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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34440-8.txt b/34440-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5365cf --- /dev/null +++ b/34440-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6338 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Jewish Chaplain in France, by Lee J. Levinger + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Jewish Chaplain in France + +Author: Lee J. Levinger + +Release Date: November 25, 2010 [EBook #34440] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE + + + + +[Illustration: Logo of the MacMillan Company] + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS +ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO + +MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA +MELBOURNE + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. LTD. +TORONTO + + +[Illustration: A group of Jewish welfare workers at Le Mans, France, in +March 1919. From left to right, George Rooby, Julius Halperin, Frank M. +Dart, Chaplain Lee J. Levinger, Adele Winston, Charles S. Rivitz, David +Rosenthal and Esther Levy.] + + + + +A Jewish Chaplain in France + +BY +RABBI LEE J. LEVINGER, M.A., +Executive Director Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York City, +formerly First Lieutenant Chaplain United States Army + +WITH A FOREWORD BY +CYRUS ADLER, Ph.D., +President of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, +Philadelphia + +New York +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +1921 + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1921, +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + +Set up and printed. Published October, 1921 + + + + +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 admirable. Such an attitude is +in effect a negation of thought. 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 dead. Rabbi +Levinger's book is the narrative of a man who saw this great tragedy, +took a part in it and has thought about it. + +In all the wars of the United States Jews participated, increasingly as +their numbers grew appreciably. They served both as officers and +privates from Colonial days. 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 forces. President Lincoln appointed several +Jewish ministers of religion as chaplains to visit the wounded in the +hospitals, but the tradition of the Army up to the period of the Great +War, rendered the appointment of a Rabbi as chaplain impossible. The +chaplain had been a regimental officer and was always either a +Protestant or a Catholic. The sect was determined by the majority of the +regiment. When the United States entered the Great War, 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 chaplains. Twenty chaplains were thus authorized of whom six were +allotted to the Synagogue the remainder being distributed among the +Unitarians, who were not included in the Evangelical Churches, and the +other smaller Christian sects which had grown up in America. + +In order to meet the requirements of the War Department and in +consonance with the spirit of unity which the war engendered, it was +necessary for the Jewish organizations to create a body which could sift +the applications for chaplaincies and certify them to the War +Department, as being proper persons and meeting the requirements of the +law of being regularly ordained ministers of religion. + +Judaism in America is far from being a united body. 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 practice. Membership +in the various Rabbinical and synagogue organizations is voluntary and +each synagogue is autonomous. In the face of the awfulness of the war, +these differences seemed minimized and through the coöperation of all +the Rabbinical associations and synagogue organizations, 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 Department. So conscientiously did this +Committee perform its duties that every Rabbi recommended as a chaplain +was commissioned. + +As the law exempted ministers of religion and theological students, no +person could be drafted for a chaplaincy. Every clergyman who served was +a volunteer. It is therefore greatly to the credit of the Jewish +ministry in America that one-hundred and forty men volunteered for the +service. As there are probably less than four hundred English speaking +Rabbis in the United States, many of whom would have been disqualified +by the age limit and some by their country of origin, the response of +the American Rabbinate to this call, is a most gratifying evidence of +their patriotism and of their sense of public service. + +Rabbi Levinger's narrative is his own, in the main and properly enough a +personal one, 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 Adventure. +Every one who saw the troops overseas, could not doubt the real service +of the chaplain or the appeal that religion made to the men in uniform. +However the armchair philosophers may have viewed the war, it +strengthened the faith of the men who were engaged; hundreds of +thousands of young men turned to the chaplain who would have been +indifferent to him at home. 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 war, let it be blamed not so much upon religion, +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 war." 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 pleasure, might very well have had his faith, +newly acquired if you choose, shaken by this evident lack of seriousness +on the part of his fellow countrymen. + +I shall not commend Rabbi Levinger's book to his readers, because if the +book does not commend itself, no approbation will. 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 +faith, I want to express the obligations of the Board to the Rabbis who +without experience or previous training for the purpose, entered upon +this service and carried it through with distinction. Had it not been +for them, 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 religion. + +I cannot help but think that the chaplain himself derived much benefit +from his service. In sections of the synagogue, as I believe in sections +of the church, men are on many occasions a minority in the congregation +and ministration is largely to women and children. It meant something +for the chaplain to have great congregations of men, and of young men at +that, and I am inclined to think hardened his mental and even spiritual +fiber. It emphasized too the importance of emotion and sentiment as +against mere rationalism. The worship meant more than a preachment, and +sympathetic human contact for a minute was worth a barrel of oratory. + +The fine spirit of liberality which grew up among the chaplains of the +various faiths, reflecting as it did the comradeship of the men +themselves, should not and will not be lost. The brotherhood of man will +be a mere abstraction until individual men can act as brothers to one +another. The ministers of religion, if they have any God-given mission +above all others, surely have that of leading men, however different +their physical and spiritual equipment, into the bonds of a common +brotherhood. By this way and this way alone will mankind arrive at +lasting peace. + +CYRUS ADLER. +October 19, 1921. + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book is the result of the profound conviction that we are +forgetting or ignoring the lessons of the World War to Israel, America +and humanity. During the war such words as morale, democracy, +Americanism, became a sort of cant--so much so that their actual content +was forgotten. Now that the war is over and their constant repetition is +discontinued, the grave danger exists that we may lose their very real +influence. + +These personal experiences and conclusions worked out by an army +chaplain as a result of his overseas service may have some historical +value also, especially as the same ground has not yet been covered by +any Jewish chaplain or welfare worker in the American Expeditionary +Forces. The rôle played by Jews in the army and navy of the United +States and the Jewish contribution to the morale of the forces overseas +deserve preservation, both as a reminder to ourselves and to the nation. + +When the possibility of this book was first discussed in Paris with the +late Colonel Harry Cutler, Chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board, he +spoke of writing a foreword for it. Since his lamented death, Dr. Cyrus +Adler, his successor as acting Chairman, has consented to fulfill the +same friendly task. In addition to Dr. Adler, I acknowledge my great +indebtedness to Mr. Harry L. Glucksman, Executive Director of the Jewish +Welfare Board, for giving me full access to their records; to Mr. John +Goldhaar for his personal reminiscences of the welfare work overseas; to +Captain Elkan C. Voorsanger for the invaluable suggestions based upon +his vast personal experiences; to Justice Irving Lehman, President of +the Young Men's Hebrew Association, for his encouragement and friendly +advice; to a host of coworkers and friends in both France and America +for the brilliant deeds and cordial comradeship which are here embodied; +and finally to my secretary, Miss Hattie Tanzer, for her invaluable +assistance in seeing the book through the press. + +Much of the material used here has already been published in the form of +articles appearing at various times in the _American Hebrew_, _American +Israelite_, _Biblical World_, _B'nai B'rith News_, _Hebrew Standard_, +_Jewish Forum_ and _Reform Advocate_. + +LEE J. LEVINGER. +New York, May, 1921. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE CHAPLAIN'S FUNCTION 1 + II. THE JEWISH HOLYDAYS OF 1918 IN THE A. E. F. 10 + III. AT THE FRONT WITH THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DIVISION 27 + IV. AFTER THE ARMISTICE 52 + V. AT THE AMERICAN EMBARKATION CENTER 69 + VI. THE JEWISH CHAPLAINS OVERSEAS 81 + VII. THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD IN THE A. E. F. 92 + VIII. THE JEW AS A SOLDIER 114 + IX. JEW AND CHRISTIAN AT THE FRONT 132 + X. THE RELIGION OF THE JEWISH SOLDIER 145 + XI. PREACHING TO SOLDIERS 160 + XII. MORALE AND MORALS 170 + XIII. THE MORAL GAIN AND LOSS OF THE SOLDIER 190 + XIV. THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND JUDAISM 205 + XV. THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND ANTI-SEMITISM 214 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHAPLAIN'S FUNCTION + + +In giving the story and the opinions of a Jewish chaplain in the +American Expeditionary Forces, some statement is necessary of the work +of the chaplains as a whole. 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 command. Hardly a narrative of soldiers' experiences +exists without due place being given to the chaplain. In every army in +France, chaplains were frequently cited for heroism and in innumerable +instances suffered and died with the men in the ranks. + +There are two popular impressions of the purpose of the chaplain in the +military service; the one sees him as a survival of mediævalism, +blessing the weapons of the men at arms; the other welcomes him as a +faint harbinger of a dawning humanitarianism, one of the few men in an +army who does not have to kill, but is there to save. Some people think +of the physician and chaplain as having non-military work to do, as +being a kind of concession to the pacific spirit of our generation. + +The actual work of the chaplain is quite as unknown to the general +public. People wonder what he does between weekly sermons, much as they +wonder what the minister or rabbi does during the six and a half days a +week that he is not preaching. In fact, 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 week, but never had time to write a sermon. +People wonder sometimes whether the soldiers and sailors can bear so +much preaching, sometimes what else they demand of the chaplain. In +fact, to the non-military mind the whole subject seems shrouded in +mystery. + +To the military man the subject is extremely simple. There is no mystery +about it. The chaplain is in the army as the physician is, as the +thousands of other non-combatants are, for a strictly military purpose. +It happens that the non-combatants may use non-military methods. One may +drive a locomotive, another carry a stretcher, another sit in an office +and make out papers. All are essential to the military machine; none is +in the service for any special humanitarian purpose; none is present as +a survival of mediævalism, but all to take part in the grim conflict of +the twentieth century. The work of a physician in the military service +is the very utilitarian one of saving men's lives and returning them to +the front. The work of a chaplain is the equally essential and practical +one of stimulating the morale of the troops. + +Many factors bear upon the morale of a body of men,--their physical +environment, the strength and spirit of their individual units, the +temper and ability of their leaders. 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 citizenry, or at +least of large and influential groups. 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 +overseas. These important organizations, however, were under the +handicap of doing civilian work among soldiers--a handicap whose +seriousness only a soldier himself can ever realize. Some months after +the war was over, the army recognized its obligation by appointing +morale officers for both larger and smaller units, with others under +them to supervise athletics, entertainment, and the like. The civilian +organizations then conducted their activities under the orders of the +morale officer. + +But nearest of all to the men, because themselves a part of the actual +military machine, were their own chaplains. The chaplain was under the +same orders as the men, took the same risk, wore the same uniform, and +naturally was regarded in every way as one of their own. I have even +heard old army men scorning the new advances of all these new war-time +societies. "We have our own chaplain," they said, "He looks after us all +right." + +The chaplain was first the religious guide of his men. He knew how to +talk to them, for talking, not preaching, was the usual tone of the army +or navy chaplain. He knew how to speak their own "lingo," slang and all. +He knew the spiritual appeal which was most needed by these boys, +transplanted, with all their boyishness, into the deep realities which +few men have had to face. He knew their boyish shyness of emotion, but +with it their deep, immediate need of such emotions as the love of home +and God, to sustain them amid dangerous hours of duty and tempting +hours of idleness. This religious need alone would have been enough work +for the chaplain, even with the intended increase in numbers to three +per regiment, or one chaplain for every twelve hundred men. The need for +religion was evident in the training camp, the hospital, the transport, +the trenches; it was evident everywhere, and the chaplain must be +everywhere to satisfy it. + +But in addition the chaplain had much welfare work of a more general +kind to transact in connection with the various welfare agencies. One +man wanted advice about getting married before leaving for the front; +another had trouble at home and desired a furlough; another found +himself misplaced in his work and would like a transfer. A Jewish boy +came in to ask that a letter be written to his pious father; the old man +had not wanted him to enlist, but would feel better if he knew there was +a rabbi in the camp. Another had a request for a small service (a +minyan) that he might say the memorial prayer on the anniversary of his +father's death. And still another presented a letter from his home +community, for he was a fine musician and wanted to help out at a +concert or a "sing." + +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 English, from a potential comedy team to a crowd of eager +listeners, from a timid boy with personal troubles to their remedy, +either by a change in circumstances or by convincing the boy himself. +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 remedied. + +In a later chapter I shall have an opportunity to go into this more +deeply. All that I want to bring out here is the important and usually +misunderstood fact that American boys are restive under authority. They +object vigorously to the domination of another's mind over theirs. And +this objection too often took the form of bitter resentment against +their officers. Therefore the final and most delicate work of the +chaplain was to befriend the enlisted men against the oppression of +their natural enemies and tyrants, the line officers. The army often +reminds one of a school, the men are so boyish. In this régime of +stringent rules which must be constantly obeyed, of short periods of +intense and jovial recreation, of constant oversight by authority, the +average enlisted man regarded his commanding officer much as the average +small boy regards his school teacher, from whom he flees to a parent for +sympathy. + +That rôle of sympathetic parent was precisely the one which the chaplain +was called upon to play for these boys in uniform. Not that he believed +everything he was told, or took sides unfairly, or was always against +authority. Simply that any boy could talk to him, as he could only to +the exceptional commanding officer, and that every boy was sure that the +chaplain would help him if he could. Being himself an officer, the +chaplain could talk to officers more freely than any soldier could. And +not being a line officer, he did not himself issue commands to any one +except his own hard-worked orderly or clerk. + +Thus the chaplain was fortunately placed. If he was even partially +congenial, he was the one man in the army who had not an enemy high or +low. The soldier looked to him for friendly aid. The officer referred to +him as the great coöperating factor in building up the spirit of the +troops. + +During the stress of actual warfare the work of the chaplain changed in +character though not in purpose. At the front the chaplain was with his +boys. 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 aid. He stood beside the surgeon on the +battle field, he was with the stretcher-bearers searching for wounded +and bringing them to safety. He rode from post to post with the +ambulance driver, or tramped up to the trenches with a ration party. And +wherever he went he was welcomed for his presence and for the work that +he tried to do. + +After a battle, when the men retired to rest and recuperate, the +chaplain had to remain behind. He stayed with a group of men for the +last terrible task of burying the dead. And when, that sad duty over, he +returned to the troops in rest, he could not yield for a time like the +others, to delicious languor after the ordeal of the battle field, +hospital and cemetery. Then the chaplain must take up his round of +duties, knowing that after the battle there is many a prayer to be said, +many a hospital to be visited, many a soldier to be befriended. His task +has just begun. + +The military object of the chaplain is clear, to stimulate the morale of +the men. But his methods were most unmilitary. Instead of reminding the +men of the respect due him as an officer, the wise chaplain took his +salutes as a matter of course and tried to draw the men personally, to +make them forget all about military distinctions when they came to talk +to him. The minute a chaplain insisted upon his rank as an officer, he +lost his influence as a minister. Rank was useful to the chaplain in so +far as it gave him free access to the highest authorities; it became the +greatest obstacle to his work whenever the boys began to talk to him as +"Lieutenant" or "Captain" instead of "Father" or "Chaplain." In the +military as in the civil field the religious message can come only by +personality, never by command. + +The chaplain appealed for the men whenever he felt that the appeal was +justified and had some chance of success, but never when it would be +subversive of military discipline. He remembered always that he was in +the army, a part of a great military machine, and that his presence and +his work were to make the men better, not worse soldiers. He met the men +personally, with their various needs and appeals, and often his best +work was accomplished in short personal interviews, which would not look +at all imposing on a monthly report, but which made better soldiers or +happier men in one way or another. He encouraged every effort at +recreation for the men, and often took part in these efforts himself. +This last applies especially in the navy, where the chaplain aboard ship +is the whole staff for religious, recreational, and welfare work. + +In the main the work of the chaplain differed little, whatever his +religion might be. He was first of all a chaplain in the United States +Army, and second a representative of his own religious body. That means +that all welfare work or personal service was rendered equally to men of +any faith. The only distinction authorized was between Protestant, +Catholic and Jewish services, and even to these a "non-sectarian" +service was often added. Wherever I went I was called upon by Jew and +non-Jew alike, for in the service most men took their troubles to the +nearest chaplain irrespective of his religion. The soldier discriminated +only in a special case, such as the memorial prayer (kaddish) for the +Jewish boy, or confession for the Catholic. The office at once insured +any soldier that he had a protector and a friend. + +But as there were only twelve Jewish chaplains in the entire American +Expeditionary Forces, we were instructed to devote our time so far as +possible to the Jewish men. 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 division, as I, for +one, was supposed to do. When instead of one division a Jewish chaplain +was assigned several, his troubles were multiplied and his effectiveness +divided. Naturally, most of the work of the Jewish chaplains had to be +devoted to the needs of the Jewish soldiers, which would not otherwise +be satisfied. + +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 themselves. I think that these men +were a unique aggregation--devoted to their country and its army, yet +loving men of all nations; loving each his own religion, yet rendering +service to men of all creeds; bearing each his own title, yet sharing +equal service and equal friendship with ministers of every other faith. +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 A. Kelley and Rev. Almon A. Jaynes, of the 27th Division +Headquarters, to mention only two notable examples among many others. I +have seen Father Kelley on the battlefield going from aid post to front +line trench, always most eager to be with the boys when the danger was +the greatest, always cheerful, yet always a priest, doing the noble work +which won him his medals and his popularity. I have seen the devotion +and the regret which followed Chaplain John A. Ward of the 108th +Infantry to the hospital in England after he was wounded in performance +of duty, and the burst of enthusiasm which welcomed his return months +afterward. I have seen one after another laboring and serving in the +same spirit, and I tender to them the tribute of a co-worker who knows +and admires their great accomplishments. + +The place of morale in the army has not yet been studied scientifically. +All that can be done as yet is to gather such personal and empirical +observations as mine, which may have bearing on the general problem. +These experiences were typical and these conclusions are not mine alone. +They are shared by great masses, in many cases by the majority of +thinking men who had like experiences. 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 +overseas. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE JEWISH HOLYDAYS OF 1918 IN THE A. E. F. + + +My experiences as chaplain were as nearly typical as possible with any +individual. A few of the Jewish chaplains saw more actual fighting than +I did; a few were assigned to the Army of Occupation and saw the +occupied portion of Germany. But for nine months I served as chaplain in +the American Expeditionary Forces, first at the headquarters of the +Intermediate Section, Service of Supply, at Nevers; then with the +Twenty-Seventh Division at the front and after the armistice at the +rear; finally at the American Embarkation Center at Le Mans. I worked in +coöperation with the Jewish Welfare Board; I saw Paris in war time and +after; I had two weeks' leave in the Riviera. + +My commission as First Lieutenant Chaplain U. S. A. came to me on July +4th, 1918 at Great Lakes Naval Station, just north of Chicago, where I +was then serving as Field Representative of the Jewish Welfare Board. +Two weeks later I reported at Hoboken for the trip overseas. 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 +daughter. 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 1918. + +The trip was the usual one of those anxious days--thirteen days at sea, +constant look-out for a submarine, but finally a mild disappointment +when we sailed into harbor without even a scare. We carried our life +preservers constantly and waited daily for the sudden alarm of a boat +drill. Our ship, the _Balmoral Castle_, was one of a convoy of twelve, +with the usual quota of destroyers accompanying us. Two days from +England we met a flotilla of destroyers; later two "mystery" ships +joined us and in the Irish Sea we were greeted by a huge Blimp or +dirigible balloon. With this escort we sailed down the Irish Sea, had a +glimpse of Ireland and Scotland and finally disembarked at Liverpool. +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 city. + +Our pleasurable anticipations of a view of Liverpool and perhaps a +glimpse of London were rudely disappointed. We disembarked about noon, +marched through side streets, which looked like side streets in any of +the dirtiest of American cities, lined up at a freight station, and were +loaded at once on waiting trains and started off for Southampton. All +that afternoon we absorbed eagerly the dainty beauty of the English +countryside which most of us knew only through literary references. 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 train, a custom which +afterward became a habit to all officers in France. + +Daybreak found us at Southampton in the rest camp; evening on the _Maid +of Orleans_, bound across the channel. We had not seen England, we had +no place to sleep and not too much to eat, even sitting room on the +decks was at a premium, but we were hastening on our way to the war. At +Le Havre we were again assigned to a British rest camp, where we +appreciated the contrast between the excellent meals of the officers' +canteen and the primitive bunks in double tiers where we had to sleep. +After two days of this sort of rest and a hasty visit to the city in +between, I received orders to report to the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office +at Chaumont. + +My first train journey across France impressed me at once with the +unique character of the landscape. The English landscape is +distinguished by meadows, the French by trees. The most realistic +picture of the English landscape is the fantastic description of a +checker-board in "Alice in Wonderland." In France, however, one is +struck chiefly by the profusion and arrangement of trees. They are +everywhere, alone or in clumps, and of all kinds, with often a formal +row of poplars or a little wood of beeches to make the sky-line more +impressive. In northern France the houses and barns are all of stone, +peaked and windowless, with gardens that seem bent on contrasting as +strongly as possible with the grayness of the walls. It seems as though +tiny villages are every few feet, and always with a church steeple in +the middle. + +In Paris the first man I met was my old friend, Dr. H. G. Enelow, of +Temple Emanu-El, New York, who was standing by the desk in the Hotel +Regina when I registered. As the next day was Sunday, Dr. Enelow was +able to devote some time to me, taking me for a long walk on the left +bank of the Seine, where we enjoyed the gardens of the Luxembourg and +sipped liqueurs at a side-walk café at the famous corner of Boulevarde +St. Michel and Germain. Paris in war-time was infinitely touching. It +had all the marks of the great luxury center of the world: shops, +boulevards, hotels, and show places of every kind. But many of the most +attractive of its tiny shops were closed; the streets at night were +wrapped in the deepest gloom, with tiny shaded lights which were not +intended to illuminate but only to show the direction of the street. The +crowds were only a little repressed in the day-time, for the extreme +crisis of the summer had just passed, but with dusk the streets became +entirely deserted. Through Dr. Enelow I met also Dr. Jacob Kohn, who +with Dr. Enelow and Congressman Siegel constituted the commission of the +Jewish Welfare Board to outline its program for overseas work. Dr. +Enelow introduced me also to Mr. John Goldhaar, the secretary of the +commission, afterward in charge of the Paris Office of the Jewish +Welfare Board, to whom I shall refer more fully in another connection. + +At Chaumont the first man I met was my old class-mate of the Hebrew +Union College, Chaplain Elkan C. Voorsanger, who was there temporarily +detached from the 77th Division to arrange for the celebration of the +Jewish holydays throughout France. He welcomed me, told me something of +what my work was to be, and listened to my month-old news, which was all +fresh to him. For a few days I lingered at the chaplains' headquarters +at the old château of Neuilly sur Suisse, not far from Chaumont, where +thirty chaplains received their gas mask training and instruction in +front line work, and waited for assignments. The château was a queer +angular mediæval affair, set off by lovely lawns, with the usual rows of +straight poplars all about. A few steps away was a little village with a +quaint old twelfth century church, beautiful in feeling, if not in +workmanship. We chaplains newly arrived in France, most of us young, and +all eager to be at work, hung on the words of our leaders fresh from the +line. We talked much of our ideals and our preparation, as most of the +men were graduates of the Chaplains' Training School at Camp Taylor, +Kentucky. My assignment came very soon to organize and conduct services +for the Jewish holydays at Nevers, headquarters of the Intermediate +Section, Service of Supply. + +The entire American area in France had been charted out for the purpose +of holyday services and the central cities designated, either those +which had French synagogues to receive our men, or those points like +Nevers where Americans were to be found and had to be provided for. I +quote the official order which carried authority for our arrangements. + + "Tours, Sept. 1, 1918. + + 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 + follows: from noon Sept. 6th to morning of Sept. 9th and from noon + Sept. 15th to morning of Sept. 17th. If military necessity prevents + granting passes on days mentioned provision should be made to hold + divine services wherever possible." + +This meant that all those had leave who were not at the time in action +or on the move. Chaplain Voorsanger, for example, was not able to have +any service in the 77th Division as his troops were on the march on New +Year's Day and in action on the Day of Atonement. Most of the central +points designated for Jewish services were important cities with French +synagogues,--Paris, Toul, Belfort, Dijon, Épinal, Nantes, Rouen, Tours, +Bordeaux and Marseilles. Three of the chief American centers had none, +so Dr. Enelow was assigned to Brest, Dr. Kohn to Chaumont, and I was +sent to Nevers. + +I spent a single busy day in Tours after leaving Chaumont. I met the +wife and father-in-law of Rabbi Leon Sommers and inspected their little +synagogue with its seventy-five seats. The Rabbi was on duty in the +French army where he had been from the very beginning of the war. I went +to the army headquarters and arranged for the proper notices to be sent +out to troops in the district, then with two or three Jewish families +whom I met I discussed arrangements to accommodate the large number of +Jewish soldiers who would come in. I was empowered to offer them the +financial assistance of the Jewish Welfare Board in providing such +accommodations as were possible. + +One surprise of a kind which I afterward came to expect, was meeting an +old friend of mine from Great Lakes, a former sergeant in the Canadian +Army, mustered out of service because of the loss of several fingers and +now back in France again as a representative of the Knights of Columbus. +When he left Great Lakes for overseas, I had parted with one of the two +knitted sweaters I possessed, that if I did not see service at least my +sweater would. Now I met the sweater and its owner again for a few brief +moments. These fleeting glimpses of friends became a delightful but +always tense element in our army life. Men came and went like an +ever-flowing stream, now and then pausing for a greeting and always +hurrying on again. A single day sufficed for my work in Tours and then +to my own city for the holydays. + +Nevers is a historic town of thirty thousand on the banks of the River +Loire. The streets are as wide as alleys and the sidewalks narrow and +haphazard, so that usually one walks in the street, whether it goes up +hill, down hill, or (as frequently) around the corner. But the parks and +squares are frequent and lovely, and the old buildings have a charm of +their own, even if it is chiefly in the quaintness of their outlines and +the contrast of their gray with the sunny skies of autumn. The air was +always cool and the skies always bright. I stayed at the Grand Hotel de +l'Europe, a rather small place, which one had to enter by a back door +through a court. With the men at war, all the work was being done by +women, while most of the guests were American officers on temporary or +permanent duty at the post. The cathedral (every French city seems to +have one) is interesting chiefly to the antiquarian, as it has several +different styles combined rather inharmoniously, and the tower is not at +all imposing. + +Of course, a great many Americans were stationed in or near the +city--railroad engineers, training camps of combat units newly arrived +in France, construction engineers, quartermaster units, and two great +hospital centers. Every company I visited, every ward in the hospitals, +had at least a few Jewish boys, and all of them were equally glad to see +me and to attend my services. In fact, my first clear impression in +France was that here lay a tremendous field for work, crying out for +Jewish chaplains and other religious workers, and that we had such a +pitiful force to answer the demand. At that time there were over fifty +thousand Jewish soldiers in the A. E. F. at a very conservative +estimate, with exactly six chaplains and four representatives of the +Jewish Welfare Board to minister to them. When I took up my work at +Nevers, I was simply staggered by the demands made on me and my +inability to fulfill more than a fraction of them. + +At first came the sudden rush of men into the city for the first day of +Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The hotels filled up almost at once; +then came others who could not find accommodations, and still others who +had been confined to hospitals, had drawn no pay for several months, and +could not pay for a hotel room or even a shave. 