in the heavy artillery2 ,colonel ,samuel
 ,frankenberger1 of ,charleston1 ,w4    
,va41 who commanded the #ghth ,field    
,artillery2 ,colonel ,samuel ,j4        
,kopetzky1 ,medical ,corps1 of ,new     
,york ,city1 who commanded ,sanitary    
,train #cif1 in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f42 and    
,colonel ,max ,robert ,wainer1          
,quartermaster ,corps1 formerly of      
,delaware ,city1 ,del41 who was awarded 

the ,distinguished ,service ,medal and  
appointed a ,chevalier of the ,legion of
 ,honor by the ,french government4      
,these honors were but the climax to a  
military career that began with         
enlistment as a private in #aije1 and   
promotion to the rank of ,second        
,lieutenant in #aiab4 ,in the war every 
one of the four battles in which he took
 part was the occasion of a further     
promotion1 so that he concluded the war 
as a ,colonel4 ,i have already mentioned
 ,colonel ,wainer in another connection1
 as the first active ,jewish worker at  
,tours2 as a matter of fact1 he         
organized a ,seder in his own unit in   
#aiah1 where #ejj men celebrated the    
,passover at the same time that         
,chaplain ,voorsanger was holding his   
,seder at ,st4 ,nazaire1 and when       
practically no other ,jewish work was   
being conducted in the entire overseas  
forces4  ,there were over #ejj majors1  
#a1ejj captains1 and more than #f1jjj   
lieutenants in the ,american army1 with 

a full share of each in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 
,over #ijj ,jews were officers in the   
navy1 the most conspicuous of them being
 ,rear ,admiral ,joseph ,strauss1 in    
command of the mine laying work in the  
,north ,sea during the war4 ,in addition
 there were one captain1 five commanders
 and twelve lieutenant commanders4 ,the 
marine corps included among its         
personnel over a hundred ,jews as       
officers1 among them three majors1 one  
colonel1 and ,brigadier-,general        
,charles ,henry ,laucheimer of          
,baltimore1 ,md41 who died in ,january  
#aibj4  ,the latest estimates of        
casualties run from #ac1jjj to #ad1jjj1 
including about #b1hjj who died in the  
service of ,america4 ,this can be       
inferred easily from the branches of the
 service in which our ,jewish boys were 
found1 as well as from the number of    
honors they received4 ,after all1 for   
every brave man whose acts were noted   
and rewarded1 many others just as heroic
 fought and bled unseen4  ,the number of

 ,jews decorated for conspicuous courage
 is attested1 not only by the ,office of
 ,war ,records1 but also by the ,jewish 
,valor ,legion1 an organization of      
,american ,jews who received such awards
 during the ,world ,war4 ,fully #a1ajj  
citations for valor are on record4 ,of  
these1 #gbc were conferred by the       
,american command1 #bhg by the ,french1 
#cc by the ,british1 and #df by other   
allied commands4 ,the ,distinguished    
,service ,cross is worn by #aej         
,american ,jews1 the ,french ,medaille  
,militaire by four1 and the ,croix de   
,guerre by #agd4 ,the ,congressional    
,medal of ,honor1 the rarest award in   
the ,american or any other service1     
which was conferred on only #gh men in  
the entire service1 is worn by three    
,american ,jews1 one of them killed in  
the act for which he was rewarded4 ,i   
add their official citations1 not only  
for their personal interest1 but as an  
added tribute to these three heroes1 a  
glory both to ,jewry and to ,america4   

,sydney ,g4 ,gumpertz1 first sergeant1  
,company ,e1 #acbnd ,infantry4          
,congressional ,medal of ,honor for     
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity   
above and beyond the call of duty in    
action with the enemy in the ,bois de   
,forges1 ,france1 ,september #bf1 #aiah4
 ,when the advancing line was held up by
 machine-gun fire1 ,sergeant ,gumpertz  
left the platoon of which he was in     
command and started with two other      
soldiers through a heavy barrage toward 
the machine-gun nest4 ,his two          
companions soon became casualties from a
 bursting shell1 but ,sergeant ,gumpertz
 continued on alone in the face of      
direct fire from the machine-gun1 jumped
 into the nest and silenced the gun1    
capturing nine of the crew4 ,awarded    
,january #bb1 #aiai4  ,first ,sergeant  
,benjamin ,kaufman1 ,company ,k1 #cjhth 
,infantry1 ,congressional ,medal of     
,honor for conspicuous gallantry and    
intrepidity above and beyond the call of
 duty in action with the enemy in the   

,forest of ,argonne1 ,france1 ,october  
#d1 #aiah4 ,sergeant ,kaufman took out a
 patrol for the purpose of attacking an 
enemy machine-gun which had checked the 
advance of his company4 ,before reaching
 the gun he became separated from his   
patrol1 and a machine-gun bullet        
shattered his right arm4 ,without       
hesitation he advanced on the gun alone1
 throwing grenades with his left hand   
and charging with an empty pistol1      
taking one prisoner and scattering the  
crew1 bringing the gun and prisoner back
 to the first aid station4 ,awarded     
,april #h1 #aiai4  ,sergeant ,william   
,sawelson1 deceased1 ,company ,m1 #cabth
 ,infantry1 ,congressional ,medal of    
,honor awarded for conspicuous gallantry
 and intrepidity above and beyond the   
call of duty in action with the enemy at
 ,grandpre1 ,france1 ,october #bf1      
#aiah4 ,hearing a wounded man in a      
shell-hole some distance away calling   
for water1 ,sergeant ,sawelson upon his 
own initiative left shelter and crawled 

through heavy machine-gun fire to where 
the man lay1 giving him what water he   
had in his own canteen4 ,he then went   
back to his own shell-hole1 obtained    
more water and was returning to the     
wounded man1 when he was killed by a    
machine-gun bullet4 ,posthumously       
awarded ,january #aj1 #aiai4  ,the #bgth
 ,division1 in which ,i served1 was     
fairly typical in this respect1 as it   
was a ,national ,guard unit1 composed of
 volunteers from both the ,new ,york    
metropolitan district and up-state4     
,there were about a thousand ,jews in   
the entire division and seven hundred of
 them were in the infantry1 machine-gun 
battalions and engineers1 which served  
together4 ,i did not find a company     
without from two to thirty ,jewish      
soldiers1 and seldom without at least   
one ,jew among the non-commissioned     
officers4 ,i remember the time ,i       
motored over to one battalion to        
organize a ,jewish service and inquired 
for a ,jewish non-com to take charge of 

getting the boys together4 ,i was told  
that three top sergeants out of the four
 companies were named ,levi1 ,cohen and 
,pesalovsky1 and that ,i could take my  
choice4 ,the same thing occurred time   
and again when ,i visited other         
divisions4 ,for example1 ,sergeant      
,major ,wayne of the #cbjth ,infantry   
prepared the ,passover passes for the   
#dj ,jews of his regiment1 then in the  
,le ,mans area1 but missed the ,seder   
himself1 staying at his post of duty to 
prepare the regimental sailing list4    
,the #bgth ,division had several ,jews  
among the officers of high              
rank--,lieutenant ,colonel ,h4 ,s4      
,sternberger1 the division              
quartermaster2 ,lieutenant ,colonel     
,morris ,liebman1 killed in action in   
,flanders2 ,major 7later ,lieutenant    
,colonel7 ,emanuel ,goldstein1 ,medical 
,corps1 who was awarded the ,d4 ,s4 ,o4 
by the ,british command1 one of four    
such decorations given to officers of   
our division4 ,captain ,simpson of the  

#ajfth ,field ,artillery1 ,lieutenant   
,king of the office of the division     
chief of staff1 #bnd ,lieutenant ,samuel
 ,a4 ,brown of the #ajhth ,infantry1    
#bnd ,lieutenant ,sternberger of the    
,interpreters' ,corps and #bnd          
,lieutenant ,florsheim of the division  
quartermaster's office were among the   
officers of ,jewish origin4 ,in         
addition1 there were a few1 such as     
,sergeant ,schiff of the #ajbnd         
,engineers and ,sergeant ,struck of     
division headquarters1 who were         
recommended for commissions for their   
excellent service but were disappointed 
on account of the stoppage of all       
promotions after the armistice4  ,i     
mentioned in connection with my own work
 the list of sixty-five ,jews of the    
#bgth who were killed in action or died 
in hospitals in ,france1 their full     
proportion of the nearly #b1jjj dead of 
the division4 ,the first man in the     
#bgth who was killed in action was a    
,jew1 ,private ,robert ,friedman of the 

#ajbnd ,engineers4 ,most of our losses1 
like those of the division as a whole1  
were incurred in the terrific fighting  
at the ,hindenburg ,line1 and most of   
our men were buried there in the great  
divisional cemeteries of ,bony and      
,guillemont ,farm1 right at the furthest
 point which they reached alive4 ,the   
cemetery of ,bony is to be one of the   
permanent ,american cemeteries in       
,france1 and ,i can still see the ,magen
 ,davids standing here and there among  
the rows of crosses1 where ,i had them  
placed4  ,the ,jews of the #bgth won    
their full share of decorations1 too4   
,nine of them wear the ,distinguished   
,service ,cross conferred by the        
,american command2 one1 the ,british    
honor of the ,distinguished ,service    
,order2 one1 the ,british ,distinguished
 ,conduct ,medal2 seven1 the ,british   
,military ,medal2 one1 the ,french      
,croix de ,guerre with star2 and one1   
the ,belgian ,order of the ,crown4      
,eliminating cases where one man        

received several such honors1 fifteen   
,jews of this one division alone were   
decorated for unusual courage and       
initiative in battle4 ,i add the        
official citations of four of these men 
as further examples of the heroism of   
the ,jewish soldiers in the ,american   
forces4  ,major ,emanuel ,goldstein1    
,medical ,corps1 #ajbnd ,engineers4 ,d4 
,s4 ,o41 ,belgian ,order of the ,crown4 
,on ,sept4 #bi1 #aiah1 in the vicinity  
of ,lompire and ,guillemont ,farm near  
,ronssoy1 ,france1 he remained in the   
most exposed positions under heavy shell
 fire and machine-gun fire1 to render   
first aid to several wounded men1       
displaying exceptional bravery and      
courage1 and setting a fine example of  
devotion to duty to all ranks4  ,second 
,lieutenant ,samuel ,a4 ,brown ,jr41    
#ajhth ,infantry4 ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 awarded   
for extraordinary heroism in action near
 ,ronssoy1 ,france1 ,sept4 #bi1 #aiah4  
,advancing with his platoon through     
heavy fog and dense smoke and in the    

face of terrific fire which inflicted   
heavy casualties on his forces1         
,lieutenant ,brown reached the wire in  
front of the main ,hindenburg ,line1    
and1 after reconnoitering for gaps1     
assaulted the position and effected a   
foothold4 ,having been reenforced by    
another platoon1 he organized a small   
force1 and by bombing and trench        
fighting captured over a hundred        
prisoners4 ,repeated attacks throughout 
the day were repelled by his small      
force4 ,he also succeeded in taking four
 field pieces1 a large number of machine
 guns1 anti-tank rifles1 and other      
military property1 at the same time     
keeping in subjection the prisoners he  
had taken4  ,corporal ,abel ,j4 ,levine1
 ,company ,a1 #ajgth ,infantry4 ,for    
extraordinary heroism in action near    
,bony1 ,france1 ,sept4 #bi1 #aiah4      
,after his platoon had suffered heavy   
casualties and all the sergeants had    
been wounded1 ,corporal ,levine         
collected the remaining effectives in   

his own and other units1 formed a       
platoon and continued the advance4 ,when
 his rifle was rendered useless he      
killed several of the enemy with his    
pistol4 ,he was wounded shortly         
afterward1 but he refused assistance    
until his men had been cared for and    
evacuated4 ,corporal ,levine received   
the ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 and the ,british ,d4 ,c4
 ,m4  ,private ,morris ,silverberg1     
,company ,g1 #ajhth ,infantry4 ,for     
extraordinary heroism in action near    
,ronssoy1 ,france1 ,sept4 #bi1 #aiah4   
,private ,silverberg1 a stretcher       
bearer1 displayed extreme courage by    
repeatedly leaving shelter and advancing
 over an area swept by machine-gun and  
shell fire to rescue wounded comrades4  
,hearing that his company commander had 
been wounded1 he voluntarily went       
forward alone1 and upon finding that his
 officer had been killed1 brought back  
his body4 ,private ,silverberg received 
both the ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 and the ,british   
,m4 ,m4  ,one more point must be noted  

with regard to these ,jewish boys who   
served ,america so bravely and so       
effectively4 ,many of them showed in    
their sacrifices the true ,jewish spirit
 of ,kiddush ha-,shem1 sanctification of
 the name of ,god4 ,time and again have 
,i heard men give such a turn to their  
speech1 as when ,i asked a boy from one 
of our machine gun battalions why he had
 led a group of volunteers in bringing  
from an exposed position some wounded   
men of another regiment1 an act in which
 the only other ,jew in the company had 
been killed and for which my friend was 
later decorated4 ,well1 chaplain1 he    
answered me1 there were only two ,jewish
 boys in the company and we'd been      
kidded about it a little4 ,we just      
wanted to show those fellows what a ,jew
 could do4 ,dr4 ,enelow tells a similar 
story of a boy dying in a hospital1 who 
gave the rabbi a last message to his    
parents1 saying3 ,tell them ,i did my   
duty as a soldier and brought honor to  
the ,jewish name4  ,once again1 in the  

,american forces during the ,world ,war1
 the ,jew has proved himself a devoted  
patriot and a heroic soldier1 and this  
time he has done so in broad daylight1  
before the eyes of all the world4       
,,chapter ,,ix  ,,jew ,,and ,,christian 
,,at ,,the ,,front   ,to those of us who
 served with the ,united ,states ,army  
overseas1 religious unity1 cooeperation 
between denominations1 is more than a   
far-off ideal4 ,we know under what      
circumstances and to what extent it is  
feasible1 and just how it deepens and   
broadens the religious spirit in both   
chaplain and soldier4 ,we have passed   
beyond the mutual tolerance of the older
 liberalism to the mutual helpfulness of
 the newer devoutness4 ,our common      
ground is no longer the irreducible     
minimum of doctrines which we share2 it 
is the practical maximum of service     
which we can render together4 ,i was in 
a critical position to experience this  
as the only ,jewish chaplain in the     
,twenty-,seventh ,division2 my duty was 

to minister to the men of the ,jewish   
faith throughout the various units of   
our division1 with the friendly         
cooeperation of the twenty other        
chaplains of various faiths4 ,and ,i was
 able to do my work among the ,jews1 and
 to a certain extent among the          
,christians also1 simply because these  
,protestant and ,catholic chaplains were
 equally friendly and helpful to me and 
my scattered flock4 ,not by mutual      
tolerance but by mutual helpfulness we  
were able to serve together the         
thousands of soldiers who needed us all4
  ,it is a commonplace that as men grow 
acquainted they naturally learn to      
respect and to like one another4 ,when a
 ,jew from the ,east ,side of ,new      
,york1 who had never known any          
,christian well except the corner       
policeman1 and a ,kentucky mountaineer1 
who had been reared with the idea that  
,jews have horns1 were put into the same
 squad both of them were bound to be    
broadened by it4 ,and1 provided both of 

them were normal1 average boys1 as they 
were likely to be1 they probably became 
buddies to the great advantage of both  
of them4 ,often such associations would 
bring about the sort of a friendship    
which death itself could not break4     
,one of the ,jewish chaplains tells an  
incident of the first night he spent in 
the training camp at ,camp ,taylor1 ,ky4
 ,the candidate for chaplain in the cot 
next to his was a lanky backwoods       
preacher from one of the southern       
,states4 ,the two met1 introduced       
themselves by name and denomination1 and
 then prepared to turn in for the night4
 ,the rabbi noticed that his ministerial
 neighbor sat about1 hesitated1 and     
played for time generally1 even though  
it was fully time to turn out the       
lights4 ,finally the matter became so   
obvious that he could not resist        
inquiring the reason for this delay4    
,the answer came1 a bit embarrassed but 
certainly frank enough3 ,i don't want to
 go to bed till ,i see how a ,jew says  

his prayers4  ,on the whole1 considering
 the many individual differences in an  
army of two million men1 religious      
prejudice was not engendered by the     
army2 some persisted in spite of it1 and
 much was lessened by the comradeship   
and enforced intimacy of army life4 ,in 
most commands prejudice against the ,jew
 was a very small item indeed4 ,it was  
so rare as to be almost non-existent in 
places of responsibility4 ,it was often 
overcome by the acid test of battle when
 men appeared in their true colors and  
won respect for themselves alone4 ,it   
was occasionally the fault of the man   
himself1 who turned a personal matter   
into an accusation of anti-,semitism1   
and sometimes without cause4 ,one       
,jewish corporal complained to me of    
discrimination on the part of his       
commanding officer1 who had recommended 
his reduction to the ranks4 ,on         
investigation1 ,i found that the officer
 might have been unfair in his judgment1
 but had recommended the same for two   

non-,jews at the same time2 the case may
 therefore have been one of personal    
dislike but was certainly not a matter  
of religious prejudice4 ,when ,i found  
authentic cases of discrimination1 they 
were usually in the case of some        
ignorant non-commissioned officer1 who  
presumed on his scanty authority at the 
expense of some ,jewish private4 ,or it 
might be a sort of hazing1 when a group 
of rough necks selected a foreigner with
 a small command of ,english as the butt
 of their jokes4 ,when men complain of  
prejudice against ,jews in the army1 it 
usually means that they met there a     
group of prejudiced people with whom    
they would not have come into contact in
 civil life4 ,the tendency of the       
,american army during the ,world ,war   
was definitely against prejudice of any 
kind2 prejudice made against efficiency1
 and the higher one went the more       
difficult it became to find any traces  
of it4  ,in the army and especially in  
overseas service men went naturally to  

the nearest chaplain or welfare         
organization for any benefit except     
worship1 and sometimes for that also4   
,from my first religious service in a   
hospital with the crowd of non-,jews and
 sprinkling of ,jews in the ,red ,cross 
room1 ,i found that the men went to the 
entertainment hut for whatever it might 
offer4 ,every large service afterward1  
especially if held in a convenient      
place1 included a proportion of         
non-,jews1 and invariably they were both
 respectful and interested4  ,the burial
 work of the ,twenty-,seventh ,division 
at ,st4 ,souplet was the climax of      
cooeperation among chaplains1 where the 
five of us represented five different   
churches4 ,our service was a three-fold 
one1 as was the later one held at the   
larger cemeteries at ,bony and          
,guillemont ,farm4 ,i have already      
referred to the meetings held by the    
chaplains of our division to discuss our
 common work and arrange to do that work
 most effectively together4 ,my very    