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 them. The accommodations were crude, but the men were +soldiers and glad to get them. I was doubly proud, therefore, that this +crowd of ours, without official control, coming for the festival and +therefore released from the incessant discipline they had become used +to, never once took advantage of their privileges. We troubled the +authorities for their sleeping quarters and for special permission to +be on the street after nine at night--but that was all. Many of the boys +may have appreciated their leave more than the festival, but all +justified the confidence shown in them by their conduct. + +Imagine the difference between our services in France and those to which +I have been accustomed in our rather tame and formal civilian +congregations. My congregation there was composed almost entirely of +men, and those men all very young. We were meeting in a strange land, +amid an ancient but alien civilization, which some of us liked and some +disliked, but which none of us could quite understand. We had no scroll +of the Law, no ram's horn, not even a complete prayerbook for the +festivals. We had no synagogue, and the places we used were lent us by +people of another faith, friends and co-workers, indeed, but with little +interest in our festivals or our religious needs. + +Our services were held in the large Y. M. C. A. hut at the chief +barracks. The large, bare room was turned over to us for certain hours; +the workers closed the canteen and attended the services. 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 pictures. +In fact, I found the Y. M. C. A. here, as everywhere, most eager to +coöperate with me and to serve the Jews as well as the Christians in the +army. My cantor for most of the services was Corporal Cohen of New York, +although several other men volunteered for certain portions of the +prayers. The head usher was Sergeant Wolf, who looked after the hall and +the seating with the thoroughness characteristic of sergeants +everywhere. Among the congregation were ten officers, two nurses, and +three families of French Jews, as well as a mixed group of enlisted men +from every branch in the army, from every section of America and every +group of Jewry. The festival had caught us in a foreign land, in the +service of America, and it had brought us together as nothing else could +have done. + +We wore our hats during the service because that was the natural desire +of the majority, who were of orthodox upbringing. Of course, a soldier +naturally wears his overseas cap under any circumstances and it would +have needed a special ruling to bring them off. The service was read out +of the little prayer book circulated by the Jewish Welfare Board, with +which about a fourth of the congregation were already provided from the +camps in the States. We read the abbreviated Hebrew service, then about +half of the prayers in English, and had an English sermon. The only +objection to these innovations came from the cantor, Corporal Cohen, a +young man with a traditional Jewish background, who had gathered the +other Jews in his company every Friday evening for a brief service and +was generally looked up to (although not always followed) as a religious +leader. My only way of convincing him was to inquire among some of the +other men as to the number who did not understand Hebrew. 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 rank. + +I was much amused after the several services at the number of young men +who came to me, complaining about Cohen's rendering of the services and +boasting of their own ability. 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 +reader, quite possible to find one who reads with feeling and +understanding, but utterly impossible to pick up in the army a cantor +with a trained voice. + +Our arrangements were made under the approval of my commanding officer, +the senior chaplain of the post, and few features of our service were +more appreciated than the address of Chaplain Stull at our services on +the second day of the festival. I had hesitated to invite him, 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 service: two +years before on the Mexican Border, the year before in training camp in +the States and now in the American Forces in France, Chaplain Stull was +a regular army chaplain of eighteen years standing, and his membership +in the Methodist Episcopal church was less conspicuous in his makeup +than his long experience in army life. His sermon was one of the +outstanding events of our holy season. 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 rear. His moral interpretation of the +significance of each man to the whole army was the sort of thing that +the soldier needs and likes. + +These services were unusual in that they were the first holy season +which most of the men had spent away from home. The war was still on +then; the St. Mihiel drive took place the day after Rosh Hashana; the +news from the front was usually good and always thrilling. We at the +rear were deeply stirred. Some of us had been wounded and were now +recovering; some were in training and were soon to leave for the front; +some were in the S. O. S. permanently. But the shadow of war was dark +upon us all. We were in the uncertainty, the danger, the horror of it. +We felt a personal thrill at the words of the prayers,--"Who are to live +and who to die; who by the sword and who by fire." We recited with +personal fervor the memorial prayer for our fallen comrades. Many among +us were eager to give thanks at recovery from wounds. Therefore, the +desire for a religious observance of our solemn days was all the +greater. Men came in from a hundred miles, often walking ten miles to a +train before they could ride the rest. + +Brothers, long separated, often met by chance, soon to separate again +for an unknown future. I remember two--one a veteran of two battles, now +convalescing at a hospital, the other newly arrived from the States and +still in training. They met on Rosh Hashanah, each ignorant of the +other's whereabouts and the veteran not even knowing whether his brother +had arrived in France. The touching scene of their reunion had its +humorous side too, for the wounded soldier from the hospital naturally +had not a franc in his possession, and the boy from the States had +enough money for a real holiday and had reserved a hotel room with a +luxurious French bed. He was thus able to act as host for two happy days +and nights. But on Yom Kippur when the wounded soldier came again his +brother was not there. His unit had been ordered to the front and I do +not know whether they ever met again. + +War had us all in its iron grip. I, for one, expected soon to have my +request granted that I be assigned to a combat division. Not that I +overlooked the need for Jewish work in the S. O. S., but the most +pressing need at that time was at the front, and I was looking forward +to taking up the more exacting duties there. + +The three Jewish families of the city added a pathetic touch, for they +were glad indeed to attend a Jewish service and for the sake of the +soldiers were willing to sit through our English additions. Their +situation seemed similar to that of most recent immigrants of the United +States; the parents spoke both Yiddish and French, the young people like +ours in America, spoke chiefly the language of the country. 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 daughters. +It was often their first chance for a word with a girl of their own +class, certainly with a Jewish girl, since they had left America. And +the fact that the girl with her familiar appearance could not +communicate with them on a conversational basis, did not seem to impede +their relations in the least. The isolated condition of these French +Jews in a city of 30,000 can only be compared to that of American Jews +in a country village. + +While at Nevers I could not overlook the opportunity to visit the two +great hospital centers at Mars and at Mesves sur Loire. I visited from +ward to ward in both of them, paying special attention to the Jewish +boys and finding always plenty of occasion for favors of a hundred +different kinds. At that time we were short of chaplains of all +denominations in the army, so that even the hospitals had not enough to +minister fully to their thousands of sick and wounded, while the +convalescent camps with their hundreds of problems were almost uncared +for in this respect. + +At Mars I held a service on Friday night which was fairly typical of +conditions in France. The service was announced as a Jewish religious +service, but on my arrival I found the Red Cross room crowded with men +of every type, including four negroes in the front row. Evidently it was +the only place the men had outside the wards, so they came there every +night for the show, movie, or service which might be provided. They were +not merely respectful to the service and the minority of Jews who took +part in it. 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 abroad. These wounded men from the lines, these +medical corpsmen who might never see the front, were alike eager to feel +the part they personally were playing in the great, chaotic outlines of +the world-wide struggle. And they responded to a Jewish service with an +interest which I soon found was typical of the soldier, in his restless +attention, his open-mindedness, his intolerance of cant but love of +genuine religion. + +The meetings and partings of war-time came home to me several times at +Nevers. I was called to see a young man in the hospital, suffering from +spinal meningitis. I found him a highly intelligent boy from Chicago who +knew a number of my old friends there. 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 leave, but simply locked up in the +contagious ward. 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 common. At another time I was approached +at the Y. M. C. A. by one of their women workers who had heard my name +announced. She turned out to be a Mrs. Campbell of my old home town, +Sioux City, Iowa, and an acquaintance of my mother through several +charity boards of which they both were members. She was acting as +instructor in French and advisor to the American soldiers in Nevers, +while her husband, Prof. Campbell of Morningside College, was on the +French front with the French auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. + +Another interesting incident was my meeting with Mr. Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago, then touring France as a member of the National Council of +Defense. The Y. M. C. A. secretary asked me to introduce him to a +soldier audience in one of their huts. The first day I came, however, +Mr. Rosenwald was delayed and the boys had to put up with a new film of +Douglas Fairbanks in his stead, like good soldiers accepting the +substitution gladly enough. On the second day Mr. Rosenwald himself was +there and I had the pleasure of introducing him to an audience of about +five hundred soldiers, as varied a group as ever wore the American +uniform. 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 home. He called for a show of hands of the +home states of the different men, then responded by reading letters and +telegrams from governors and other local officials. Mr. Rosenwald was +one of the very few official travelers in France whose trip was not +merely informative to himself but also valuable to the army. We in the +army grew to dislike "joy riders" so heartily that it is a positive +pleasure to mention such a conspicuous exception. + +Another duty typical of the variety of tasks which welcomed me as a +chaplain, was to conduct the defense of a Jewish boy at a general court +martial. He asked to see me during the holydays, told me his story, and +I stayed over in Nevers a few days to act as his counsel. Since that +time I have frequently been called on for advice in similar cases, for +an army chaplain has almost as many legal and medical duties as strictly +religious ones. 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 worked. He was only a boy, a volunteer +who had falsified his age in order to enlist. According to his own story +he was partially involved in the case, acting ignorantly as agent for +the real criminal. + +The trial was quite fair, bringing out the circumstantial evidence +against him, and his sentence was as low as could possibly be expected. +So, with memories of friendships made, of work accomplished, of a new +world opening ahead, I left Nevers on September 20th after only +eighteen days of service. I had to report at Chaumont again to receive +my orders to join the 27th Division. + +For two months after that no Jewish chaplain was stationed in the +Intermediate Section, which covered the entire central part of France +and contained many thousands of American troops, including everywhere a +certain proportion of Jews. Then Chaplain Rabinowitz reported at Nevers +temporarily and served for his entire time in France in various points +in the Intermediate Section, at Nevers, Blois and at St. Aignan. + +I had been thrust into the midst of this tremendous, crying need for +service of every kind, religious, personal and military. I went to my +division to find the same or greater need, as the situation was always +more tense at the actual front. 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 France. Now I left them for good. Their usual +greeting on meeting me had been, "You are the first Jewish chaplain or +worker we have met on this side." And unfortunately, the same greeting +was addressed to me every time I came to a new unit or city until the +very day I left France. The need among these two million soldiers was so +tremendous that a hundred times our resources would not have been +sufficient. As it was, we made no pretense at covering the field, but +simply did day labor wherever we were stationed, serving the soldiers, +Jews and Christians alike, and giving our special attention to the +religious services and other needs of the Jewish men. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AT THE FRONT WITH THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DIVISION + + +I reached my division on the first of October, 1918, after a tedious ten +days on the way. I traveled most of the way with Lieutenant Colonel +True, whom I met on the train coming out of Chaumont. I found that the +higher ranking officers invariably approached the chaplains not as +officers of inferior rank but as leaders of a different kind, much as a +prominent business man treats his minister in civil life. Colonel True +was a regular army man of long standing who was being transferred from +another division to the Twenty-Seventh. When we arrived at the Hotel +Richmond, the Y. M. C. A. hotel for officers in Paris, we found only one +room available with a double bed, and so for the first time in my life I +had the honor of sleeping with a Lieutenant Colonel. 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 St. Mihiel drive. Colonel +True had received his promotion from a majority and his transfer before +the drive, but had not reported until he had gone through the whole +fight at the head of his battalion. I mention this not as a striking, +but strictly as a typical proceeding on the part of the average American +officer. + +For a few days we were held at the Replacement Camp at Eu in +Normandy--an idyllic spot within sight of the English Channel, +surrounded by gentle hills. While there I made several trips to Tréport, +a favorite summer resort on the Channel before the war. It is a quaint +little fishing village with a typical modern summer resort superimposed. +The old stone Norman cottages with their high roofs always had a touch +of decoration somewhere, in mosaic, paint or stained glass, different +from the plainer architecture of Central France. The modern part +consists of several beautiful hotels and a number of cheap restaurants +and curio shops. Of course, the hotels were all used by the British Army +as hospitals at this time. I visited Base Hospital 16, a Philadelphia +Unit, which was loaned to the British. I had a delightful talk with our +Red Cross Chaplain and made a tour of many of the wards. The patients +were almost all British with a few Americans from the August campaign in +Flanders. Among the rest I met about a dozen Jewish boys, English and +Australian, who were naturally delighted by the rare visit of a Jewish +Chaplain. The eight Jewish Chaplains in the British Expeditionary Forces +were attached to the various Army Headquarters, and so had to cover +impossible areas in their work. The nearest one to Tréport was Rabbi +Geffen at Boulogne with whom I afterward came into communication, 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 Forces. + +Hospital visiting is dreary work, especially when there is action going +on from which one is separated. The work is exhausting physically, +walking up and down the long wards and stopping by bedsides. It is +especially a drain on the nerves and sympathies, to see so many sick and +mutilated boys--boys in age most of them, certainly boys in spirit--and +giving oneself as the need arises. And in a hospital so many men have +requests. They are helpless and it is always impossible to have enough +visitors and enough chaplains for them. I was glad to be useful at +Tréport but gladder still when the word came through to release all +troops in the Second Corps Replacement Depot. + +We were loaded on a train, the soldiers in box-cars of the familiar type +("40 men or 8 horses") with the little group of officers crowded +together in a single first-class coach. Broken windows, flat wheels and +no lights showing--we were beginning to feel that we were in the war +zone. From Eu to Peronne took from 4:30 A. M. to 9:30 P. M. with three +changes of trains and ten additional stops. We got only a short view of +the railroad station at Amiens, at that time almost completely +destroyed. Our division was then in the British area on the Somme +sector, and at the time of our arrival they had just come out of the +great victory at the Hindenburg Line. + +Our first ruined city was Peronne, which will never leave my memory. The +feeling of a ruined town is absolutely indescribable, for how can one +imagine a town with neither houses nor people, where the very streets +have often been destroyed? This situation contradicts our very +definition of a town, for a town is made of streets, houses and people; +no imagination can quite grasp the reality of war and ruin without its +actual experience. And Peronne was much more striking than most cities +in the war zone; it had been fought through six different times, and +its originally stately public buildings showed only enough to impress us +with the ruin that had been wrought. Only one wall of one end of the +church was standing, with two fine Gothic arches, only one side of the +building on the square and so on through the whole town. We became +inured to the sight of ruined villages later on, but the first shock of +seeing Peronne will be indelible. + +The headquarters of the division were then located at the Bois de Buire, +about ten miles out, though for almost a half day we could find nobody +to give us exact directions. At last Lieutenant Colonel H. S. +Sternberger, the division quartermaster, put in an appearance and +offered to take me and Lieutenant Colonel True up to headquarters in his +car. The rest of our party had all wandered off by then in the direction +of their various units. Colonel Sternberger was the highest ranking +officer at the time among the thousand Jews in the Twenty-Seventh +Division. Lieutenant Colonel Morris Liebman of the 106th Infantry, also +a Jew, had been killed in action in Flanders six weeks before, a loss +which was very deeply felt in his regiment. Colonel Sternberger was one +of the popular staff officers of the division owing to his indefatigable +labors for the welfare of the boys. 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 time. While I was with the division, +Colonel Sternberger proved both a staunch personal friend and an active +ally in my work. + +It took more than a day to become acquainted with the camouflaged +offices in the woods. Small huts, with semicircular iron roofs covered +with branches, were scattered about among the trees. Some of them had +signs, Division Adjutant, Commanding General, and the rest; others were +billets. I invariably lost my way when I went to lunch and wandered for +some minutes before finding "home." "Home" was a hut exactly like the +rest, where the French mission and the gas officer had their offices +during the day and where six of us slept at night. I fell heir to the +cot of one of the interpreters then home on leave, Georges Lévy, who +afterward became one of my best friends. My baggage had disappeared on +the trip, so that I had only my hand bag with the little it could hold. +My first need, naturally, was for blankets to cover the cot. I collected +these from various places, official and otherwise, until the end of the +month found me plentifully provided. I must admit that the first cool +nights in the woods forced me to sleep in my clothes. Naturally, my +first task was to wire for my baggage, but it had completely vanished +and did not return for four long months. Everybody lost his possessions +at some time during the war; I was unique only in losing them at the +outset and not seeing them until the whole need for them was over. + +The boys had just come out of the line, worn out, with terrible losses, +but after a great victory such as occurs only a few times in any war. +They had broken the Hindenburg Line, that triple row of trenches and +barbed wire, with its concrete pill-boxes, its enfilading fire from +machine guns, its intricate and tremendous system of defenses. I crossed +the line many times during the month that followed and never failed to +marvel that human beings could ever have forced it. The famous tunnel +of the St. Quentin Canal was in our sector, too, as well as part of the +canal itself. 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 cellars. + +One wall always bore the name of the former village in large letters, +which became still larger and more striking in the territory near the +Hindenburg Line, so long occupied by the Germans. I used to repay the +generous Tommies for their rides on the constant stream of trucks (we +called them "lorries," like the English) by translating the numerous +German signs at railroad crossings and the like, about which they always +had much curiosity. + +One could travel anywhere on main roads by waiting until a truck came +along and then hailing it. If the seat was occupied there was usually +some room in the rear, and the British drivers were always glad to take +one on and equally glad to air their views on the war. When one came to +a cross road, he jumped off, hailed the M. P. (Military Police) for +directions and took the next truck which was going in the proper +direction. In that way I have often traveled on a dozen trucks in a day, +with stop-overs and occasional walks of a few miles to fill in the gaps. +Between a map, a compass and the M. P.'s, we always managed to circulate +and eventually find our way home again. + +We saw the heavy guns lumbering on their way to the front, the +aëroplanes humming overhead like a swarm of dragon-flies. Day and night +we could hear the rumble of guns like distant thunder, while at night +the flashes showed low on the horizon like heat lightning. Our salvage +depot was at Tincourt at the foot of the hill, and when I went over +there Corporal Klein and Sergeant Friedlander were quick to repair gaps +in my equipment. One night I witnessed the division musical comedy (the +"Broadway Boys") in an old barn at Templeux le Fosse, where we walked in +the dark, found the place up an alley and witnessed a really excellent +performance with costumes, scenery and real orchestra. In the middle of +an act, an announcement would be made that all men of the third +battalion, 108th Infantry, should report back at once, and a group of +fellows would rise and file out for the five-mile hike back in the +darkness: they were to move up to the front before morning. + +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 action. Unfortunately, almost every time I arranged +for a service and appeared to hold it the "outfit" would already be on +the move. The best service I held was at the village of Buire, where +about forty boys gathered together under the trees among the ruined +houses. They were a deeply devotional group, told me about their holyday +services conducted by a British army chaplain at Doulens, about their +fallen comrades for whom they wanted to repeat the memorial prayers, and +about their own narrow escapes for which they were eager to offer +thanks. They had the deep spiritual consciousness which comes to most +men in moments of great peril. + +I managed to reach most of the infantry regiments, however, by hiking +down from the woods and sometimes catching a ride. Everywhere was +action. It was the breathing space between our two great battles of the +war. Every unit was hoping and expecting a long rest. But that hope +could not be fulfilled. 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 ahead. So the rest of the Twenty-Seventh Division was +brief indeed. Every regiment was starting for the front with no +replacements after the terrific slaughter of two weeks before, with very +little new equipment and practically no rest. And the front was now +further away than it had been. The success of the allied forces meant +longer marches for our tired troops. + +All the villages were devastated in this area. It was the section +between Peronne and the old Hindenburg Line. Not until we came to the +German side of the Hindenburg Line did we find the villages in any sort +of repair. The men lived in cellars without roofs, in rooms without +walls or sometimes in barracks which were constructed by either of the +opposing armies during the long years of the struggle. Of course, 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 Gerard. + +One day I "lorried" up to the division cemeteries near the old +battlefield, which were being laid out by a group of chaplains with a +large detail of enlisted men. 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 marked. I got to know the +country about Bellicourt and Bony, where our heaviest fighting had +taken place. I heard the story of the eight British tanks, lying +helpless at the top of the long ridge near Bony, where they had run upon +a mine field. I got to know the "Ausies," always the best friends and +great admiration of our soldiers, with their dashing courage and +reckless heroism, and the "Tommies," those steady, matter-of-fact +workmen at the business of war, whom our boys could never quite +understand. + +Finally our headquarters moved forward, too. 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 scouts. At last, finding the quarry, I met a boy I knew, who took me +to the dugout where the senior chaplain was sleeping. I crawled into a +vacant bunk, made myself at home and left the next morning for good. The +quarry did not appeal to me when wet; one was too likely to slide from +the top to the bottom and stay there; and I had no desire to test its +advantages when dry. The next time I came back to headquarters they were +in the village of Joncourt, beyond the Hindenburg Line, in territory +which we had released from the Germans. The chief attraction of Joncourt +was an occasional roof--of course, there were no windows. The cemetery +had been used as a "strong point" by the retreating Germans, who had +scattered the bodies about and used the little vaults as pill-boxes in +which to mount machine guns. And our message center was located in a +German dugout fully fifty feet underground; evidently plenty of +precautions had been taken against allied air raids. In fact, from this +point on every house in every village had a conspicuous sign, telling +of the _Fliegerschutz_ for a certain number of men in its cellar. In +addition, the placard told the number of officers, men and horses which +could be accommodated with billets on the premises. Evidently, the +Germans in laying out their permanently occupied territory, went about +it in their usual business-like fashion. + +But between my glimpses of these various headquarters, I was at the +front with the troops going into the trenches and had had a glimpse of +war. My first experience under fire was in some woods near Maretz, where +I spent part of the night with one battalion, as they paused before +going into the trenches. I finished the night on the floor of a house in +the village, having grown accustomed enough to the sound of the shells +to sleep in spite of it. Like most people I had wondered how one feels +under fire, and experienced a queer sensation when I first heard the +long whine of a distant shell culminating in a sudden explosion. Now I +realized that I was under fire, too. But I speedily found that one feels +more curiosity than fear under long-distance fire; real fear comes +chiefly when the shells begin to land really near by. I was to +experience that, too, a little later. In fact, I found out soon that +every soldier is frightened; a good soldier is simply one who does his +duty in spite of fear. + +Then a report came in that Chaplain John Ward, of the 108th Infantry, +had been seriously wounded and I was sent to take his place with the +unit. In a push the chaplain works with the wounded; after it, with the +dead. Of many sad duties at the front, his is perhaps the saddest of +all. 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 Escaufourt, a mile or so behind the lines. Captain Merrill was in +command of the battalion and one could see how the work and +responsibility wore on him day by day, reducing the round, cheerful +soldier for the time almost to a whispering, tottering old man. But his +spirit held him to the task; he slept for only a few minutes at a time, +and then was back at work again. A conscientious man can have no more +exacting duty than this, to care for the lives of a thousand men. + +We were under constant fire there, though not under observation, but the +little ambulances ran up to the gate of the château for the wounded, who +had to walk or be carried in and out from the house to the gate. We ate +upstairs in the stately dining room at times, though we usually ate and +always slept in the crowded cellar where the major and his staff were +housed. There eight or nine of us would sit on our brick seats and sleep +with our backs against the wall, being awakened from time to time by a +messenger coming in or by the ringing of the field telephone in the +corner. The telephone operator was always testing one or another +connection, day and night, for the emergency when it would be needed. + +One night companies H and I of the 108th Infantry were almost completely +wiped out by gas. They were in low lying trenches by the side of the +canal under a constant fire of gas shells, while the damp weather kept +the dangerous fumes near the ground. They had no orders to evacuate to a +safer post and no human being can live forever in a gas mask, so one +after another the men yielded to temptation, took off their masks for +momentary relief, and inhaled the gas-laden air. All evening and night +they kept coming in by twos and threes to our aid post, the stronger +ones walking, the rest on stretchers. Their clothing reeked of the +sickeningly sweet odor. The room was soon full of it, so that we had to +blow out the candles and open the door for a few minutes to avoid being +gassed ourselves. There were three ambulances running that night to the +Main Dressing Station, and I made it my task to meet each car, notify +the doctor and bring the gassed and wounded men out to the ambulance. +Most of them were blinded for the time being by the effect of the gas. +No light was possible, as that would have drawn fire at once. Every ten +minutes through the night our village was shelled, and in walking the +forty or fifty yards through the park to the gate, I had to make two +detours with my blinded men to avoid fresh shell-holes made that very +afternoon. 