last duty in ,france was to read the    
burial service over four ,christian     
sailors drowned outside ,brest harbor4  
,such incidents as these were not       
exceptional at the front or among men   
who have been at the front and have     
learned its lesson2 ,i give them        
especially because they are typical4    
,the men who were under fire together   
grew to overlook differences as barriers
 between man and man4 ,they knew the    
many times that their lives depended on 
the courage and loyalty of the next man 
in the line--be he rich or poor1 learned
 or ignorant1 pious or infidel1 virtuous
 or wicked4 ,they grew to respect men   
for themselves1 to serve them for       
themselves alone4 ,the men used any     
stationery that came to hand1 writing   
home indifferently on paper labeled ,y4 
,m4 ,c4 ,a4 or ,k4 of ,c41 or ,salvation
 ,army1 or ,red ,cross1 or ,jewish      
,welfare ,board2 they attended a picture
 show or boxing match under any auspices
 and were willing to help at any of the 

huts that served them4 ,in the same way 
the welfare workers and chaplains       
overlooked one distinction after        
another1 at the end serving all alike   
and regarding their status as soldiers  
alone4 ,once when ,i dropped into a     
strange camp two boys whom ,i had never 
seen crowded through the press of men in
 the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 hut2 they had seen 
the insignia of the #bgth1 and being    
fresh from hospital1 appealed to me to  
help them back to the division that they
 might return home with their own units4
 ,i was never surprised when non-,jews  
came to me for advice in ordinary cases1
 but ,i have had such extreme instances 
as a ,jew and non-,jew coming together1 
to ask advice in a case where both felt 
they had been discriminated against by  
their commanding officer4 ,in hospital  
work1 in front line service1 even in the
 ordinary routine of the rest area1 we  
came closer to one another than ever in 
civil life4  ,as ,i said above1 the     
logical climax of friendly cooeperation 

comes when ministers of different faiths
 assist each other in their own work4 ,i
 shall never forget a day in that busy  
,october at the front when ,i met a     
,baptist chaplain belonging to our      
division4 ,hello1 he said1 ,i've just   
come to headquarters here to look for   
you and a priest4 ,all right1 what can  
,i do for you8 ,well1 was his reply1 our
 battalion goes into the line tonight1  
and ,i wanted the ,jewish and ,catholic 
boys to have their services1 too4 ,if   
you can come over at four o'clock1 ,i'll
 have the priest come at six4 ,and so ,i
 came there at four1 to find the fifteen
 ,jewish soldiers grouped about a large 
tree near the battalion headquarters2   
the chaplain had notified them all4     
,and1 as the barn was both dirty and    
crowded1 we held our little service     
under the tree1 even though the rain    
began in the middle of it4 ,two of those
 boys did not come back three days      
later1 and one was cited for heroism1 so
 that ,i have often remembered the      

immeasurable service which the          
cooeperation of that chaplain meant for 
his men4  ,on a minor scale such things 
took place constantly4 ,one day1 going  
to a distant battalion in a rest area1  
,i not only went to the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 
man1 who arranged for my services in the
 school-house1 and to a ,jewish         
corporal1 who passed the word around to 
the men of my faith1 but ,i arranged    
also that the ,y man should conduct the 
,protestant service the following       
,sunday1 and that the ,catholic chaplain
 on coming should find arrangements made
 for his confessions and mass4 ,a       
classic incident of the war is the story
 of ,chief ,rabbi ,bloch1 of ,lyons1 a  
chaplain in the ,french army1 who met   
his death before ,verdun in the early   
days of the war while holding a cross   
before a dying ,catholic lad4 ,the      
incident was related by the ,catholic   
chaplain of the regiment1 who saw it    
from a little distance4 ,but by the time
 the gigantic struggle was over such    

incidents had become almost matters of  
everyday4 ,i1 for one1 have read psalms 
at the bedside of dying ,protestant     
soldiers4 ,i have held the cross before 
a dying ,catholic4 ,i have recited the  
traditional confession with the dying   
,jew4 ,we were all one in a very real   
sense4  ,a ,christian chaplain preached 
the sermon on the second day of my      
,jewish ,new ,year service in ,nevers4  
,similarly1 ,i was a guest1 with the    
other members of the divisional staff1  
at the splendid midnight mass arranged  
by ,father ,kelley in the little village
 church of ,montfort4 ,for the first    
time in its history1 the church was     
electrically lighted by our signal      
corps2 the villagers and the soldiers   
were out in force2 colonels assisted as 
acolytes2 and the brilliant red and gold
 of the vestments1 with the pink satin  
and white lace of the little choir boys1
 stood out brilliantly from the dark    
garments of the ,french and the olive   
drab of the ,americans4 ,father ,kelley 

delivered a sermon of profound          
inspiration1 as well as a brief address 
in ,french to the villagers1 whose      
guests we were4 ,the staff were seated  
in a little chapel1 at one side of the  
altar4 ,the next day my orderly         
overheard two of the soldiers arguing   
about me4 ,one insisted3 ,i did see the 
rabbi there right on the platform4 ,you 
didn't1 said the other1 even if this is 
the army1 they wouldn't let him on the  
platform at a ,catholic mass4 ,it       
reminded me of the incident in ,paris   
when ,i had visited the ,cathedral of   
,notre ,dame1 accompanied by my         
chauffeur1 a ,catholic boy1 and ,i had  
given him a lecture on the architecture 
and symbolism of that splendid          
structure4 ,it was only afterward that  
the humor of the situation struck me--a 
rabbi explaining a cathedral to a       
devoted ,catholic4  ,every chaplain with
 whom ,i have compared notes has told me
 of similar experiences4 ,chaplain      
,elkan ,c4 ,voorsanger1 for example1 at 

the time when he conducted the first    
official ,jewish service overseas at    
,passover #aiah1 received four other    
invitations in various sections of      
,france both from army officials and ,y4
 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 secretaries4 ,at one point 
the ,young ,men's ,christian            
,association even offered to pay all his
 expenses if his commanding officer     
would release him for the necessary     
time4 ,i have mentioned that ,rabbi     
,voorsanger had no regular services in  
the #ggth ,division during the fall     
holydays of #aiah1 due to the military  
situation4 ,there was one exception to  
this1 however1 a hasty service arranged 
at one of the brief stops during the    
march by ,father ,dunne of the #cjfth   
,infantry1 and that service arranged by 
a priest was conducted by the rabbi in a
 ruined ,catholic church4 ,chaplain     
,voorsanger is full of praise for the   
thirty chaplains of various religions   
who worked under him when he was ,senior
 ,chaplain of the #ggth4 ,their         

enthusiastic support as subordinates was
 fully equal to their hearty            
cooeperation as equals4  ,peculiarly    
enough1 the ,christian ,science chaplain
 in our division was the only one who   
found it difficult to become adjusted   
with the rest4 ,this could hardly have  
been personal1 as he was generally      
respected4 ,it may have been due in part
 to the general suspicion of some for   
the ministers of a new faith which had  
lured away a few of their adherents4    
,but it seemed due chiefly to the ideas 
and the method he represented4 ,he was  
handicapped for the necessary work of   
caring for the sick and wounded by a    
unique attitude toward physical         
suffering1 different from the rest of us
 and different from that of most of the 
soldiers themselves4 ,as a consequence  
he could serve most of them only as a   
layman might4 ,certainly he could give  
no religious treatment of disease1 as   
the medical department was supreme in   
its own field4 ,in addition1 he could   

conduct general services only with      
difficulty4 ,to the rest of us a service
 meant the same thing1--a psalm1 a      
prayer1 a talk1 perhaps a song or two4  
,but the ,christian ,scientist could not
 give a prayer4 ,prevented from using   
his ritual by the fact that the service 
was to be non-sectarian1 he had not the 
power of personal prayer to fall back   
upon4 ,he was not a minister in the same
 sense as the rest of us1 and the army  
had no proper place for either a healer 
or a reader4  ,with this single         
exception1 ,i feel certain that every   
chaplain in ,france had the same sort of
 experience4 ,when ,i first arrived in  
,france ,i was one of thirty-five       
chaplains assembled at the chaplains'   
headquarters for instruction and        
assignment4 ,our evening service was    
conducted in front of the quaint1       
angular chateau on a level lawn         
surrounded by straight rows of poplars4 
,one evening ,chaplain ,paul ,moody1 of 
the ,senior ,chaplain's office1 gave us 

an inspirational appeal derived from his
 own experience and his observation of  
so many successful chaplains at the     
front4 ,afterward1 informally1 a        
,catholic told us briefly what we should
 do in case we found a dying ,catholic  
in the hospital or on the field1 with no
 priest at hand4 ,then ,i was asked how 
best the others might minister to a     
,jewish soldier in extremity4 ,i        
repeated to them the old ,hebrew        
confession of faith2 ,shema ,yisroel    
adonoi elohenu adonoi echod1 ,hear ,o   
,israel1 the ,lord is our ,god1 the     
,lord is ,one4 ,i told them to lead the 
boy in reciting it1 or if necessary just
 to say it for him1 and the next morning
 when ,i brought down copies of the     
words for them all ,i was deeply touched
 by their eagerness to know them4 ,these
 men did not go out to convert others to
 their own view of truth and life2 they 
were ready to serve pious souls and to  
bring ,god's presence near to all4      
,christian ministers were eager to help 

,jews to be better ,jews2 rabbis were   
glad to help ,christians to be better   
,christians4 ,we learned amid the danger
 and the bitterness to serve ,god and   
man1 not in opposition and not even in  
toleration1 but in true helpfulness     
toward one another4 ,i doubt whether    
these men1 once so willing to serve men 
of all creeds at the risk of their      
lives1 are foremost in the ranks of     
,jewish conversionists to-day4  ,much of
 this spirit of genuine religion and of 
equal regard for all religions was due  
to the example and personal influence of
 the ,senior ,chaplain of the ,american 
,expeditionary ,forces1 ,bishop ,charles
 ,h4 ,brent1 now the ,protestant        
,episcopal ,bishop of the ,diocese of   
,western ,new ,york4 ,bishop ,brent     
utilized his great ability1 his high    
spirituality and his personal           
acquaintance with the                   
,commander-in-,chief all for the welfare
 of the men in the service4 ,assiduous  
in his personal devotions1 definite in  

his personal preaching1 when he turned  
to his duties as ,senior ,chaplain he   
simply forgot his own affiliations in   
the interest of all religions alike4    
,catholic and ,protestant had equal     
faith in the impartiality and justice of
 his acts4 ,he was especially careful in
 behalf of the ,jewish men because he   
knew that they were a minority and might
 otherwise be neglected4 ,the official  
orders and the detailed arrangements for
 the various holydays were a serious    
consideration with him4 ,his spirit     
animated his entire staff4 ,chaplain    
,voorsanger felt it from the outset4    
,chaplain ,paul ,d4 ,moody1 ,bishop     
,brent's assistant in the chaplains'    
office at ,general ,headquarters1 was   
animated by it equally with his chief4  
,chaplain ,moody1 a son of the great    
evangelist and now in one of the        
important ,presbyterian churches in ,new
 ,york ,city1 was fond of telling how   
the various commanding officers would   
often greet him as ,father or ,bishop4  

,it is hardly surprising that such      
cooeperation strengthened men in loyalty
 to their own faith4 ,as the soldiers   
saw the military rank of all the        
chaplains and their influence everywhere
 in the interests of the men1 as they   
saw men of other faiths coming to their 
chaplain because of his loved           
personality or his high standing1 as    
they saw the official bulletins         
announcing religious services of        
different faiths at different hours but 
under the same auspices1 they grew to   
respect themselves and their own faith a
 little more4 ,a young man is likely to 
be defiant or apologetic about being    
religious unless he sees religion1      
including his religion1 respected by his
 comrades and his commanding officers4  
,therefore this mutual service1 instead 
of weakening the religious consciousness
 of the various groups1 rather          
strengthened it4 ,men grew to respect   
themselves more as they respected others
 more2 they became stronger in their own

 faith as they became more understanding
 of others4 ,the five chaplains at the  
burial detail did not give up their own 
ideas1 but they did learn more about the
 others' faiths1 and they certainly     
learned to respect each other profoundly
 as workers1 as ministers and as men4   
,thus our mutual friendship and our     
mutual help became the foundation of all
 our efforts for the men1 religious1    
personal and military4 ,we did our work 
together as parts of one church1 the    
,united ,states ,army4  ,this situation 
was brought out in strong relief for me 
when ,i met in ,le ,mans a young ,french
 priest1 who had served as chaplain in  
an army hospital through most of the    
war4 ,he was overcome with astonishment 
when ,i told him that1 while the        
majority of the men in our army were    
,protestant1 the ,senior ,chaplain of   
the area at that time was a ,catholic   
priest4 ,i had to go into considerable  
detail1 explaining that in some         
organizations the head was a            

,protestant1 and in one division a ,jew4
 ,finally he grasped it1 with the       
remark1 ,c'est la liberte4 ,as a        
,frenchman it was hard for him to       
understand the kind of religious liberty
 which means cooeperation and           
friendship4 ,in ,france religious       
liberty is based on hostility and       
intolerance of religion4 ,religious     
liberty there means liberty for the     
irreligious and consequent limitation of
 the liberty of the religious4 ,on the  
other hand1 religion there has meant    
historically1 the domination of one     
religion and the curtailment of liberty4
 ,it is a peculiar view1 which is       
paralleled among ,french ,jewry also4   
,active and interested ,jews have little
 interest in modernism1 even in modern  
methods of religious education2 ,french 
,jews who are interested in the world   
to-day have little interest in ,judaism4
  ,we who served together in the ,united
 ,states ,army have a different ideal4  
,we think of a religion which gives     

equal freedom to all other types of     
piety1 which works equally with men of  
every faith in the double cause of      
country and morality1 which does not    
give up its own high faith but sees     
equally the common weal of all humanity1
 to be served by men of many faiths4 ,we
 have fixed our gaze upon religion in   
action1 and have found that the things  
which divide us are chiefly matters of  
theory1 which do not impede our working 
effectively together4 ,it needs but the 
same enthusiasm for the constant and    
increasing welfare of all ,god's        
creatures to carry unity in action of   
all religious liberals into the general 
life of ,america1 to give us not merely 
religious toleration1 but religious     
helpfulness4     ,,chapter ,x  ,,the    
,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,jewish ,,soldier
   ,much has been written of the        
soldier's religion1 most of it          
consisting of theoretical treatises of  
how the soldier ought to feel and act1  
written by highly philosophic gentlemen 

in their studies at home or by          
journalistic travelers who had taken a  
hurried trip to ,france and enjoyed a   
brief view of the trenches4 ,the soldier
 himself was inarticulate on the subject
 of his own soul and only the soldier   
really knew4 ,here and there one finds a
 genuine human document1 like ,donald   
,hankey's ,student in ,arms1 which gave 
the average reaction of a thinking man  
subjected to the trials and indignities 
of the private soldier in war-time1 in  
words far above those the average       
soldier could have used4 ,theorizing    
about the soldier was worse than        
useless2 it often brought results so    
directly opposite to the facts that the 
soldier himself would have been         
immensely amused to see them4  ,as a    
matter of fact1 the soldier had the     
average mind and faith of the young     
,american1 with its grave lapses and its
 profound sources of power4 ,he was     
characterized by inquiry rather than    
certainty1 by desire rather than belief4

 ,his mind was restless1 keen1 eager2 it
 had little background or stability4 ,it
 was dominated by the mind of the mass1 
so that educated men had identical      
habits of mind with the ignorant on     
problems of army life4 ,the moral       
standards of the soldier were a direct  
outgrowth of the morals of sport and    
business rather than those of the       
church4 ,he had a sense of fair play1 of
 dealing with men as men1 but no feeling
 whatever of divine commandments or of  
universal law4  ,a significant incident1
 bringing out the peculiar ideals of the
 soldier1 is related by ,judge ,ben     
,lindsey in his book1 ,the ,doughboy's  
,religion4 ,he tells how a number of ,y4
 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 secretaries conducted      
questionnaires at various times as to   
what three sins the soldiers considered 
most serious and what three virtues the 
most important1 hoping to elicit a reply
 that the most reprehensible sins were  
drink1 gambling and sexual vice4 ,but   
hardly a soldier mentioned these three4 

,the men were practically unanimous in  
selecting as the most grievous sin1     
cowardice and the greatest virtue1      
courage2 as second1 selfishness and its 
correlative virtue1 self-sacrifice2 and 
as third1 pride1 the holier-than-thou   
attitude1 with its virtue1 modesty4 ,the
 result1 to one who knew the soldier1   
would have been a foregone conclusion4  
,the soldier was honest1 he gave no     
cut-and-dried answers but his own full  
opinion1 based upon the circumstances of
 his own life4 ,at the front courage is 
actually the most important attribute of
 manhood and cowardice the unforgivable 
sin4 ,one coward can at any moment      
imperil the lives of his entire unit by 
crying out in surprise on a night       
patrol1 by deserting his post as        
sentinel or gas guard1 by infecting with
 the spirit of panic the weaker men who 
follow any contagious example4          
,selfishness likewise was more than     
serious2 it was vital4 ,the selfish man 
was one who ate more than his share of  

the scanty rations on the march1 who did
 not carry his full pack but had to be  
helped by others1 who was first in line 
at the canteen but last to volunteer for
 disagreeable duty4 ,pride1 on the other
 hand1 was not dangerous but merely     
irritating in the extreme to an army of 
civilians1 of ,americans with the spirit
 of equal citizens1 who felt that they  
were doing everything for their country 
and resented equally the autocratic and 
the patronizing manner4 ,besides the    
soldier saw examples of these his       
highest virtues about him constantly4   
,courage became a commonplace2          
self-sacrifice an everyday matter4      
,officers often shared the discomforts  
and exceeded the dangers of their men4  
,when one reads the accounts of         
citations for the ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 and ,medal
 of ,honor1 one wonders that human      
beings could do such things4 ,and when  
we who were at the front recall the     
utter democracy of those days1 how      
salutes and formality of every kind were

 forgotten while only leadership based  
on personality could prevail1 we realize
 anew the emphasis of the soldier on    
modesty and his resentment of the       
attitude of many a civilian and even a  
few military men in patronizing him     
either as a common soldier or as a      
miserable sinner4  ,as to religious     
tendencies1 the soldier had1 first and  
foremost1 hope4 ,he looked forward to   
better things both for himself and for  
the world4 ,he had the religious longing
 and the religious certainty that the   
future will witness the dawning of a    
better day4 ,he had a vast respect for  
manhood1 though his democracy did not go
 so far as to include other nations1    
whom he very largely despised on account
 of their queerness and his own         
ignorance4 ,he had an abiding hatred for
 anything which smacked in the slightest
 degree of hypocrisy or bluff4 ,i       
mention this in my next chapter in      
connection with preaching to soldiers1  
but preaching was not the only field in 

which it applied4 ,the soldier laid an  
inordinate value upon personal          
participation in front line work1       
ignoring the orders which necessarily   
kept the major part of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4  
in back area work1 in supply1 repair1 or
 training duty4 ,i know of one chaplain1
 for example1 who joined a famous       
fighting division shortly after the     
armistice1 through no fault of his own  
but because he had been previously      
detailed to other duty1 and who found   
his service there full of obstacles     
through the suspicion of the            
men--because he who was preaching to    
them had not been under fire when they  
were4 ,of course1 this worked favorably 
for those of us whom the boys had       
personally seen under fire at the first 
aid post or in the trenches4  ,this very
 respect for deeds and suspicion of     
words1 especially of polite or eloquent 
words1 made for suspicion of the        
churches and churchmen4 ,we had so      
pitifully few chaplains to a division1  

and some of them were necessarily       
assigned to hospitals in the rear4 ,only
 here and there did a ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 or
 ,k4 of ,c4 secretary go with the men   
under fire4 ,true1 they had nothing to  
do there1 as there was no canteen or    
entertainment hut at the front2 true1   
strict orders forbade their entering    
certain territory or going over the top4
 ,the soldier asked not of orders or    
duties2 he knew only that this man1 who 
in many cases seemed to consider himself
 superior1 who preached and taught and  
organized1 had not slept night after    
night in the rain1 had not fallen prone 
in the mud to dodge the flying missiles1
 had not lived on one cold meal a day or
 had to carry rations on his shoulder   
that he and his comrades might enjoy    
their scanty fare4  ,therefore the      
soldier cared little for creeds of any  
kind4 ,he could not apply any particular
 dogmas to the unique circumstances in  
which he found himself--he had probably 
never applied them to any great extent  

even in the more commonplace            
circumstances of peace--and he was      
suspicious of many of those who         
attempted to apply them for him4 ,the   
soldier needed religion2 he wanted ,god2
 he cared very little for churches1     
creeds or churchmen4  ,in most          
characteristics the ,jewish soldier was 
one with his ,christian brothers4 ,he   
differed only in those special facts or 
ideas which showed a different home     
environment or a different tradition4   
,for example1 the usual ,christian      
minister used the word1 atonement with a
 special meaning which was understood1  
if not accepted1 by every ,christian    
present1 but which meant nothing        
whatever to the ,jew1 except through the
 very different association with the    
,day of ,atonement4 ,so any analysis of 
the religion of the ,christian soldier  
would begin with his attitude toward the
 atonement1 but with the ,jewish soldier
 this must be omitted--he had no        
attitude at all4 ,the ,jewish soldier   

was guided by the same general facts in 
his attitude toward the ,jewish religion
 which animated the ,christian soldier  
in his attitude toward the ,christian   
religion2 the difference was largely    
that of the religion which they         
considered rather than of the men       
themselves4  ,of course1 it was hard to 
be a good ,jew in the army4 ,the dietary
 laws were impossible of fulfillment1   
and the ,talmudic permission to violate 
them in case of warfare meant less to   
the average soldier than the fact that  
he was breaking them4 ,the ,sabbath     
could not be kept at all1 even in rest  
areas where there was no immediate      
danger to life4 ,no soldier could       
disobey an order to work on the         
,sabbath2 if the work was there1 the    
soldier had to do it4 ,in many ways     
,judaism was difficult and ,christianity
 just as difficult4 ,for example1 ,i    
know of one division where the ,passover
 service was held under difficulties1 as
 the unit was about to move1 and where  

the ,easter service had the same        
handicap1 as the men had just finished  
moving and were not yet established in  
their new quarters4 ,most of the        
obstacles to religious observance were  
common to all religions4  ,a few ,jews  
denied or concealed their religion in   
the army as elsewhere4 ,some few        
enlisted under assumed names2 a number  
denied their ,judaism and avoided       
association with ,jews1 perhaps fearing 
the anti-,semitism which they had heard 
was rife in military circles4 ,their    
fear was groundless and their deception1
 as a rule1 deceived nobody4 ,the       
,american army as it was organized      
during the war had no place for         
prejudice of any kind4 ,efficiency was  
the watchword2 the best man was almost  
invariably promoted2 in all my          
experience abroad ,i have never seen a  
clear case of anti-,semitism among      
higher officers and only seldom in the  
ranks4 ,occasionally also ,i met the    
type of ,jew who admitted his origin but

 had no interest in his religion4 ,such 
a one--a lieutenant--who was known as a 
friend of the enlisted men generally and
 especially of the ,jewish ones1        
assisted me greatly in arranging for the
 services for the fall holydays1 but did
 not attend those services himself4 ,he 
represented the type now fortunately    
becoming rarer in our colleges1 the men 
who have too much pride to deny their   
origin but too little ,jewish knowledge 
to benefit by it4 ,it is noteworthy that
 this particular man was stationed in   
the ,s4 ,o4 ,s4 and had at that time    
never been at the front4 ,most men turn 
toward religion under the stress of     
battle2 those who have never been in    
battle presented in certain ways a      
civilian frame of mind4  ,most of the   
,jews in the army were orthodox in      
background1 rather than either reform or
 radical4 ,perhaps the orthodox did not 
have the numerical superiority they     
seemed to possess2 in that case ,i saw  
them as the most interested group1 the  

ones who came most gladly to meet the   
chaplain4 ,not that the other two groups
 were lacking in this army1 which took  
in practically all the men of twenty-one
 to thirty-one years in ,america4 ,the  
dominating group1 however1 was orthodox 
in background1 though most of them were 
not orthodox in conviction4 ,causes are 
not far to seek--they had never studied 
orthodoxy2 they were young men and had  
few settled religious convictions2 they 
were in the midst of a modern world     
where other doctrines were more         
attractive4 ,the fact is that their     
convictions were usually directed toward
 ,zionism rather than toward one or     
another form of ,judaism itself4 ,again1
 they were without reasons for their    
interest4 ,zionism appealed to them     
simply as a bold1 manly1 ,jewish ideal2 
they did not enter into questions either
 of practicability or of desirability4  
,in other words1 they were young men1   
not especially thoughtful1 who were     
interested in ,jewish questions only as 

one of many phases of their lives4 ,they
 had their own trend1 but were glad to  
accept leadership of a certain type1    
adapted to their own lives and problems4
  ,all these ,jewish soldiers welcomed a
 ,jewish chaplain4 ,the ,catholics and  
,protestants had chaplains1 and all     
,jews except the negligible few who     
denied their faith were very glad to be 
represented also1 to have their religion
 given official recognition in the army 
and to see their own chaplain working   
under the same authority and along the  
same lines as chaplains of other        
religions4 ,most of the ,jewish soldiers
 had personal reasons also to greet a   
chaplain4 ,in many of the occasions1    
small and great1 when a ,jewish soldier 
desired advice1 aid or friendship1 he   
preferred a ,jewish chaplain to any     
other person4 ,as a chaplain he had the 
influence to take up a case anywhere and
 the information as to procedure1 while 
only a ,jew can feel and respond to the 
special circumstances of the ,jewish    

men4 ,on the other hand1 not all ,jewish
 soldiers were eager to welcome the     
,jewish ,welfare ,board although they   
all liked it after it had arrived and   
made good4 ,some were afraid of any     
distinction in these semi-military      
welfare organizations1 feeling that the 
two already in the field1 the ,y4 ,m4   
,c4 ,a4 and ,k4 of ,c41 were quite      
adequate4 ,the ,jewish ,welfare ,board1 
however1 made such an impression at once
 on both ,jews and non-,jews that even  
the doubtful ones became reconciled and 
felt that ,jewish work in the army was  
more than justified by results4 ,as     
always among ,jews1 who lay great       
emphasis on non-,jewish opinion1 one of 
the chief causes of the popularity among
 ,jews of ,jewish war work was its      
popularity among ,christians4 ,when a   
,jewish boy found his building          
overcrowded by non-,jews1 when he had to
 come early to get a seat at the picture
 show among all the ,baptists and       
,catholics1 when he saw ,christian boys 

writing to their parents on ,j4 ,w4 ,b4 
stationery1 he thought more of himself  
and his own organization4 ,this same    
fact refuted the argument against       
segregation2 men of all faiths used the 
,j4 ,w4 ,b4 huts1 just as they did those
 of the other welfare organizations4    
,they were one more facility for men of 
every religion1 even though organized by
 ,jews and conducted from a ,jewish     
point of view4  ,in their religious     
services1 as in most other things1 the  
,jewish boys liked practices which      
reminded them of home4 ,just as many of 
them enjoyed a ,yiddish story at an     
occasional literary evening1 so they all
 appreciated the traditional ,seder at  
,passover more than all the shows and   
entertainments which were provided at   
the ,passover leave4 ,they preferred to 
have many of the prayers in ,hebrew1    
even though ,i seldom had a ,jewish     
congregation in the army in which more  
than one third of the men understood the
 ,hebrew prayers4 ,they liked the       

home-like and familiar tone of the      
,jewish service on both ,sabbaths and   
festivals4 ,they preferred to wear their
 caps at service and to carry out the   
traditional custom in all minor matters4
  ,but at the same time they had no     
objection to changes in traditional     
practice4 ,the abbreviated prayerbook of
 the ,jewish ,welfare ,board was much   
appreciated1 even though one or two of  
the boys would state proudly that they  
had also a special festival prayerbook4 
,the short service was practical and the
 boys therefore preferred it to the     
longer one of the synagogue4 ,they      
understood that1 with the large number  
of non-,jews at our services and the    
usual majority of ,jews who could not   
read ,hebrew1 it was necessary to read  
part of the prayers in ,english4 ,they  
liked an ,english sermon1 too1 although 
the chaplain skilled in army methods    
always gave a very informal talk1 far   
from the formal sermon of the synagogue4
 ,and when interested they asked        

questions1 often interrupting the even  
flow of the sermon but assisting the    
rabbi and congregation to an            
understanding of the problem at issue4  
,one of the chief characteristics of an 
army congregation was its constant      
desire to participate in the service4   
,the soldiers liked responsive readings2
 they preferred sermons with the open   
forum method2 they were ready to        
volunteer to usher1 to announce the     
service throughout the unit1 or for any 
job from moving chairs to chanting the  
service4 ,at the ,passover services at  
,le ,mans1 we had all the volunteers    
necessary among the crowd for everything
 from ,k4 ,p4 7kitchen police7 to assist
 in preparing the dinner to an excellent
 reader for the prophetic portion4 ,the 
services meant more to the soldiers as  
they became their own4  ,another        
characteristic of services in the army  
was the large number of non-,jews       
attending them4 ,i have come to a ,y4   
,m4 ,c4 ,a4 on a ,sunday morning        

directly after the ,protestant chaplain1
 when most of his congregation joined   
me1 and my group in consequence was     
nine-tenths non-,jewish4 ,at first this 
factor was a source of embarrassment to 
many of the ,jewish men4 ,they came to  
me beforehand to whisper that a few     
non-,jews were present1 but ,i took it  
as a matter of course1 having learned my
 lesson with my first service in        
,france4 ,later even the most           
self-conscious of ,jews accepted the    
presence of non-,jews at a ,jewish      
service just as ,christians expect those
 of other denominations than their own4 
,when ,jewish services often have from  
ten to eighty per cent4 of non-,jews in 
attendance1 the ,jewish soldiers are    
doubly glad to have a partially ,english
 service and a sermon4 ,they want the   
,christians to respect their religion as
 they do their own1 an end usually very 
easy of attainment4 ,and while a few    
,jews would have preferred to drop the  
special ,jewish characteristics of our  

service1 ,i have never heard a critical 
word from a ,christian about our wearing
 our hats1 our ,hebrew prayers1 and the 
rest4 ,often1 in fact1 ,i have had to   
answer respectful questions1 giving the 
sort of information which broadens both 
sides and makes for general tolerance4  
,at the front1 even the most thoughtless
 desired some sort of a personal        
religion4 ,in the midst of the constant 
danger to life and limb1 seeing their   
comrades about them dead and wounded1   
with life reduced to the minimum of     
necessities and the few elemental       
problems1 men were forced to think of   
the realities of life and death4 ,with  
these eternal questions forced upon     
them1 the great majority must always    
turn to religion4 ,the men prayed at the
 front4 ,they wanted safety and they    
felt the need of ,god4 ,after a battle  
they were eager to offer thanks for     
their own safety and to say the memorial
 prayers for their friends who had just 
laid down their lives4 ,perhaps the most

 religious congregation ,i have ever had
 was the little group of men who        
gathered together under the trees after 
the great battle at the ,hindenburg     
,lane4 ,the impressions of the conflict 
had not yet worn off4 ,the men were1 in 
a way1 uplifted by their terrific       
experiences4 ,and the words they spoke  
there of their fallen comrades were     
infinitely touching4 ,the appeal of a   
memorial prayer was so profound in the  
army that many of the ,protestant       
chaplains followed the ,episcopal and   
,catholic custom and prayed for the dead
 although their own churches do not     
generally follow the custom4  ,but with 
all this deep yearning for personal     
religion1 the men adopted fatalism as   
their prevalent philosophy4 ,for one    
thing1 it seemed to answer the immediate
 facts the best4 ,when five men are     
together in a shell hole and a bursting 
shell kills three of them and leaves the
 two unharmed1 all our theories seem    
worthless4 ,when one man1 volunteering  

for a dangerous duty1 comes back only   
slightly gassed1 while another left at  
headquarters is killed at his dinner by 
long distance fire1 men wonder4 ,and    
when they must face conditions like this
 day after day1 never knowing their own 
fate from minute to minute1 only sure   
that they are certain to be killed if   
they stay at the front long enough1 they
 become fatalists sooner or later4 ,as  
the soldiers used to say1 ,if my number 
isn't on that shell1 it won't get me4 ,i
 argued against fatalism many times with
 the soldiers1 but ,i found when it came
 my own turn to live under fire day     
after day that a fatalistic attitude was
 the most convenient for doing one's    
duty under the constantly roaring       
menace1 and ,i fear that--with proper   
philosophic qualifications--for the time
 being1 ,i was as much of a fatalist as 
the rest4  ,at the rear the personal    
need for religion was less in evidence4 
,the men who had gone through the fire  
were not untouched by the flame1 and    

gave some evidence of it from time to   
time4 ,the men who had not been at the  
front1 who comprised the majority in    
back areas1 had no touch of that        
feeling4 ,they all shared in the        
yearning for home and the things of home
 and for ,judaism as the religion of    
home1 for the traditional service of the
 festivals1 for the friendship1         
ministrations and assistance of the     
chaplain4 ,judaism meant more to them in
 a strange land1 amid an alien people1  
living the hard and unlovely life of the
 common soldier1 than it ever did at    
home when the schul was just around the 
corner and the careless youth had seldom
 entered it4 ,the lonely soldier longed 
for ,judaism as the religion of home    
just as under fire he longed for comfort
 from the living ,god4 ,and the military
 approval of all religions on the same  
plane1 the recognition by the           
non-,jewish authorities of his festivals
 and his services1 gave ,judaism a      
standing in his eyes which it had lacked

 when only the older people of his own  
family ever paid much attention to      
religion4 ,thus ,judaism as an          
institution1 as the religion of home1   
had a great place in the heart of the   
soldier in ,france4  ,some of the men1  
especially at the first1 felt that they 
were being neglected by the ,jews of    
,america1 that our effort was not       
commensurate with that which the        
,christian denominations were making to 
care for the soldiers of their faiths4  
,we must admit sadly that they had some 
justification for such a view4 ,our     
representatives arrived in ,france late 
though not at all too late for splendid 
results4 ,american ,jewry was almost    
criminally slow in caring for our       
hundred thousand boys in service abroad4
 ,a few of the soldiers carried this    
complaint even to the point of          
bitterness and estrangement from        
,judaism4 ,here and there ,i met an     
enlisted man who challenged ,jewry as   
negligent4 ,usually these were not our  

most loyal or interested ,jews1 but they
 were ,jews and should not have been    
neglected4 ,the men who entertained real
 loyalty to their faith were usually    
active already in some minor way and    
ready to cooperate with the ,jewish     
,welfare ,board when it was in a        
position to back them up4 ,most of the  
men1 however1 were eager to forgive as  
in a family quarrel as soon as our      
welfare workers arrived in ,france and  
showed immediate accomplishment4  ,our  
,jewish boys came back from overseas    
with certain new knowledge of life and  
new valuation of their religion4        
,beginning merely as average young men  
in their twenties1 they acquired the    
need and appreciation of their ancestral
 faith1 though not in a conventional    
sense4 ,they are not to-day reform ,jews
 in the sense of adherents of a reform  
theology2 neither are they orthodox in  
the sense of complete and consistent    
observance4 ,they have felt the reality 
of certain truths in ,judaism1 the      

comfort it brings to the dying and the  
mourner1 the touch of home when one     
celebrates the festivals in a foreign   
land1 the real value of ,jewish friends1
 a ,jewish minister1 a ,jewish club to  
take the place of the home they missed  
over there4 ,that is1 ,judaism means    
more to them both as a longing and an   
institution4  ,but not all the things   
which we customarily associate with     
,judaism have this appeal to them4 ,some
 seem to them matters of complete       
indifference1 and the usual emphasis on 
the wrong thing makes them feel that the
 synagogue at home is out of sympathy   
with their new-found yearning4 ,if we   
give them what we consider good for     
them1 they will take nothing4 ,if we    
give them what they want--the religion  
of ,god1 of home1 of service--and with  
all three terms defined as they have    
seen and felt them1 then they will prove
 the great constructive force in the    
synagogue of to-morrow4 ,the ,jewish    
soldier had religion2 if he was at the  