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 +ambulances. The final touch came when a youngster of perhaps seventeen +entered the aid post alone, walking painfully. "What outfit are you +from, sonny?" was my natural greeting. "I am the last man left in +Company H," was the proud reply. + +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 +defending, and that troops, safely withdrawn a hundred yards or more, +can be moved forward again quickly enough the moment the gas lifts. The +English had had the same lesson more than once until they learned it +thoroughly; so had the Germans; now our armies, with their examples +before us, had to learn it again through the suffering of our own +soldiers. Our division was not the only one in which the same or a +similar blunder cost the men so dearly, for I have read the same +incident of more than one unit on other parts of the American line, and +have had them verified by officers who were present at those other +catastrophes. In the art of war the instruction of the generals costs +the lives of the soldiers. + +We had the peculiar experience of seeing the village which we had +entered in good condition crumbling about us under the enemy fire. Even +the windows were intact when we reached it; the Germans were just out, +and our artillery had been outstripped completely in the forward rush. +Under the constant pounding of back area fire, designed to prevent +ammunition and supplies coming up to the line unmolested, our little +village lost windows, roofs and walls, disintegrating steadily into a +heap of ruins. + +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 catastrophe. At last they had to leave, as the danger to +them was too direct and, in addition, they constituted a hidden menace +to our troops in case even one of them had been left behind as a spy. I +went with a party of Australians and a few of our men to the houses in +the outskirts of the town, where the greatest danger existed. I remember +the utterly disconsolate attitude of two old men and a little old woman +in one of them, when they were told they had to leave. They seemed numb +in the midst of all the rush and roar of warfare. Their little +possessions were there, they were of the peasant type and had probably +never been out of the district in their lives. The advance of the enemy +in 1914 had been accompanied by no fighting near their homes, and now +the allied victory, the one hope of their country, was the one thing +that bore destruction to their little village and tore them away from +the spot where they were rooted. + +One evening I joined a ration party going forward and visited the lines +and advanced headquarters at St. Souplet, hearing the peculiar whistle +of a sniper's bullet pass me as I made my way back after dusk. One of +the boys carrying a heavy bag of hardtack had a sore shoulder, not quite +well from a previous wound. So I shouldered his bag for a decidedly +weary mile of skulking along a sunken road and hurrying across the +occasional open spaces. When we came to his unit I was glad to turn the +bag over to him; I felt no pleasure in such lumpy burden, and would far +rather have worn out my shoulder with something more appreciated by the +boys than hardtack,--the one thing which nobody enjoyed but which was +eaten only because they were desperately hungry. On the night of October +16th we all moved over, preparatory to the push across the Selle River. +We installed ourselves in the large building at the cross roads, where +the aid post was stationed. I joined a group of sleepers on the cellar +floor, picking my way in the darkness to find a vacant spot. My trench +coat on the plank floor made a really luxurious bed. + +The next morning, October 17th, I was awakened at 5:20 by the barrage; +the boys were going over; the battle of the Selle River had began. By +six o'clock the wounded began to flow in, at first by twos and threes, +then in a steady stream. They came walking wearily along or were carried +on the shoulders of German prisoners or occasionally by our own men. As +we were at the crossroads, we got most of the wounded, English, German +and American, as well as a great deal of the shelling with which back +areas are always deluged during an attack. In this case, our post was +just behind the lines at first, 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 top. They stormed the heights across the +stream after wading it in the first rush, and then went on across the +hills and fields. + +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 +front. Our task with that of the Thirtieth Division on our right was to +cross the Selle River and advance toward the Sambre Canal. On our left +were British troops, while we were supported by Australian artillery and +the British Air Service. In our first great battle, that of the +Hindenburg Line, the "Ausies" had acted as the second wave, coming up +just in time to save some of the hard pressed units of our Division and +to complete the success of our assault. So we knew them well enough and +were glad indeed to have their excellent artillery to put over the +barrage for our second attack. + +The Australians and, in fact, all the British Colonial troops, had much +more in common with the American soldiers than had the British troops +themselves. They were like our men, young, hardy, dashing. They were +all volunteers. They had a type of discipline of their own, which +included saluting their own officers when they wanted to and never +saluting British officers under any circumstances. I took a natural +pride in hearing of their commanding officer, Lieutenant General Sir +John Monash, who held the highest rank of any Jew in the war. It was no +little honor to be the commander of those magnificent troops from +Australia. + +Meanwhile we were busy at the first aid post. I found myself the only +person at hand who could speak any German, so I took charge of the door, +with a group of prisoners to carry the wounded in and out and load them +in the ambulances. 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 front. Our opponents here were chiefly +Wurtembergers, young boys of about twenty, although one regiment of +Prussian marines was among them. Among the first prisoners were two +German physicians who offered to assist ours in the work. They worked +all day, one in our aid post, the other in that of the 107th Infantry, +side by side with our surgeons and doing excellent work for Americans +and Germans alike. They picked their own assistants from among their +captured medical corpsmen, and were strictly professional in their +attitude throughout. One of them was Dr. Beckhard, a Jew from Stuttgart, +with whom I had a few snatches of conversation and whom I should +certainly like to meet again under more congenial circumstances. I was +amused in the midst of it all when the doctor noticed his brother, an +artilleryman, coming in as one of the endless file of stretcher +bearers, carrying wounded in gray or olive drab. The doctor asked me +whether he might take his brother as one of his assistants for the day. +"Is he any good?" I asked. "Oh, yes," was the answer, "as good as any +medical orderly." So I gave permission and the two, together with a real +medical orderly and another young prisoner as interpreter, ran one room +of the first aid post in their own way. I kept an American soldier on +guard there chiefly to be prepared for any eventualities; as a matter of +fact the German surgeons treated American wounded and American surgeons +treated German wounded with the same impartial spirit. The two +physicians joined the other prisoners at the end of the day bearing +letters of appreciation written by Captain Miller, the surgeon in charge +of our post. + +About a year later when communication with Germany was opened again, I +found that this chance meeting at the front proved an odd means of +communication with my German cousins. When Dr. Beckhard returned to +Stuttgart he lectured on his experiences at the front, mentioning among +other things that he had met an American Rabbi by the name of Levinger. +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 +Wurtemberg, so that shortly after the actual experience they knew of my +being in the army and serving at the front. + +Only the small Ford ambulances could come as near the front as our post, +while the larger ones came only to the Advanced Dressing Station at +Busigny. These smaller ambulances were unable to accommodate the +constant stream of gassed and wounded men coming from the lines. Those +who had minor wounds, especially in the arms, had to be directed along +the proper road according to that ironical term, "walking wounded." +Cases which in civil life would be carried to an ambulance, given full +treatment, and then driven gently to the nearest hospital, were here +given emergency dressings and told, "The Advanced Dressing Station is +two miles down that road, boys. Walk slow and don't miss the sign +telling where to turn to the left." Other more serious cases for whom +there was no room in ambulances, at the moment were carried on +stretchers by prisoners. I would assemble three or four such cases, take +a revolver left by some wounded officer or non-com, and give it to a +"walking wounded" with instructions to "see that they get safely to the +next point." Naturally, these boys with minor wounds of their own were +safe guardians to see that the German prisoners did their duty. I can +still see their grins as they assured me: "Those fellows are sure going +to stick on the job, sir. I'll say they will!" The attitude of the +slightly wounded men was often full of grim humor. I remember one +Australian carried in on a stretcher who called me to his side with +their customary "Here, Yank," and when I responded handed me very +gravely a Mills bomb which he had used to overawe his captive bearers, +apparently threatening to blow them up with himself should they prove +insubordinate. + +A constant worry of mine were the weapons which the wounded men dropped +in front or within the aid post. Knowing that all army supplies would +be reissued to them on release from the hospital, the soldiers did not +care to carry heavy rifles or even revolvers and bombs back with them. +The result was a pile of weapons at just the point where my prisoner +stretcher-bearers could have easy access to them. I kept an M. P. busy +much of the time removing these to a place of comparative safety. + +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 ambulances. 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 necessities, which come back to +memory in later days with the full measure of ghastly detail. + +The chaplain is the handy man at the front, one of the few who is not +limited by special duties or confined to a particular spot. He works +forward or backward as the need exists. He ladles out hot chocolate with +the Red Cross, carries a stretcher with the Medical Corps, ties up a +bandage when that is needed, and prays for Jew and Christian alike. I +ministered to a number of Jewish and Christian soldiers who were dying, +leading the Jews in the traditional confession of faith, and reading a +psalm for the Protestants. One of the surgeons came to me and said, +"Captain Connor here is dying, and Chaplain Hoffman our priest is at +Battalion Headquarters acting as interpreter to examine some prisoners. +What can we do?" So I borrowed the surgeon's rosary and held the cross +to the lips of the dying Catholic. This incident, so impossible in +civil life, is really expected among soldiers,--it has been repeated so +many times and in so many different ways. + +We were constantly under heavy shell fire, as our place at the cross +roads was not only convenient of access, but was also the only route for +bringing supplies and ammunition to our part of the front. Once as I was +in the middle of the road with several prisoners loading stretchers on +an ambulance, a shell burst in a pool about twenty feet away, covering +us with a shower of mud. My prisoners, who had a wholesome respect for +their own artillery, could hardly be prevented from dropping the +stretcher. However, we were too near the explosion to be hurt, as the +fragments flew over our heads, killing one boy and wounding four others +across the street. One of the wounded was an American runner from the +front, who was enjoying a hasty bite at the army field kitchen around +the corner. 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 lunch. +The man who was killed was standing about seventy-five feet from the +spot of the explosion beside the motor-cycle which he drove, waiting for +his commanding officer to come and use the side-car. He pitched forward +as though falling to avoid the explosion, just as we would have done if +we had not been holding a stretcher. When he did not rise, 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 helmet. + +And so the work went on. The next day we heard of some wounded who had +not yet been brought in from Bandival Farm. Chaplain Burgh of the 107th +Infantry and I gathered together a few volunteers of our ambulance men +and several prisoners to go out and carry them in. It was about a mile +and a half out across the battlefield under intermittent shell fire. I +placed my captured Luger revolver, which one of the boys had brought me +the day before, in a conspicuous position with the handle projecting +from my front pocket. I had had the thing unloaded as soon as I got it +because I preferred not to run any unnecessary risks. Being a +non-combatant both by orders and inclination, I was afraid it might go +off. But my prisoners did not know that and so I had no difficulty in +silencing their muttered protests against such a hard and dangerous +hike. Working prisoners under fire like this was strictly against +international law, but that sort of a provision we violated frankly and +cheerfully. On the way back with our wounded across the muddy and +shell-pitted fields, we passed German machine gun emplacements with the +dead gunners still beside the guns, Americans lying with their faces +toward the enemy, and constant heaps of supplies of all kinds strewn +about. One of our stretchers was put down for a moment's rest near such +a scattered group of German knapsacks. One of the prisoners asked if he +might help himself, 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 rations, the little sweetish crackers which they carried +instead of our hard tack. + +On the third day of the attack I joined two men of the Intelligence +Department in walking out to the front line, then over five miles from +the village. It was a hard hike through the mud and about the shell +holes. Finally we found our friends dug in (for the fourth time that +day) on a little ridge. Each time their temporary trenches had been +completed orders had come either for a short retreat or a further +advance, and now by the middle of the afternoon the boys were digging +another at the place where they were to stay till the next morning. +Across the ravine in a little wood the Germans were hanging on for the +time being until their artillery could be saved. I visited the 108th +Infantry in reserve and emptied my musette bag of the sacks of Bull +Durham which I had brought along from the Red Cross. Then the boys +wanted matches, which I had forgotten, and their gratitude was lost in +their disgust. + +I found Captain Merrill with his staff inspecting two captured German +77's, on which they had just placed the name of their unit. By that +time, after three consecutive battles without replacements, our units +were so depleted that a regiment had only 250 rifles in the line instead +of the original 3,000. Captain Merrill's battalion consisted on that day +of 87 riflemen. Just as we finished our inspection of the guns the enemy +artillery started "strafing" again, so we jumped into a shell-hole which +had been hollowed out into convenient form and finished our conversation +there. I then visited some of the 107th Infantry in the front line rifle +pits, one hundred yards or so ahead, and turned back again toward the +village. + +I was just losing my way among the hills with approaching twilight, when +I met an Australian artillery train on their way back for supplies, and +climbed on a limber to ride into town. It was a wild ride, with the +rough roads and the drivers' habit of trotting over the spots where +shell-holes showed that danger might linger. I held on in quite +unmilitary fashion and wondered if the horse behind would be careful +when I fell. But they brought me in safely and added one more means of +locomotion to the dozens which I had utilized at various times: +ammunition "lorries," ambulances, side-cars and even a railway +locomotive--everything in fact except a tank. + +The next day we breathed more freely again. Our tired boys, reduced in +numbers, weakened in physical resistance, but going forward day after +day as their orders came, were at last to go out of the lines. Their job +was done; they had reached the Sambre Canal; and though we did not know +it, they were not to go into battle again. I lorried back to Joncourt, +the temporary division headquarters, for the night, changed my clothes, +slept in a borrowed cot, read a very heartening pile of home letters +which had accumulated for some weeks, and returned to St. Souplet the +next day for the burial detail. It was the 21st of October; while the +division as a whole marched back to the railhead, five chaplains with a +detail of a hundred and fifty men stayed behind for the sad work that +remained to be done. + +At this time I stopped off at the 108th Infantry for a few minutes, as +they halted for a meal after coming out of the lines, and had my +orderly, David Lefkowitz, detached from his unit to serve with me for my +entire remaining period with the division. 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 assistant. The order +assigning him to this special work was made out before we left the woods +at Buire. But our various units were so depleted at the time that I +arranged to leave him with his "outfit" for the battle. It was a serious +deprivation to me, 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 work. Now that the fighting was over, 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 France. He +was one of the many Jewish soldiers who welcomed the presence of a +chaplain and gladly coöperated in every possible way to make my work +successful. + +Chaplain Francis A. Kelley, in charge of our burial work, laid out the +cemetery on a hill overlooking the village and the battlefield. The rest +of us searched the field with details of men, brought in the bodies on +limbers, searched and identified them as well as possible. In doubtful +cases the final identification was made at the cemetery, where men from +every regiment were working and where most soldiers would have some one +to recognize them. In addition, we buried German dead on the field, +marking the graves and keeping a record of their location for the Graves +Registration Service. A hundred and fifty-two men were buried there at +St. Souplet, the last cemetery of the Twenty-Seventh Division in their +battle grounds of France. The last body of all, found after the work had +been finished and the men released from duty, was buried by us chaplains +and the surgeon, who went out under the leadership of Father Kelley and +dug the grave ourselves. Every evening the six of us gathered about our +grate fire and relaxed from the grim business of the day. If we had +allowed ourselves to dwell on it, we would have been incapable of +carrying on the work: it was so ghastly, so full of pathetic and +horrible details. We sang, played checkers, argued on religion. Imagine +us singing the "Darktown Strutters' Ball," or discussing the fundamental +principles of Judaism and Christianity for several hours! The five of us +were all of different creeds, too--Catholic, Baptist, Christian, +Christian Scientist and Jew. Our coöperation and our congeniality were +typical of the spirit of the service throughout. + +On the last day we held our burial service. We gathered together at the +cemetery with a large flag spread out in the middle of the plot. I read +a brief Jewish service, followed by Chaplains Bagby and Stewart in the +Protestant and Father Kelley in the Catholic burial service, and at the +end the bugle sounded "taps" for all those men of different faiths lying +there together. We could see and hear the shells bursting beyond the +hill, probably a hostile scout had caught sight of us at work. Above +floated a British aëroplane. Some English soldiers working on their +burial plot nearby stopped their digging and listened to our service. + +And so we said farewell to our lost comrades and to the war at the same +time. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AFTER THE ARMISTICE + + +AFTER the burial work at St. Souplet was over, great covered lorries +took us back the sixty miles or more to Corbie, in the vicinity of +Amiens, which was to be our rest area. We greeted its paved streets, its +fairly intact houses, its few tiny shops, as the height of luxury. Here +and there a roof was destroyed or a wall down, for the enemy had come +within three miles of Corbie in their drives earlier in the year. But we +were in rest and comparative plenty at last. We saw real civilians +again, not merely the few old people and little children left behind in +the towns we had liberated. We had regular meals again and a chance to +purchase a few luxuries beside, such as French bread at a shop and hard +candy at the "Y." We no longer heard the whine of the shell or whistle +of the bullet, nor smelled gas, nor slept in cellars. I was even lucky +enough to capture a thick spring mattress which, with my blankets, made +a bed that even a certain staff colonel envied me. A home-made grate in +the fire-place fitted it for a tiny coal fire; the window frames were +re-covered with oiled paper; we read the London Daily Mail in its Paris +edition only one day late, instead of seeing it every ten days and then +often two weeks out of date. + +My billet, which I obtained from the British town major, was a tall, +narrow house just off the principal square, very pleasant indeed in dry +weather. Its chief defect was a huge shell-hole in the roof through +which the water poured in torrents when it rained, so that we had to +cover ourselves with our rubber shelter-halves when we slept at night. +The shell-hole, however, was a constant source of fuel, and we burned +the laths and wood-work, of which small pieces were lying all about the +top floor, until we found means to obtain a small but steady supply of +coal. The house afforded room, after I had preëmpted it, for the Senior +Chaplain of the Division, the Division Burial Officer and myself, +together with our three orderlies. + +Even in dry weather there was some excitement about the old house. There +was the time when some tipsy soldiers, seeing the light in the Senior +Chaplain's room late at night, mistook the place for a café and came +stumbling in for a drink. When they saw the chaplain, they suddenly +sobered and accepted very gravely the drink of water he offered them +from his canteen. On another day the old woman who owned the house came +in with her son, a French lieutenant, to take away her furniture. We did +not mind losing the pretty inlaid table--we were soldiers and could +stand that--but our mattresses and chairs were a different matter. None +of us could argue with her torrential flow of French, but Lieutenant +Curtiss, the Burial Officer, suddenly felt his real attack of flu +redoubled in violence and had to take to his mattress. So the old lady +finally relented sufficiently to leave us our beds and a chair or two, +while her son became our devoted friend at the price of an American +cigar. + +I think that I shall never forget Corbie, with its narrow streets, its +half-ruined houses, its great ancient church of gray, with one transept +a heap of ruins, and the straight rows of poplars on both sides of the +Somme Canal,--a bit of Corot in the mist of twilight. I remember the +quiet, gray square one day with the American band playing a medley from +the "Chocolate Soldier," for all the world like a phonograph at home. I +remember the great memorial review of the division by General O'Ryan in +honor of our men who had fallen; the staff stood behind the General at +the top of a long, gentle slope, with three villages in the distance, +the church looming up with its square, ruined tower, and the men spread +out before us, a vanishing mass of olive drab against the dull shades of +early winter. + +I remember the day when three of us chaplains made the long trip back to +our division cemeteries at St. Emelie, Bony and Guillemont Farm to read +the burial service over those many graves, the result of the terrible +battle at the Hindenburg Line. Chaplain Burgh, Protestant, of the 105th +Infantry, Chaplain Eilers, Catholic, of the 106th Infantry, and I were +sent back the fifty miles or more by automobile for this duty. It +happened that it rained that day, as on most days, and the car was an +open one. 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 services, one holding his steel helmet +as an umbrella over the prayerbook from which the other read, and then +accepting the same service in return. There was none of the panoply of +war, no bugle, firing party or parade, just the prayer uttered for each +man in the faith to which he was born or to which he had clung. We did +not even know the religion of every man buried there, but we knew that +our prayers would serve for all. + +We were lucky to be in Corbie on November 11th when the armistice was +signed. 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 Belgium. It was a study that made us all drunk with +enthusiasm. We were under orders to move toward the front again on the +9th of November and to enter the lines once more on November 14th. The +men had had very little rest and no fresh troops had come up to fill the +losses made by wounds, exposure and disease. Our men could never hold a +full divisional area now; only the knowledge of the wonders they had +already accomplished made us consider it possible that they could fight +again so soon. Time after time when their strength and spirit seemed +both exhausted they had responded and gone ahead. Now they deserved +their rest. + +We greeted the good news very calmly; the German prisoners were a little +more elated; the French went mad with ecstasy. It was the only time I +have ever seen Frenchmen drunk, heard them go home after midnight +singing patriotic songs out of key. In Amiens, where several thousand of +the inhabitants had returned by that time, the few restaurants were +crowded and gaiety was unrestrained. I heard a middle-aged British +lieutenant sing the "Marseillaise" with a pretty waitress in the "Café +de la Cathédral" the following evening, and respond when asked to repeat +it in the main dining room. He returned to our side room decidedly +redder than he had gone out. "Why, the whole British general staff's in +there!" he gasped. But he received only applause without a reprimand. +The war was over and for the moment all France was overcome with joy and +all the allied armies with relief and satisfaction. + +After the armistice the front line work, with its absorption on the +problems of the wounded and the dead, became a thing of the past. The +chaplain could now turn to the more normal aspects of his work, to +religious ministration, personal service, advice and assistance in the +thousands of cases which came before him constantly. In fact, on the +whole his work became much the same as it had been in training camp in +the States. A few differences persisted; in France the chaplain was +without the magnificent backing of the Jewish communities at home, which +were always so eager to assist in entertaining and helping the Jewish +men in the nearby camps. The Jewish Welfare Board with its excellent +workers could never cover the entire field as well as it could at home +in America. Then there were special problems because the men were so far +away from home, because the mail service was poor, because worries about +allotments were more acute than if home had been nearer, and because the +alien civilization and language never made the men feel quite +comfortable. + +In the Corbie area the 27th Division was scattered about in twelve +villages, the farthest one eight miles from division headquarters. +Transportation was still common on the roads, 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 running, and found a ride back in an empty +ambulance which had brought patients to the evacuation hospital. The +villages were almost deserted, and were in rather bad condition after +their nearness to the German advance of 1918, so that the men could be +crowded together and were very easy to reach in a body. I began making +regular visits to the various units of the division, meeting the men, +holding services, receiving their requests and carrying them out as well +as possible. And I was constantly making new acquaintances, as the +wounded and sick began coming back from the hospitals to rejoin the +division. + +I had the opportunity of an occasional visit to Amiens, a city built for +a hundred thousand, but at the time inhabited by only a few thousand of +the more venturesome inhabitants, who had returned to open shops and +restaurants for the British, Australian and American troops. On account +of lack of competition, prices were extreme even for France in war-time. +The great cathedral was piled high with sandbags to protect its precious +sculptures, but it stood as always, the sentinel of the city, visible +ten miles away as one approached. The Church Army Hut of the British +forces afforded separate accommodations for enlisted men and officers, +and I had the pleasure of afternoon tea once or twice with some of the +latter. Amiens was an unsatisfactory place to shop, but my baggage had +not been found and winter was coming on fast, so I had to replace some +of my possessions at once at any prices that might be demanded. + +Our mess held its formal celebration on November 17th, with Lieutenant +Robert Bernstein, the French liaison officer, 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 previously. Our mess, +officers' mess number two of division headquarters, had an international +character through his presence and that of Captain Jenkins of the +British army, and a special tone of comradeship through the influence of +the president of the mess, Major Joseph Farrell, the division disbursing +officer. So for once we had the rare treat of turkey and wine, feeling +that the occasion demanded it. + +I felt little pleasure in the jollity of the evening, however. I had +just received a letter that day telling me of the death of one of my +twin babies of the flu; it had happened almost a month before, while I +was on the lines and quite out of reach of any kind of word. The war, +through its attendant epidemics, gathered its victims also from among +the innocent, far from the scene of struggle. I felt then that my grief +was but a part of the universal sacrifice. With all these other parents, +whose older sons died at the front in actual fighting, or whose younger +ones were caught denuded of medical protection at home, I hoped that all +this sacrificial blood might bring an end to war. To-day that faith is +harder and that consolation seems a mockery, 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 +east. When I received the news I took a long walk amid the most peaceful +scene I ever knew, up the tree-lined banks of the Somme Canal, with the +evening slowly coming on and the sun setting behind the stiff rows of +poplars. + +At last we were detached from the British Third Army and received orders +to entrain for the American Embarkation Center (as it was later called) +near Le Mans. Our headquarters there were in the village of Montfort, +where we arrived on Thanksgiving Day and stayed for three weary months. +Montfort le Routrou is a village of nine hundred people, with one long +street which runs up the hill and down the other side. The hill is +crowned with a typical village church and a really fine château, where +the General made his headquarters. The tiny gray houses seemed all to +date from the time of Henry of Navarre; my billet was a low cottage with +stone walls over three feet thick, as though meant to stand a siege or +to uphold a skyscraper. The floor was of stone, the grate large and fuel +scarce, no artificial light available except candles. The bed alone was +real luxury, a typical French bed, high, narrow and very soft--an +indescribable treat to a man who had slept on everything from an army +cot to a cellar floor. + +The surrounding country was rolling, with charming little hills and +constant knots of woods. The division, as we had known it on the British +front, was housed in forty villages, widely scattered about the +countryside, and our artillery, which had fought in the American sector, +was contained by ten more, located near Laval about fifty miles away. +The men lived chiefly in barns, as the houses were occupied by peasants, +who needed their own rooms. As far as the enlisted men were concerned, +living accommodations were better in partially ruined territory, where +they could at least occupy the houses, such as they were. Because we +were in a populous region, only smaller units could be billeted in a +single village, which meant less access to places of amusement. The +typical French village has no single room large enough for even a +picture show, except the one place of assembly, the church; apparently +the farmers and villagers have no amusements except drinking, dancing +(in tiny, crowded rooms) and church attendance. + +Such cheerless lives hardly suited the Americans. Often the men had to +walk a mile or more to the nearest Y. M. C. A. canteen, and those were +improvised on our arrival by our own divisional Y. M. C. A. staff, which +we had been permitted to bring with us on the earnest request of the +chaplains of the division. After our long sojourn in the area, we left a +completely equipped series of canteens and amusement buildings for the +following divisions. The nearest available place for light and warmth, +out of the mud and chill, was usually the French café, and that was +available only when the men had money. + +The greatest handicap on any effort for the morale of the men at the +outset was the uncertainty of our situation. We were semi-officially +informed that our stay in the area would be for only a few weeks, and +that no formal program of athletics, education or entertainment could be +arranged. When life grows dreary and monotonous, as in the Embarkation +Center, the chief diet of the soldier is such rumors of going home. In +our case three orders were promulgated for our troop movement, only to +be rescinded again while the wounded, sick and special small +detachments went ahead. + +Another difficult problem was the one of covering ground. 