front1 he has had the personal desire   
for ,god2 in any case he has felt the   
longing for the religion of home4 ,he   
was often proud of his fellow ,jews1    
sometimes of his ,judaism4 ,he did      
heroic acts gladly1 feeling the added   
impetus to do them because he must not  
disgrace the name of ,jew4 ,kiddush ha  
,shem1 sanctification of the name of    
,god1 was the impelling motive of many a
 wearer of the ,d4 ,s4 ,c41 though he   
may never have heard the term4 ,the     
recognition by church and synagogue of  
the world-shaking events of the war must
 be accompanied by an equal recognition 
of the influence of war on the minds and
 hearts of the men who engaged in it1   
and for whom those world-shaking events 
have become a part of their very being4 
,,chapter ,,xi  ,,preaching ,,to        
,,soldiers   ,preaching to soldiers1 as 
,i soon learned1 was a very different   
thing from addressing a civilian        
congregation4 ,the very appearance of   
the group and place was odd to a        

minister from civil life--young men in  
olive drab1 sitting on the rough benches
 of a welfare hut or grouped about in a 
comfortable circle on the grass of a    
,french pasture4 ,the group was         
homogeneous to an extent elsewhere      
impossible1 as all were men1 all were   
young1 and all were engaged in the same 
work and had the same interests4 ,the   
congregation and the preaching became   
specialized2 the work became narrower   
but more directly applicable to the     
individual than in civil life4 ,the     
soldiers had unusual experiences and    
interests as their common background2   
their needs were different from those of
 any group of civilians1 in or out of a 
church or synagogue4 ,they were soldiers
 and had to be understood and approached
 as such4  ,the circumstances of our    
services were never twice the same4 ,i  
have led groups in worship in huts of   
the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a41 ,k4 of ,c41 and ,j4
 ,w4 ,b42 in chateaux1 army offices1 and
 barns2 yes1 and out of doors in the    

rain4 ,i have come to a ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 
and found it full1 taking my group for  
an announced service to the stage and   
lowering the curtain for privacy4 ,once1
 in a great brick building used by the  
,y1 ,i found the place occupied by a    
miscellaneous crowd of a thousand men1  
reading1 writing1 playing checkers1     
lined up at the canteen for candy and   
cigarettes4 ,my services had been       
announced and my fifty men were present1
 some of them after a five-mile walk4   
,the secretary in charge and ,i walked  
about to find a vacant spot and finally 
found one1 the prize ring4 ,so ,i called
 for attention1 announced my service1   
and held it in the prize ring1 with my  
men seated on benches in the ring       
itself4 ,the non-,jews near by stopped  
their reading or writing to listen to   
the little sermon1 so that my actual    
audience was considerably larger than my
 group of worshipers4  ,i remember one  
week-day evening when ,i came to a ,j4  
,w4 ,b4 hut in a camp near ,le ,mans for

 an announced service only to find the  
place packed to the doors4 ,on inquiry1 
for such a crowd was unprecedented in   
this particular camp1 ,i found that a   
minstrel show had been unexpectedly     
obtained and was to run later in the    
evening4 ,so1 while the actors were     
making up behind the curtain1 ,i held   
forth in front1 and when the show was   
announced as ready1 a couple of ,irish  
soldiers and a ,swede pushed to one side
 and made a little room for me in the   
front row4  ,this very informality and  
friendliness of spirit meant1 first of  
all1 that one could not preach to       
soldiers in any case4 ,they were        
intolerant of preaching4 ,they did not  
want to be preached to4 ,they wanted    
straight goods1 right from the shoulder4
 ,they wanted deeds more than words1 or 
at least words which were simple and    
direct1 of the force of deeds4 ,one who 
knew soldiers had to talk to them1 not  
preach4 ,the more informal1 the more    
direct1 the more effective4 ,a good     

sermon would often miss fire completely 
before an audience of soldiers when a   
good talk would wake them up and stir   
them4 ,informality1 simplicity1         
knowledge of the soldier and his needs  
were the best qualities with which to   
approach the enlisted man1 especially   
when he was or had been in the actual   
fighting and thus acquired a new sense  
of perspective4 ,the strongest hatred of
 the fighting man was directed toward   
sham of whatever type1 and he exerted   
that prejudice without any fine sense of
 discrimination against anything that   
seemed to him pretentious or hollow4    
,the danger of pretense or dishonesty in
 the trench or on a patrol seemed to    
have entered into the whole mentality of
 the soldier4 ,he distrusted the        
brilliant orator1 who found more        
difficulty in winning him over than did 
the simpler and more direct type of     
speaker4 ,he was certain to prick the   
bubble of a poseur at once1 and was more
 than suspicious of anything which even 

hinted at pose or pretense4  ,for one   
thing1 the material had to be concrete1 
the sort of thing the soldier knew4 ,jew
 and non-,jew were very nearly the same 
in the army1 with certain minor         
differences of background4 ,and hardly  
ever did one have an audience composed  
overwhelmingly of ,jews2 there was      
always a large admixture of others in   
any army audience1 even when a ,jewish  
service had been announced4 ,now1 as to 
background and memories1 our army was   
too mixed to rely on them for much      
material4 ,when the chaplain spoke of   
home1 the soldier might think of a      
tenement home or a ranch-house or a     
mountaineer's cottage4 ,certainly1 only 
a few would ever have the same picture  
as the chaplain4 ,when he spoke of      
foreigners1 he might be addressing a    
group composed largely of ,poles1       
,italians and ,irish1 who entertained   
very different ideas of what a foreigner
 might be1 but would all consider our   
old ,southern population1 white and     

black1 as foreign4  ,the only common    
ground of all soldiers was the army4    
,the men knew work1 discipline1 war4    
,they did not regard these things as an 
officer would1 and a wise preacher found
 out their attitude in detail whenever  
he could4 ,but this was concrete        
material1 common to them all4 ,they all 
hated to be under authority1 but had    
nevertheless learned the lesson of      
discipline for practical purposes4 ,they
 were fascinated by fighting1 but feared
 it and preferred it1 on the whole1 to  
the tedium of peace4 ,they found a      
greater monotony in army drill than in  
any other one thing in the world4 ,they 
were brave when occasion arose4 ,they   
had seen their friends drop dead at     
their side and had mourned and buried   
them4 ,they had seen comrades promoted1 
now by favoritism1 now by ability1 and  
held a mixed feeling of ambition and of 
dislike for responsibility and the      
drudgery of thinking for themselves4    
,they had problems of conduct1 problems 

of morale1 problems of vision1 and they 
welcomed any discussion of their own    
problems in their own language1 while   
despising infinitely the man who made a 
mistake in military terminology or      
showed lack of knowledge of the army4   
,their knowledge and their interest was 
narrow but keen1 and one was compelled  
to meet the soldier on his own ground to
 interest or influence him4  ,this      
concrete material of the soldier's daily
 life had to be presented to him in his 
own language--minus the profanity which 
was all too common and meaningless in   
the average soldier's vocabulary4 ,here 
again the soldier proved a unique       
audience4 ,with all his quickness to    
grasp an idea1 his lightning sense of   
humor1 his immediate sense of reality   
and recognition of fact1 he had in many 
cases the vocabulary of a ten-year-old  
child4 ,many of our soldiers were from  
the mine1 the farm1 the sweatshop4 ,many
 of them learned ,english from the daily
 papers2 many from their semi-literate  

companions4 ,a few hundred very simple  
,english words and plenty of army slang 
were the chief reliance of the preacher1
 and other expressions had to be defined
 as one went along4 ,one did not need to
 talk down to the soldier in ideas--he  
could leap past a course of argument to 
a sure conclusion in any field within   
his experience--but the language was    
necessarily the language of the soldier 
for either full comprehension or        
complete sympathy4  ,of course1 the     
average soldier1 ,jew or non-,jew1 had  
no homiletic background2 he was not a   
frequent listener to sermons in civil   
life4 ,in many cases the men admitted   
that they had never been in a church in 
their lives4 ,many of the ,jewish boys  
had not been to a synagogue for years1  
and when they had gone many of them had 
attended an orthodox service where they 
had not understood a single word of the 
,hebrew service4 ,therefore the language
 of the ,bible meant literally nothing  
to them without paraphrasing1 except    

where it came very close to modern      
speech4 ,therefore also the cant phrases
 of the pulpit or of the public speaker 
generally had no meaning whatever to    
their minds1 favorable or the reverse4  
,they left the soldiers completely      
untouched4 ,thus the best civilian      
sermon may have been meaningless to a   
group of soldiers1 while a direct talk1 
even a sort of conversation with the    
audience1 was of real benefit to them4  
,for there was no formality about an    
army audience4 ,if one made the mildest 
joke1 the boys laughed out4 ,if one     
paused for a reply1 the reply was apt to
 come in loud and unmistakable tones4   
,in a talk to a group about to return   
home1 for example1 ,i remarked1 ,i      
suppose you'll all reenlist in the      
,national ,guard when you get mustered  
out1 only to be greeted by an immediate 
chorus of groans4 ,if the soldiers were 
interested1 they interrupted with       
questions2 if uninterested1 they frankly
 got up and left the room4 ,they gave   

more than the cold decorum of a church2 
they gave a living response2 they talked
 with and thought with the preacher4    
,but the type of decorum one found in a 
church or temple was utterly beyond     
them4 ,their response was better1 but   
different in its very activity4         
,certainly1 there were different        
audiences even among soldiers4 ,i know  
of one preacher who traveled about      
,france with a great speech on courage  
which fell utterly flat on a certain    
occasion4 ,he had made the mistake of   
speaking on courage to a group of men   
from the ,service of ,supply1 whose     
chief contribution to the war had been  
carrying cases of canned salmon and     
repairing roads4 ,a certain chaplain had
 a battalion of recent immigrants       
mustered for a service before going into
 battle1 only to be privately cursed    
afterward in the five languages spoken  
by the boys he had addressed4 ,for he   
had made those boys give up their short 
period of rest to talk to them of home  

and mother1 to make them think of the   
dear ones they were trying to forget1 to
 put before them the one thought that   
was most likely to unnerve them for the 
terrible task ahead6  ,it was just as   
great a mistake to preach about         
sacrifice after a battle4 ,in battle    
sacrifice was the most common thing2    
ordinary men rose to heights of heroism 
to save their buddies or to assist in   
the advance4 ,the high courage of       
self-sacrifice became familiar4         
,preaching self-sacrifice to these men  
was useless--for ,christian as well as  
,jew4 ,they had seen stretcher bearers  
shot down while carrying their precious 
burdens to the rear4 ,they had seen     
officers killed while getting their men 
under shelter4 ,they had seen the gas   
guard1 as a part of his daily duty1 risk
 the most horrible of deaths in order to
 give the alarm for his comrades4 ,such 
men responded to an appeal on the divine
 in man1 on the brotherhood of all those
 heroes about them1 on ,americanism1 on 

a hundred congenial themes2 they did not
 see the cogency of an appeal to        
sacrifice4  ,the profound friendships   
and violent dislikes of the soldier have
 been often noticed4 ,his fidelity to   
his buddy1 to any popular officer1 to   
his company and regiment1 stand out as  
part of his vigorous1 boyish outlook4   
,on the other hand1 a swiftly acquired  
prejudice would go with him forever in  
the face of many facts and much argument
 to the contrary4 ,the relative standing
 of the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 and the         
,salvation ,army among the men is a case
 in point4 ,the ,young ,men's ,christian
 ,association was by far the largest war
 work organization which worked among   
the mass of the soldiers1 as the ,red   
,cross confined its activities largely  
to hospitals and related fields4 ,it was
 a wide-spread organization1 covering   
practically every unit and almost every 
type of activity1 religious1 athletic1  
entertainment1 canteen4 ,but the        
soldier1 while using the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4    

,a41 disliked it4 ,the ,salvation ,army1
 a very small organization in both      
amount and scope of work1 which ,i never
 saw in action because ,i did not happen
 to be in the limited sector it covered1
 was1 however1 popular if only by       
hearsay in every part of the great army4
 ,now1 the soldier had very real        
grievances against the ,y4 ,it charged  
him more for its tobacco than did the   
quartermaster's store2 it gave away very
 little1 while other organizations1 not 
burdened with the canteen1 gave away a  
great deal2 it had a certain proportion 
of misfits1 men who did not belong in   
any military work1 who considered       
themselves better than the common       
soldier and did not share his trials or 
his viewpoint4  ,these facts were all   
explained later2 some of them were      
inevitable4 ,the presence of a board of 
inquiry in the army testified that the  
caliber even of army officers was not   
always what it should have been4 ,the   
canteen had been undertaken by the ,y4  

,m4 ,c4 ,a4 at the request of the army  
authorities1 who desired to be relieved 
of the tremendous burden1 and its prices
 were determined by cost plus           
transportation1 which latter item was   
not included by the quartermaster's     
stores4 ,the tremendous rush of the last
 six months of the war made the task too
 great for any of the organizations in  
the field1 including sometimes even the 
quartermaster's corps4 ,but after the   
prejudice had been conceived it could   
not be shaken4 ,it persisted in spite of
 excuses1 in spite of remedies for some 
of the evils1 in spite of the excellent 
work which the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 did in   
the leave areas4 ,i have mentioned its  
activities in ,nice1 ,monte ,carlo1 and 
,grenoble1 how it provided the enlisted 
man with free                           
entertainment1--excursions1 dances and  
shows1 during his entire period on      
leave4 ,this striking contribution to   
the morale and the pleasure of the      
forces was almost overlooked in the     

general criticism4 ,on the other hand1  
nobody ever heard the enthusiastic      
doughboy mention a mistake made by the  
more limited forces of the ,salvation   
,army1 which therefore received more    
than adequate commendation for its      
really effective work4  ,a similar      
violent contrast existed in the         
soldier's attitude toward the ,british  
and colonial soldiers1 especially the   
,australians4 ,the doughboy liked the   
,ausies2 he despised the ,tommie4 ,the  
usual phrase was3 ,oh1 well1 the        
',tommies' are all right to hold the    
line1 but it takes the ',ausies' to make
 a push4 ,this was strictly untrue1     
according to the terrific fighting we   
ourselves witnessed on the ,british     
front4 ,it was simply that the          
,australians were all volunteers1 young 
and dashing1 like the pioneers of the   
western plains1 the precursors of our   
own men4 ,they were independent1 lawless
 and aggressive4 ,the ,british whom we  
knew were the survivors of four years of

 warfare1 veterans of many a campaign in
 the field and siege in the hospital1 or
 older men1 the last draft of the       
manhood of ,great ,britain4 ,no wonder  
our boys liked the ,ausies and refused  
to see any good whatever in that very   
different species of men1 the ,tommies4 
,so the soldier was an exacting but a   
grateful audience4 ,he emphasized deeds 
rather than words1 and therefore he was 
much easier of approach for his own     
chaplain1 who was under the same        
regulations as he1 who went with him to 
the front and tended the wounded and the
 dead under fire1 than for the most     
eloquent or the most illustrious of     
civilian preachers4 ,he conceived       
violent likings and equally violent     
prejudices1 always based upon some sort 
of reason but usually carried beyond a  
reasonable degree4 ,he had to be        
approached on his own ground1 with      
material from his own experience1 with  
language which he could understand4 ,and
 when that was done1 he was the most    

thankful audience in the world4 ,he     
thought with the speaker1 responded to  
him1 aided him4 ,as an audience he was  
either the most friendly and helpful in 
the world or the most disappointing4    
,but that depended on the speaker and   
the audience being in harmony1 knowing  
and liking each other4 ,a man who knew  
and loved the soldier could work with   
him and help him in achieving great     
results1 for the ,american soldier1     
though the most terrible enemy1 was also
 the best friend in the world4          
,,chapter ,,xii  ,,morale ,,and ,,morals
   ,no thorough scientific study of the 
problem of morale has ever been made1 in
 either military or civilian life4      
,every one is familiar with many of its 
manifestations1 but very few have gone  
into their causes except incidentally to
 the practical needs of the moment4     
,that was the case in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f41  
where both chaplains and line officers  
were deeply concerned in the morale of  
our troops1 at first as fighting forces 

and after the armistice as citizens and 
representatives of ,america abroad4 ,we 
tried this and that expedient1 some good
 and some bad4 ,often we neglected the  
very act which was most essential4      
,often we did nothing whatever until it 
was too late4 ,unit commanders1         
chaplains1 and even ,g4 ,h4 ,q4 were    
alike forced to employ empirical1       
trial-and-error methods instead of a    
fundamental1 scientific approach4 ,the  
only apology for this situation is that 
we went into the army with certain      
equipment which did not include a       
rounded view of mass psychology1 and    
that this same ignorance is universal in
 civil life as well4 ,a competent       
investigator would probably detect the  
same errors in similar social           
organizations of our young men in civil 
life which were so painfully obvious in 
the army4 ,this brief chapter is by no  
means intended to take the place of such
 a scientific study2 it may serve as    
material for one1 and in addition may   

provide certain facts of importance in  
themselves4  ,morale in the army        
represented two distinct problems1 the  
front line and the rear4 ,the former    
demanded high tension1 the necessity of 
unified and instantaneous action4 ,the  
latter demanded steadiness in daily     
duties1 training1 drill and study1 the  
same qualities needed by the worker in  
civil life but under unusual            
circumstances4 ,and between the two     
there was a gap1 because the let-down   
from the one type of morale might       
result1 not in the other type1 but in no
 morale at all4 ,the good soldier in    
camp might be a very poor soldier at the
 front1 where different qualities were  
required2 the man who would win his     
decoration at the front for reckless    
bravery was often the worst soldier in  
camp1 judging by the number of          
punishments for the infraction of minor 
rules of discipline4 ,there is the case1
 for example1 of the former gunman who  
won his ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 for the very        

qualities which had formerly sent him to
 prison4 ,even the best of soldiers1 at 
both front and rear1 had to withstand a 
serious mental shock when he passed from
 one of these situations to the other1  
and especially when he retired into a   
rest area after a hard spell in the     
trenches4  ,in the ,american army       
front-line morale was by far the easier 
type to maintain4 ,in some other armies1
 ,i was told1 the opposite was the case1
 but the average ,american boy makes a  
good fighting soldier with far less     
strain than it takes to turn him into a 
good barracks or training-camp soldier4 
,his is the dash1 the courage1 the      
spirit of ,let's go62 he is more likely 
to lack the sense of subordination1 of  
instant obedience to orders1 which      
constitutes the first essential of a    
good soldier in the rear4 ,the object of
 morale at the front is action--instant1
 unified1 aggressive1 with every nerve  
and muscle strained to the utmost toward
 the one end4 ,the means of this type of