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 access. +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 +me. At the rear the division would be billeted in villages, scattered +about over twenty miles of countryside; it was impossible to get from +place to place without transportation, and that was very scarce. The +army gave the chaplains more encouragement and friendship than actual +facilities for work; the chaplains' corps was just making its position +strong at the end of the war. Fortunately, the Jewish Welfare Board came +to the rescue here. It procured Ford cars for the Jewish chaplains about +the first of the year 1919, thus doubling their scope for work and +making them the envy of all the chaplains in France. + +My work became a matter of infinite details, with little opportunity for +organization but plenty for day labor. I arranged as many services as +possible, getting to the various units by train, side-car, or walking +until I obtained my own machine for the purpose. These services, from +one to ten a week, were arranged through the battalion chaplains as a +rule, though sometimes I established connections with some of the Jewish +boys or with the commanding officer, especially in cases of detached +companies without any chaplain at hand. Every service had its share of +requests for information, advice, assistance, even for errands, as the +men had difficulty in getting to the city to have a watch repaired or in +reaching divisional headquarters for information. Some men would want to +know about brothers or friends who had been wounded. Many had difficulty +with their allotments, in which case I worked through the army, Red +Cross, and Jewish Welfare Board. Others wanted information about +relatives in Poland or Roumania, or to be mustered out of service that +they might join and assist their parents in eastern Europe; +unfortunately, neither information nor help was possible during the time +we were in France. Some men wished to remain for the Army of Occupation +or other special service; far more were afraid they might be ordered to +such service and wanted advice how to avoid it and return home as soon +as possible. Citizenship papers, back pay, furloughs,--the requests were +legion, and the chaplain had no difficulty in being useful. + +Naturally, one of my tasks was to gather accurate statistics of the 65 +Jewish boys in our division who had been killed, to find exactly where +they were buried, have their graves all marked with the _Magen David_, +the six-pointed star, and keep the list for the benefit of their +families when I should return. I even made one trip to Tours to discuss +the possibility of making such a list for the other divisions which came +into the area, though the task was too complicated to carry out +completely in any but my own. Often men were lost to view entirely when +they went to hospital; sometimes it transpired months later that a +certain man had died or been assigned to another unit or sent back to +the States. But little by little the facts all came to light. Even here +humorous incidents would occur, such as the time when I read a list of +dead from their unit at one battalion service, only to have one of the +men on the list speak up: "Why, I'm not dead, Chaplain!" 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 fall. So I had him in +my records as "killed in action--grave unknown," when he was actually in +the hospital, recovering slowly but completely. If he had been returned +from the hospital to another division, as was often the case, I might +never have known his fate. + +In spite of such conditions I found the exact graves of all but three of +the men on my list, and in the entire division, with its almost 2,000 +dead, only fifteen graves were unknown at the time we returned. This was +largely due to the untiring efforts of Lieutenant Summerfield S. +Curtiss, the Division Burial Officer, who was my room-mate in Corbie and +with whose methods I became familiar at that time. With the coöperation +of the various chaplains and line officers, he was able to inspect and +certify to the valuables left by men killed in action, to record every +grave, and in the few instances where both identification tags and +personal acquaintances were lacking, to take the finger-prints of the +men before burial and thus preserve the only remaining traces of +identity. + +At this time I had the opportunity of seeing our division reviewed by +General Pershing. The review was held at the Belgian Camp near Le Mans +in massed formation. The men marched by in heavy masses; the General +bestowed decorations on over a hundred heroes, including six Jewish +boys; at the end he gave the officers an informal talk, telling us of +the special need that existed for keeping up morale during the tedious +period of waiting to go home. + +That very subject had been discussed only a few days before by the +chaplains of the division, meeting with General O'Ryan for the purpose. +Chaplains' meetings were frequent, under the call of the Senior +Chaplain, Almon A. Jaynes, where we took up not only details, such as +arrangement of services in the various units, but also the broader moral +and educational problems. The General's interest in our work and our +aims was evident in every word spoken at the meeting, especially his +searching queries as to drunkenness, dissatisfaction, and remedies for +such evils as we brought out. + +The three months of waiting had been in many ways harder than the +previous months of battle. Interest in our military purpose was gone; +the men had few amusements and much work to fill in their time. We had +very little athletic or educational effort; that was prevented by our +constant expectation of an early departure. Mail service was often bad, +especially for the men who had been transferred repeatedly. Pay was +unreliable when a man had been transferred or sent to hospital and his +records lost or mixed up. And the French winter is a rainy season, with +occasional days of clear cold. No wonder that the soldiers were +disgusted with France, war, army and everything else. In the midst of +this growing irritation, their pet phrase became, "Little old U. S. A. +is good enough for me." + +The average soldier did not meet the better class of French people, only +the peasants and the prostitutes of the towns. He had little taste for +the wonderful architectural and historical treasures of the country; he +could not speak the language beyond his elementary needs; and--one of +his great objections--the French undeniably have poor plumbing and +bathing facilities. + +On the other hand, the French country people did not like our soldiers +over much. The soldier of any nation was rather noisy, rather rough, and +had no idea whatever of property values. He took anything he needed, +simply "finding" it, the worst possible trait to thrifty French country +people. Then, talking only a few words of French, the American naturally +left out phrases like "monsieur" or "s'il vous plait," and he was +considered to be ignorant of ordinary politeness, a wild Indian, the +brother of the savage still supposed to be thronging our plains. A small +minority of our men did penetrate into French life and grew to love it; +a minority of the French made the acquaintance of Americans and came to +respect them. Unfortunately, the two peoples were introduced to each +other under most unfavorable circumstances. + +These conditions, together with the constant flood of rumors, had the +worst possible influence on the spirit of the men, which went down +steadily from its magnificent power at the front, until the news of our +actual orders to move toward Brest brought it suddenly up again. As the +first division in the American Embarkation Center on the way home, we +had to suffer for the later units, all of which had a program of +athletics, entertainments and schools ready for them when they arrived. +Working to build up the spirit of the men under the most discouraging +circumstances, we received a powerful object lesson of the influences +most destructive to morale. + +The value of my work was at least doubled by the Ford touring car lent +me by the Jewish Welfare Board. I received it on New Year's Day, 1919, +in Paris and drove back to Le Mans, almost transfigured by the fact. My +driver, assigned for the trip only, was splendid; I could stop for a +brief view of the château and park at Versailles and the cathedral of +Chartres; 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 +out. With this car I was able to visit the artillery in the Laval area, +about fifty miles from our headquarters, and conduct one service in each +of their regiments. The artillery had not been on the British front at +all, but on the American, so they had quite different adventures from +ours. They had supported several other American infantry units in the +St. Mihiel sector and north of Verdun, and had received mercifully few +casualties compared with our infantrymen and engineers. The trip to them +by car was unusually delightful, over smooth roads which the great army +trucks had not yet ruined, through country where American soldiers were +a rarity and the children would crowd the doorways to cheer us as we +went by; over the gentle wooded hills of western France, with the trees +hung with mistletoe; through the tiny gray villages, with their quaint +Romanesque churches, many of them older than the great Gothic cathedrals +of the north. + +While in Paris on New Year, I enjoyed the rare treat of a family dinner +at the home of my friend Georges Lévy, an interpreter with our +division. Through him and Lieutenant Bernstein I reached some sort of an +impression of the state of French Jewry to-day. To tell the truth, +neither I nor the average Jewish soldier received a very flattering +impression. The shadow of the Dreyfus case seemed still to hang over the +Jews of France. They feared to speak a word of Yiddish, which was often +their only mode of communication with the American Jewish soldiers. One +shopkeeper, asked whether he was a Jew, took the visitor far in the rear +out of hearing of any possible customers before replying in the +affirmative. + +For one thing, except in Paris and the cities of eastern France, Jews +exist only in very small groups. I have mentioned the four families of +Nevers and the little synagogue of Tours, with its seventy-five seats. +Le Mans possesses an old street named "Rue de la Juiverie," so that at +one time there must have been enough Jews to need a Ghetto, but in 1919 +Le Mans had only four resident Jewish families and one or two more of +refugees from the occupied territory. + +Another menace to the loyalty of Jews is the general difficulty of all +religious liberalism in France. Religion to most people in France means +orthodoxy, Jewish and Catholic; this naturally suits only those of +conservative background or temperament. Almost the only other movement +is irreligious in literature, art, government and philosophy. Those +large groups of liberals who in America would be adherents of liberal +movements, Jewish or Christian, in France are usually entirely alienated +from religion. The liberals are intelligent but weak in numbers. As a +converse of this, the synagogue is largely content with past glories, +making little effort to adjust itself either in thought or organization +to the conditions of the time. The American Jews were always interested +to hear about the Jews of France, of the greatness of Rashi in former +days, and eager to inquire about the present status. They never could +quite understand the condition of a country where the government had +been divided for years by a pro and anti-Jewish issue, as was the +situation at the time of the Dreyfus case. American democracy, even in +the young and unskilled mind of the average soldier, had no concept for +anti-Semitism. + +When we knew finally that the division was on its way home, I preferred +a request through General O'Ryan that I should go home with it. But G. +H. Q. Chaplains' Office could not grant my wish; there were too few +chaplains of all religions overseas; and we Jews in particular needed +every worker there. I was detached and assigned to the Le Mans area, +under the senior chaplain of the American Embarkation Center. Naturally, +I regretted deeply seeing my old comrades go without me. I reported at +Le Mans, obtained fourteen days leave to the Riviera, which had been due +me for over two months, and said good-by. The Twenty-Seventh was the +first division to reach the Embarkation Center, the first to leave for +home as a unit, and it finally paraded, without its Jewish chaplain, up +Fifth Avenue to a tremendous ovation. I studied the pictures several +weeks later in the New York papers, and actually thought I saw the +vacant place in the column where I should have been. + + + + +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 Paris. It was my +fourth visit to the metropolis, a city which grows only more wonderful +at every view. Its boulevards and parks, public buildings and shops were +always attractive; in addition, the art treasures were now beginning to +come back to their places, and the crowds were taking on the gaiety of +peace time in the brilliantly lighted streets, so different from the +sober groups and dismal streets during the war. This trip carried me +beyond to a land of myriad attractions and surpassing loveliness. The +mediæval monuments of Avignon, the Roman antiquities of Arles and Nimes, +the splendid modern city of Marseilles, Toulon with its quaint streets +and charming harbor, Hyères of the palm trees, and on to Cannes, to +Nice, that greater Atlantic City, Grasse with its flowers and perfumes, +and Monte Carlo, garden spot of the whole--all blended in a mosaic whose +brilliant colors can never fade. Overhanging mountains and sub-tropical +sea together unite all the types of attraction of all beautiful lands +the world over. The palms and flowers never seemed quite real to me, +while one was quite bewildered by the works of man--ancient monuments, +mediæval art, and the most modern trappings of contemporary play and +luxury. + +At Cannes I met Captain Limburger, in charge of the Motor Transportation +Corps there, who helped me to reach the officers' convalescent hospital +at Hyères to search for a friend. The trip of eighty-five miles by +side-car was the bright particular spot in the whole gorgeous festival +of the Coast of Azure, up the heights of the Maritime Alps into the +clouds and down again to the edge of the blue inland sea, past ruined +castles of the Roman time and through the quaint southern villages of +nowadays; ending finally at the hospital, which turned out to be the San +Salvador, one of the most splendid winter hotels on the Mediterranean. I +even heard Francis Macmillan, a captain in the intelligence corps, give +a violin concert for the officers during my one evening there. + +Nice and the surrounding territory were crowded by Americans, as it was +the most popular leave area for the American army. The great casino on +the pier was the Y. M. C. A. for enlisted men, while the officers had +their club on the square. In fact, all the arrangements by the "Y" in +the various leave areas were magnificent. This, probably its most +successful single piece of work, has hardly received the attention it +deserves. I found the same to be true of every leave area I visited, +including Grenoble, where I stopped for a day among the Alps on my +return trip. Altogether the brief fourteen days were one of those +unforgettable experiences which linger in the memory. 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 men, for their own +elevation and their greater knowledge of France. + +I should like to emphasize, if I could, the importance of the leave +areas for the morale of the troops and their better appreciation of +France. During actual hostilities men were willing to give up their +leave, especially Americans who could not visit their homes but wanted +only a change. After the war, however, military discipline became +constantly more irksome to the soldiers, and the week or two without +orders, in a real hotel with sheets and tablecloths, sight-seeing or +merely resting, was the one thing necessary to bring them back to their +units content to work and wait till their turn came to go back home. It +was also a rare opportunity to see the best side of France and the +French, when they had seen only the worst. No soldier admired the France +of the war zone, with its ruined villages, its waste stretches, and its +shell holes. Neither did he care for the France of the rest areas, where +he knew only the smallest villages, with the least attractive people to +a young progressive from the western world. 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 child. + +The trip back to Paris and Le Mans was an experience in itself. I met +three young and congenial medical officers on the train, with whom I +traveled the rest of the way, stopping off for a half day at the little +known town of Digne in the Basse Alps, where we saw the ancient church +with its crypt, the art gallery with its painters of local prominence, +and the old Roman sulphur baths, still used to-day. Another day at +Grenoble brought us into the heart of the French Alps. We reveled in the +city with the snow-caps about. I felt the usual thrill at the tomb of +the Chevalier Bayard, and more than ordinary pleasure in the beauty of +the city itself. + +I now settled down at Le Mans for the work of the Embarkation Center. Le +Mans is too well known to Americans who have recently been in France to +require much description. It is a city of about 75,000 people, with the +customary narrow streets in the heart of the town, the fine parks and +boulevards of every French city, and the very interesting cathedral +overlooking the whole. There are fragments of the old Roman walls of the +third century, and as an ironic contrast a fine street running through a +tunnel which is named after Wilbur Wright, whose decisive experiments in +aërial navigation were carried on nearby. My billet was a pleasant home +opposite the very lovely park, the English Gardens, and my landlady a +tiny old gentlewoman, who used to bring me a French breakfast and a +French newspaper every morning, and indulge in the most formal +compliments, reminding me of a romance of the Third Empire. And for some +time Le Mans was the center of 200,000 American troops on their way +home! + +Instead of one division to cover, I now had from three to six, varying +as units came from their old locations and departed on their way to +America. And if it had been impossible to cover one division thoroughly, +in a great area such as this a chaplain could do only day labor. I +traveled from one point to another, had a schedule of services almost +every night of the week in a different camp, visited the transient +divisions as they came in, and thus came into the intimate contact with +the men by which alone I could be of use to them. The territory was an +immense one, though much of the time I did not have to cover it alone. +The 77th and 26th Divisions had Jewish chaplains while they were with +us; Chaplain James G. Heller was associated with me until he was +transferred to the Second Army (in fact, he was in Le Mans while I was +still with the 27th), and after his departure Rabbi Reuben Kaufman of +the J. W. B. was assigned to religious work under my direction. But even +so the task was staggering. So many regiments and companies scattered +over an area eighty miles long and sixty miles wide was no feasible +proposition, even with the best of cars and a sergeant to drive it for +me. + +In addition to the billeting accommodations in every village, the area +contained several large camps of importance. The Classification Camp, +within the city, was an old French barracks turned over to our use, +which housed a constantly changing stream of casuals and replacements, +flowing from hospitals, camps and schools toward their various units. +The Spur Camp held a large group of construction units, engineers and +bakers. The Forwarding Camp was a replica of a training camp at home, +and contained a division at a time, at first in training, later in +transit toward the ports. The Belgian Camp, originally built for Belgian +refugees, now had long rows of wooden barracks for soldiers, a huge and +always busy rifle range, and special camps of various types, including +one for venereal patients, who underwent a mixture of medical treatment +and discipline. + +The purpose of the Embarkation Center was to provide a stopping place on +the way to the busy ports of Brest and St. Nazaire, where the men might +be deloused, have fresh clothing and equipment issued to them, undergo +thorough inspections of every kind, and in all ways be divested of the +effects of war and prepared to return to America. This task usually took +a month or more, 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 week. On the other hand, it might not pass the +various inspections at once, or at the time the transportation home +might be lacking, and hence its departure would be delayed time and +again. This uncertainty of tenure made all work very difficult, +especially work such as the chaplains' which depended entirely on +personal contact. + +The problem of these divisions, as of the 27th, was chiefly to preserve +the splendid morale of the front while the men were in the dreary tedium +of waiting. This was done by cutting down the drill to an hour a day, +which made enough work in addition to the delousing, inspecting and +other necessary activities. The rest of the time was devoted to +athletics, an educational program, and a great amount of entertainment, +all three under the Welfare Officer appointed by the commanding general +of the Embarkation Area, while all the welfare agencies contributed to +these various ends under his general supervision. My work, of course, +was directly under the Senior Chaplain, according to army regulation. +And as the various units moved toward their goal more rapidly and more +steadily, the need for special efforts to keep up morale grew less. Men +keep up their own morale when they really know they are going home; the +difficulties had been largely caused by the complete uncertainty and +endless delays. + +Such success as I had was due very largely to the excellent coöperation +of the Jewish Welfare Board. Sergeant Charles Rivitz, who had charge of +the work in the area, was deeply interested in the welfare of the boys +and shared the resources of the organization freely with me in my work. +I had always found this same attitude; the J. W. B. furnished me a car, +an allowance for welfare work, an office in its building, and offered +its rooms for services in the various camps. Where it had no huts, I was +accorded the same privilege by the Y. M. C. A. Whenever its aid fell +short, it was because it had no more to give. By this time Le Mans had a +large and active group of J. W. B. workers, both men and girls, with +their center in the city and huts in many surrounding points. I found +the workers' mess the most friendly and pleasant in the city, quite as +congenial as the one at the Junior Officers' Club, which I often +frequented. + +Even in the stress and turmoil of the Le Mans area ("the madhouse," as +the boys called it) striking or humorous personalities appeared from +time to time. There was Abie, the wandering musician, a little Jew who +had a gift for rag-time but no great intelligence, military or +otherwise. Abie had gone to France with a replacement unit, was located +near Le Mans and spent his spare time playing for the Y. M. C. A. and +the officers' dances. When his unit moved toward the front to be +incorporated in some fighting division, he stayed behind, not as a +deserter, but to play the piano for the "outfits" that followed. He +managed even to live at the local hotel by the tips they gave him. After +that time he reported, giving his full story in detail, to every +commanding officer who entered the village, always to be given enough to +eat, but never accepted into any unit as he had no transfer from his +original one. At last his story got abroad, he was brought in by the +Criminal Investigation Department and investigated, only to prove the +truth of his every word. So Abie, happy once more, was stationed in the +Classification Camp and detailed to the Jewish Welfare Board as a +pianist, improvising his rag-time adaptations of serious music and +getting many privileges and a steady income for doing the work he +enjoyed best. + +A different sort of man was the soldier in a famous fighting division, +who sought a private interview with me. It seems that in the advance on +the St. Mihiel sector he had rescued a Torah, a scroll of the Law, from +a burning synagogue. Throwing away the contents of his pack, he had +wrapped the scroll up in the pack carrier instead, and carried it "over +the top" three times since. Now he wanted permission to take it home to +give to an orphan asylum in which his father was active. A soldier was +not ordinarily allowed to take anything with him besides the regulation +equipment and such small souvenirs as might occupy little room, but in +this case a kindly colonel became interested and the Torah went to +America with the company records. + +The great event of my service in Le Mans was our Passover celebration on +April 14th, 15th and 16th, 1919. The general order for Passover +furloughs read: + + "Where it will not interfere with the public service, members of + the Jewish faith serving with the American Expeditionary Forces + will be excused from all duty from noon, April 14th, to midnight, + April 16th, 1919, and, where deemed practicable, granted passes to + enable them to observe the Passover in their customary manner." + +Among the central points designated for Passover leaves was Le Mans, and +the Jewish Welfare Board and I labored to arrange a full celebration for +the thousand Jewish soldiers who came in from four different divisions. +Quarters were provided in the Classification Camp for all the men who +did not have the money or the previous arrangements for hotel rooms, as +well as full accommodations for the Passover feast, the Seder. The +Jewish Welfare Board obtained full supplies of Matzoth, unleavened +bread, as well as Haggadoth, or special prayer books for the Seder. + +The spirit was as strong a contrast as possible to that of my other +great service at the fall holydays. Among our congregation were two men +from the isolated post of military police at St. Calais, fifty miles to +the east, and five from among the students at the University of Rennes, +a hundred miles west. We had a number of officers among us, while five +French families, several Jews in the horizon blue of the French army, +and two in the Russian uniform--labor battalions, since Russia had +withdrawn from the war--worshiped beside us. And when the crowd began to +assemble, the first men I saw were a group of engineers whom I had not +seen since Atonement Day, seven months before. They were on the way home +now, their presence emphasizing more strongly than anything else the +change that had come to us and the world in the intervening time. Again +there were the meetings of friends and brothers, but without the pang of +parting afterward. 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 present. Then how the whole gathering would be +electrified when a voice cried out, "Here," and cousins or comrades who +had not known even of each other's safety were able to exchange festal +greetings and rejoice together. + +For the two and a half days' leave the Jewish Welfare Board and I tried +to keep the men busy, with something for every taste. The full program +included a Seder, four services, a literary program, a vaudeville show, +a boxing exhibition, two dances and a movie. All were well patronized, +for the soldier had a cultivated taste in diversion, especially after +the armistice. But certainly the most popular of all was the Seder. The +soup with matzah balls, the fish, in fact the entire menu made them +think of home. We held the dinner in an army mess hall, standing at the +breast-high tables. The altar with two candles and the symbols of the +feast was at the center of the low-roofed unwalled structure. Toward +evening the rain, so typical of winter in western France, ceased; the +sun came out, and its last level rays shone directly upon Rabbi Kaufman +and his little altar. It was a scene never to be forgotten, a feast of +deepest joy mingled with solemnity. Afterward we adjourned to the +Theatre Municipale for a full religious service with a sermon. Two of +the shows of the festival leave were too big for the hall of the Jewish +Welfare Board, so we were offered the Y. D. Hut, the great auditorium of +the Y. M. C. A., which had been named after the famous 26th Division. +One of these entertainments was the last performance in France of the +"Liberty Players" of the 77th Division, who were about to leave for the +States that very week. + +Finally my work in France drew to a close. On the first of May, 1919, I +received the orders for which I had been hoping so long. I was to be +relieved and sent home to America. Rabbis in the uniform of the Jewish +Welfare Board were now at hand, the number of men in France was +decreasing, and my request to be relieved could at last be granted. A +final two days in Paris for a conference with the heads of the J. W. B., +Chaplain Voorsanger and Colonel Harry Cutler, another day at Le Mans to +turn my records and office over to Rabbis Kaufman and Leonard Rothstein, +and then I was off to Brest. 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 _Noordam_, +of the Holland-American Line. My last duty in Brest was to conduct a +funeral, in the absence of the post chaplain, of four sailors drowned in +an accident just outside the harbor. We had a guard of honor, a bugler, +all naval, and I had the rare experience of an army chaplain conducting +a navy funeral, as well as of a rabbi burying four Christian boys. + +We were at sea twelve days altogether, being delayed by a gale of three +days and also by a call for aid, which took us a hundred miles out of +our course without finding the sender of the message. We entered New +York harbor late one evening, and anchored off Staten Island for the +night. There was little sleep that night; the officers danced with the +cabin passengers, while the men sang on the decks below. The next +morning early every one was at the rail as we steamed in past the Statue +of Liberty, which stood for so much to us now, for which we had longed +so often, and which some of our company had never expected to see again. +After the customary half day of formalities at the dock, we were +directed to different camps for discharge according to our branches of +the service. I reported at Camp Dix, New Jersey, where I was mustered +out of service, receiving my honorable discharge on May 26th, 1919, +eleven months from the date of my commission, nine of which were spent +with the American Expeditionary Forces. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE JEWISH CHAPLAINS OVERSEAS + + +My experiences, which were fairly typical throughout, showed clearly the +great need for Jewish chaplains in the army overseas. Even my trip on +leave to the Riviera was typical, showing the effect of release from +discipline combined with a pleasure trip on thousands of our soldiers, +most of whom needed it far more than I; for the privileges of a +chaplain, just a little greater than those of most officers, certainly +had prevented my morale falling as low as that of many of the enlisted +men. 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 faiths; +he had a definite contribution to make to the moral and spiritual +welfare of the forces. We had to conduct Jewish religious services for +both holydays and ordinary seasons, to assist the dying Jew, and to pray +for him at his grave. We had to defend the Jewish boys in the rare cases +of prejudice against them, or, what was just as important, to clear up +such accusations when they were unfounded. We had to serve the special +needs of the Jewish soldier, whatever they might be, at the same time +that we did the chaplain's duty toward all soldiers with whom we might +be thrown. + +The American Expeditionary Forces never had sufficient chaplains at any +time for the work that was planned for them. The proportion desired by +the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office and approved by the war department was +one chaplain to every thousand men, or one to an infantry battalion, +besides those assigned to administrative work as senior chaplains of +divisions and areas, and the very large number detailed to hospitals. +The total number of chaplains who went to France was 1285, just half the +number needed by this program, and from this total we must subtract a +considerable group of deaths, wounds and other casualties. The +chaplains' corps was undermanned at all times,--we Jews were simply the +most conspicuous example. Compared to the general proportion of one +chaplain to every two thousand men, and the ideal one of a chaplain to +every thousand, we had one chaplain to every eight thousand men, and +those tremendous numbers were not even concentrated in a few units but +scattered through every company, every battery, and every hospital ward +in the army. + +The British forces contained one Jewish chaplain for every army +headquarters, or nine in all. I had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi +Barnett, the chief Jewish chaplain in the B. E. F., although I never met +his predecessor, Major Adler. Through their long experience and the +coöperation of the Chief Rabbi of England, the English chaplains were +well equipped with suitable prayerbooks and other material, which I +obtained from one of them for the use of our men while I was on the +British front. Still, even with their larger proportion of chaplains to +the Jews in service, the lack of transportation facilities and the +tremendous rush of war-time, especially at the front and in the +hospitals, made their actual duties impossible of complete fulfillment. + +To cover the enormous field before us was plainly impossible. The +chaplain could only work day by day, clearing a little pathway ahead of +him but never making an impression on the great jungle about. When I +first reached France, I grew accustomed to the greeting: "Why, you're +the first Jewish chaplain I've met in France!" That was hard enough +then, but it grew harder when the same words were addressed me in Brest +just before sailing and on shipboard on the way home. 