 morale is confidence4 ,the good soldier
 thinks that he belongs to the best     
company in the best division in any army
 in the world2 that his officers are the
 ablest1 his comrades the most loyal1   
his own soldierly qualities at least on 
a par with the best4 ,each division was 
firmly convinced that its own battles   
won the war1 while the others merely    
helped4 ,none of them would give the    
,french and ,british credit for more    
than adequate assistance1 ignoring      
completely their years of struggle      
before we even entered the conflict4    
,but this sort of self-centered         
confidence was the characteristic of the
 good soldier1 the man who would follow 
his captain in any attack1 however      
desperate1 who never looked whether his 
comrades were coming but went ahead in  
calm certainty that they would be even  
with him4 ,one hint of wavering or doubt
 would break up this high steadiness of 
spirit1 but as long as it held the men  
who possessed it would fight on in the  

face of seemingly insuperable           
difficulties4  ,i have mentioned the    
situation of the #bgth ,division from   
,october #agth to #bast1 #aiah1 how they
 entered the attack with depleted       
numbers1 tired in body and mind1 after  
insufficient rest and with no fresh     
replacements4 ,day after day their      
dearest wish was that their relief might
 come and they might enjoy the often    
promised rest4 ,they had seen their     
comrades killed and wounded until a     
regiment had only the normal number of  
men to equip a company4 ,yet day after  
day the orders came for an advance1 and 
every day those tired boys advanced4    
,they did what we all considered        
impossible because they had the morale  
of good fighting men4 ,they bore the    
ever-present danger of bursting shells  
and the sniper's bullet with boyish     
daring and constant success4 ,they      
labored harder than any worker in       
civilian life1 sleeping in the rain1    
marching1 carrying their heavy rifles   

and packs made mercifully light for the 
occasion1 digging in the clinging clay  
of the ,somme valley4 ,this1 too1 they  
did not gladly1 often not willingly1 but
 because it was part of the game1 and   
they were good sportsmen and would see  
it through4  ,the peril to morale at the
 front was nerves4 ,although it may be  
hard to conceive1 the dashing1          
aggressive soldiers might fall before   
this danger4 ,aggravated cases1 true    
neuroses1 we called shell shock1        
slighter ones1 nerves1 but the two were 
the same4 ,the constant noise1 exertion1
 hard work1 loss of sleep1              
undernourishment1 produced a peculiar   
mental state4 ,above all1 the high      
nervous tension which was necessary for 
men to persist in these conditions had  
its dangers1 too4 ,by reason of it the  
wounded were able to bear more than     
their ordinary share of suffering1 so   
that we saw constant examples of        
stoicism at the front4 ,but when the    
excitement and tension wore off its     

effect was lost1 and in base hospitals  
the soldiers were no better patients    
than young men in civilian life4 ,when  
overburdened nerves gave way1 the       
soldier was completely lost4 ,a chaplain
 has told me of a long night spent with 
a patrol in front of the lines1 not     
talking with the men but instead trying 
to hold the top sergeant to his post4   
,the sergeant was a fine soldier1 with a
 splendid record all through the        
,meuse-,argonne campaign1 but that      
night1 in the long vigil1 his nerves had
 given way and the big1 stolid soldier  
was trembling with fear4 ,only constant 
persuasion and the threat of force held 
him to his duty1 and the next day he had
 to be assigned to work as supply       
sergeant in order to save the nightly   
patrol from panic that would certainly  
come if the non-com4 in command failed  
them4  ,the soldier had a mixed feeling 
toward battle4 ,the shock of conflict is
 exciting and exerts a sort of          
fascination4 ,but the excitement was    

short while the danger was omnipresent  
and the work could never be escaped4    
,the soldier regarded war as a sort of  
deadly game1 where the contest called   
forth every energy and the stakes were  
life itself4 ,but battle contains       
another factor--a compound of work and  
discomfort4 ,war is nine parts sordid   
labor to one of glorious action4 ,it was
 mixed with cooties1 mud1 sleeping in   
the rain1 marching all night and lying  
down under artillery fire4 ,it included 
digging1 and the soldier found no more  
romance in digging in at the front than 
in digging a ditch at home1 except that 
under fire he dug considerably faster4  
,war involved carrying a pack1 and that 
became speedily the pet hatred of the   
enlisted man4 ,as the prisoner dreads   
the cell in which he is confined1 so the
 infantryman feels toward his pack      
clinging with its eighty-odd pounds as  
he trudges along the weary roads4 ,war  
is a glorious memory now1 but it was    
neither glorious nor pleasant to live   

through4  ,when the troops retired for  
rest and training1 the problem of morale
 became reversed at once4 ,now it became
 a matter of discipline and drill4      
,instead of danger and discomfort1 our  
trials were work and monotony4 ,a high  
type of morale in the rear meant that   
the men were not absent without leave1  
that they worked hard at their drill and
 became automatic in its motions1 that  
they obeyed every rule of discipline1   
large and small4 ,saluting1 for example1
 was very important at the rear2 we     
never once thought of it at the front4  
,this regime was not always easy1 though
 at first we could hold out the object  
of winning the war1 as in the pamphlet  
on sex education1 ,fit to ,fight4 ,after
 the war was over that object no longer 
remained4 ,but the hard work remained1  
the kitchen police1 the cleaning up of  
quarters1 the carrying of the pack1 the 
incessant drill4 ,squads east and west1 
when the fighting was at an end and     
there was no direct use for maneuvers1  

seemed to the soldiers simply made work4
 ,in fact1 much of the work imposed on  
them during this period was actually    
devised with the special object of      
keeping them busy and therefore out of  
mischief4  ,the peril of this situation 
was obvious4 ,it was that the tedium    
might grow too great and the men yield  
to the temptations of drink1 gambling   
and vice4 ,these would result in        
disorder1 insubordination1 time lost    
from duty1 venereal disease1--any number
 of possible evils4 ,they would         
demoralize a unit at the rear as readily
 as nerves would demoralize it at the   
front4 ,sexual vice and sexual disease1 
while statistically not so great in the 
army as among the same age groups in    
civil life1 was still serious4 ,the     
different social system of ,france put  
temptation directly in the way2         
prostitution was open and licensed1 and 
the women of the streets quick to accost
 the wealthy foreigners1 whose dollar a 
day was so much greater than the pay of 

the ,french soldier4 ,at the same time1 
the ,french girls of good family did not
 meet strange soldiers1 dance with them1
 talk to them1 as was done in the       
,states4 ,their whole conception of good
 breeding and of marriage combined to   
forbid any contact except in the rare   
case of a proper introduction into the  
,french home4 ,courteous in showing the 
stranger his way or telling him the time
 of day1 the average ,frenchman was in  
no hurry to introduce foreign soldiers  
into his family circle unless he had    
certificates or personal introductions  
to the particular soldiers4 ,at home the
 soldier had been lionized from the time
 of his enlistment until his leaving for
 overseas4 ,he had been entertained1    
fed1 provided with dances1 shows and    
automobile rides4 ,the daughters of rich
 and cultivated families tended canteen 
or danced with the soldiers4 ,but in    
,france the daughter of a good family   
went out only with a man she knew1 and  
then strictly chaperoned4 ,even when she

 knew a man personally1 a respectable   
girl would hardly think of walking down 
the street with him4  ,this seclusion of
 respectable ,french girls and the      
conspicuousness of the loose element    
made many soldiers hold a light opinion 
of the virtue of ,french women          
generally4 ,i remember an argument with 
one of the boys who had just stated that
 all ,french girls were careless in     
their morals4 ,when pinned down to      
particulars1 he admitted that he had met
 exactly three ,french girls beside     
those who had accosted him on the       
street4 ,two had been sisters1 at whose 
home a friend of his had been billeted1 
and when he and his friend had wanted to
 take them to an army vaudeville their  
mother had gone along4 ,the third was   
the daughter of my landlady at          
,montfort1 a fine rounded peasant type4 
,on this scanty basis he had formed his 
typical opinions4  ,the control of the  
minutiae of daily life together with the
 influence over the minds of men in the 

army should have enabled the authorities
 to suppress vice almost entirely4      
,unfortunately1 this was never          
accomplished4 ,lectures1 severe         
penalties for disease incurred not in   
line of duty1 and liberal provision for 
early treatment all together did not    
work the miracle4 ,the prophylactic     
stations for so-called early treatment  
directly after exposure were patronized 
by a number of men1 but never by a very 
large proportion of the number who were 
certainly exposed4 ,the venereal        
hospitals where sufferers underwent both
 treatment and punishment had their full
 quota from every division which        
remained long in back areas1 and most   
divisions left behind as many as two    
hundred and fifty men for further       
treatment after the thorough inspections
 preceding their departure for home4    
,drink was a less serious1 though more  
prevalent danger4 ,the law had prevented
 men in uniform from drinking in the    
,united ,states2 in ,france it forbade  

only their use of spirituous liquors1   
and even those were often available4 ,so
 there was a good deal of beer and wine 
drinking1 and some of cognac4 ,the last 
was apt to result in drunkenness and    
disorder1 but our military authorities  
had always the power to declare certain 
cafes1 which had violated regulations1  
out of bounds for ,americans1 and as a  
last resort the ,french police would    
close such a place altogether4 ,gambling
 was the most prevalent vice of all1 and
 one which was never1 to my knowledge1  
controlled anywhere4 ,it lacked gravity 
in so far as the soldiers had very      
little to gamble1 and could incur no    
great losses4 ,but it was always an easy
 resort to break the monotony of army   
life in training or rest areas1 and     
always a menace to the type of manhood  
which we wanted to see among our        
,american fighting men4  ,the reliance  
on penalties as the chief mode of       
controlling young ,americans was        
fundamentally unsound both in theory and

 practice4 ,the warnings against sexual 
vice lost half their effectiveness      
because they were usually given by      
company officers1 who emphasized the    
danger of disease and the military      
penalties rather than the appeal of     
loyalty or self-respect4 ,medical       
officers and chaplains were certainly   
better equipped for such special work1  
although probably no human being and no 
appeal can solve the entire problem4    
,all these facts came slowly to the fore
 within the few months following the    
armistice1 and we were able to observe  
them very clearly in the #bgth ,division
 while in the ,montfort area4 ,while we 
wintered there1 from ,november #aiah to 
,february #aiai1 the morale of our      
troops1 which had never weakened at the 
front even under the most terrible      
conditions1 went down steadily during   
those three weary months4 ,for one      
thing1 we were constantly expecting     
orders to leave for home and constantly 
disappointed4 ,we were inspected and    

reinspected1 drilled and drilled again4 
,warned not to begin an elaborate       
program of athletics1 education or      
amusement1 we worked from week to week  
and never instituted one-third of the   
work which we had planned and ready4    
,meanwhile there was the cafe and the   
danger of vice and drink1 so the men    
were kept drilling through the winter   
rains to keep them busy during the day  
and make them tired at night4 ,this     
attempt was neither humane nor possible 
and had only the worst effects4  ,the   
failure with our division brought the   
possibility of a constructive program   
before the higher command of the army1  
which inaugurated one just about the    
time our division left the area4 ,large 
schools were started in each permanent  
division in the district1 giving both   
common school and technical branches1   
with the army university at ,beaune as  
the head of the educational structure4  
,such a school was established in the   
,forwarding ,camp1 near ,le ,mans1 where

 ,i saw it in busy operation4 ,athletic 
meets were arranged in each division1   
with larger ones at ,le ,mans and other 
central points for the best men in the  
separate units4 ,more welfare huts of   
different agencies were established1    
with more canteen supplies from the     
,states and more women workers for      
canteen service and dances4 ,each       
division devoted more attention to its  
shows1 usually a musical comedy troupe1 
with very clever female impersonators to
 make up for the lack of chorus girls4  
,some of these shows had tours arranged 
by the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 or other agency1 
and a few of them even had gala         
performances in ,paris4 ,regular        
religious services and other            
appointments with the chaplains were    
instituted and advertised1 although we  
had always done this for ourselves in   
our own units4 ,leave areas were        
designated in the most beautiful        
sections of ,france1 as well as         
permission for a few furloughs in ,italy

 and ,england4 ,the ,stars and ,stripes1
 always a valuable organ as the         
soldiers' newspaper1 became the constant
 instrument of propaganda to upbuild    
morale4 ,finally1 the army took over    
official control of education1          
entertainment and athletics from the    
civilian agencies1 designated a ,welfare
 ,officer to control them all1 and asked
 the agencies formerly in control to    
cooeperate with the newly appointed     
officials4 ,all these were steps in the 
right direction1 although at times such 
work was partially nullified by the     
choice of the wrong man as ,welfare     
,officer4 ,this was a position which    
only a professional educator could fill 
at all2 even an expert could hardly     
influence actively a hundred thousand   
minds at once4 ,hardly any professional 
soldier1 business man or engineer could 
have the breadth of view and technical  
knowledge to approach them4 ,of course1 
when army regulations prescribed a major
 for a particular position and only a   

lieutenant was available with the proper
 training1 an untrained major was       
appointed and the lieutenant left in    
command of a platoon4 ,promotions were  
naturally few after the armistice1 and  
the table of organization had to be     
complied with at all costs4  ,the ,stars
 and ,stripes demands a few words in    
itself1 both because of its excellent   
articles and cartoons and for its unique
 position as the soldiers' newspaper4   
,it was a well-written weekly           
publication1 which could command the    
services of many of the best of the     
younger writers and cartoonists in      
,america4 ,the knowledge that the ,stars
 and ,stripes was semi-official1 being  
published under military censorship1    
made its news material very influential 
on morale4 ,men believed anything they  
read there about the work of the various
 divisions1 special distinctions1 or the
 date of the homeward troop movement4   
,but that very factor made the articles 
it published more or less suspected by  

the men4 ,they knew they were           
propaganda1 written for the benefit of  
morale1 and they therefore read them1   
but derived much less effect from them  
than would otherwise have been the case4
 ,still the writers1 themselves         
soldiers1 expressed the soldiers' view  
often enough and clearly enough to lend 
some value even to the suspected        
material from ,general ,headquarters4   
,after all1 amusements1 education and   
athletics were only palliatives in a    
confessedly irksome situation4 ,they did
 not touch the heart of that situation  
any more than really excellent welfare  
work satisfies a group of employees in  
civil life who consider themselves      
underpaid and overworked4 ,the          
essentials of morale were the elements  
which approached the soldiers' welfare  
most nearly--food1 pay1 mail and daily  
military routine4 ,army food was        
notoriously bad1 army cooks famous for  
lack of skill4 ,part of this1 like other
 complaints1 lay in the chronic         

grumbling of the soldiers4 ,obviously1  
they did not receive the kind of meals  
that mother used to make or the product 
of a famous hotel4 ,the food itself was 
usually of excellent quality but coarse1
 the menus well balanced but monotonous4
 ,this last was the chief grievance and 
one that was largely justified4 ,most of
 our food had to be brought overseas in 
cans1 and it took a skillful cook to    
disguise corned willie1 monkeymeat or   
goldfish day in and day out4 ,yet corned
 beef1 stew and salmon1 to use their    
civilian names1 were staples in the army
 diet4 ,it became a question among us   
officers whether we preferred to drink  
good coffee1 ruined by army cooks1 or   
the excellently prepared chicory of the 
usual ,french restaurant4 ,i1 for one1  
preferred the ,british ration as        
superior in variety to that we received 
after we came into the ,american area1  
although it was normally not as large in
 amount as the ration of the ,american  
soldier4  ,pay and mail were notoriously

 unreliable in the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 ,pay was 
regular for officers1 of course1 who    
could swear to their own pay vouchers1  
but not always for enlisted men1 who    
required a service record to have their 
names put on the pay roll4 ,when a man  
is a patient in nine hospitals within   
four months1 we cannot expect his mail  
to follow him1 nor his service record to
 stay at hand4 ,these grievances were   
later remedied1 the mail through the    
,main ,post ,office1 the pay question by
 means of pay books and supplementary   
service records4 ,still1 at one time it 
was by no means uncommon to meet men    
just out of the hospital who had        
received neither mail nor pay for three 
months1 or to find a man who had been   
shifted so often from one unit to       
another that his pay was six months in  
arrears4 ,when we remember the little   
money at hand for any purpose whatever1 
when we bear in mind the loneliness of  
these boys so far from home1 loved ones1
 even from common sights and familiar   

speech1 we can imagine what a           
deprivation such troubles brought1 and  
how deeply they effected morale4 ,of    
course1 as ,i have mentioned before1 the
 soldier never made allowances either   
for the difficulty of the task or the   
comparative success with which it was   
accomplished4 ,the soldier merely       
suffered and complained4  ,i shall never
 forget the incessant complaints about  
that very necessary institution1 the    
censorship of letters home4 ,the last   
hope of the soldier was for glory in the
 eyes of the people at home4 ,at least  
he would be a hero to them4 ,but here   
the censor lifted his terrible shears4  
,stories of heroism1 true or false1     
could not be told4 ,weeks after an      
action the soldier's family might read  
that he had taken part in it and even   
then the censor might return his letter 
if he mentioned any details4 ,for many  
of the soldiers this was more than      
annoying2 it was serious4 ,they were    
often not educated1 had written perhaps 

three or four letters in their lives1   
and could hardly face the task of       
writing a second letter if the first was
 condemned4 ,in any case no ,american   
wanted to submit his personal letters   
for his wife or sweetheart to a superior
 officer for approval4 ,add to this the 
fact that the officer could sign for his
 own mail without other censorship      
except the possibility that the letter  
might be read at the base port1 and     
censorship became another grievance to  
the enlisted man4  ,finally1 the        
greatest factor in morale1 good or bad1 
was that intangible but very real       
entity1 military discipline4 ,the       
,american boy hates to be under         
authority2 to ask for leave to speak to 
his captain2 to request permission to go
 for a few hours' leave after his day's 
duties are over2 to address an officer  
in the third person3 ,is the captain    
feeling well this morning1 sir8 ,most   
,american officers were human enough1   
with little of the class feeling of the 

,british army4 ,for that reason the     
soldier rarely hated his own officers1  
and often was heard to boast of my      
lieutenant or my captain4 ,the soldier  
merely hated authority in general1 as   
represented largely by the necessity to 
salute any unknown officer whom he might
 meet4 ,he never understood the lectures
 about the manliness of saluting or its 
military necessity2 he knew only that it
 was the sign of authority1 to which he 
was subjected4  ,perhaps that is the    
root of the whole matter of morale4 ,a  
good soldier at the rear was the man who
 sank his personality and became a unit 
in the squad4 ,if too strongly defined  
an individual1 he was a marked man2 he  
became company clerk or kitchen police1 
according to his previous education4    
,the good soldier was the one who acted 
automatically on receipt of orders1 who 
saluted1 said ,yes1 sir1 turned on his  
heel and seemed at once to be very busy4
 ,even if he had been an executive or a 
lawyer in civil life1 the constant drill

 made an automaton of the enlisted man2 
he sank back into the mind of the crowd1
 adopted the usual opinions in the usual
 words1 and lost for the time being his 
personality4 ,drill made for automatic  
physical reactions to a certain set of  
commands and the temporary cessation of 
thought4 ,in close-order drill ,tom     
,smith submerged his personality and    
became ,number ,three in the rear rank4 
,he learned to swing about at the proper
 moment1 following the man ahead of him1
 to respond instantly to the word of    
command without hesitating for its      
meaning1 to stand and march and salute  
and obey4 ,that was good for the rear1  
but at the front we needed ,tom ,smith  
again1 and he might forget his place in 
the line1 rush forward on his own       
initiative and become a hero4 ,the      
finest acts were those of individuals   
acting without orders1 the private      
forming a stretcher party of volunteers 
to go out for the wounded1 the corporal 
reforming the platoon when all the      

sergeants were disabled and leading them
 forward4 ,then in the long period after
 the war ,tom ,smith had to be lost1 for
 ,number ,three in the rear ranks was   
needed again4  ,the soldier lived in    
utter ignorance1 not only of general    
events in the world and the army1 but   
even of the things which would affect   
himself most closely4 ,the enlisted man 
never knew a day in advance when he     
would be transferred to a different post
 or a different duty1 when he would be  
promoted or degraded in rank1 when he   
was to attack the enemy or retire for a 
rest4 ,even the things he saw became    
distorted4 ,a doughboy remarked to me   
just before the battle of the ,selle    
,river1 ,we're held up by a little      
stream twenty feet wide1 with ,jerry on 
top of the railroad embankment on the   
other side4 ,if we can just get across  
that river and up that embankment1 we'll
 end the war right there4 ,of course1   
our success three days later did not end
 the war2 it was only part of a         

tremendous program which the private    
soldier did not envisage at all4 ,the   
attack on the ,selle ,river was but one 
of a half-dozen actions carried on      
simultaneously in ,flanders1 on the     
,scheld1 at ,rheims1 in the ,argonne and
 on the ,meuse4 ,our attack was made    
easier because of these others1 and they
 in turn were successful because of     
ours4 ,the three hundred miles of       
battle-line were all one1 and only the  
broadest possible view could give any   
idea at all of the truth4  ,the officer1
 especially when on the staff1 saw      
things in relation1 but the soldier had 
to work in the dark4 ,he never did      
understand the rules of the great game  
he was playing4 ,tactics were nothing to
 him4 ,he knew only what it meant to    
march with a heavy pack all night1 to   
rest in the damp cold of dawn when he   
was too weary to rest at all1 to advance
 under fire and to dig in again and yet 
again4 ,much as he might later on revel 
in the raw heroism of it all1 this      

arduous labor1 blindfolded1 left him a  
prey to doubt and rumor at the time4    
,rumors were one of the few foes of     
morale which persisted at both front and
 rear1 because they were the product of 
ignorance and in both places ignorance  
persisted4 ,no man can be quite steady  
in his duty when his mind is distracted 
by the countless rumors of army life4   
,so far as we had information to        
dispense1 we were building up morale1   
even when the facts were not reassuring4
 ,rumors about going home1 being the    
most desirable1 were the greatest menace
 of all4 ,men would come back from the  
hospital with half-healed wounds because
 the rumor said we were going home at   
once1 and they wanted to go along4 ,men 
would take unofficial leave to see      
,paris before they died1 just because   
the latest rumor had it that we were not
 to leave for another month4 ,every such
 disappointment or lapse of duty made   
the next rumor more dangerous and wider 
spread4  ,the morale of the overseas    

forces described a slow downward curve  
from the high point at the armistice    
until the news that the particular unit 
was going home1 when it took an         
immediate upward bound4 ,during the     
downward trend of the curve1 the men    
grew to hate the army4 ,the definite    
elements which they naturally resented  
were emphasized and exaggerated1        
although that was hardly necessary4 ,at 
the same time1 they felt immense pride  
in their own achievements1 and a        
thorough contempt for joy-riders1 as    
they termed the civilian travelers      
through ,france1 the official           
investigators or representatives of     
civilian organizations1 who witnessed   
the trenches as if on a sight-seeing    
party4 ,this pride in their actual      
accomplishments1 combined with          
resentment at the military subversion of
 ordinary civilian standards of life and
 manhood1 was characteristic of the best
 minds in the ranks4  ,the military     
system is of necessity heteronomous1    

while democracy must be autonomous4 ,the
 very virtues of self-reliance1         
independence1 responsibility1 which we  
most emphasize in civil life1 were the  
ones most actively discouraged among    
enlisted men4 ,at the same time1 the    
moral influences put upon them were     
those of compulsion and restraint4 ,the 
regime for officers was radically       
different2 it demanded responsibility   
and removed much of the restraint4      
,hence the tendency of the army system  
was to produce officers with adequate   
mental processes and soldiers with      
automatic obedience to any kind of      
orders4 ,the result1 not difficult to   
foresee1 was that the officers had far  
better minds but far poorer morals than 
the enlisted men4 ,the officer was      
responsible for himself2 the enlisted   
man had a number of superiors           
responsible for him4 ,as a consequence  
the officer used his mind1 the soldier  
stopped using his4 ,on the other hand1  
the officer often abused his larger     

liberty1 so that some of the officers of
 the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 were notorious for     
their loose living on the boulevards of 
,paris and other towns and brought shame
 upon their more decent comrades and the
 cause for which they fought4  ,the     
conspicuous difference was not the      
result of differences in the men        
themselves1 for we had no castes in the 
,american army4 ,officers and men came  
from the same stock and from every      
group4 ,it was the direct consequence of
 the different type of discipline and   
control to which they were subjected4   
,the best officers and the best men     
surmounted it2 the worst yielded2 the   
average were affected more or less4     
,obviously1 morale was a loose general  
term for many actual conditions4 ,it    
meant one thing at the front1 another   
thing at the rear4 ,it included morals1 
although sometimes a high state of      
morale could exist together with many   
lapses from the moral code4 ,it summed  
up the general state of mind of the     

troops at any time with regard to the   
special purpose for which the troops    
were just then intended4 ,a study of    
morale gave insight into many related   
factors1 including that of morality4    
,the young man1 as we saw him in the    
army1 had a morality of his own1 related
 closely to sport and business1 but to  
neither law nor religion4 ,it is a moral
 standard--we cannot possibly mistake   
that--the young man is not in his own   
mind immoral4 ,but it is a standard     
which makes much of friendship1 loyalty1
 fair play1 something of honesty1       
nothing of the special code which we    
usually call morality4 ,it allowed much 
laxity in sexual relations2 it laid no  
stress at all on obedience to military  
regulations2 it had hardly such a word  
as duty4 ,religion to the soldier meant 
habit1 or sentiment1 or fear1 or        
longing2 it did not mean a code of      
morals4 ,the attempt to build up a moral
 standard on a basis of duty to one's   
country or to one's self was largely    

inadequate4 ,courage the soldier        
recognized1 and sincerity and           
self-sacrifice2 he did not know much of 
duty4 ,this fact was both the cause and 
the result of military discipline1 which
 made duty an external matter of        
obedience to a million trivial and      
arbitrary rules1 rather than to a few   
definite and outstanding principles4    
,the young man has a morality of his own
 in civil life2 he had a slightly       
different1 but related morality in the  
army4 ,it was not the conventional      
morality of society1 which rests upon   
the historical standards of the         
middle-aged4 ,it was a type of morality 
which we must learn to recognize and    
understand for both his benefit and that
 of society as a whole4     ,,chapter   
,,xiii  ,,the ,,moral ,,gain ,,and      
,,loss ,,of ,,the ,,soldier   ,the      
military system1 as ,i have tried to    
bring out in the last chapter1 had a    
definite and profound influence on the  
life and thought of the individual      

soldier4 ,it was so radically different 
from civilian life that this influence  
became all the more striking through    
contrast4 ,the young man has certain    
moral standards and habits in civil     
life1 some of which became intensified1 
while others altered in the army4 ,the  
millions of young men who went through  
the military regime during the war have 
brought this influence back into        
civilian life with them1 even though it 
is attenuated by environment and        
although they have largely returned to  
their former1 pre-military habits4 ,war 
and danger brought out certain          
characteristics and occasioned others4  
,these new reactions of character were  
not1 as the pacifists would have it1 all
 bad2 neither were they all good1 as was
 generally proclaimed in patriotic      
fashion while the war was going on4     
,some influences were good and some were
 bad1 while almost every man in the     
service would necessarily respond to    
both kinds4 ,the military system itself 

caused or brought to light certain good 
and bad traits which appeared clearly   
enough in the average soldier after he  
had been in the army even a few months4 
,it may be worth while to develop some  
of these at a little length1 not        
scientifically nor psychologically1 but 
simply and directly as they strike the  
soldier himself4  ,we saw at the front1 
as the experience of other armies had   
indicated1 that the average man has in  
him the stuff of which heroes are made4 
,not merely the farmer or backwoodsman1 
but the men who followed prosaic city   
occupations1 were ready to sacrifice    
themselves for their comrades and their 
country4 ,the barber and the shipping   
clerk were as frequent winners of the   
,d4 ,s4 ,c4 as any others in our huge   
heterogeneous army4 ,heroism was evoked 
by the need1 by the fact that it was the
 expected response1 the response of     
thousands of others4 ,the crowd mind    
produced heroism out of the most        
unexpected material4 ,war created some  

of the heroism which we saw2 it merely  
evoked some which was already latent1   
ready for the call4 ,the                
stretcher-bearer1 exposing himself to   
the severest fire to carry his precious 
burden to safety2 the battalion runner1 
bearing his message through the barrage 
and then coming back again to bring the 
answer2 the machine gunner1 carrying his
 heavy weapon on his back to an advanced
 position where he could establish it   
effectively2 the infantryman1 advancing 
against machine-gun fire1 or digging in 
under attack from heavy artillery or    
aeroplanes2 the engineer1 digging away  
debris or laying bridges in plain sight 
of the enemy1 with his rifle laid near  
by to use in case of an attack--,i might
 enumerate hundreds of such duties in   
which courage1 loyalty1 and endurance   
were exhibited by men who performed     
exceptional acts of bravery and         
devotion1 volunteering for difficult    
service or carrying on in the face of   
overwhelming odds4 ,all soldiers were   

afraid1 but in the performance of their 
duty practically all soldiers learned to
 overcome fear and attend to their jobs 
in the face of every obstacle and every 
danger4  ,we felt that travel1 with its 
attendant contact with other customs1   
language and people1 would broaden our  
soldiers mentally and tend to break down
 the provincialism which has been often 
noticed in ,america1 as well as in many 
other countries4 ,only a small minority 
of our men were equipped1 either in     
knowledge or in attitude1 to take       
advantage of the opportunities offered4 
,museums meant comparatively little to  
them1 mediaeval cathedrals not much     
more1 ,roman walls or ruins nothing at  
all4 ,scenery did not mean as much as   
some of us thought it should1 forgetting
 that scenery looks entirely different  
to a man who rides past it and another  
who walks through it4 ,altogether1      
knowledge of ,france1 ,england and      
,germany made1 on the whole1 not for a  
greater appreciation of foreign lands1  

but instead for a great appreciation of 
,america4  ,the fact is that the boys   
grew homesick4 ,most of them were only  
boys in years1 and practically all of   
them were reduced to the boyish level of
 thought by the general                 
irresponsibility1 thoughtlessness1 and  
dependency of army life4 ,they were like
 boys in a military school1 very often1 
rather than men engaged in the grim     
business of modern war4 ,to these boys  
absence from home brought a higher      
appreciation of home4 ,this was often a 
true evaluation1 in the face of previous
 neglect and underestimation2 sometimes 
it may have been a sentimentalizing of a
 home that had never really meant very  
much4 ,but in the danger1 the monotony1 
and the distance1 the soldiers grew to  
higher appreciation of their own homes  
and their home-land as well4  ,their    
complaints were often ridiculous enough4
 ,they objected to the backwardness1 the
 lack of sanitation1 the absence of     
bathing facilities in the ,french       

villages4 ,these were true enough1 as   
far as they went1 although ,i know      
personally that they can be matched in  
many details even in prosperous and     
enlightened ,america4 ,they objected to 
the ,french climate1 with the damp cold 
of its winters1 not caring to remember  
that certain parts of our own ,pacific  
coast suffer from a rainy season1 too4  
,this complaint becomes still more      
valueless when we remember how the boys 
grumbled about the heat of the ,texas   
border1 in fact1 how soldiers not in    
action will always find a source of     
complaint in the weather1 whatever kind 
of weather it may be4 ,as ,general      
,o',ryan remarked in his famous         
definition of a soldier1 ,a soldier is a
 man who always wants to be somewhere   
else than where he is4 ,this            
restlessness accounts for some of the   
complaints which we are apt to take a   
bit too seriously4 ,a more real         
complaint was the language difficulty4  
,soldier ,french was a wonderful thing1 

consisting of the names of all ordinary 
things to eat and drink1 together with a
 few common expressions1 such as toute  
de suite 7always pronounced toot sweet71
 and combien4 ,this prevented easy      
communication1 even with such ,french   
people as were encountered4 ,few of the 
soldiers had any opportunity to use even
 their little ,french on respectable1   
middle-class ,french families1          
especially not on young men or girls4   
,all these grievances1 real and fancied1
 put the soldier out of ease in ,france 
and made him appreciate ,america so much
 the better4 ,the sacrifices they were  
making for ,america1 the service they   
were rendering her1 united with the     
home-sickness of a stranger in a strange
 land to increase the devotion and      
respect of ,americans for ,america4  ,i 
need not refer especially to the rather 
mixed gain in religious attitude1 as ,i 
have already devoted a chapter to that  
subject4 ,i must1 however1 repeat one   
point ,i mentioned there1 the meanings  

of physical sacrifice as these men saw  
it and practised it in the army4 ,it was
 the outcome of their courage1 their    
dash1 their enthusiasm1 that when the   
time of stress came ordinary men offered
 their lives for their friends and their
 country4 ,the soldier at the front     
equaled or exceeded the forgetfulness of
 self of the fireman or the life-saver  
in time of peace4 ,this lesson of       
self-forgetfulness1 of self-sacrifice1  
was one of the great impressions made by
 the war upon the best men it           
influenced1 and one which touched in its
 way even the most thoughtless and      
careless of all the soldiers who had    
their hour at the front4  ,this brought 
out the group solidarity of the         
,american army in stronger relief4 ,the 
fine thing about morale at the front1 as
 ,i have outlined it1 was the mutual    
confidence which it called out in every 
breast4 ,the pride in his own company1  
his regiment1 his division1 in the      
,american army as a whole1 which held a 

man to his duty under fire and impelled 
him to resist the almost overwhelming   
influence of a sudden attack of panic1  
made for loyalty at the rear as well and
 formed one basis for the whole-hearted 
return of the young men into civilian   
society after the war4 ,pride in one's  
division meant also pride in one's      
state2 pride in the ,united ,states     
,army meant pride in the ,united        
,states4 ,self-sacrifice1 devotion1     
heroism1--all these were profound       
lessons for any man1 young or old1 a    
lesson which ,american democracy can    
profitably utilize in the daily humdrum 
of ,american life4  ,it was surprising  
how constantly our expectations were    
disappointed by the actual facts of the 
men in the service4 ,most books and     
articles since the war and all of those 
before the war were written on a        
theoretical basis1 and every one        
approached the facts with a theoretical 
view4 ,but the theory was proved wrong  
in so many instances that ,i am making  

the present study entirely empirical1   
leaving theory out altogether as more of
 a pitfall than an advantage4 ,for one  
thing1 ,i had expected war to exert a   
directly brutalizing influence on the   
soldier4 ,this was never evident at all 
except in the actual stress of battle   
when killing was a daily necessity1 and 
human life1 although the most valuable  
asset of the contending forces1 was     
still held cheaply enough to be used up 
at a terrific rate4 ,men could not stop 
there to pity every corpse2 they had to 
save their own lives and at the same    
time to win the war4 ,but the effect    
wore off quickly2 probably it left no   
result at all except on men with a      
previous tendency to brutality or crime4
 ,i remember the thrill of horror which 
went through ,le ,mans and the entire   
,a4 ,e4 ,f4 in ,april #aiai1 when a     
railroad accident occurred near our post
 and a group of soldiers and sailors on 
furlough were injured1 some of them     
fatally4 ,we forgot all about the fact  

that these men had risked death in      
entering the service1 that the few of   
them in this accident were the smallest 
fraction of a day's toll at the front if
 the war had continued4 ,we melted in   
sympathy1 and the ,french population of 
,le ,mans did the same4  ,the men were  
not brutalized1 contrary to expectation4
 ,human life was held cheaply under     
exceptional circumstances and evidently 
the men felt that they were exceptional4
 ,but the men did become accustomed to  
the use of firearms1 and those already  
brutalized were given the knowledge and 
the means for crimes of violence4 ,the  
carelessness with which men used and    
flung about all kinds of deadly weapons 
shocked those of us with a sense of     
responsibility2 it was part of their    
boyish heedlessness in the midst of the 
fierce game they were playing4 ,they    
threw their discarded rifles in a heap  
by the first-aid post when they went    
back to hospital2 they even played catch
 with hand-grenades1 sometimes with most

 serious results4 ,once ,i met a pair of
 ,australians out hunting rabbits with  
their high-powered rifles1 in a place   
where hundreds of men were passing      
hourly by the much-traveled road4 ,when 
,i remonstrated with them1 they only    
replied1 ,oh1 well1 we haven't anything 
else to do4 ,and we know how to shoot   
without hurting anybody4  ,but with all 
these real character acquisitions on the
 part of the men in the service1 and    
with the lack of that brutalizing which 
many theorists had feared1 at the same  
time certain moral losses were          
occasioned by the military system4 ,i   
shall not enter into the question of    
sexual morality here1 partly because ,i 
have discussed it in the previous       
chapter1 and partly because it was not  
distinctly the product of the army4 ,the
 sexual standards of the young men in   
the army were much the same as those of 
young men everywhere1 with some         
modifications through discipline4 ,but  
to the man who has served in any army at

 any time1 the outstanding moral        
weakness of the soldier is his entire   
disregard of the rights of property4    
,the sense of property1 so strong in    
civilian life1 which is implanted so    
carefully into the little child1 seems  
lost in the first month of a man's army 
life4 ,one brigade headquarters ,i knew 
in ,france was established in a fine    
chateau1 with large grounds surrounded  
by a high wooden fence4 ,at the same    
time1 the men of the nearest unit were  
living in barns and attics1 with no     
light or heat of any kind in their      
quarters4 ,the result was that the fence
 disappeared1 little by little4 ,nobody 
ever saw the culprits1 but ,i had       
reliable information that the men       
billeted in that village had all the    
heat they needed4 ,when we left the     
area1 about half the fence was gone1 and
 ,i have little doubt it vanished       
entirely during the occupancy of the    
next division4  ,i can still hear the   
indignation of the driver of my tin     