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 France. Under these +circumstances we all feel a natural pride at the work accomplished +against adverse conditions. I for one feel that we did all that twelve +men similarly situated could possibly have done, and I gladly bring my +personal tribute to those others, chaplains, welfare workers, officers, +and enlisted men, whose coöperation doubled and trebled the actual +extent and effectiveness of our work. This includes especially the +Christian chaplains and welfare workers; their own field was great +enough to take all their time and energy, but they were always ready to +turn aside for a moment to lend a hand to us, in order that the labors +of twelve men serving their faith in the great American army might not +be quite futile. + +The first of the Jewish chaplains to reach France was Rabbi Elkan C. +Voorsanger, who gave up his pulpit in St. Louis in April, 1917, to join +the St. Louis Base Hospital as a private in the medical corps. As his +hospital unit was the third to reach France in May, 1917, Rabbi +Voorsanger was one of the first five hundred American soldiers in the +American Expeditionary Forces. In the medical corps he rose from private +to sergeant, gaining at the same time an intimate first-hand knowledge +of the problems of the man in the ranks. When the bill was passed by +Congress in November, 1917, ordering the appointment of chaplains of +sects not at that time represented in the army, Rabbi Voorsanger was the +first Jew commissioned under its provisions. He was examined by a +special board appointed overseas by General Pershing at the direction of +the Secretary of War; his commission was dated November 24th, 1917. In +January 1918 he was assigned to the 41st Division and in March to Base +Hospital 101 at St. Nazaire. While posted there he conducted his first +important service overseas in Passover 1918, the first official Jewish +service held in the A. E. F. He was assigned to the 77th Division in May +1918 on their arrival in France where he served with a most enviable +record, receiving the Croix de Guerre and being recommended for the D. +S. M. for exceptional courage and devotion to duty in time of danger. +The midnight patrol on the banks of the Meuse, by which he won these +honors, was both a courageous and a useful exploit. He was promoted to +Senior Chaplain of his division with the rank of Captain, the only Jew +so distinguished. Finally in April 1919, instead of accompanying his +division home he resigned his commission to become the head of the +overseas work of the Jewish Welfare Board. He returned to the United +States in September 1919, after two and a half years with the American +Expeditionary Forces. 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 Europe. +In 1920 and 1921 he conducted two relief units to Poland and carried on +their life-saving work. + +When I arrived in France, Chaplain Voorsanger was stationed at Chaumont +for the time being, to take charge of the arrangements for the Jewish +holydays of 1918. I have already described how these were carried out, +by designating central points for services, getting in touch with the +French rabbis and synagogue authorities and assigning the few American +rabbis at hand to fill in the deficiencies. + +I was the fifth Jewish chaplain to reach France. Those who preceded me +were first Voorsanger and then Chaplains David Tannenbaum of the 82nd +Division, Harry S. Davidowitz of the 78th and Louis I. Egelson of the +91st. All these men served at the front, as did also Chaplain Benjamin +Friedman of the 77th Division, who took up the Jewish work of that unit +when Chaplain Voorsanger was promoted to the Senior Chaplaincy. Chaplain +Davidowitz was the only Jewish chaplain to be wounded, receiving severe +injuries from shrapnel; these put him in the hospital for several months +and occasioned his being sent back home, invalided, the first of us all. +The others, in order of their arrival, were Chaplains Jacob Krohngold, +of the 87th Division; Israel Bettan of the 26th Division; Harry +Richmond, at the port of Bordeaux; Elias N. Rabinowitz, at Blois; +Solomon B. Freehof, at First Army Headquarters; and James G. Heller, at +Le Mans. The last two left New York on the day following the armistice, +so that on November eleventh, 1918, the Jews of America were represented +overseas by just ten chaplains and two representatives of the Jewish +Welfare Board, Rev. Dr. Hyman G. Enelow and Mr. John Goldhaar. + +The twelve of us represented all three Jewish seminaries in this +country, although the majority were naturally from the oldest, the +Hebrew Union College at Cincinnati, where Rabbi Freehof was even a +member of the faculty. We came from every section of the country, east, +west and south, including Krohngold and myself from little towns in +Kentucky and Richmond from Trinidad, Colorado. Rabbi Richmond had the +unusual distinction of not claiming exemption in the draft as a +minister. He therefore entered the service as a private and was promoted +to the chaplaincy just before his division went overseas. + +The chaplains who were commissioned before the armistice and served in +the United States were thirteen in number; Rabbis Nathan E. Barasch, +Harry W. Etteleson, Max Felshin, Samuel Friedman, Raphael Goldenstein, +Abram Hirschberg, Morris S. Lazaron, Emil W. Leipziger, Julius A. +Liebert, Abraham Nowak, Jerome Rosen, Leonard W. Rothstein, Israel J. +Sarasohn. Three of them, Rabbis Rothstein, Felshin and Barasch, soon +after resigned their commissions and came overseas as representatives of +the Jewish Welfare Board. When the great need for morale agencies was +realized after the armistice, the War Department refused to relax its +prohibition against the transportation of more chaplains or other +special branches of the service, but favored the passage of large +numbers of welfare workers instead. Rabbi David Goldberg was the only +Jewish chaplain in the navy, with the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade; +he served at sea on the transport, President Grant. + +We were almost all reassigned as our divisions left for home and as the +need grew in various areas, especially in the base posts and the Army of +Occupation. Chaplain Davidowitz was sent home wounded, and Friedman +accompanied his own division back. Krohngold, Bettan, Heller and Freehof +joined the Army of Occupation in the order named, although for a long +time Rabbi Krohngold was the only Jewish chaplain there. Rabbi Egelson +left his division for the port of St. Nazaire, Rabinowitz was +transferred from Blois to St. Aignan, and I was left behind at Le Mans +together with Heller, who shortly after was transferred to the Third +Army in Germany. Tannenbaum while stationed at Bordeaux was also, by +special arrangement, appointed as supervisor of the Jewish Welfare Board +for that area; and Voorsanger was mustered out of service to become +executive director of their overseas work. Rabbi Richmond alone held the +same post to the very end of his overseas service. + +As I have mentioned repeatedly in my personal narrative, 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 them; as +soon as he was assigned to an area, he had to spread himself thin over a +wide expanse of territory and could cover it in only the most cursory +fashion. The problem was larger than the matter of transportation, +although that was serious enough. The larger aspect lay in the number of +men, the number of companies, the infinite possibility of individual +service if one were only able to know all these soldiers personally, to +understand their needs, and to minister to them. Every hospital ward +with its forty beds presented forty distinct individual +problems,--often, indeed, more than forty. Sometimes the same man would +need pay, mail, home allotment, reading matter, and contact with his +original unit and comrades. With the constant shifting to other +hospitals further from the front and then to convalescent camps, the +ward would always contain a new forty men and the work was always +beginning over again. This situation was not in the least unique. The +hospital simply represents the extreme case of what was true in a less +degree in every branch of the service and every unit. + +During the post-armistice period I had several very agreeable reunions +with my fellow chaplains, which were at the same time valuable for our +common information and coöperation. At my very first visit to Le Mans, +on December 6th, I quite unexpectedly met Chaplains Freehof, Bettan, and +Heller, as well as Rabbi Enelow, who had just come to the city for the +dedication of the J. W. B. headquarters. I devoured their comparatively +fresh news from home as eagerly as Voorsanger had absorbed mine several +months before, when he was already entering his second year in France. +The second time was on the last day of the year, when I met Rabbis +Friedman, Egelson and Rabinowitz in Paris, all coming there as I did for +the cars which the J. W. B. had ready for us. At the same time Rabbis +Martin Meyer of San Francisco and Abram Simon of Washington were in the +city, both captains in the American Red Cross. Their six months of duty +in France had just expired and they were then making ready for their +return home. We all had dinner together at one of the famous Parisian +restaurants and discussed war and peace, France, America and Israel, +until the early closing laws of war-time sent us all out on the +boulevards and home. Chaplain Egelson and I saw the New Year in +together, first hearing "Romeo and Juliet" at the Opéra and then +watching the mad crowds on the streets, headed always by American or +Australian soldiers, the maddest of them all. + +The most important meeting, however, was the one called by Chaplain +Voorsanger for February 24th at the Paris headquarters of the Jewish +Welfare Board. Six chaplains were present, Voorsanger, Tannenbaum, +Richmond, Heller, Bettan and I, together with Mr. John Goldhaar of the +J. W. B. Our chief object was to work out a program of coöperation with +the J. W. B., our second, to discuss our personal methods for the +benefit of our own work. Voorsanger was chairman; we decided to form a +Jewish Chaplains' Association, which never developed afterward; and +planned to hold another meeting soon, which owing to military +exigencies, we never did. But we did adopt a program of coöperation with +the J. W. B., which indicates the mutual dependency and the closeness of +contact which were almost uniformly the case. Our program provided that +the J. W. B. 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 him. The chaplain, on the other hand, was to make +suggestions to the worker in his area, and in exceptional cases to the +Paris office and was to be in complete charge of all Jewish religious +work in his area, although religious workers were personally responsible +to their superior in the J. W. B. Finally, provision was made for +frequent conferences between the chaplain and the J. W. B. worker in the +same organization. This program was approved, not only nominally but +also in spirit by all the Jewish chaplains and welfare workers +throughout the A. E. F. I know that in Le Mans our contact was so close +that Mr. Rivitz instructed his religious workers to report directly to +me for assignment of services and other division of labor, and I +included their work with mine in my weekly reports to my senior +chaplain. + +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 +Board, the Joint Distribution Committee for the relief of Jews in +Eastern Europe, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Jewish +Congress. At the office of the J. W. B., I had a farewell conference +with Rabbi Voorsanger and Colonel Harry Cutler, giving them a summary of +the latest situation in my area. Colonel Cutler was busy as chairman of +the J. W. B., one of the American Jewish Congress delegates to the Peace +Conference, and a member of the Joint Distribution Committee. I met my +old friend, Rabbi Isaac Landman, who was reporting the Peace Conference +for his paper, the American Hebrew, and he introduced me in turn to Miss +Harriet Lowenstein, at that time the Paris purchasing agent of the +Joint Distribution Committee, especially in the important work of buying +supplies originally sent to Europe for the use of the American forces. I +encountered also three of the active workers of American Jewry, sent to +represent us before the Peace Conference in such matters as might +concern the Jews; Judge Julian Mack, representing the American Jewish +Congress; Dr. Cyrus Adler, for the American Jewish Committee; and Mr. +Louis Marshall, a representative of both organizations. The two last +were also active in the Jewish Welfare Board, and Dr. Adler, +vice-chairman of the Board, took charge as the representative of the +Board after Colonel Cutler's departure for the States. Even on the ship +going home I met two Jewish workers, Rabbi B. Levinthal of the American +Jewish Congress delegation and Mr. Morris Engelman, returning from his +work in Holland for the Joint Distribution Committee. By that time world +Jewry was fully aroused and its delegates were busy, both at the seat of +the Peace Conference and in the lands of eastern Europe, where Jewish +suffering was becoming daily more intense. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD IN THE A. E. F. + + +The Jewish Welfare Board in the United States Army and Navy was the +great authorized welfare agency to represent the Jews of America, as the +Young Men's Christian Association represented the Protestants and the +Knights of Columbus the Catholics. It was organized on April 9, 1917, +just three days after the declaration of war, and was acknowledged by +the Department of War as the official welfare body of the Jews in +September, 1917. It was not so much a new organization as a new activity +of a number of the leading Jewish organizations of the United States: +the United Synagogue of America, the Union of American Hebrew +Congregations, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union of +Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, the Jewish +Publication Society of America, the council of Y. M. H. and Kindred +Associations, the Council of Jewish Women, the Independent Order B'nai +B'rith, the Jewish Chautauqua Society, the Order Brith Abraham, the +National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, the New York Board of Jewish +Ministers, the Independent Order Brith Sholom, the Independent Order +Brith Abraham, and the Women's League of the United Synagogue. In the +camps and cantonments at home it did a large and important piece of +work, establishing 490 representatives at 200 different posts and +putting up 48 buildings for its work at various important points. This +great field, however, is outside the scope of the present study, which +can take up only the overseas activities of the J. W. B. + +One home organization must be mentioned in this place, the Chaplains' +Committee which made recommendations to the War Department for the +appointment of Jewish chaplains. This was composed of representatives of +the leading religious bodies of the country: for the Central Conference +of American Rabbis, Dr. William Rosenau and Dr. Louis Grossman; the +United Synagogue of America, Dr. Elias L. Solomon; Eastern Council of +Reform Rabbis, Dr. Maurice H. Harris; the New York Board of Jewish +Ministers, Dr. David de Sola Pool; the Union of Orthodox Jewish +Congregations, Dr. Bernard Drachman; the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, Rabbi M. +S. Margolies. Dr. Cyrus Adler, the Acting President of the Jewish +Theological Seminary of America, was chairman of this committee. They +had the task of reviewing the applications of one hundred and forty-nine +rabbis, 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 appointments. I have already given in some detail the story of the +twelve of us who served in the A. E. F., while the other thirteen did +their service in cantonments in the United States. + +The Jewish Welfare Board began to take up the overseas problem as early +as August, 1917, when Rabbi Voorsanger, then Sergeant in the Army +Medical Corps, received a letter from Colonel Harry Cutler, asking for +such information as he had at command and also how far he might be able +to coöperate personally with the Jewish work. Some months later, after +Voorsanger had been appointed chaplain he was again asked for +information. This time he was in a position to give a great deal +together with recommendations. A certain amount of supplies was +furnished him at once, but no welfare workers were sent until the +overseas commission had made its investigation and report. + +The overseas commission of the Jewish Welfare Board, consisting of +Congressman Isaac N. Siegel, chairman, Rabbi H. G. Enelow, Rabbi Jacob +Kohn, and Mr. John Goldhaar, secretary, went to France in July, 1918, +and were the first friends I met when I reached Paris. Their general +work was to study the nature and scope of the overseas field so as to +make recommendations on their return; incidentally to this, they were to +establish contact with kindred organizations and with the army, open +headquarters, and coöperate with the chaplains in the field in the +holyday services. 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 service. Congressman Siegel made a trip to +General Pershing's headquarters and to the sector then occupied by the +77th Division, where Chaplain Voorsanger was taken into consultation +regarding the problems ahead. The Congressman then returned to America, +while Mr. Goldhaar was left as executive secretary pro tem of the Paris +office and Rabbis Kohn and Enelow conducted holyday services at +different points. Afterward Dr. Kohn also returned home, and Dr. Enelow +devoted himself to field work, establishing welfare centers at various +points. Later on, when the army educational program was undertaken, he +became the J. W. B. representative on the faculty of the Army University +at Beaune. Dr. Enelow was recommended for a chaplaincy by the J. W. B. +Chaplains' Committee, but was among those prevented by the armistice +from receiving the rank. Meanwhile he labored in any capacity at hand, +for he was determined not to return to America while work remained to be +done among the soldiers in France. + +All this was entirely inadequate for the task at hand, as we all +realized at the time. At that time the J. W. B. was functioning in the +overseas forces, not as a separate entity, but through the Y. M. C. A. +This naturally prevented the full expansion of its independent viewpoint +or the direct contact with the army officials which alone could give it +standing. The arrival of the overseas commission made some difference in +this respect, but the J. W. B. was not fully recognized as one of the +responsible overseas welfare organizations until Colonel Harry Cutler, +its national chairman, had come to France and presented his case at +General Pershing's headquarters. There were more than the usual +difficulties with passports and visés, owing to the German or Austrian +ancestry of some of the most desirable workers; this was finally +overcome by the chairman of the Board vouching personally for the +loyalty of every individual recommended. The selection was limited, as +with all welfare organizations, to men not subject to draft. With these +obstacles the difficulties proved for the time insuperable. + +This situation made it impossible for the J. W. B. to undertake any +independent work before the armistice. 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 themselves. The early +history of Jewish welfare work abroad is that of a scattered band of +eager, self-sacrificing workers who gave up their own time to labor +incessantly for the welfare of the Jewish men in the service. The first +task was to acquaint the soldiers with the fact that there was a Jewish +Welfare Board, even though its Paris staff consisted only of Mr. +Goldhaar, one stenographer and one office boy. Advertisements in the +_Stars and Stripes_ and the Paris editions of American newspapers and +correspondence with Jewish and non-Jewish chaplains, American, French +and British, did the work. Letters began to pour in for supplies, +advice, information, and a great correspondence school of welfare work +began. + +The center of this work was naturally the Paris club rooms, in +connection with the office at 41 Boulevarde Haussman. Mr. John Goldhaar +was in immediate charge of both, with a mountain of mail on his desk +from every part of the A. E. F. and a constant crowd of doughboys +outside in the club rooms. 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 forces. He continued in this +position, with its constantly growing duties, until Captain Voorsanger +was appointed Overseas Director of the J. W. B., when Mr. Goldhaar was +made Overseas Field Director and put in charge of the field work. His +Medaille d'Honneur from the French government was earned by the hardest +and most valuable kind of war work. Mr. 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 home. Every afternoon they served tea--a little thing in itself, +but a big one to lonesome boys without a friend nearby. It meant much +effort, too, on the part of the ladies themselves, especially their +leaders, Mrs. Ralph Stern, Mrs. Zacharie Eudlitz, Mrs. Engelman and Mrs. +Hertz. Some of them came from the suburbs every afternoon, rain or +shine, to render this devoted service. Monsieur and Madame Henri +Bodenheimer opened their hearts and their homes, both in Paris and +Tours, to receive the Americans; every Friday evening saw their table +crowded with lonesome "buck" privates, especially the ones whom other +people would overlook. With the assistance of these same people hospital +visitation was begun. A registration book in the office began to fill up +with the names of Jewish soldiers and officers, and letters sent home +recorded the fact of their visits and often established an important +connection for the welfare of the men themselves. + +At the same time, among the hundreds of letter-writers and visitors +eager to do something, anything, for their fellow-soldiers, a few began +to stand out here and there as effective and central workers. The +soldiers were always ready to coöperate; I found that out from my first +service at Nevers to my last at Le Mans. So it was only natural that far +more of them volunteered for this work than I can possibly mention. I +shall simply have to speak of a few outstanding names, and leave it to +the imagination of the reader to multiply these examples many times. In +Chaumont there was Field Clerk A. S. Weisberger, formerly of Scranton, +Pa. "Sandy" Weisberger mimeographed a little newspaper, the "Junior +Argus," for his fellow-soldiers from Scranton; organized the Jewish +soldiers at G. H. Q. for services and sociability; and referred any +number of men to the Jewish Welfare Board for such advice or assistance +as it could give. He was later mustered out of service to become a J. W. +B. worker and met his death most tragically by an accident in the Paris +headquarters, during the festivities of Passover week, 1919. + +In Dijon there was a group, Major Jacob Jablons, Medical Corps; Miss +Bessie Spanner, a regular army nurse; and Sergeant J. Howard +Lichtenstein, of Baker Co. 339. They organized hospital visiting in the +many hospital centers in that area, celebration of the high holydays, +Simchath Torah parties, and group gatherings of all kinds. This work was +spontaneous and needed only supplies of stationery, prayerbooks and the +like to make it completely effective, furnishing a fertile field for the +welfare workers when they opened their community center there. By that +time the two last were also in the service of the Welfare Board, Miss +Spanner in the unique position of head of the women workers overseas. In +Tours the outstanding figure was Colonel Max B. Wainer, at that time a +Major. He gathered a group of active workers among the soldiers, used +the local synagogue as a center, and organized a full welfare program, +including Friday evening services and round table discussions, hospital +visiting, and distribution of stationery and prayerbooks. I dropped in +at Tours for a day to arrange for the holyday services; the local +committee of soldiers saw that special meals were provided for the +Jewish men; and the bills were paid by the Jewish Welfare Board. + +In the Le Mans area, which before the armistice was used as a +classification camp from which soldiers were sent as replacements to +units in the field, the first Jewish work was started by Sergeant +Charles S. Rivitz of Army Post Office 762 through the aid and assistance +of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Willing of Cleveland. Lieutenant +(later Captain) Willing, though a non-Jew, had taken a deep interest in +the Jewish men in his unit while still in camp in the States and +continued this interest to France. With the approval of Gen. Glenn, in +command of the area, Rivitz was detailed to the Jewish Welfare Board +under the supervision of the senior chaplain of the area and Capt. +Willing. Sergeant Rivitz was not a social worker at all, but had one +source of strength which made his good will effective. He was a soldier, +had attained his sergeancy through force of personality; he knew what +the soldiers wanted and insisted on giving it to them. He rented a +château as a club house largely on his own responsibility, and the +Jewish Welfare Board soon found that both the structure and his method +of conducting it were excellent. His chief assistant was Corporal George +Rooby, who after his discharge from the service volunteered for the +first unit of the Joint Distribution Committee in Poland, and continued +serving Jewry there. + +In fighting units also the Jewish officers and enlisted men were early +active in welfare work. Two officers occur to me whose work I saw +personally; undoubtedly there were many others with the same sort of +interest. Captain Leon Schwartz of the 123rd Infantry, 31st Division, +was active from the outset in his own division and the Le Mans area. +Later, during the time when the army was trying every means to keep up +the morale of the troops, and the temporary organization of "Comrades in +Service" was being pushed through the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office, +Captain Schwartz was assigned to this work as the Jewish representative, +and addressed hundreds of gatherings of soldiers, together with the +Catholic and Protestant spokesmen for morale and comradeship. In the +26th Division, the "Yankee Division," Captain Bernard I. Gorfinkle of +the Judge Advocate's office was one of the first and most effective +Jewish workers in France. Captain Gorfinkle organized an overseas branch +of the New England Y. M. H. A., deriving his first funds from the Young +Men's Hebrew Associations of New England. Later, when the Jewish Welfare +Board arrived, he joined forces with its Paris office for the benefit of +his men. Mr. Goldhaar tells how surprised he was after the battle of +Château Thierry to be highly complimented for the work of the J. W. B. +in marking the Jewish graves. Of course, at that time no such work had +yet been undertaken. On investigation he found that the graves of Jews +of the 26th Division who fell in action had been marked with a crude +Magen David by their comrades under the initiative of Captain Gorfinkle. + +Wherever a Jewish chaplain existed the Welfare Board had a means of +contact with the men. And here and there throughout the A. E. F., +volunteers sprang up, establishing their little groups and doing their +own work, large or small. In the 42nd Division, to cite only one more +example, some of the boys came together and held holyday services during +the actual campaign, and afterward instituted their own hospital +visiting. But then came the armistice, and at the same time the passport +difficulty was disposed of. Workers began to come; new plans were being +issued daily by the army authorities; the whole viewpoint of the work +was revolutionized and the facilities suddenly enlarged. + +The determining factor was that troops were no longer being scattered +for training and fighting but concentrated for their return home. Hence +the J. W. B. centered its work on the American Embarkation Center and +the base ports, established a line of centers in the chief points of the +Service of Supply, and went with the Army of Occupation to Germany. The +last to be supplied with workers were some of the combat divisions not +in the organized areas. Thus the work grew. The club-house at Le Mans +was dedicated on November 28, 1918, in the presence of Major General +Glenn, with speeches by Dr. Enelow and the prefect of the Department of +the Sarthe, and a vaudeville show and refreshments to wind up the +evening. Buildings were rented in the ports of Brest, St. Nazaire, +Bordeaux and Marseilles, and a line of centers established across +France, from Le Mans on through Tours, St. Aignan, Gievres, Bourges, +Beaune, Is-sur-Tille, Dijon and Chaumont. The headquarters for the Army +of Occupation were at Coblenz, where the B'nai B'rith Building was +employed and seven huts established through the area. Finally as workers +continued coming, they were assigned to seven of the combat divisions, +staying with them in their movements through France and saying farewell +only after the troops were embarked for home. These divisions were the +5th, 6th, 7th, 29th, 33rd, 79th, and 81st. When Antwerp became an +important port for army supplies a center was established there as well. + +Altogether the Jewish Welfare Board employed 102 men and 76 women in 57 +different centers in the American Expeditionary Forces. Of this +personnel, 24 men and one woman, Miss Spanner, were mustered out of the +service for this purpose, while the others were transported from the +States. Of the buildings, 23 were located in towns and were rented; the +other 34 were provided by coöperation of other organizations, 28 by the +U. S. Army, two by the Knights of Columbus, two by the Red Cross, one by +the Y. M. C. A. and one by the Belgian Government. In camps rough +barracks or tents were usually the thing; in cities the equipment +varied, and in some places was complete with kitchen, dance hall, +writing room, and offices. + +I can speak of the large work in the Le Mans area through personal +acquaintance. There the personality of Mr. Rivitz was the decisive +factor. With his unerring knowledge of the soldier, he established at +once the policy of everything free, which was soon adopted by the J. W. +B. throughout its overseas work. Religious services were provided, hot +chocolate and cigarettes served, contact established with thousands of +soldiers for the personal needs which they brought to the welfare +worker. As the needs of the area grew, other centers were established. +When the 77th Division, with its thousands of Jews, was in the area, +five huts were established in its various regiments and the men provided +with everything possible right at home. In other units where the Jews +were more scattered, the centers were at the Division Headquarters. In +cases where units stopped in our area for only a few days or a week, an +automobile load of supplies with two workers was sent out on an +extensive trip, meeting the boys and giving them as much personal cheer +and physical sustenance as possible under the circumstances. + +I have described this type of activity several times in connection with +my own personal story. Here and there, however, special personalities or +incidents stand out in the constant, exhausting labor to which the +workers subjected themselves in the terrific rush of the morale agencies +during that period of waiting to go home. In Germany at the head of the +work was Mr. Leo Mielziner, son of the late Professor Moses Mielziner of +the Hebrew Union College, a man of high reputation as an artist and of +commanding personality. Mr. Mielziner, who had two sons in the service, +conducted the work in the Army of Occupation with the finest spirit of +fellow-feeling for the enlisted man. 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 J. W. B. was +requested by the army to take them over. + +At Gievres, where the great bakeries of the A. E. F. were located, the +J. W. B. was the center for the bakery units. So when Purim came both +Jews and non-Jews coöperated in baking a gigantic cake for the +celebration. The cake, which had to be baked in sections, occupied not +only the stage but also an addition made for the purpose. It was cut +into 10,000 portions and every man in that camp received a slice. As +the crowning achievement of the A. E. F. bakeries, that Purim cake +received a reputation of its own. + +The Paris office, and still later the club rooms on Rue Clement Marot, +were the entertainment center for the Paris district and all its many +visitors. After its formal opening on Simchath Torah, every Sunday +afternoon an entertainment was provided, with vaudeville, speeches or +dancing, concluding with the famous chocolate layer cake made by +volunteer workers among the American women living in Paris. The wounded +were visited in the nearby hospitals and usually a group of +convalescents was present in the front seats at the entertainment. 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 A. E. F. A family wrote in from Kansas City that their son was +complaining at not hearing from home; when the J. W. B. wrote him, it +was his first news from home in his six months as a "casual" in France. +Through the Paris office and the workers in the field the whole immense +field of personal service and entertainment had to be covered, 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 provide. + +During the high holydays the Paris clubrooms presented a remarkable +mingling of Jewish soldiers of all the allied armies. Mixed with the +olive drab and the navy blue of the United States were the Australians +with their hats rakishly turned up on the side, the gray capes of the +Italian, the French troops from Morocco, the Russian in Cossack +uniform, and a few Belgians. During Chanuka, which coincided with +Thanksgiving in 1918, special services were held at the synagogue in the +Rue de la Victoire, the largest in France. The synagogue was crowded +with French men and women, all at a high pitch of enthusiasm, and with +350 American soldiers, the heroes of the occasion. The impressive +service of the French rabbi was followed by a brilliant Thanksgiving +sermon by Chaplain Voorsanger, who had been invited to come to Paris for +the occasion. After services turkey and pumpkin pie were served at the +club rooms, and while I was not there that day, I can testify that the +pumpkin pie served at the Jewish Welfare Board on New Year's day, 1919, +was one of the most poignant reminders of the United States during my +stay abroad. + +Due to the intense pressure of the situation, the actual volume of work +done by the J. W. B. was surprisingly large. The entertainments and +dances conducted at every center numbered fully 5,000, with an aggregate +attendance of 2,750,000. Among the conspicuous units which toured the A. +E. F. under Welfare Board auspices, was "Who Can Tell?" the Second Army +show, which was underwritten by request of the Welfare Officer and was +one of the most elaborate of the army musical comedies, with a full +complement of chorus girls acted by husky doughboys; this production +toured for five weeks and while in Paris was seen by President and Mrs. +Wilson. There was the "Dovetail Troupe," a vaudeville unit which +likewise went on tour. And there was the "Tuneful Trio," led by Mr. and +Mrs. Henry Gideon of Boston, which came to France under the Y. M. C. +A., and gave many excellent concerts under J. W. B. auspices; I heard +one of their programs in Le Mans and felt not only the musical +excellence of their work, but also the special appeal of their program +of Yiddish folk songs to the Jewish men; this troupe delivered 81 +concerts to fully 60,000 men. The army educational work received much +support in the various huts, and two of the best equipped men in the J. +W. B. service were assigned to it, Dr. H. G. Enelow for the University +of Beaune, and Professor David Blondheim of Johns Hopkins, for a time +executive director of the overseas work, for the Sorbonne in Paris. The +bulk of the daily work in the huts throughout France appears from the +fact that 2,500,000 letterheads were distributed and refreshments served +without charge to a total of 3,000,000 men. + +The records of religious work are equally imposing, as 1,740 services +were held, with a total attendance of 180,000 men. The constant +coöperation with the chaplains meant that far more than these were +indirectly influenced and aided. Eighteen thousand prayer books were +distributed and ten thousand Bibles. On Passover of 1919 the J. W. B. +provided unleavened bread (matzoth), which had been furnished through +the Quartermaster Corps, for the Jewish soldiers in the American forces, +as well as for French and Russian soldiers. The J. W. B. even provided +matzoth for six thousand Russian prisoners in Germany during Passover of +1919. At the request of the military officials, the Jewish Welfare Board +took charge of welfare work for the sixty thousand Russian troops in +France, who had come originally as fighting units, but after the +withdrawal of Russia from the war had been transferred to agricultural +labor. No other welfare agency had provided for them and so they were +assigned to the J. W. B. which had a few workers who could speak +Russian. It was rather ironical that these men in Cossack uniform, most +of whom were non-Jews, received their only friendly service in France at +the hands of the despised Jew. + +The whole work of the J. W. B. abroad culminated in the Passover of +1919. The most intense moment for us chaplains had come during the high +holydays when feeling was most profound and suspense at its deepest and +when, in addition, we had to carry the burden almost unaided. By +Passover the feeling had changed, the war was safely over, the men were +rejoicing at their imminent return home, and we had the Jewish Welfare +Board to arrange our celebration for us. Fully 30,000 of the Jews in the +A. E. F. ate the Seder dinners furnished by the Welfare Board. I have +already described our celebration at Le Mans, with its many features in +which the J. W. B. and I worked together. A similar program was carried +out everywhere. At Dijon Rabbi Schumacher of the local French synagogue, +who had been most active throughout in the interest of the American +soldiers, led a great congregation of 2,000 men through the rain to the +synagogue for worship and afterward to the Seder tables. In Germany, the +city of Coblenz became the leave area for soldiers of Jewish faith and +was closed for all other furloughs during the three days. The Y. M. C. +A. and the K. of C. assisted in giving proper honor to the Jewish +festival and proper pleasures to the Jewish men, and with their aid +boat rides on the Rhine, entertainments in the Festhalle, and all the +features of a full amusement program were provided. + +Most striking of all was the great Seder at Paris, with its crowd of +American, Australian, English, French and Italian soldiers, some of them +former prisoners in Germany, all of them united in the great occasion of +their faith. Among the speakers and the guests of honor were some of the +great leaders of Jewry, as well as personal representatives of Marshall +Foch and General Pershing. Colonel Harry Cutler, Mr. Louis Marshall, +Judge Julian Mack, Dr. Cyrus Adler, and Dr. Chaim Weitzmann were there, +as well as many other celebrities. At that time and in that place the +highest honor for any man was to worship and eat side by side with the +soldiers, who had carried love of their country and loyalty to their +faith to the last extreme of service and of sacrifice. + +Decoration Day of 1919, which was observed by all France together with +its American visitors, was another important ceremony for the Jewish +Welfare Board, together with its French hosts at the great synagogue on +the Rue de la Victoire. The sermon was delivered by Rabbi Voorsanger, +the service read by Rabbi Lévy of Paris; 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 patriotism. + +In addition to the overseas commission and the men in the field, several +of the prominent officers of the Jewish Welfare Board went to France at +various times and took personal part in the work. The first was Mr. +Mortimer L. Schiff, who spent the months of December 1918 and January +1919 in France as a member of the commission of eleven of the United War +Work Organization, which had just completed its great financial drive. +In that capacity Mr. Schiff was equally interested in all the welfare +agencies; naturally, he gave the full benefit of his advice to the J. W. +B. In February 1919 Colonel Harry Cutler, chairman of the Jewish Welfare +Board, came to France. Although burdened with duties for other +organizations as well, he accomplished wonders for the work of the J. W. +B. during his four months in France. His enthusiasm and vigor showed at +once, as in any matter he ever undertook. He traveled throughout the A. +E. F., observed conditions for himself, and then accomplished two +important pieces of work. First he obtained an order from the General +Headquarters releasing the J. W. B. from its former dependence on the Y. +M. C. A. and allowing it to work directly in coöperation with the +military authorities; this was certainly advisable under post-armistice +conditions, and many others felt with me that it would have been the +preferable system at all times. Second, he persuaded Chaplain Elkan C. +Voorsanger, then completing his second year overseas, to allow his +division to return home without him, while he stayed on from April to +September as Overseas Director of the J. W. B. Together with Chaplain +Voorsanger, Colonel Cutler administered the J. W. B. during the period +of growth, and then left him to carry it on successfully during the time +of retrenchment, until finally he also returned home with the Paris +Staff, and the only representatives left in France were those working in +coöperation with the Graves Registration Service. + +Another important worker for the J. W. B. was Dr. Cyrus Adler, +vice-chairman of the national organization, who reached France in March, +1919 as a representative of the American Jewish Committee. On Colonel +Cutler's return in May, Dr. Adler took over his duties for the Welfare +Board, and worked with Chaplain Voorsanger until the end of his mission, +in July 1919. + +One necessary part of the work of the Jewish Welfare Board, after all +its efforts on behalf of the men in the service had been accomplished, +was to care for the graves of those Jews who gave their all in the +service of America. The Graves Registration Service, later called the +Cemeterial Division of the War Department, had a great and necessary +work. The Jewish Welfare Board obtained in February, 1918 a War +Department order that all graves of Jews should be marked with the Magen +David, the double triangle. + +This order was confirmed by a response from General Pershing on July 29, +1918. Temporary Jewish headboards were supplied overseas, together with +the temporary crosses, and whenever we knew definitely that a particular +soldier had been a Jew they were used. Unfortunately, that information +was not always available. Most units had no religious census, certainly +none was up to date including the replacements. The order for marking +the identification tag with an additional letter--"P" for Protestant, +"C" for Catholic, and "H" for Hebrew--was issued after most of us were +overseas, and hardly any of the tags had it; I know I never had the "H" +put on mine. Often a man would carry a prayerbook in his pocket, but if +the bodies were searched by one detail and buried by another that did +not help. I know that it took me three months to verify my list of +Jewish dead in the 27th Division, so that one can imagine the task for +the entire A. E. F. + +In May, 1919, the J. W. B. undertook this duty of identifying the Jewish +graves, so that the War Department could mark them all properly. They +have thus identified 1,500 altogether and where a cross had already been +put up the headboard was changed. In this connection, a peculiar +situation arose through the efforts of the Red Cross to photograph all +graves in France for the benefit of the families at home. Such graves as +had not been identified as Jewish still had the cross, and some families +had their religious sensibilities shocked by the photographs. Hence the +photographs in all such cases were detained until the changes had been +carried out, and the Jewish Welfare Board had the graves photographed +for the benefit of the families. Naturally, 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 +fell. + +The sad death of Colonel Cutler occurred in England during the summer of +1920, on a trip which he undertook in the interest of the Graves +Registration work, against the advice of his physicians and solely +through his profound interest in the cause. His life was a sacrifice to +his duty, to the tremendous efforts he had made for the Jewish Welfare +Board and the other great national movements of Jewry. He gave, as so +many others gave, another sacrifice for Judaism and America. + +On the whole, the field workers of the Jewish Welfare Board made an +enviable record in France. 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 Y. M. C. A. The women +workers were especially conspicuous for their steady, uncomplaining +service. Their work was anything but romantic; it was driving, wearing +labor. They tended canteen all day and danced almost every evening, a +régime that was hard physically and exhausting mentally. Only those in +the larger cities could enjoy the luxuries which are so commonplace in +America--electric lights, a bath tub, and the other conveniences of +civilization. I have marveled to see them living for months in tiny +French villages or in army camps, giving devoted service to the men in +uniform, without distinction of rank or creed. + +Through these workers the Jewish Welfare Board was able to render the +personal touch which was missing in much of the war work overseas. This +applied especially to the Jewish man, who felt overjoyed to meet a +Jewish girl from America, to attend a Seder, to write home on the J. W. +B. letterhead. He had found a touch of home in a foreign land; his +personal needs could be understood and satisfied so much more easily and +directly now. But many men of many creeds found themselves at home in +the J. W. B. huts. Men learned to know Jews, to respect Judaism in the +army who had been ignorant of both at home. They often attended a Jewish +service, met a Jewish chaplain, or simply preferred the home-like +atmosphere to that of other welfare organizations. For one thing, the J. +W. B. was run according to the tastes of the soldiers; there was no +charge for anything, even a nominal one; there was no condescension and +no dictation, none of the things which the soldiers hated. In the Le +Mans area, which was typical, from 56 to 60 per cent of the men +patronizing the J. W. B. building were non-Jews. This constituted a +return for the thousands of Jews who patronized Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. +huts, as well as our contribution to the morale of the forces. + +In some areas the Jewish Welfare Board was the most popular of all the +welfare agencies; in all, it was very popular with the men of all +faiths. The high caliber of the women workers, the personal touch and +home-like spirit of the work, gave it a hold on the affections of the +men. For a long time the Jewish soldiers had felt neglected by their +own, not knowing the obstacles which had to be overcome. Then they found +their own huts, suddenly springing up in all the central points, crowded +and popular with all the groups of soldiers in America's composite army. +The Jewish soldier became proud and the Christian soldier became +appreciative. The excellence of the work brought forgiveness for +everything, even though the soldier was not used to listening to reasons +but formed his opinions quickly from the facts nearest at hand. 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 America. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE JEW AS A SOLDIER + + +The Jewish soldier demands no defense and needs no tribute. His deeds +are written large in the history of every unit in the A. E. F.; they are +preserved in the memory of his comrades of other races and other faiths. +He was one with all American soldiers, for in the service men of every +type and of every previous standpoint were much alike, under the same +orders, holding the same ideals, with similar responses and similar +accomplishments. The Jew was an American soldier--that really covers the +story. For historical purposes, however, a further statement of numbers, +honors, personalities, may be worth while. The Jew was in the American +army, as in all the allied armies, because he exists among the +population of every land. The studies made in various lands show that +over 900,000 Jews fought in the World War altogether, of whom over +80,000 were killed in action or died of wounds. In the British forces +casualties included the names of 8,600 Jews, and in the French forces, +out of less than a hundred thousand Jewish population in the nation, +2,200 were killed in the service. These figures, picked practically at +random from enormous masses of similar material, tend to show the +participation of Jews in every army, just as they participate everywhere +in the national life. + +In the American forces the Jewish soldier ranked with the best; he was +an American soldier, and there is no higher praise than that. With all +the panegyrics on the American doughboy during and since the war, not +enough has been said or can ever be said about him. His good humor, his +self sacrifice, his heroism, won the affection and the admiration of +every one. His officers loved him; his enemies respected him; his allies +regarded him with mingled enthusiasm and patronage. They loved his +youthful dash and were amused at his youthful unsophistication; at the +same time they were profoundly grateful for his forgetfulness of self +when the time for action came. I have mentioned some of the incidents in +my own experience, 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 company; the weary boys on the brow of a hill, digging in for the +fourth time in a day of advances and fighting; 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 endless. Reading a list of the +dry, official citations for decorations is like opening a mediæval +romance of the deeds of knightly heroes. There was Captain Ireland who +came to our aid post to have his wounds dressed and then started out +without waiting for the ambulance. "Where are you going, Captain?" I +asked. "Oh, back to the boys," was the answer, "I'm the only officer +left in the battalion, and I don't want to leave them." There was the +chaplain's orderly, himself a student for the ministry, who voluntarily +organized a stretcher party to bring in some wounded men out beyond the +barbed wire. Every type of heroism and self sacrifice existed, all +carried off with the good humored bravado of school boys at a football +game. + +Among these heroes the Jewish soldiers were equal to the best, as their +comrades and commanders were quick to recognize. A typical attitude +toward them was that of a lieutenant colonel, telling me a story of his +first battle, when we were on shipboard coming back home. "I was rather +nervous about that first time under fire," he told me, "because I had a +number of foreign boys in one company and didn't know how they might +behave. Among them was a little Jew who was medical man of the company, +carrying bandages instead of weapons, but going over the top with the +others, a restless fellow, always breaking orders and getting into +trouble of some kind or another. 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 run. I pulled +my revolver, ready to shoot him rather than have an example of cowardice +set for the rest. But I was surprised to see him turn aside suddenly and +jump into another shell hole, and when I went over there I found him +hard at work bandaging up another wounded soldier. He was simply doing +his duty under fire, absolutely without sign of fear as he tended the +boys who were hurt. I was sorry I had misjudged him so badly and watched +his work after that, with the result that I was later able to recommend +him for a decoration." + +Ignorance, suspicion, ripening with knowledge into understanding and +admiration--that was the usual course of events. I quote Colonel +Whittlesey, commander of the famous "Lost Battalion" of the 308th +Infantry, a New York unit with a very large proportion of Jews: "As to +the Jewish boys in the Battalion, I cannot recall many of them by name, +but certain figures stand out simply because they are so unexpected. The +ordinary run of soldiers, whether Jews, Irish, or Americans--the big, +husky chaps who simply do what they are expected to do--naturally pass +from our memory. It is the odd figures who stick in your mind. There was +one chap for example (Herschkovitz was his name) who seemed the worst +possible material from which to make soldier-stuff. He was thick-set, +stupid looking, extremely foreign, thoroughly East Side, and yet, one +day when we were holding the bank of the Vesle, and it became necessary +to send runners to communicate with our commands, Herschkovitz was the +_only man_ who volunteered for the job. It was a nasty physical job. It +would have been a difficult thing if it had not been under fire, because +it meant cutting through under-brush, up hill and down hill. Under fire +this became almost impossible, and the boys knew it, so none of them +cared for the job, but Herschkovitz made the trip four times that day. +What was it? Well, just plain pluck, that's all. There were a great many +fellows of this type--East Siders of whom the regular army men expected +nothing at all--but the 77th Division just seemed equal to anything...." + +In the same unit was Private Abraham Krotoshinsky, who was awarded the +D. S. C. for bearing the message which informed the division of the +exact location of the unit, and was instrumental in releasing them. +Krotoshinsky was an immigrant boy, not yet a citizen, a barber by trade. +His own words give the story simply enough: "We began to be afraid the +division had forgotten us or that they had given us up for dead. We had +to get a messenger through. It meant almost certain death, we were all +sure, because over a hundred and fifty men had gone away and never come +back. But it had to be done. The morning of the fifth day they called +for volunteers for courier. I volunteered and was accepted. I went +because I thought I ought to. First of all I was lucky enough not to be +wounded. Second, after five days of starving, I was stronger than many +of my friends who were twice my size. You know a Jew finds strength to +suffer. Third, because I would just as soon die trying to help the +others as in the 'pocket' of hunger and thirst. + +"I got my orders and started. I had to run about thirty feet in plain +view of the Germans before I got into the forest. They saw me when I got +up and fired everything they had at me. Then I had to crawl right +through their lines. They were looking for me everywhere. I just moved +along on my stomach, in the direction I was told, keeping my eyes open +for them.... It was almost six o'clock that night when I saw the +American lines. All that day I had been crawling or running doubled up +after five days and nights without food and practically nothing to +drink. Then my real trouble began. I was coming from the direction of +the German lines and my English is none too good. I was afraid they +would shoot me for a German before I could explain who I was.... Then +the Captain asked me who I was. I told him I was from the Lost +Battalion. Then he asked me whether I could lead him back to the +battalion. I said, 'Yes.' They gave me a bite to eat and something to +drink and after a little rest I started back again with the command. I +will never forget the scene when the relief came. The men were like +crazy with joy." + +In high position and in low the same kind of service came from the +American Jew. This is the official citation of a Colonel, who is in +civil life one of the prominent Jews of Chicago, Illinois: + +"Colonel Abel Davis, 132nd Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action +near Consenvoye, France, October 9, 1918. Upon reaching its objective, +after a difficult advance, involving two changes of directions, Colonel +Davis's regiment was subjected to a determined enemy counterattack. +Disregarding the heavy shell and machine-gun fire, Colonel Davis +personally assumed command and by his fearless leadership and courage +the enemy was driven back." + +Judge Robert S. Marx of Cincinnati, Ohio, 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 +Legion. But in 1917 and '18 he was Captain Marx of the 90th Division, +operations officer of his regiment during the St. Mihiel and Argonne +offensives, and reported dead on the day before the armistice, when he +was struck on the head and wounded severely. And on the other extreme, I +notice the case of First Sergeant Sam Dreben of the 141st Infantry, a +soldier of fortune in many revolutions and a member of the Regular Army +in the Philippines several years ago. Discovering a party of Germans +coming to the support of a dangerous machine-gun nest, Sergeant Dreben +with thirty men charged the German position, killed forty of the enemy, +took several prisoners, and captured five machine guns, returning to his +own lines without losing a man. For this daring and important act he was +awarded the D. S. C. + +Of the various types of distinction emphasized during the war, all were +as true of Jews as of any other group. Numerous cases exist where four +or more members of a single family were in the service. There was the +Fleshner family, of Springfield, Mass., from which four sons of an +immigrant father and mother entered the service, the oldest of them only +twenty-three. The oldest of these boys lost an arm and an eye while +carrying ammunition through a barrage, but exclaimed later in the +hospital: "I'm the luckiest Jew in the army. Any other man in my place +would have been killed." + +The New York Herald during the war described an indefatigable Red Cross +worker, Mrs. Louis Rosenberg of North Bergen, N. J. This old Jewish +mother had six sons in the service; the two oldest, each the father of +two children, when summoned for the draft refused to claim exemption, +and having invested their savings in two small notion stores, they left +their wives in charge of them and accepted the call to military service. +Mrs. Liba Goldstein, of Cambridge Springs, Pa., a woman of eighty-four, +born in Russia, had twenty grandsons in the allied armies, ten as +officers in the British army, eight in the American forces, and two with +the Jewish Legion in Palestine. And so one might bring out one example +after another, if one desired, all showing the eagerness of loyal Jews +to serve their country. + +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 forces. The office possesses 150,000 individual records, +gathered by extensive coöperation with national and local Jewish +organizations. 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 200,000. Of these about +40,000 came from New York City, 8,000 from Philadelphia and 5,000 from +Chicago. Instead of their quota of three per cent., according to the +proportion of Jews throughout the nation, the Jews in service actually +constituted fully four per cent. of the men in the army and navy. The +causes of this excess are not easy to establish. The draft may have been +more fully enforced in cities than in many rural districts, and the bulk +of the Jews are city dwellers. 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 men, and we possess no facts to confirm that. +But certainly the number of volunteers was an element in causing this +large number of Jews in the service. The records show 40,000 volunteers +among the Jewish men, practically one-fourth of the total Jewish +contingent and a far higher record than that of the army as a whole. + +In certain outstanding cases this record is even more conspicuous. The +little colony of immigrant Jewish farmers at Woodbine, N. J., not over +three hundred families altogether, contributed forty-three men to the +service, of whom seventeen men, or forty per cent., were volunteers. Of +the students at the rabbinical seminaries, who were all exempt by law, a +conspicuously large number volunteered for service in the line, 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 Board, lecturers in the training camps and similar capacities. +In fact, the seminaries were almost empty for a year. Eleven students of +the Hebrew Union College and four of the Jewish Theological Seminary +waived exemption for regular service in the army and navy, including a +number of men with very exceptional records. Jacob Marcus, now Rabbi and +Instructor at the Hebrew Union College, volunteered in the Ohio National +Guard and won his lieutenancy by brilliant work in the ranks. Three of +the students there entered the Marine Corps during the first weeks of +the war and served for over two years in that branch. One, Michael +Aaronson, serving in the 31st Division overseas, was completely blinded +while helping a wounded comrade in No Man's Land; 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 soldier. + +The Jewish boys went into the army to fight. That appears in their +proportion in the combatant branches of the American Expeditionary +Forces. While these branches--Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, Engineers, +and Signal-Aviation--constituted 60 per cent. of the total, among the +114,000 records of Jewish soldiers in the hands of the War Records +Office the distribution among these combatant branches is fully 75 per +cent. The Infantry constituted 26.6 per cent. of the entire army, while +among the Jewish records it constituted 48 per cent. Artillery was 14 +per cent. of the United States army, 8 per cent. of the Jewish total. In +cavalry the rate for the entire army was 2 per cent., for the Jews only +1.3 per cent. The engineer corps contributed 11 per cent. of the army +strength, and but 3 per cent. among the Jewish records. The signal and +aviation corps represented 7 per cent. of the United States total, and +15 per cent. of the Jewish total. The medical corps was 8 per cent. of +the army total, 9 per cent. of the Jewish total. Ordnance was 1.7 per +cent. of the army total, and 1.5 of the Jewish total. The quartermaster +corps was 6.2 per cent. of the army total and 5.9 per cent. of the +Jewish total. + +The Army, Navy and Marine Corps altogether had nearly 10,000 Jews as +commissioned officers, and a really tremendous number of +non-commissioned officers. The Army records show more than a hundred +colonels and lieutenant colonels of Jewish faith, including such +distinguished officers as Colonel Abel Davis, whom I have already +mentioned in connection with his D. S. C. for heroism displayed on +October 9, 1918; Colonel Nathan Horowitz, of Boston, Mass. who spent 27 +months in France in the heavy artillery; Colonel Samuel Frankenberger, +of Charleston, W. Va., who commanded the 78th Field Artillery; Colonel +Samuel J. Kopetzky, Medical Corps, of New York City, who commanded +Sanitary Train 396, in the A. E. F.; and Colonel Max Robert Wainer, +Quartermaster Corps, formerly of Delaware City, Del., who was awarded +the Distinguished Service Medal and appointed a Chevalier of the Legion +of Honor by the French government. These honors were but the climax to +a military career that began with enlistment as a private in 1905, and +promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1912. In the war every one +of the four battles in which he took part was the occasion of a further +promotion, so that he concluded the war as a Colonel. I have already +mentioned Colonel Wainer in another connection, as the first active +Jewish worker at Tours; as a matter of fact, he organized a Seder in his +own unit in 1918, where 500 men celebrated the Passover at the same time +that Chaplain Voorsanger was holding his Seder at St. Nazaire, and when +practically no other Jewish work was being conducted in the entire +overseas forces. + +There were over 500 majors, 1,500 captains, and more than 6,000 +lieutenants in the American army, with a full share of each in the A. E. +F. Over 900 Jews were officers in the navy, the most conspicuous of them +being Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, in command of the mine laying work in +the North Sea during the war. In addition there were one captain, five +commanders and twelve lieutenant commanders. The marine corps included +among its personnel over a hundred Jews as officers, among them three +majors, one colonel, and Brigadier-General Charles Henry Laucheimer of +Baltimore, Md., who died in January 1920. + +The latest estimates of casualties run from 13,000 to 14,000, including +about 2,800 who died in the service of America. This can be inferred +easily from the branches of the service in which our Jewish boys were +found, as well as from the number of honors they received. After all, +for every brave man whose acts were noted and rewarded, many others just +as heroic fought and bled unseen. + +The number of Jews decorated for conspicuous courage is attested, not +only by the Office of War Records, but also by the Jewish Valor Legion, +an organization of American Jews who received such awards during the +World War. Fully 1,100 citations for valor are on record. Of these, 723 +were conferred by the American command, 287 by the French, 33 by the +British, and 46 by other allied commands. The Distinguished Service +Cross is worn by 150 American Jews, the French Medaille Militaire by +four, and the Croix de Guerre by 174. The Congressional Medal of Honor, +the rarest award in the American or any other service, which was +conferred on only 78 men in the entire service, is worn by three +American Jews, one of them killed in the act for which he was rewarded. +I add their official citations, not only for their personal interest, +but as an added tribute to these three heroes, a glory both to Jewry and +to America. + +"Sydney G. Gumpertz, first sergeant, Company E, 132nd Infantry. +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 Forges, France, September 26, 1918. When the advancing line was held +up by machine-gun fire, 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 nest. His two companions soon became +casualties from a bursting shell, but Sergeant Gumpertz continued on +alone in the face of direct fire from the machine-gun, jumped into the +nest and silenced the gun, capturing nine of the crew. Awarded January +22, 1919." + +"First Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman, Company K, 308th Infantry, +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 Argonne, France, October 4, 1918. Sergeant Kaufman took out a patrol +for the purpose of attacking an enemy machine-gun which had checked the +advance of his company. Before reaching the gun he became separated from +his patrol, and a machine-gun bullet shattered his right arm. Without +hesitation he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left +hand and charging with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and +scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner back to the first aid +station. Awarded April 8, 1919." + +"Sergeant William Sawelson, deceased, Company M, 312th Infantry, +Congressional Medal of Honor awarded for conspicuous gallantry and +intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy +at Grandpré, France, October 26, 1918. Hearing a wounded man in a +shell-hole some distance away calling for water, Sergeant Sawelson upon +his own initiative left shelter and crawled through heavy machine-gun +fire to where the man lay, giving him what water he had in his own +canteen. He then went back to his own shell-hole, obtained more water +and was returning to the wounded man, when he was killed by a +machine-gun bullet. Posthumously awarded January 10, 1919." + +The 27th Division, in which I served, was fairly typical in this +respect, as it was a National Guard unit, composed of volunteers from +both the New York metropolitan district and "up-state." There were +about a thousand Jews in the entire division and seven hundred of them +were in the infantry, machine-gun battalions and engineers, which served +together. I did not find a company without from two to thirty Jewish +soldiers, and seldom without at least one Jew among the non-commissioned +officers. 