,lizzie when the precious lamps were    
stolen out of our car and we had to     
drive home ten miles in the dark4 ,of   
course1 lamps were scarce1 having to be 
shipped from the ,states1 and the thief 
undoubtedly drove an army car like ours4
 ,but a few days later after a visit to 
the city my driver reported back in     
triumph--he had found another machine   
parked in a side street and salvaged the
 lights4 ,i tried to make him return    
them1 but for once he proved            
insubordinate4 ,it was only another army
 car2 the other fellow had probably got 
them the same way2 he could not identify
 the car1 anyway4 ,then came the        
finishing stroke when we tried the      
lights and found them burned out6 ,the  
other driver had left them in as a      
blind4 ,my driver felt a sense of       
personal injury1 as though he had been  
directly cheated in a legitimate        
business deal4 ,and practically any     
soldier would have agreed with him4     
,the men found whatever they needed if  

it was not issued to them properly1     
because property had no meaning to them 
in the army4 ,they owned nothing        
whatever2 even their clothes1 food and  
lodging belonged to ,uncle ,sam4 ,when  
their clothes wore out1 they were       
replaced2 when the company's weekly     
supply of food was eaten up1 more was   
forthcoming4 ,rifles fallen into        
disrepair were exchanged for good ones2 
shoes were sent to the salvage depot to 
be repaired and then issued to another  
man4 ,equipment lost at the front or in 
the hospital was reissued without       
question4 ,therefore the enlisted man   
felt a community sense of ownership     
rather than a personal one4 ,at the same
 time1 he was constantly in need of one 
thing or another4 ,he needed fire wood1 
as in the incident of the fence1 or     
automobile supplies1 as with my driver4 
,the legend even goes that the          
,australians1 famous in their ability to
 care for their own units1 have been    
known to take an entire field kitchen1  

with the food still cooking1 from a     
,british unit and make a successful     
escape4 ,i know that ,i have personally 
seen a ,british colonial soldier in a   
village near the front taking a large   
mirror with a gilt frame out of a       
dwelling house and making off toward his
 quarters4 ,what are you doing with     
that8 ,i asked him4 ,oh1 ,i think we can
 use it1 was his unembarrassed answer4  
,the soldier learned to disregard law1  
just as he learned to disregard         
property4 ,discipline meant obedience to
 constant minute surveillance4 ,it meant
 getting up at reveille1 rolling his    
blankets in just such a way1 reporting  
at roll call1 lining up for mess1       
working at whatever menial tasks he     
might be detailed to do by the sergeant1
 asking for a pass when he wanted to go 
to the nearest city1 submitting his mail
 to censorship1 getting a day off for   
sickness only after lining up for sick  
call1 and finally going to bed at night 
as soon as the bugle sounded taps4      

,these men were not trained soldiers1   
accustomed to such a system2 they were  
healthy ,american boys in whom this     
constant subjection to external control 
meant the immediate seeds of revolt4    
,autonomy meant then the evasion of the 
law4 ,a man could assert his            
individuality only in such ways as going
 absent without leave1 wearing a serge  
uniform 7not regulation for private     
soldiers71 or gambling away his last    
month's scanty pay4 ,add to this his    
constant contact with officers1 who1 if 
they had to bear a heavy burden of      
responsibility and were forced to pay   
for all the things the enlisted man     
received for nothing1 still were not    
subject to many of the restrictions     
which he found most galling4 ,the test  
of manly independence came to be simply 
getting away with it4 ,if a man was     
caught in an infraction of the rules he 
had to take his punishment2 if he was   
not detected or not convicted he was a  
successful soldier4 ,this applied1 for  

example1 to a trip to ,paris1 the golden
 dream of every ,american soldier4 ,for 
a long time this was strictly forbidden1
 although later three-day leaves to     
,paris were allowed to a certain number 
of men4 ,yet thousands of ,americans saw
 the lovely and forbidden city          
unofficially4 ,they got leave to        
,versailles1 and rode into ,paris daily 
by street car4 ,they took the wrong     
train1 ostensibly by accident1 and had  
to change trains at ,paris1 dropping out
 of sight for a day or two meanwhile4   
,they borrowed the travel orders of     
other men and used them over1 risking   
detection4 ,neither the extreme         
harshness of the ,paris military police 
nor the menace of their own angry       
captains could keep them from the       
enticing adventure4 ,it was their       
boyishness1 combined with their lack of 
respect for the law itself1 that led    
them into such devious modes of         
disobedience4 ,if you know how1 you can 
get away with murder1 was the usual     

apology--further excuse was not needed4 
,among officers a similar tendency      
showed itself in a different way4 ,the  
officer was not limited in the most     
petty ways which irritated the men1     
although he also could not take a trip  
to ,paris without proper travel orders  
and could not absent himself from duty  
without special permission4 ,but the    
officer likewise grew to disregard the  
law essentially1 even while he obeyed it
 most carefully in its minutiae4 ,an    
officer was bound by his signature on   
written documents4 ,a request coming    
from the sergeant had to be endorsed by 
the lieutenant1 with his reasons if he  
did not favor granting it4 ,it would    
then pass on to the captain1 the major1 
the colonel1 and if necessary also the  
brigadier and the major general4 ,having
 passed through military channels for   
its consideration1 it came back again by
 the same route until it reached the    
originator4 ,this system made at once   
for diffusion of responsibility1 or1 to 

use the familiar army term1 passing the 
buck4 ,the first man who approved the   
request had no responsibility1 as it was
 approved likewise by his superiors2 the
 later endorsers had none1 as they had  
signed it on his recommendation1        
assuming his knowledge of the facts4    
,nobody could be held responsible and   
every one was careful to evade          
responsibility wherever he could4       
,naturally1 this made for endless       
delays1 for complications interminable  
when a previous order had to be         
rescinded for any reasons whatever1 for 
evasion in case of difficulty or doubt4 
,it meant fundamentally the disregard of
 law1 expressed by the soldier in       
disobedience and by the officer in      
evasion4  ,the military regime likewise 
tended to break down habits of regular  
industry4 ,during the war there was the 
alternation of short periods of intense 
and exhausting activity at the front and
 longer ones of as complete rest as the 
men could obtain at the rear4 ,it was a 

reversion to the life of the savage1    
busy by spells at hunting or war1 with  
rest and languor between4 ,the entire   
exhaustion1 physical and mental1 after a
 spell in the trenches demanded complete
 relaxation afterward1 while there was  
always a little necessary work in the   
way of drill1 reequipment and           
inspection4 ,after the war was over1 the
 drill went on in still larger doses but
 without the incentive of returning to  
the trenches again afterward4 ,this     
alternation of work and rest together   
with the general rebellion against      
routine1 broke down the habit of        
consistent work which is built up with  
such effort and such inducements in     
civil life4 ,boys do not want to work   
until they are taught to do so and given
 inducements in the form of money and   
the things money will buy4 ,but the     
soldiers1 so boyish in their life and   
their feelings1 had few such inducements
 given them4 ,their universal experience
 after leaving the army was that it took

 a tremendous effort of will to return  
to the routine and responsibility of a  
civilian occupation4  ,exceptions       
existed1 of course1 to every            
generalization in this chapter1 as they 
do to any generalization of any kind4   
,but the exceptions speedily lifted     
themselves out of the ranks by          
promotion1 and were therefore covered by
 the different influences on the        
officers and the higher ranks of        
non-commissioned officers4 ,and ,i feel 
that even these exceptional men who     
retained their respect for law and      
property1 their habits of regular       
industry1 did so only in comparison with
 the general break-down1 that even they 
felt a certain loosening of the         
standards which they had possessed in   
civilian life4  ,army life developed a  
new series of moral values and moral    
reactions4 ,it brought out virtues which
 were latent or non-existent in civil   
life2 it reduced others to impotence4   
,it produced love of country1 of home1  

and of ,god2 it brought forth courage1  
loyalty1 self-sacrifice1 the extreme of 
heroism1 in such numbers and such       
variety that they seemed commonplace4   
,it did not brutalize any who were not  
very ready for such a process4 ,but at  
the same time1 it destroyed the         
citizen's respect for law and order1 his
 respect for property1 his habit of hard
 and persistent work4 ,it made him1 for 
the time being1 a lazy hero2 a jovial1  
careless1 and lovable lawbreaker4 ,it   
brought out exactly the qualities which 
are least necessary in civil life1 and  
injured those most necessary2 it took   
the student1 the workingman1 the farmer1
 and made of him the doughboy4 ,army    
life was opposed directly to the whole  
tenor of democracy1 the regime where men
 control themselves1 where they work    
through ambition and desire for success1
 and where they strive to accumulate    
property of their own1 at the same time 
respecting the law and the property of  
others4 ,army life meant a break in the 

lives of millions of young ,americans1  
an interruption of the steady           
development of their characters and     
habits1 a reversal of their tendencies  
and a postponement of their ambitions4  
,i feel that it is a great evidence of  
the essential soundness of ,american    
manhood that these millions have        
returned to civil life1 in most cases to
 their former circles and their former  
occupations1 with so little difficulty4 
,society helped them at the moment by   
the splendid reception home1 by the     
plaudits1 the speeches1 and the parades4
 ,it helped them also to obtain         
positions and then left them to find    
themselves4 ,fortunately1 after a brief 
transition most of them did find        
themselves1 and the ex-soldiers to-day  
are back in every type of work as       
before4 ,the former captain may sell you
 a suit2 the holder of a ,d4 ,s4 ,c4 may
 wait on you at the restaurant4 ,they   
have overcome the restlessness1 the     
carelessness1 the thrill2 they are      

civilians again4 ,but here and there the
 seeds fell on different soil2 here and 
there a former soldier has not found    
himself again4 ,we see him most often   
among the wounded and gassed1 who cannot
 fit into industry so easily1 and whose 
sufferings have often affected their    
mentality and always their point of     
view4 ,america has wasted criminally    
precious years of these young ruined    
lives1 in not bringing to them instantly
 the full care and service of a grateful
 nation4 ,on the other hand1 industry   
has made little effort to absorb our    
soldiers2 ,i have seen men with trades  
selling fruit from push-carts because   
there was no other work at hand4 ,i have
 seen a jobless boy1 honestly trying to 
make a little money by selling trinkets 
in the street and driven away by a      
patriotic store-keeper1 who felt that he
 had done his duty by buying ,liberty   
,bonds and need not bother about the man
 who had fought his battles for him4    
,the soldier who cannot return to civil 

life is a rare exception1 but he is an  
exception caused in an unstable youth by
 our military or our industrial system4 
,our nation1 which profited by that     
army1 must remember for good every      
weakest individual whose sweat and blood
 poured forth to make that army great4  
,,chapter ,,xiv  ,,the ,,jewish         
,,soldier ,,and ,,judaism   ,during the 
war we were so stunned by its suddenness
 and vastness that we felt it would     
shatter all former systems of           
philosophy1 that men would need a new   
philosophy of life after the war1 just  
as they did after the ,renaissance or   
the epoch-making discoveries of ,darwin4
 ,this opinion1 natural enough at the   
time1 was certainly exaggerated4 ,the   
war did not shatter all ideals2 it did  
not create any new ones except the wave 
of spiritualism at present so           
wide-spread4 ,but it did shift emphases1
 exposed the hollowness of many easy    
beliefs1 and implanted new ideas in     
minds which otherwise might not have    

been ready for them4 ,the soldier really
 presents the typical reaction to the   
war1 while the civilian shows a milder  
type of influence and a smaller degree  
of change4 ,the revaluation of values   
which is really demanded to-day is      
nothing so fundamental as we thought at 
the time4 ,it is chiefly psychological1 
that we shall understand what is in the 
mind of the soldier1 and by that means  
reach an understanding of the effect of 
the war on society as a whole4 ,the     
world contains in diluted form those    
same influences which show so distinctly
 on these young men4 ,the problem of    
evil is neither greater nor less than it
 was before the war2 the problem of life
 and death is no different2 the problem 
of conduct has not changed4 ,but certain
 phases of each of these problems have  
come very strongly to the attention of  
the world2 some of them have been       
branded into the consciousness of the   
soldier4 ,just as the soldier has a     
viewpoint toward ,american ideals1 which

 ,america would do well to heed in      
working out her programs for the era    
after the war1 so the ,jewish soldier   
has his own viewpoint toward ,judaism1  
which all who are interested in our     
people and our religion need to         
understand and utilize for the best     
development of our religious programs in
 the days that are just ahead4  ,it is  
hard to call the soldier a progressive  
in religion when he had so few theories 
about the matter4 ,but he was certainly 
not a traditionalist4 ,religious ideas  
and practices had to satisfy his        
immediate needs or they had no meaning  
to him at all4 ,this covered all cant   
words1 all ready-made formulas1 whether 
as ancient as the ,talmud or as         
comparatively recent as reform ,judaism4
 ,the answer of a twelfth century ,jew  
of ,spain or a nineteenth century ,jew  
of ,germany were on an equality to him2 
if either solved the problems of a young
 ,american at war it was acceptable4    
,the soldier was willing to accept old  

answers to new questions if they were   
cogent2 on the other hand1 he was quite 
as willing to consider a new and        
revolutionary theory4 ,he possessed that
 rare attribute1 the open mind2 on the  
narrow but keen basis of his own mental 
experience he grasped and estimated     
soundly the new ideas and the old4  ,the
 soldier enjoyed ceremonies that        
reminded him of home and childhood1 but 
he regarded them largely as pleasant    
memories4 ,however deep a meaning the   
symbols might possess1 the soldier had  
not the background to grasp it4 ,the    
symbols did not stand for enough to     
solve the problems of his immediate     
life4 ,in the same way1 theological     
concepts1 however liberal1 meant nothing
 to him practically4 ,the liberal       
theology of reform ,judaism might have  
appealed to the mass of the ,jewish     
soldiers if they had been interested in 
it and had made an effort to understand 
it4 ,as it was1 liberalism in theology  
meant exactly nothing to them4 ,they    

were not interested in theological      
problems2 they did not care what one's  
opinion might be about the literal      
inspiration of the ,bible or about the  
coming of the ,messiah4 ,the liberalism 
which expressed itself constantly among 
the soldiers1 and which they brought    
back with them into civil life1 was     
different from all this4 ,granting your 
liberalism or your conservatism in      
regard to beliefs and ceremonies1 the   
soldier wanted to know your attitude    
toward other human beings4 ,the         
liberalism he wanted was social and     
humanitarian4 ,on this plane he had his 
being4 ,this was the type of problem    
which interested him and which he could 
understand4 ,the soldier felt too often 
that the churches and synagogues were   
dominated by capital1 by a narrow social
 class which discriminated against him4 
,among ,jewish soldiers1 many felt that 
the religious ideas they might accept   
were expressed in rich reform temples1  
where they themselves would not be      

acceptable or would not feel at home4   
,on the other hand1 they did not feel at
 home in the little orthodox synagogues 
where their fathers offered up their    
daily prayers4 ,they did not understand 
the ,hebrew ritual uttered there1 nor   
the devotional attitude which was there 
expressed4  ,but all this is not        
reaching directly the synagogue itself4 
,the young men1 the former soldiers1 are
 not the trustees of our temples and    
synagogues2 they are not a majority of  
our members2 they are not often to be   
found in the pews1 where we might see   
their response to a particular service  
or a particular sermon4 ,if we are not  
very careful1 the churches and          
synagogues will lose entirely the       
inspiration of their youthful vigor and 
find themselves tied entirely to the    
generation which has passed into middle 
age and is becoming old4 ,we must call  
to the young men in the voice of youth1 
with the viewpoint and on the plane     
which they understand and on which they 

may respond4 ,that means that we must be
 willing to accept new conclusions to   
new problems if these conclusions seem  
to fit the new times4 ,that means also  
that we must have an aggressive attitude
 toward social and economic problems4   
,this alone can make liberalism         
religious and make religion concrete1   
applicable to the needs of the latest   
era1 the era after the world war4       
,without it1 religion will remain       
moribund1 liberalism irreligious4       
,religious bodies must give an equal    
hearing to both the conservative and the
 radical1 must show a definite platform 
of religious and moral work on which the
 two can unite4 ,that was done during   
the war4 ,all groups in ,american       
,jewry1 orthodox1 conservative and      
reform1 were associated in the ,jewish  
,welfare ,board and still work together 
on the ,joint ,distribution ,committee  
for the relief of ,jewish war sufferers4
 ,all groups in ,american life1 ,jew and
 non-,jew alike1 met and worked together

 in the ,united ,war ,work campaign1 to 
care for the soldiers in our emergency4 
,but the young men1 no longer soldiers1 
need us as badly now1 while we1 the     
churches and the synagogues1 need them  
more than ever1 with their new          
experience and their new-found manhood4 
,what they need and what we need1 too1  
is that we learn to cooperate on a      
common platform of action for their     
benefit now4 ,if we want them1 if we    
want to be at one with them1 we must    
have a social program1 a liberal        
attitude to life and especially to its  
most immediate economic problems1 a     
willingness to sink differences of      
opinion that we may meet for practical  
effort and genuine progress4  ,the boys 
in the service became largely socialized
 through the tremendous1 constant work  
of the welfare agencies4 ,they felt the 
value of the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4 ,a4 or other   
welfare hut1 not only for the           
entertainments1 dances and canteen1 but 
just as much as a center for the soldier