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 together. I was told that three top sergeants +out of the four companies were named Levi, Cohen and Pesalovsky, and +that I could take my choice. The same thing occurred time and again when +I visited other divisions. For example, Sergeant Major Wayne of the +320th Infantry prepared the Passover passes for the 40 Jews of his +regiment, then in the Le Mans area, but missed the Seder himself, +staying at his post of duty to prepare the regimental sailing list. + +The 27th Division had several Jews among the officers of high +rank--Lieutenant Colonel H. S. Sternberger, the division quartermaster; +Lieutenant Colonel Morris Liebman, killed in action in Flanders; Major +(later Lieutenant Colonel) Emanuel Goldstein, Medical Corps, who was +awarded the D. S. O. by the British command, one of four such +decorations given to officers of our division. Captain Simpson of the +106th Field Artillery, Lieutenant King of the office of the division +chief of staff, 2nd Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown of the 108th Infantry, +2nd Lieutenant Sternberger of the Interpreters' Corps and 2nd Lieutenant +Florsheim of the division quartermaster's office were among the officers +of Jewish origin. In addition, there were a few, such as Sergeant +Schiff of the 102nd Engineers and Sergeant Struck of division +headquarters, who were recommended for commissions for their excellent +service but were disappointed on account of the stoppage of all +promotions after the armistice. + +I mentioned in connection with my own work the list of sixty-five Jews +of the 27th who were killed in action or died in hospitals in France, +their full proportion of the nearly 2,000 dead of the division. The +first man in the 27th who was killed in action was a Jew, Private Robert +Friedman of the 102nd Engineers. Most of our losses, like those of the +division as a whole, were incurred in the terrific fighting at the +Hindenburg Line, and most of our men were buried there in the great +divisional cemeteries of Bony and Guillemont Farm, right at the furthest +point which they reached alive. The cemetery of Bony is to be one of the +permanent American cemeteries in France, and I can still see the Magen +Davids standing here and there among the rows of crosses, where I had +them placed. + +The Jews of the 27th won their full share of decorations, too. Nine of +them wear the Distinguished Service Cross conferred by the American +command; one, the British honor of the Distinguished Service Order; one, +the British Distinguished Conduct Medal; seven, the British Military +Medal; one, the French Croix de Guerre with star; and one, the Belgian +Order of the Crown. Eliminating cases where one man received several +such honors, fifteen Jews of this one division alone were decorated for +unusual courage and initiative in battle. I add the official citations +of four of these men as further examples of the heroism of the Jewish +soldiers in the American forces. + +"Major Emanuel Goldstein, Medical Corps, 102nd Engineers. D. S. O., +Belgian Order of the Crown. On Sept. 29, 1918, in the vicinity of +Lompire and Guillemont Farm near Ronssoy, France, he remained in the +most exposed positions under heavy shell fire and machine-gun fire, to +render first aid to several wounded men, displaying exceptional bravery +and courage, and setting a fine example of devotion to duty to all +ranks." + +"Second Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown Jr., 108th Infantry. D. S. C. awarded +for extraordinary heroism in action near Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, +1918. Advancing with his platoon through heavy fog and dense smoke and +in the face of terrific fire which inflicted heavy casualties on his +forces, Lieutenant Brown reached the wire in front of the main +Hindenburg Line, and, after reconnoitering for gaps, assaulted the +position and effected a foothold. Having been reënforced by another +platoon, he organized a small force, and by bombing and trench fighting +captured over a hundred prisoners. Repeated attacks throughout the day +were repelled by his small force. He also succeeded in taking four field +pieces, a large number of machine guns, anti-tank rifles, and other +military property, at the same time keeping in subjection the prisoners +he had taken." + +"Corporal Abel J. Levine, Company A, 107th Infantry. For extraordinary +heroism in action near Bony, France, Sept. 29, 1918. After his platoon +had suffered heavy casualties and all the sergeants had been wounded, +Corporal Levine collected the remaining effectives in his own and other +units, formed a platoon and continued the advance. When his rifle was +rendered useless he killed several of the enemy with his pistol. He was +wounded shortly afterward, but he refused assistance until his men had +been cared for and evacuated." Corporal Levine received the D. S. C. and +the British D. C. M. + +"Private Morris Silverberg, Company G, 108th Infantry. For extraordinary +heroism in action near Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Private +Silverberg, a stretcher bearer, displayed extreme courage by repeatedly +leaving shelter and advancing over an area swept by machine-gun and +shell fire to rescue wounded comrades. Hearing that his company +commander had been wounded, he voluntarily went forward alone, and upon +finding that his officer had been killed, brought back his body." +Private Silverberg received both the D. S. C. and the British M. M. + +One more point must be noted with regard to these Jewish boys who served +America so bravely and so effectively. Many of them showed in their +sacrifices the true Jewish spirit of Kiddush ha-Shem, sanctification of +the name of God. Time and again have I heard men give such a turn to +their speech, 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 regiment, an act in which +the only other Jew in the company had been killed and for which my +friend was later decorated. "Well, chaplain," he answered me, "there +were only two Jewish boys in the company and we'd been kidded about it +a little. We just wanted to show those fellows what a Jew could do." Dr. +Enelow tells a similar story of a boy dying in a hospital, who gave the +rabbi a last message to his parents, saying: "Tell them I did my duty as +a soldier and brought honor to the Jewish name." + +Once again, in the American forces during the World War, the Jew has +proved himself a devoted patriot and a heroic soldier, and this time he +has done so in broad daylight, before the eyes of all the world. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +JEW AND CHRISTIAN AT THE FRONT + + +To those of us who served with the United States Army overseas, +religious unity, coöperation between denominations, is more than a +far-off ideal. We know under what circumstances and to what extent it is +feasible, and just how it deepens and broadens the religious spirit in +both chaplain and soldier. We have passed beyond the mutual tolerance of +the older liberalism to the mutual helpfulness of the newer devoutness. +Our common ground is no longer the irreducible minimum of doctrines +which we share; it is the practical maximum of service which we can +render together. I was in a critical position to experience this as the +only Jewish chaplain in the Twenty-Seventh Division; my duty was to +minister to the men of the Jewish faith throughout the various units of +our division, with the friendly coöperation of the twenty other +chaplains of various faiths. And I was able to do my work among the +Jews, and to a certain extent among the Christians also, simply because +these Protestant and Catholic chaplains were equally friendly and +helpful to me and my scattered flock. Not by mutual tolerance but by +mutual helpfulness we were able to serve together the thousands of +soldiers who needed us all. + +It is a commonplace that as men grow acquainted they naturally learn to +respect and to like one another. When a Jew from the East Side of New +York, who had never known any Christian well except the corner +policeman, and a Kentucky mountaineer, who had been reared with the idea +that Jews have horns, were put into the same squad both of them were +bound to be broadened by it. And, provided both of them were normal, +average boys, as they were likely to be, they probably became "buddies" +to the great advantage of both of them. Often such associations would +bring about the sort of a friendship which death itself could not break. + +One of the Jewish chaplains tells an incident of the first night he +spent in the training camp at Camp Taylor, Ky. The candidate for +chaplain in the cot next to his was a lanky backwoods preacher from one +of the southern States. The two met, introduced themselves by name and +denomination, and then prepared to "turn in" for the night. The rabbi +noticed that his ministerial neighbor sat about, hesitated, and played +for time generally, even though it was fully time to turn out the +lights. Finally the matter became so obvious that he could not resist +inquiring the reason for this delay. The answer came, a bit embarrassed +but certainly frank enough: "I don't want to go to bed till I see how a +Jew says his prayers." + +On the whole, considering the many individual differences in an army of +two million men, religious prejudice was not engendered by the army; +some persisted in spite of it, and much was lessened by the comradeship +and enforced intimacy of army life. In most commands prejudice against +the Jew was a very small item indeed. It was so rare as to be almost +non-existent in places of responsibility. It was often overcome by the +acid test of battle when men appeared in their true colors and won +respect for themselves alone. It was occasionally the fault of the man +himself, who turned a personal matter into an accusation of +anti-Semitism, and sometimes without cause. One Jewish corporal +complained to me of discrimination on the part of his commanding +officer, who had recommended his reduction to the ranks. On +investigation, I found that the officer might have been unfair in his +judgment, but had recommended the same for two non-Jews at the same +time; the case may therefore have been one of personal dislike but was +certainly not a matter of religious prejudice. When I found authentic +cases of discrimination, they were usually in the case of some ignorant +non-commissioned officer, who presumed on his scanty authority at the +expense of some Jewish private. Or it might be a sort of hazing, when a +group of "rough necks" selected a foreigner with a small command of +English as the butt of their jokes. When men complain of prejudice +against Jews in the army, it usually means that they met there a group +of prejudiced people with whom they would not have come into contact in +civil life. The tendency of the American army during the World War was +definitely against prejudice of any kind; prejudice made against +efficiency, and the higher one went the more difficult it became to find +any traces of it. + +In the army and especially in overseas service men went naturally to the +nearest chaplain or welfare organization for any benefit except worship, +and sometimes for that also. From my first religious service in a +hospital with the crowd of non-Jews and sprinkling of Jews in the Red +Cross room, I found that the men went to the entertainment hut for +whatever it might offer. Every large service afterward, especially if +held in a convenient place, included a proportion of non-Jews, and +invariably they were both respectful and interested. + +The burial work of the Twenty-Seventh Division at St. Souplet was the +climax of coöperation among chaplains, where the five of us represented +five different churches. Our service was a three-fold one, as was the +later one held at the larger cemeteries at Bony and Guillemont Farm. 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 together. My very last duty in France was to read the burial +service over four Christian sailors drowned outside Brest harbor. + +Such incidents as these were not exceptional at the front or among men +who have been at the front and have learned its lesson; I give them +especially because they are typical. The men who were under fire +together grew to overlook differences as barriers between man and man. +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 poor, learned or +ignorant, pious or infidel, virtuous or wicked. They grew to respect men +for themselves, to serve them for themselves alone. The men used any +stationery that came to hand, writing home indifferently on paper +labeled Y. M. C. A. or K. of C., or Salvation Army, or Red Cross, or +Jewish Welfare Board; they attended a picture show or boxing match +under any auspices and were willing to help at any of the huts that +served them. In the same way the welfare workers and chaplains +overlooked one distinction after another, at the end serving all alike +and regarding their status as soldiers alone. Once when I dropped into a +strange camp two boys whom I had never seen crowded through the press of +men in the Y. M. C. A. hut; they had seen the insignia of the 27th, and +being fresh from hospital, appealed to me to help them back to the +division that they might return home with their own units. I was never +surprised when non-Jews came to me for advice in ordinary cases, but I +have had such extreme instances as a Jew and non-Jew coming together, to +ask advice in a case where both felt they had been discriminated against +by their commanding officer. In hospital work, in front line service, +even in the ordinary routine of the rest area, we came closer to one +another than ever in civil life. + +As I said above, the logical climax of friendly coöperation comes when +ministers of different faiths assist each other in their own work. I +shall never forget a day in that busy October at the front when I met a +Baptist chaplain belonging to our division. "Hello," he said, "I've just +come to headquarters here to look for you and a priest." "All right, +what can I do for you?" "Well," was his reply, "our battalion goes into +the line tonight, and I wanted the Jewish and Catholic boys to have +their services, too. If you can come over at four o'clock, I'll have the +priest come at six." And so I came there at four, to find the fifteen +Jewish soldiers grouped about a large tree near the battalion +headquarters; the chaplain had notified them all. And, as the barn was +both dirty and crowded, we held our little service under the tree, even +though the rain began in the middle of it. Two of those boys did not +come back three days later, and one was cited for heroism, so that I +have often remembered the immeasurable service which the coöperation of +that chaplain meant for his men. + +On a minor scale such things took place constantly. One day, going to a +distant battalion in a rest area, I not only went to the Y. M. C. A. +man, who arranged for my services in the school-house, and to a Jewish +corporal, who passed the word around to the men of my faith, but I +arranged also that the "Y" man should conduct the Protestant service the +following Sunday, and that the Catholic chaplain on coming should find +arrangements made for his confessions and mass. A classic incident of +the war is the story of Chief Rabbi Bloch, of Lyons, a chaplain in the +French army, who met his death before Verdun in the early days of the +war while holding a cross before a dying Catholic lad. The incident was +related by the Catholic chaplain of the regiment, who saw it from a +little distance. But by the time the gigantic struggle was over such +incidents had become almost matters of everyday. I, for one, have read +psalms at the bedside of dying Protestant soldiers. I have held the +cross before a dying Catholic. I have recited the traditional confession +with the dying Jew. We were all one in a very real sense. + +A Christian chaplain preached the sermon on the second day of my Jewish +New Year service in Nevers. Similarly, I was a guest, with the other +members of the divisional staff, at the splendid midnight mass arranged +by Father Kelley in the little village church of Montfort. For the first +time in its history, the church was electrically lighted by our signal +corps; the villagers and the soldiers were out in force; colonels +assisted as acolytes; and the brilliant red and gold of the vestments, +with the pink satin and white lace of the little choir boys, stood out +brilliantly from the dark garments of the French and the olive drab of +the Americans. Father Kelley delivered a sermon of profound inspiration, +as well as a brief address in French to the villagers, whose guests we +were. The staff were seated in a little chapel, at one side of the +altar. The next day my orderly overheard two of the soldiers arguing +about me. One insisted: "I did see the rabbi there right on the +platform." "You didn't," said the other, "even if this is the army, they +wouldn't let him on the platform at a Catholic mass." It reminded me of +the incident in Paris when I had visited the Cathédral of Notre Dame, +accompanied by my chauffeur, a Catholic boy, and I had given him a +lecture on the architecture and symbolism of that splendid structure. It +was only afterward that the humor of the situation struck me--a rabbi +explaining a cathedral to a devoted Catholic. + +Every chaplain with whom I have compared notes has told me of similar +experiences. Chaplain Elkan C. Voorsanger, for example, at the time when +he conducted the first official Jewish service overseas at Passover +1918, received four other invitations in various sections of France both +from army officials and Y. M. C. A. secretaries. 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 time. I have +mentioned that Rabbi Voorsanger had no regular services in the 77th +Division during the fall holydays of 1918, due to the military +situation. There was one exception to this, however, a hasty service +arranged at one of the brief stops during the march by Father Dunne of +the 306th Infantry, and that service arranged by a priest was conducted +by the rabbi in a ruined Catholic church. Chaplain Voorsanger is full of +praise for the thirty chaplains of various religions who worked under +him when he was Senior Chaplain of the 77th. Their enthusiastic support +as subordinates was fully equal to their hearty coöperation as equals. + +Peculiarly enough, the Christian Science chaplain in our division was +the only one who found it difficult to become adjusted with the rest. +This could hardly have been personal, as he was generally respected. 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 adherents. +But it seemed due chiefly to the ideas and the method he represented. He +was handicapped for the necessary work of caring for the sick and +wounded by a unique attitude toward physical suffering, different from +the rest of us and different from that of most of the soldiers +themselves. As a consequence he could serve most of them only as a +layman might. Certainly he could give no religious treatment of disease, +as the medical department was supreme in its own field. In addition, he +could conduct general services only with difficulty. To the rest of us a +service meant the same thing,--a psalm, a prayer, a talk, perhaps a +song or two. But the Christian Scientist could not give a prayer. +Prevented from using his ritual by the fact that the service was to be +non-sectarian, he had not the power of personal prayer to fall back +upon. He was not a minister in the same sense as the rest of us, and the +army had no proper place for either a healer or a reader. + +With this single exception, I feel certain that every chaplain in France +had the same sort of experience. When I first arrived in France I was +one of thirty-five chaplains assembled at the chaplains' headquarters +for instruction and assignment. Our evening service was conducted in +front of the quaint, angular château on a level lawn surrounded by +straight rows of poplars. One evening Chaplain Paul Moody, of the Senior +Chaplain's office, gave us an inspirational appeal derived from his own +experience and his observation of so many successful chaplains at the +front. Afterward, informally, a Catholic told us briefly what we should +do in case we found a dying Catholic in the hospital or on the field, +with no priest at hand. Then I was asked how best the others might +minister to a Jewish soldier in extremity. I repeated to them the old +Hebrew confession of faith; _Shema Yisroel adonoi elohenu adonoi echod,_ +"Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." I told them to +lead the boy in reciting it, or if necessary just to say it for him, and +the next morning when I brought down copies of the words for them all I +was deeply touched by their eagerness to know them. These men did not go +out to convert others to their own view of truth and life; they were +ready to serve pious souls and to bring God's presence near to all. +Christian ministers were eager to help Jews to be better Jews; rabbis +were glad to help Christians to be better Christians. We learned amid +the danger and the bitterness to serve God and man, not in opposition +and not even in toleration, but in true helpfulness toward one another. +I doubt whether these men, once so willing to serve men of all creeds at +the risk of their lives, are foremost in the ranks of Jewish +conversionists to-day. + +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 Forces, Bishop Charles H. Brent, +now the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York. +Bishop Brent utilized his great ability, his high spirituality and his +personal acquaintance with the Commander-in-Chief all for the welfare of +the men in the service. Assiduous in his personal devotions, definite in +his personal preaching, when he turned to his duties as Senior Chaplain +he simply forgot his own affiliations in the interest of all religions +alike. Catholic and Protestant had equal faith in the impartiality and +justice of his acts. He was especially careful in behalf of the Jewish +men because he knew that they were a minority and might otherwise be +neglected. The official orders and the detailed arrangements for the +various holydays were a serious consideration with him. His spirit +animated his entire staff. Chaplain Voorsanger felt it from the outset. +Chaplain Paul D. Moody, Bishop Brent's assistant in the chaplains' +office at General Headquarters, was animated by it equally with his +chief. Chaplain Moody, a son of the great evangelist and now in one of +the important Presbyterian churches in New York City, was fond of +telling how the various commanding officers would often greet him as +"Father" or "Bishop." + +It is hardly surprising that such coöperation strengthened men in +loyalty to their own faith. As the soldiers saw the military rank of all +the chaplains and their influence everywhere in the interests of the +men, as they saw men of other faiths coming to their chaplain because of +his loved personality or his high standing, as they saw the official +bulletins announcing religious services of different faiths at different +hours but under the same auspices, they grew to respect themselves and +their own faith a little more. A young man is likely to be defiant or +apologetic about being religious unless he sees religion, including +_his_ religion, respected by his comrades and his commanding officers. +Therefore this mutual service, instead of weakening the religious +consciousness of the various groups, rather strengthened it. Men grew to +respect themselves more as they respected others more; they became +stronger in their own faith as they became more understanding of others. +The five chaplains at the burial detail did not give up their own ideas, +but they did learn more about the others' faiths, and they certainly +learned to respect each other profoundly as workers, as ministers and as +men. Thus our mutual friendship and our mutual help became the +foundation of all our efforts for the men, religious, personal and +military. We did our work together as parts of one church, the United +States Army. + +This situation was brought out in strong relief for me when I met in Le +Mans a young French priest, who had served as chaplain in an army +hospital through most of the war. He was overcome with astonishment when +I told him that, while the majority of the men in our army were +Protestant, the Senior Chaplain of the area at that time was a Catholic +priest. I had to go into considerable detail, explaining that in some +organizations the head was a Protestant, and in one division a Jew. +Finally he grasped it, with the remark, "_C'est la liberté_." As a +Frenchman it was hard for him to understand the kind of religious +liberty which means coöperation and friendship. In France religious +liberty is based on hostility and intolerance of religion. Religious +liberty there means liberty for the irreligious and consequent +limitation of the liberty of the religious. On the other hand, religion +there has meant historically, the domination of one religion and the +curtailment of liberty. It is a peculiar view, which is paralleled among +French Jewry also. Active and interested Jews have little interest in +modernism, even in modern methods of religious education; French Jews +who are interested in the world to-day have little interest in Judaism. + +We who served together in the United States Army have a different ideal. +We think of a religion which gives equal freedom to all other types of +piety, which works equally with men of every faith in the double cause +of country and morality, which does not give up its own high faith but +sees equally the common weal of all humanity, to be served by men of +many faiths. We have fixed our gaze upon religion in action, and have +found that the things which divide us are chiefly matters of theory, +which do not impede our working effectively together. 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 America, to give us not merely religious toleration, but +religious helpfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RELIGION OF THE JEWISH SOLDIER + + +Much has been written of the soldier's religion, most of it consisting +of theoretical treatises of how the soldier ought to feel and act, +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 trenches. The soldier himself was +inarticulate on the subject of his own soul and only the soldier really +knew. Here and there one finds a genuine human document, like Donald +Hankey's "Student in Arms," which gave the average reaction of a +thinking man subjected to the trials and indignities of the private +soldier in war-time, in words far above those the average soldier could +have used. Theorizing about the soldier was worse than useless; it often +brought results so directly opposite to the facts that the soldier +himself would have been immensely amused to see them. + +As a matter of fact, the soldier had the average mind and faith of the +young American, with its grave lapses and its profound sources of power. +He was characterized by inquiry rather than certainty, by desire rather +than belief. His mind was restless, keen, eager; it had little +background or stability. It was dominated by the mind of the mass, so +that educated men had identical habits of mind with the ignorant on +problems of army life. The moral standards of the soldier were a direct +outgrowth of the morals of sport and business rather than those of the +church. He had a sense of fair play, of dealing with men as men, but no +feeling whatever of divine commandments or of universal law. + +A significant incident, bringing out the peculiar ideals of the soldier, +is related by Judge Ben Lindsey in his book, "The Doughboy's Religion." +He tells how a number of Y. M. C. A. secretaries conducted +questionnaires at various times as to what three sins the soldiers +considered most serious and what three virtues the most important, +hoping to elicit a reply that the most reprehensible sins were drink, +gambling and sexual vice. But hardly a soldier mentioned these three. +The men were practically unanimous in selecting as the most grievous +sin, cowardice and the greatest virtue, courage; as second, selfishness +and its correlative virtue, self-sacrifice; and as third, pride, the +holier-than-thou attitude, with its virtue, modesty. The result, to one +who knew the soldier, would have been a foregone conclusion. + +The soldier was honest, he gave no cut-and-dried answers but his own +full opinion, based upon the circumstances of his own life. At the front +courage is actually the most important attribute of manhood and +cowardice the unforgivable sin. One coward can at any moment imperil the +lives of his entire unit by crying out in surprise on a night patrol, by +deserting his post as sentinel or gas guard, by infecting with the +spirit of panic the weaker men who follow any contagious example. +Selfishness likewise was more than serious; it was vital. The selfish +man was one who ate more than his share of the scanty rations on the +march, who did not carry his full pack but had to be helped by others, +who was first in line at the canteen but last to volunteer for +disagreeable duty. Pride, on the other hand, was not dangerous but +merely irritating in the extreme to an army of civilians, of Americans +with the spirit of equal citizens, who felt that they were doing +everything for their country and resented equally the autocratic and the +patronizing manner. Besides the soldier saw examples of these his +highest virtues about him constantly. Courage became a commonplace; +self-sacrifice an everyday matter. Officers often shared the discomforts +and exceeded the dangers of their men. When one reads the accounts of +citations for the D. S. C. and Medal of Honor, one wonders that human +beings could do such things. And when we who were at the front recall +the utter democracy of those days, how salutes and formality of every +kind were forgotten while only leadership based on personality could +prevail, 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 +sinner. + +As to religious tendencies, the soldier had, first and foremost, hope. +He looked forward to better things both for himself and for the world. +He had the religious longing and the religious certainty that the future +will witness the dawning of a better day. He had a vast respect for +manhood, though his democracy did not go so far as to include other +nations, whom he very largely despised on account of their "queerness" +and his own ignorance. He had an abiding hatred for anything which +smacked in the slightest degree of hypocrisy or "bluff." I mention this +in my next chapter in connection with preaching to soldiers, but +preaching was not the only field in which it applied. The soldier laid +an inordinate value upon personal participation in front line work, +ignoring the orders which necessarily kept the major part of the A. E. +F. in back area work, in supply, repair, or training duty. I know of one +chaplain, for example, who joined a famous fighting division shortly +after the armistice, through no fault of his own but because he had been +previously detailed to other duty, 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 were. Of course, +this worked favorably for those of us whom the boys had personally seen +under fire at the first aid post or in the trenches. + +This very respect for deeds and suspicion of words, especially of polite +or eloquent words, made for suspicion of the churches and churchmen. We +had so pitifully few chaplains to a division, and some of them were +necessarily assigned to hospitals in the rear. Only here and there did a +Y. M. C. A. or K. of C. secretary go with the men under fire. True, they +had nothing to do there, as there was no canteen or entertainment hut at +the front; true, strict orders forbade their entering certain territory +or going over the top. The soldier asked not of orders or duties; he +knew only that this man, who in many cases seemed to consider himself +superior, who preached and taught and organized, had not slept night +after night in the rain, had not fallen prone in the mud to dodge the +flying missiles, 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 fare. + +Therefore the soldier cared little for creeds of any kind. 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 him. The +soldier needed religion; he wanted God; he cared very little for +churches, creeds or churchmen. + +In most characteristics the Jewish soldier was one with his Christian +brothers. He differed only in those special facts or ideas which showed +a different home environment or a different tradition. For example, the +usual Christian minister used the word, "atonement" with a special +meaning which was understood, if not accepted, by every Christian +present, but which meant nothing whatever to the Jew, except through the +very different association with the Day of Atonement. So any analysis of +the religion of the Christian soldier would begin with his attitude +toward the atonement, but with the Jewish soldier this must be +omitted--he had no attitude at all. 