 community1 a place to write1 to read1  
to play games1 to meet their friends4   
,since their return they have turned to 
such institutions as the ,y4 ,m4 ,c4    
,a41 the ,y4 ,m4 ,h4 ,a4 and the rest1  
to find the club life1 the community    
spirit1 which they had in the welfare   
hut in camp or city at home and abroad4 
,this need of the young men for a social
 center and a social life is a common   
need of all ,america4 ,every village    
needs a social center to further its    
growth into a finer culture and a more  
united citizenship4 ,every ,jewish      
community large enough to have a little 
social life of its own needs a community
 center where that life can flourish and
 be guided in desirable and constructive
 channels4 ,the expansion of the ,jewish
 ,welfare ,board to join and assist the 
activities of the ,national ,council of 
,young ,men's ,hebrew and ,kindred      
,associations is a logical one1 growing 
out of the similar needs of the same    
young men in war and peace4 ,the        

furtherance of social centers for       
,jewish communities1 for other groups of
 citizens who possess a common heritage 
or common background1 and for a whole   
town where the town is not too large1 is
 a piece of work in which the soldiers  
will participate and which their very   
existence among us should suggest to the
 rest of the community4 ,the return of  
the soldier may assist us more than we  
expect in socializing the ,jewish       
community4 ,the social spirit we once   
showed in his behalf1 the social        
education we gave him while in the      
service1 will return to benefit us all  
if we convert the two into ,jewish      
social life4 ,such a socializing will   
cut across congregational or sectional  
lines1 across lines of birth and wealth1
 and unite the ,jewish community in     
,america1 just as the same process will 
eventually1 if carried far enough1 weld 
together all the divergent social forces
 of ,america itself4  ,the need for     
personal religion at the front was a    

temporary need1 or rather a temporary   
expression of a universal human         
yearning4 ,it is now almost forgotten by
 the boys themselves1 certainly by the  
church and the synagogue4 ,beside the   
liberal and the social demands of the   
day1 there exists this mystical longing 
to be sure of ,god1 to know for a       
certainty that ,he will protect ,his    
dear ones4 ,this universal and eternal  
need was felt for the time by our men in
 immediate danger1 in thankfulness1 in  
mourning4 ,having discovered it once1   
they still feel it when the occasion    
comes4 ,here1 however1 there seems      
little likelihood of their contribution 
being accepted4 ,the union of the social
 and mystical elements1 even at         
different times and for different       
occasions1 seems more than any human    
institution can accomplish4 ,if the     
soldier1 in tune with the urge of the   
age1 demands a social and a liberal     
response from the synagogue1 he may get 
it in a large number of cases4 ,the     

mystical element he will not ask for1   
and his inarticulate mood1 now hardly   
evident1 will certainly evoke no        
response4  ,one thing certainly the     
young men feel1 which ,american ,judaism
 is accepting from them4 ,while the     
young ,jew is wholly sympathetic to     
,zionism1 he hardly ever feels that     
,zionism is the center or the conclusion
 of the ,jewish problem4 ,zionism1 as a 
movement1 has brought to fruition much  
of the latent love of the young ,jew for
 his people and his religion4 ,but the  
,jewish soldier1 or the same boy as a   
civilian1 is not interested chiefly in  
solving the economic or the cultural    
problems of ,palestine4 ,he responds    
also to the similar problems among the  
,jews of ,america4 ,zionism is not      
enough for him2 he must have ,judaism as
 well4 ,he and all of us are compelled  
to confront the spiritual and moral     
problems of the new world after the war4
  ,the young man does not know1 and the 
synagogue does not always show him1 that

 the very things he demands most        
urgently are inherent in ,judaism1      
especially in those great prophets whose
 words still ring forth with a youthful 
fervor4 ,the unfaltering search for new 
truth1 the recognition of the poor and  
the weak1 the unity of all groups in the
 community1 the triumphant search for   
,god and finding of ,god--all these the 
young ,jew wants and the prophets have  
given us4 ,this aspect of the problem1  
then1 becomes one of leadership1 to     
interpret our ,judaism in terms which   
express the life of the new day and to  
show the young men that their dearest   
longings are part of the ancient ,jewish
 heritage4 ,the antiquity of the        
prophetic summons is no disadvantage to 
the young men if it answers their       
personal need4 ,it is of the greatest   
advantage to the synagogue in responding
 to the call of the great days after the
 war4 ,those ancient responses to the   
errors and crimes of mobs and despots in
 the ,orient contain principles whose   

vitality is not impaired by the passage 
of time4 ,it needs but the skill and the
 courage to apply them again1 as in     
prophetic times1 to the western world in
 the twentieth century4  ,war gave the  
world a new angle of vision on life and 
death1 on good and bad4 ,the deepest    
impress of this new viewpoint is on     
those men who were themselves at the    
front1 who underwent the most extreme   
phase of it in their own persons1 but   
some traces have spread throughout the  
entire western civilization4 ,america   
must realize it as ,europe does2        
,judaism and ,christianity alike are    
entering1 for good or bad1 a new period4
 ,the world has changed in some         
respects2 we who see the world have     
changed far more4 ,in facing the future1
 with its political1 its social1 its    
moral problems1 we need a new fullness  
of insight into the young men whose     
lives have changed and whose souls      
expanded overnight1 even though they    
remain in externals the boys they were4 

,we need a new intellectual content1    
covering not only the new map of ,europe
 and ,asia1 but also the new ideas and  
ideals which swept the world for a time1
 as though they were to be eternal4     
,above all1 we must have complete       
honesty in facing the thrilling         
challenge of the immediate future4 ,we  
do not need a new form of ,judaism any  
more than we need a new type of         
government in ,america4 ,we are         
confronted by the demand to adapt       
,americanism and ,judaism to the        
changing demands of a changing era1 to  
find among the temporary and evanescent 
elements in both those things which have
 permanent usefulness for any demand and
 any era4 ,we need ideals of the past1  
indeed1 but only such ideals as have    
survived the past1 as apply fully to the
 present1 as will aid in building up a  
future of promise and achievement for   
the ,jew4 ,judaism is on trial to-day4  
,if we answer the need of the young man1
 he will be the loyal1 active ,jew for  

to-day and to-morrow4 ,if we ignore him1
 whether through uncertainty1 ignorance 
or pride1 he will not come to us and we 
shall not be going after him4 ,judaism  
needs the young man2 it needs equally   
his great ideals1 social and mystical as
 well4 ,the test will result in a finer 
and more effective faith only if we     
respond to it bravely and honestly1 in  
the very spirit of the soldier himself4 
,,chapter ,,xv  ,,the ,,jewish ,,soldier
 ,,and ,,anti-,,semitism   ,during the  
war we felt that prejudice between men  
of different groups and different faiths
 was lessening day by day1 that our     
common enthusiasm in our common cause   
had brought ,catholics1 ,protestants and
 ,jews nearer together on a basis of    
their ardent ,americanism4 ,especially  
we who were at the front felt this in   
the first flush of our cooeperation1 our
 mutual interest and our mutual         
helpfulness4 ,after you have stood      
beside a man in the stress of front-line
 work1 have shared a blanket with him1  

have seen him suffer like a hero or die 
like a martyr1 his origin1 his family   
and his faith become less important than
 the manhood of the man himself4 ,more  
than once ,i have said1 talking to      
soldier audiences of ,jewish or of mixed
 faith3 ,after this war no man can      
knowingly call the ,jew a coward again4 
,if you ever hear such a statement1 you 
can be sure that our detractor is not an
 honest bigot1 as may have been the case
 in the past2 he is either ignorant or  
malicious4  ,we knew that and our       
comrades knew it4 ,the men at the front 
knew very little about the whole-hearted
 participation of every section of our  
vast population1 ,jew and non-,jew      
together1 in the campaigns for          
production1 ,liberty ,bonds1 the ,united
 ,war ,work campaign1 and all the rest4 
,that record is a permanent one and is  
known to every man who did his duty in  
the rear lines back in the ,united      
,states during the war4 ,but those who  
served overseas know the record the ,jew

 made for himself at the front1 his     
promotions1 his decorations1 his        
woundings and his deaths4 ,they know    
that differences of religion and race   
counted not at all in the ,american     
army1 that our heroes and our effective1
 able soldiers came from all religions  
and all races4 ,with what high hopes we 
entered the war2 with what fine fervor  
we saw it end6 ,we felt that our efforts
 had insured something more of liberty  
for the oppressed of all the world1 for 
,czech and ,armenian1 ,alsatian and     
,belgian1 ,pole and ,jew4  ,perhaps the 
greatest disappointment of all to the   
fighters and the sufferers has been the 
survival and the occasional revival of  
the old hatreds in a more intense form4 
,i am thinking of the many national and 
group hatreds and antagonisms which have
 tormented the world in the last years1 
and especially of one of them1 that     
against the ,jews4 ,the oppression of   
the autocratic regime of the ,czar has  
been carried on by the free nation of   

,poland2 the pogroms of the ,black      
,hundred have been revived in the       
,ukraine1 where the slaughter of war was
 doubled by the slaughter of peace4     
,hungary has seen its white terror1     
where ,jews were murdered as            
,bolshevists and ,bolshevists as ,jews4 
,austria and ,germany have seen a       
strengthening of the political          
anti-,semitism of pre-war times1 here   
blaming the ,jews for beginning the war1
 and there for ending it4 ,finally the  
movement has been carried over into the 
freest and most intelligent of nations1 
and some apologists for it have appeared
 even in ,england and ,america4 ,here   
the ,anti-,semites can work by neither  
political nor legal means1 but through a
 campaign of slander they strive to     
weaken the morale of the ,jew and injure
 his standing before the mass of his    
fellow citizens4  ,i shall not turn     
aside to deal1 even for a moment1 with  
the mass of accusations against the     
,jew1 trivial or grave as the case may  

be4 ,they have been adequately answered 
by ,jew and non-,jew1 especially in the 
address on ,the ',protocols1'           
,bolshevism and the ,jews1 by ten       
national organizations of ,american     
,jews on ,december #a1 #aibj1 and the   
subsequent protests against             
anti-,semitism by a distinguished group 
of non-,jewish ,americans1 notably      
,president ,woodrow ,wilson1 former     
,president ,william ,howard ,taft and   
,william ,cardinal ,o',connell4 ,the    
only one of these accusations with which
 ,i can properly deal in this place1 and
 one on which my fellow-soldiers will   
agree with me in every detail1 is the   
revival of the ancient slander against  
the patriotism and courage of the ,jew4 
,we are reading1 not for the first time 
in history1 but for almost the first    
time in the ,english language1 that the 
,jews are not patriots in their         
respective nations1 that they all have a
 super-national allegiance to a ,jewish 
international conspiracy1 that their    

real loyalty is to this other group     
within and above the state1 even to the 
extent of treachery or anarchy against  
their own governments4 ,we feel the     
disgrace1 the pathos of such a charge   
just after the war when ,jews died with 
non-,jews that ,america might be safe1  
at a time when ,jews even more than     
non-,jews are enduring the dread        
aftermath of war1 the famine1 the       
poverty and the epidemics1 in ,eastern  
and ,central ,europe4 ,it is the sort of
 charge which only facts can answer1 the
 kind of facts which are present in this
 book1 as in every official or personal 
story of the war by men who took a      
personal part in the war4 ,prejudice is 
too largely the product of those who    
gained by the war but did not personally
 enter the ranks4 ,the men who know1 the
 men who fought together and bled       
together1 have a different story4       
,america has1 in fact1 too much fairness
 as well as too much humanity1 to listen
 to any such movement of partisan hatred

 or bigotry4 ,i quote the statement of  
over a hundred distinguished citizens of
 ,gentile birth and ,christian faith1   
referred to above3  ,the loyalty and    
patriotism of our fellow citizens of the
 ,jewish faith is equal to that of any  
part of our people1 and requires no     
defense at our hands4 ,from the         
foundations of this ,republic down to   
the recent ,world ,war1 men and women of
 ,jewish ancestry and faith have taken  
an honorable part in building up this   
great nation and maintaining its        
prestige and honor among the nations of 
the world4 ,there is not the slightest  
justification1 therefore1 for a campaign
 of anti-,semitism in this country4  ,in
 this connection1 we can recall the     
words written by ,theodore ,roosevelt1  
at that time ,president1 in #aije1 on   
the occasion of the #bejth anniversary  
of the first landing of ,jews in what is
 now the ,united ,states3  ,i am glad to
 be able to say that while the ,jews of 
the ,united ,states have remained loyal 

to their faith and their race           
traditions1 they are engaged in generous
 rivalry with their fellow-citizens of  
other denominations in advancing the    
interests of our common country4 ,this  
is true1 not only of the descendants of 
the early settlers and those of         
,american birth1 but of a great and     
constantly increasing proportion of     
those who have come to our shores within
 the last twenty-five years as refugees 
reduced to the direst straits of penury 
and misery4 ,in a few years1 men and    
women hitherto utterly unaccustomed to  
any of the privileges of citizenship    
have moved mightily upward toward the   
standard of loyal1 self-respecting      
,american citizenship2 of that          
citizenship which not merely insists    
upon its rights1 but also eagerly       
recognizes its duty to do its full share
 in the material1 social and moral      
advancement of the nation4  ,it would be
 beside the issue to refer to the       
,jewish participation in ,american life 

during the past1 if that also had not   
been brought up as an accusation4 ,but  
the records exist1 and the facts are    
conclusive4 ,in the ,american revolution
 forty-six ,jews fought under ,george   
,washington1 out of the little ,jewish  
population of about two thousand in the 
,united ,states at that time4 ,the      
leading ,jews of ,new ,york and ,newport
 left those cities because they were    
patriots and would not carry on their   
business under ,british rule4 ,haim     
,salomon1 the ,jewish banker of ,new    
,york and later of ,philadelphia1 was   
among those who rendered the greatest   
service in financing the infant nation4 
,in the ,civil ,war ten thousand ,jewish
 soldiers of whom we to-day possess the 
records served in the ,union and        
,confederate armies4 ,each generation of
 immigrants has been most eager to learn
 the ,english language and ,american    
ways1 to take advantage to the full of  
,american liberty and opportunity1 to   
make a home for their families in a free

 land and to help that land maintain its
 freedom4 ,the ,world ,war was for the  
,jews1 as for all ,americans1 simply the
 culmination1 bringing out most strongly
 the high lights in ,american life4     
,heroes and slackers1 loyal and         
disloyal1 showed themselves in their    
true colors during the war4 ,and the    
,jew1 like all ,americans1 showed       
himself in this crisis loyal to         
,america4 ,the ,jewish record stands on 
a par with the best record of any group 
of ,american citizens1 of any church or 
any race4 ,jews of ,russia1 whose only  
contact with their native government had
 fostered hatred and distrust1 flocked  
to the colors in ,america4 ,jews of     
,american birth1 like all citizens of   
,american birth1 did their full duty for
 their country4  ,on this point again1  
my own facts1 clear as they are1 need   
not stand alone4 ,i can quote ,major    
,general ,robert ,alexander1 who        
commanded1 in the #ggth ,division1 the  
largest group of ,jews in any unit of   

the ,american ,expeditionary ,forces3 ,i
 found that ,hebrew names on the ,honor 
,roll of the division were fully up to  
the proportion that they should have    
been2 in other words1 the ,hebrew boy   
paid his full share of the price of     
victory4 ,when the time came for        
recommendations to go in for marks of   
distinction which we were able to give1 
,i found there again that the names of  
the ,hebrews were as fully represented  
on that list as the numbers in the      
division warranted1 by long odds4       
,to-day the ,jewish soldier1 no longer a
 soldier or a hero1 but still a ,jew and
 an ,american1 appeals to the ,american 
people4 ,will they suffer such a        
propaganda1 he wonders1 such an attack  
on him and on his brothers who still lie
 overseas1 in their ,american graves on 
foreign soil8 ,will they tolerate for a 
moment such a venomous and false attack 
on the defenders of their nation1 on any
 group1 small or large1 of the boys who 
rallied to the defense of democracy8 ,in

 the army overseas we felt that         
prejudice was a thing of the past1 that 
only in ignorance or malice could the   
old serpent lift its head again4        
,to-day1 with all the newer bitterness1 
we feel the same4 ,we know that our     
soldier comrades are loyal still1 that  
,america is still ,america1 that as we  
have once defended her we need not now  
muster our arguments or records to      
defend ourselves against her4 ,if the   
,jew ever needed justification1 he      
surely needs it no longer to-day4 ,the  
,jewish soldier has once for all made   
anti-,semitism impossible among the men 
who served ,america in arms1 and who    
still in days of quiet continue to serve
 and save their country4          99    
99       99       99       99           
,transcriber's ,notes  ,obvious         
punctuation errors repaired4            
,diacritics have be made consistent     
throughout the text4  ,hyphens removed  
from ,where-ever ,i went 7page #h71     
looked like side-streets 7page #aa71 a  

complete prayer-book 7page #ah71 an     
every-day matter 7page #adg74  ,hyphens 
added to new war-time societies 7page   
#c71 miles by side-car 7page #gj71      
private soldier in war-time 7page #ade71
 their new-found manhood 7page #bji74   
,unchanged spellings3 ,ausies1 ,b'nai   
,b'rith but ,brith elsewhere4  ,page #f3
 cemetary changed to cemetery 7hospital 
and cemetary74  ,page #aj3 new born     
changed to newborn 7see my newborn son74
  ,page #cd3 devasted changed to        
devastated 7villages were devastated74  
,page #ce3 conspicious changed to       
conspicuous 7village had a conspicuous74
  ,page #cf3 experiencd changed to      
experienced 7experienced a queer        
sensation74  ,pages #eg1 #ei3           
accomodations changed to accommodations 
7separate accommodations1 living        
accommodations74  ,page #ge3 excellant  
changed to excellent 7excellent         
cooeperation74  ,page #gh3 shown changed
 to shone 7shone directly upon74  ,page 
#hf3 ,fredman changed to ,friedman      

7,samuel ,friedman74  ,page #ij3 if     
changed to of 7in the interests of74    
,page #aaj3 ,cemetarial changed to      
,cemeterial 7,cemeterial ,division of   
the ,war74  ,page #aag3 ,herschovitz    
changed to ,herschkovitz 7,herschkovitz 
was the only man74  ,page #abd3 ocasion 
changed to occasion 7occasion of a      
further74  ,page #abf3 grenades changed 
to grendates 7throwing grenades74