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 +religion; the difference was largely that of the religion which they +considered rather than of the men themselves. + +Of course, it was hard to be a good Jew in the army. The dietary laws +were impossible of fulfillment, and the Talmudic permission to violate +them in case of warfare meant less to the average soldier than the fact +that he was breaking them. The Sabbath could not be kept at all, even in +rest areas where there was no immediate danger to life. No soldier could +disobey an order to work on the Sabbath; if the work was there, the +soldier had to do it. In many ways Judaism was difficult and +Christianity just as difficult. For example, I know of one division +where the Passover service was held under difficulties, as the unit was +about to move, and where the Easter service had the same handicap, as +the men had just finished moving and were not yet established in their +new quarters. Most of the obstacles to religious observance were common +to all religions. + +A few Jews denied or concealed their religion in the army as elsewhere. +Some few enlisted under assumed names; a number denied their Judaism and +avoided association with Jews, perhaps fearing the anti-Semitism which +they had heard was rife in military circles. Their fear was groundless +and their deception, as a rule, deceived nobody. The American army as it +was organized during the war had no place for prejudice of any kind. +Efficiency was the watchword; the best man was almost invariably +promoted; in all my experience abroad I have never seen a clear case of +anti-Semitism among higher officers and only seldom in the ranks. +Occasionally also I met the type of Jew who admitted his origin but had +no interest in his religion. Such a one--a lieutenant--who was known as +a friend of the enlisted men generally and especially of the Jewish +ones, assisted me greatly in arranging for the services for the fall +holydays, but did not attend those services himself. He represented the +type now fortunately becoming rarer in our colleges, the men who have +too much pride to deny their origin but too little Jewish knowledge to +benefit by it. It is noteworthy that this particular man was stationed +in the S. O. S. and had at that time never been at the front. Most men +turn toward religion under the stress of battle; those who have never +been in battle presented in certain ways a civilian frame of mind. + +Most of the Jews in the army were orthodox in background, rather than +either reform or radical. Perhaps the orthodox did not have the +numerical superiority they seemed to possess; in that case I saw them as +the most interested group, the ones who came most gladly to meet the +chaplain. Not that the other two groups were lacking in this army, which +took in practically all the men of twenty-one to thirty-one years in +America. The dominating group, however, was orthodox in background, +though most of them were not orthodox in conviction. Causes are not far +to seek--they had never studied orthodoxy; they were young men and had +few settled religious convictions; they were in the midst of a modern +world where other doctrines were more attractive. The fact is that their +convictions were usually directed toward Zionism rather than toward one +or another form of Judaism itself. Again, they were without reasons for +their interest. Zionism appealed to them simply as a bold, manly, Jewish +ideal; they did not enter into questions either of practicability or of +desirability. In other words, they were young men, not especially +thoughtful, who were interested in Jewish questions only as one of many +phases of their lives. They had their own trend, but were glad to accept +leadership of a certain type, adapted to their own lives and problems. + +All these Jewish soldiers welcomed a Jewish chaplain. The Catholics and +Protestants had chaplains, and all Jews except the negligible few who +denied their faith were very glad to be represented also, 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 religions. Most of the Jewish soldiers had personal +reasons also to greet a chaplain. In many of the occasions, small and +great, when a Jewish soldier desired advice, aid or friendship, he +preferred a Jewish chaplain to any other person. As a chaplain he had +the influence to take up a case anywhere and the information as to +procedure, while only a Jew can feel and respond to the special +circumstances of the Jewish men. On the other hand, not all Jewish +soldiers were eager to welcome the Jewish Welfare Board although they +all liked it after it had arrived and made good. Some were afraid of any +distinction in these semi-military welfare organizations, feeling that +the two already in the field, the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C., were quite +adequate. The Jewish Welfare Board, however, 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 results. As always among Jews, who lay great emphasis on non-Jewish +opinion, one of the chief causes of the popularity among Jews of Jewish +war work was its popularity among Christians. When a Jewish boy found +his building overcrowded by non-Jews, when he had to come early to get a +seat at the picture show among all the Baptists and Catholics, when he +saw Christian boys writing to their parents on J. W. B. stationery, he +thought more of himself and his own organization. This same fact refuted +the argument against segregation; men of all faiths used the J. W. B. +huts, just as they did those of the other welfare organizations. They +were one more facility for men of every religion, even though organized +by Jews and conducted from a Jewish point of view. + +In their religious services, as in most other things, the Jewish boys +liked practices which reminded them of home. Just as many of them +enjoyed a Yiddish story at an occasional literary evening, so they all +appreciated the traditional Seder at Passover more than all the shows +and entertainments which were provided at the Passover leave. They +preferred to have many of the prayers in Hebrew, even though I seldom +had a Jewish congregation in the army in which more than one third of +the men understood the Hebrew prayers. They liked the home-like and +familiar tone of the Jewish service on both Sabbaths and festivals. They +preferred to wear their caps at service and to carry out the traditional +custom in all minor matters. + +But at the same time they had no objection to changes in traditional +practice. The abbreviated prayerbook of the Jewish Welfare Board was +much appreciated, even though one or two of the boys would state proudly +that they had also a special festival prayerbook. The short service was +practical and the boys therefore preferred it to the longer one of the +synagogue. They understood that, with the large number of non-Jews at +our services and the usual majority of Jews who could not read Hebrew, +it was necessary to read part of the prayers in English. They liked an +English sermon, too, although the chaplain skilled in army methods +always gave a very informal talk, far from the formal sermon of the +synagogue. And when interested they asked questions, often interrupting +the even flow of the sermon but assisting the rabbi and congregation to +an understanding of the problem at issue. + +One of the chief characteristics of an army congregation was its +constant desire to participate in the service. The soldiers liked +responsive readings; they preferred sermons with the open forum method; +they were ready to volunteer to usher, to announce the service +throughout the unit, or for any job from moving chairs to chanting the +service. At the Passover services at Le Mans, we had all the volunteers +necessary among the crowd for everything from "K. P." (kitchen police) +to assist in preparing the dinner to an excellent reader for the +prophetic portion. The services meant more to the soldiers as they +became their own. + +Another characteristic of services in the army was the large number of +non-Jews attending them. I have come to a Y. M. C. A. on a Sunday +morning directly after the Protestant chaplain, when most of his +congregation joined me, and my group in consequence was nine-tenths +non-Jewish. At first this factor was a source of embarrassment to many +of the Jewish men. They came to me beforehand to whisper that a few +non-Jews were present, but I took it as a matter of course, having +learned my lesson with my first service in France. 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 own. When Jewish services often have from ten to eighty per cent. +of non-Jews in attendance, the Jewish soldiers are doubly glad to have a +partially English service and a sermon. They want the Christians to +respect their religion as they do their own, an end usually very easy of +attainment. And while a few Jews would have preferred to drop the +special Jewish characteristics of our service, I have never heard a +critical word from a Christian about our wearing our hats, our Hebrew +prayers, and the rest. Often, in fact, I have had to answer respectful +questions, giving the sort of information which broadens both sides and +makes for general tolerance. + +At the front, even the most thoughtless desired some sort of a personal +religion. In the midst of the constant danger to life and limb, seeing +their comrades about them dead and wounded, with life reduced to the +minimum of necessities and the few elemental problems, men were forced +to think of the realities of life and death. With these eternal +questions forced upon them, the great majority must always turn to +religion. The men _prayed_ at the front. They wanted safety and they +felt the need of God. 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 lives. 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 Lane. The impressions +of the conflict had not yet worn off. The men were, in a way, uplifted +by their terrific experiences. And the words they spoke there of their +fallen comrades were infinitely touching. 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 custom. + +But with all this deep yearning for personal religion, the men adopted +fatalism as their prevalent philosophy. For one thing, it seemed to +answer the immediate facts the best. When five men are together in a +shell hole and a bursting shell kills three of them and leaves the two +unharmed, all our theories seem worthless. When one man, volunteering +for a dangerous duty, comes back only slightly gassed, while another +left at headquarters is killed at his dinner by long distance fire, men +wonder. And when they must face conditions like this day after day, +never knowing their own fate from minute to minute, only sure that they +are certain to be killed if they stay at the front long enough, they +become fatalists sooner or later. As the soldiers used to say, "If my +number isn't on that shell, it won't get me." I argued against fatalism +many times with the soldiers, 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 menace, and +I fear that--with proper philosophic qualifications--for the time being, +I was as much of a fatalist as the rest. + +At the rear the personal need for religion was less in evidence. The +men who had gone through the fire were not untouched by the flame, and +gave some evidence of it from time to time. The men who had not been at +the front, who comprised the majority in back areas, had no touch of +that feeling. They all shared in the yearning for home and the things of +home and for Judaism as the religion of home, for the traditional +service of the festivals, for the friendship, ministrations and +assistance of the chaplain. Judaism meant more to them in a strange +land, amid an alien people, living the hard and unlovely life of the +common soldier, than it ever did at home when the schul was just around +the corner and the careless youth had seldom entered it. The lonely +soldier longed for Judaism as the religion of home just as under fire he +longed for comfort from the living God. And the military approval of all +religions on the same plane, the recognition by the non-Jewish +authorities of his festivals and his services, 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 religion. Thus Judaism as an +institution, as the religion of home, had a great place in the heart of +the soldier in France. + +Some of the men, especially at the first, felt that they were being +neglected by the Jews of America, that our effort was not commensurate +with that which the Christian denominations were making to care for the +soldiers of their faiths. We must admit sadly that they had some +justification for such a view. Our representatives arrived in France +late though not at all too late for splendid results. American Jewry was +almost criminally slow in caring for our hundred thousand boys in +service abroad. A few of the soldiers carried this complaint even to +the point of bitterness and estrangement from Judaism. Here and there I +met an enlisted man who challenged Jewry as negligent. Usually these +were not our most loyal or interested Jews, but they were Jews and +should not have been neglected. The men who entertained real loyalty to +their faith were usually active already in some minor way and ready to +coöperate with the Jewish Welfare Board when it was in a position to +back them up. Most of the men, however, were eager to forgive as in a +family quarrel as soon as our welfare workers arrived in France and +showed immediate accomplishment. + +Our Jewish boys came back from overseas with certain new knowledge of +life and new valuation of their religion. Beginning merely as average +young men in their twenties, they acquired the need and appreciation of +their ancestral faith, though not in a conventional sense. They are not +to-day reform Jews in the sense of adherents of a reform theology; +neither are they orthodox in the sense of complete and consistent +observance. They have felt the reality of certain truths in Judaism, the +comfort it brings to the dying and the mourner, the touch of home when +one celebrates the festivals in a foreign land, the real value of Jewish +friends, a Jewish minister, a Jewish club to take the place of the home +they missed over there. That is, Judaism means more to them both as a +longing and an institution. + +But not all the things which we customarily associate with Judaism have +this appeal to them. Some seem to them matters of complete +indifference, and the usual emphasis on the wrong thing makes them feel +that the synagogue at home is out of sympathy with their new-found +yearning. If we give them what we consider good for them, they will take +nothing. If we give them what they want--the religion of God, of home, +of service--and with all three terms defined as they have seen and felt +them, then they will prove the great constructive force in the synagogue +of to-morrow. The Jewish soldier had religion; if he was at the front, +he has had the personal desire for God; in any case he has felt the +longing for the religion of home. He was often proud of his fellow Jews, +sometimes of his Judaism. He did heroic acts gladly, feeling the added +impetus to do them because he must not disgrace the name of Jew. +_Kiddush ha Shem_, sanctification of the name of God, was the impelling +motive of many a wearer of the D. S. C., though he may never have heard +the term. 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 it, +and for whom those world-shaking events have become a part of their very +being. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PREACHING TO SOLDIERS + + +Preaching to soldiers, as I soon learned, was a very different thing +from addressing a civilian congregation. The very appearance of the +group and place was odd to a minister from civil life--young men in +olive drab, sitting on the rough benches of a welfare hut or grouped +about in a comfortable circle on the grass of a French pasture. The +group was homogeneous to an extent elsewhere impossible, as all were +men, all were young, and all were engaged in the same work and had the +same interests. The congregation and the preaching became specialized; +the work became narrower but more directly applicable to the individual +than in civil life. The soldiers had unusual experiences and interests +as their common background; their needs were different from those of any +group of civilians, in or out of a church or synagogue. They were +soldiers and had to be understood and approached as such. + +The circumstances of our services were never twice the same. I have led +groups in worship in huts of the Y. M. C. A., K. of C., and J. W. B.; in +châteaux, army offices, and barns; yes, and out of doors in the rain. I +have come to a Y. M. C. A. and found it full, taking my group for an +announced service to the stage and lowering the curtain for privacy. +Once, in a great brick building used by the "Y," I found the place +occupied by a miscellaneous crowd of a thousand men, reading, writing, +playing checkers, lined up at the canteen for candy and cigarettes. My +services had been announced and my fifty men were present, some of them +after a five-mile walk. The secretary in charge and I walked about to +find a vacant spot and finally found one, the prize ring. So I called +for attention, announced my service, and held it in the prize ring, with +my men seated on benches in the ring itself. The non-Jews near by +stopped their reading or writing to listen to the little sermon, so that +my actual audience was considerably larger than my group of worshipers. + +I remember one week-day evening when I came to a J. W. B. hut in a camp +near Le Mans for an announced service only to find the place packed to +the doors. On inquiry, for such a crowd was unprecedented in this +particular camp, I found that a minstrel show had been unexpectedly +obtained and was to run later in the evening. So, while the actors were +making up behind the curtain, I held forth in front, and when the show +was announced as ready, a couple of Irish soldiers and a Swede pushed to +one side and made a little room for me in the front row. + +This very informality and friendliness of spirit meant, first of all, +that one could not "preach" to soldiers in any case. They were +intolerant of preaching. They did not want to be preached to. They +wanted "straight goods, right from the shoulder." They wanted deeds more +than words, or at least words which were simple and direct, of the +force of deeds. One who knew soldiers had to _talk_ to them, not preach. +The more informal, the more direct, the more effective. A good sermon +would often miss fire completely before an audience of soldiers when a +good talk would wake them up and stir them. Informality, simplicity, +knowledge of the soldier and his needs were the best qualities with +which to approach the enlisted man, especially when he was or had been +in the actual fighting and thus acquired a new sense of perspective. The +strongest hatred of the fighting man was directed toward sham of +whatever type, and he exerted that prejudice without any fine sense of +discrimination against anything that seemed to him pretentious or +hollow. The danger of pretense or dishonesty in the trench or on a +patrol seemed to have entered into the whole mentality of the soldier. +He distrusted the brilliant orator, who found more difficulty in winning +him over than did the simpler and more direct type of speaker. He was +certain to prick the bubble of a poseur at once, and was more than +suspicious of anything which even hinted at pose or pretense. + +For one thing, the material had to be concrete, the sort of thing the +soldier knew. Jew and non-Jew were very nearly the same in the army, +with certain minor differences of background. And hardly ever did one +have an audience composed overwhelmingly of Jews; there was always a +large admixture of others in any army audience, even when a Jewish +service had been announced. Now, as to background and memories, our army +was too mixed to rely on them for much material. When the chaplain +spoke of home, the soldier might think of a tenement home or a +ranch-house or a mountaineer's cottage. Certainly, only a few would ever +have the same picture as the chaplain. When he spoke of foreigners, he +might be addressing a group composed largely of Poles, Italians and +Irish, who entertained very different ideas of what a foreigner might +be, but would all consider our old Southern population, white and black, +as foreign. + +The only common ground of all soldiers was the army. The men knew work, +discipline, war. They did not regard these things as an officer would, +and a wise preacher found out their attitude in detail whenever he +could. But this was concrete material, common to them all. They all +hated to be under authority, but had nevertheless learned the lesson of +discipline for practical purposes. They were fascinated by fighting, but +feared it and preferred it, on the whole, to the tedium of peace. They +found a greater monotony in army drill than in any other one thing in +the world. They were brave when occasion arose. They had seen their +friends drop dead at their side and had mourned and buried them. They +had seen comrades promoted, now by favoritism, now by ability, and held +a mixed feeling of ambition and of dislike for responsibility and the +drudgery of thinking for themselves. They had problems of conduct, +problems of morale, problems of vision, and they welcomed any discussion +of their own problems in their own language, while despising infinitely +the man who made a mistake in military terminology or showed lack of +knowledge of the army. Their knowledge and their interest was narrow +but keen, and one was compelled to meet the soldier on his own ground to +interest or influence him. + +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 vocabulary. Here again the +soldier proved a unique audience. With all his quickness to grasp an +idea, his lightning sense of humor, his immediate sense of reality and +recognition of fact, he had in many cases the vocabulary of a +ten-year-old child. Many of our soldiers were from the mine, the farm, +the sweatshop. Many of them learned English from the daily papers; many +from their semi-literate companions. A few hundred very simple English +words and plenty of army slang were the chief reliance of the preacher, +and other expressions had to be defined as one went along. 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 sympathy. + +Of course, the average soldier, Jew or non-Jew, had no homiletic +background; he was not a frequent listener to sermons in civil life. In +many cases the men admitted that they had never been in a church in +their lives. Many of the Jewish boys had not been to a synagogue for +years, and when they had gone many of them had attended an orthodox +service where they had not understood a single word of the Hebrew +service. Therefore the language of the Bible meant literally nothing to +them without paraphrasing, except where it came very close to modern +speech. Therefore also the cant phrases of the pulpit or of the public +speaker generally had no meaning whatever to their minds, favorable or +the reverse. They left the soldiers completely untouched. Thus the best +civilian sermon may have been meaningless to a group of soldiers, while +a direct talk, even a sort of conversation with the audience, was of +real benefit to them. For there was no formality about an army audience. +If one made the mildest joke, the boys laughed out. If one "paused for a +reply," the reply was apt to come in loud and unmistakable tones. In a +talk to a group about to return home, for example, I remarked, "I +suppose you'll all reënlist in the National Guard when you get mustered +out," only to be greeted by an immediate chorus of groans. If the +soldiers were interested, they interrupted with questions; if +uninterested, they frankly got up and left the room. They gave more than +the cold decorum of a church; they gave a living response; they talked +with and thought with the preacher. But the type of decorum one found in +a church or temple was utterly beyond them. Their response was better, +but different in its very activity. + +Certainly, there were different audiences even among soldiers. I know of +one preacher who traveled about France with a great speech on courage +which fell utterly flat on a certain occasion. He had made the mistake +of speaking on courage to a group of men from the Service of Supply, +whose chief contribution to the war had been carrying cases of canned +salmon and repairing roads. A certain chaplain had a battalion of recent +immigrants mustered for a service before going into battle, only to be +privately cursed afterward in the five languages spoken by the boys he +had addressed. For he had made those boys give up their short period of +rest to talk to them of home and mother, to make them think of the dear +ones they were trying to forget, to put before them the one thought that +was most likely to unnerve them for the terrible task ahead! + +It was just as great a mistake to preach about sacrifice after a battle. +In battle sacrifice was the most common thing; ordinary men rose to +heights of heroism to save their "buddies" or to assist in the advance. +The high courage of self-sacrifice became familiar. Preaching +self-sacrifice to these men was useless--for Christian as well as Jew. +They had seen stretcher bearers shot down while carrying their precious +burdens to the rear. They had seen officers killed while getting their +men under shelter. They had seen the gas guard, as a part of his daily +duty, risk the most horrible of deaths in order to give the alarm for +his comrades. Such men responded to an appeal on the divine in man, on +the brotherhood of all those heroes about them, on Americanism, on a +hundred congenial themes; they did not see the cogency of an appeal to +sacrifice. + +The profound friendships and violent dislikes of the soldier have been +often noticed. His fidelity to his "buddy," to any popular officer, to +his company and regiment, stand out as part of his vigorous, boyish +outlook. On the other hand, a swiftly acquired prejudice would go with +him forever in the face of many facts and much argument to the +contrary. The relative standing of the Y. M. C. A. and the Salvation +Army among the men is a case in point. The Young Men's Christian +Association was by far the largest war work organization which worked +among the mass of the soldiers, as the Red Cross confined its activities +largely to hospitals and related fields. It was a wide-spread +organization, covering practically every unit and almost every type of +activity, religious, athletic, entertainment, canteen. But the soldier, +while using the Y. M. C. A., disliked it. The Salvation Army, a very +small organization in both amount and scope of work, which I never saw +in action because I did not happen to be in the limited sector it +covered, was, however, popular if only by hearsay in every part of the +great army. Now, the soldier had very real grievances against the "Y." +It charged him more for its tobacco than did the quartermaster's store; +it gave away very little, while other organizations, not burdened with +the canteen, gave away a great deal; it had a certain proportion of +misfits, men who did not belong in any military work, who considered +themselves better than the common soldier and did not share his trials +or his viewpoint. + +These facts were all explained later; some of them were inevitable. 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 been. The +canteen had been undertaken by the Y. M. C. A. at the request of the +army authorities, who desired to be relieved of the tremendous burden, +and its prices were determined by cost plus transportation, which latter +item was not included by the quartermaster's stores. The tremendous rush +of the last six months of the war made the task too great for any of +the organizations in the field, including sometimes even the +quartermaster's corps. But after the prejudice had been conceived it +could not be shaken. It persisted in spite of excuses, in spite of +remedies for some of the evils, in spite of the excellent work which the +Y. M. C. A. did in the leave areas. I have mentioned its activities in +Nice, Monte Carlo, and Grenoble, how it provided the enlisted man with +free entertainment,--excursions, dances and shows, during his entire +period on leave. This striking contribution to the morale and the +pleasure of the forces was almost overlooked in the general criticism. +On the other hand, nobody ever heard the enthusiastic doughboy mention a +mistake made by the more limited forces of the Salvation Army, which +therefore received more than adequate commendation for its really +effective work. + +A similar violent contrast existed in the soldier's attitude toward the +British and colonial soldiers, especially the Australians. The doughboy +liked the "Ausies"; he despised the "Tommie." The usual phrase was: "Oh, +well, the 'Tommies' are all right to hold the line, but it takes the +'Ausies' to make a push." This was strictly untrue, according to the +terrific fighting we ourselves witnessed on the British front. It was +simply that the Australians were all volunteers, young and dashing, like +the pioneers of the western plains, the precursors of our own men. They +were independent, lawless and aggressive. The British whom we knew were +the survivors of four years of warfare, veterans of many a campaign in +the field and siege in the hospital, or older men, the last draft of the +manhood of Great Britain. No wonder our boys liked the "Ausies" and +refused to see any good whatever in that very different species of men, +the "Tommies." + +So the soldier was an exacting but a grateful audience. He emphasized +deeds rather than words, and therefore he was much easier of approach +for his own chaplain, who was under the same regulations as he, who went +with him to the front and tended the wounded and the dead under fire, +than for the most eloquent or the most illustrious of civilian +preachers. He conceived violent likings and equally violent prejudices, +always based upon some sort of reason but usually carried beyond a +reasonable degree. He had to be approached on his own ground, with +material from his own experience, with language which he could +understand. And when that was done, he was the most thankful audience in +the world. He thought with the speaker, responded to him, aided him. As +an audience he was either the most friendly and helpful in the world or +the most disappointing. But that depended on the speaker and the +audience being in harmony, knowing and liking each other. A man who knew +and loved the soldier could work with him and help him in achieving +great results, for the American soldier, though the most terrible enemy, +was also the best friend in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MORALE AND MORALS + + +No thorough scientific study of the problem of morale has ever been +made, in either military or civilian life. Every one is familiar with +many of its manifestations, but very few have gone into their causes +except incidentally to the practical needs of the moment. That was the +case in the A. E. F., where both chaplains and line officers were deeply +concerned in the morale of our troops, at first as fighting forces and +after the armistice as citizens and representatives of America abroad. +We tried this and that expedient, some good and some bad. Often we +neglected the very act which was most essential. Often we did nothing +whatever until it was too late. Unit commanders, chaplains, and even G. +H. Q. were alike forced to employ empirical, trial-and-error methods +instead of a fundamental, scientific approach. 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 psychology, and that this same +ignorance is universal in civil life as well. 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 army. +This brief chapter is by no means intended to take the place of such a +scientific study; it may serve as material for one, and in addition may +provide certain facts of importance in themselves. + +Morale in the army represented two distinct problems, the front line and +the rear. The former demanded high tension, the necessity of unified and +instantaneous action. The latter demanded steadiness in daily duties, +training, drill and study, the same qualities needed by the worker in +civil life but under unusual circumstances. And between the two there +was a gap, because the let-down from the one type of morale might +result, not in the other type, but in no morale at all. The good soldier +in camp might be a very poor soldier at the front, where different +qualities were required; the man who would win his decoration at the +front for reckless bravery was often the worst soldier in camp, judging +by the number of punishments for the infraction of minor rules of +discipline. There is the case, for example, of the former gunman who won +his D. S. C. for the very qualities which had formerly sent him to +prison. Even the best of soldiers, at both front and rear, had to +withstand a serious mental shock when he passed from one of these +situations to the other, and especially when he retired into a rest area +after a hard spell in the trenches. + +In the American army front-line morale was by far the easier type to +maintain. In some other armies, I was told, the opposite was the case, +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 +soldier. His is the dash, the courage, the spirit of "Let's go!"; he is +more likely to lack the sense of subordination, of instant obedience to +orders, which constitutes the first essential of a good soldier in the +rear. The object of morale at the front is action--instant, unified, +aggressive, with every nerve and muscle strained to the utmost toward +the one end. The means of this type of morale is confidence. The good +soldier thinks that he belongs to the best company in the best division +in any army in the world; that his officers are the ablest, his comrades +the most loyal, his own soldierly qualities at least on a par with the +best. Each division was firmly convinced that its own battles won the +war, while the others merely helped. None of them would give the French +and British credit for more than adequate assistance, ignoring +completely their years of struggle before we even entered the conflict. +But this sort of self-centered confidence was the characteristic of the +good soldier, the man who would follow his captain in any attack, +however desperate, who never looked whether his comrades were coming but +went ahead in calm certainty that they would be even with him. One hint +of wavering or doubt would break up this high steadiness of spirit, but +as long as it held the men who possessed it would fight on in the face +of seemingly insuperable difficulties. + +I have mentioned the situation of the 27th Division from October 17th to +21st, 1918, how they entered the attack with depleted numbers, tired in +body and mind, after insufficient rest and with no fresh replacements. +Day after day their dearest wish was that their relief might come and +they might enjoy the often promised rest. They had seen their comrades +killed and wounded until a regiment had only the normal number of men +to equip a company. Yet day after day the orders came for an advance, +and every day those tired boys advanced. They did what we all considered +impossible because they had the morale of good fighting men. They bore +the ever-present danger of bursting shells and the sniper's bullet with +boyish daring and constant success. They labored harder than any worker +in civilian life, sleeping in the rain, marching, carrying their heavy +rifles and packs made mercifully light for the occasion, digging in the +clinging clay of the Somme valley. This, too, they did not gladly, often +not willingly, but because it was part of the game, and they were good +sportsmen and would see it through. + +The peril to morale at the front was nerves. Although it may be hard to +conceive, the dashing, aggressive soldiers might fall before this +danger. Aggravated cases, true neuroses, we called "shell shock," +slighter ones, "nerves," but the two were the same. The constant noise, +exertion, hard work, loss of sleep, undernourishment, produced a +peculiar mental state. Above all, the high nervous tension which was +necessary for men to persist in these conditions had its dangers, too. +By reason of it the wounded were able to bear more than their ordinary +share of suffering, so that we saw constant examples of stoicism at the +front. But when the excitement and tension wore off its effect was lost, +and in base hospitals the soldiers were no better patients than young +men in civilian life. When overburdened nerves gave way, the soldier was +completely lost. A chaplain has told me of a long night spent with a +patrol in front of the lines, not talking with the men but instead +trying to hold the top sergeant to his post. The sergeant was a fine +soldier, with a splendid record all through the Meuse-Argonne campaign, +but that night, in the long vigil, his nerves had given way and the big, +stolid soldier was trembling with fear. Only constant persuasion and the +threat of force held him to his duty, 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-com. in command failed +them. + +The soldier had a mixed feeling toward battle. The shock of conflict is +exciting and exerts a sort of fascination. But the excitement was short +while the danger was omnipresent and the work could never be escaped. +The soldier regarded war as a sort of deadly game, where the contest +called forth every energy and the stakes were life itself. But battle +contains another factor--a compound of work and discomfort. War is nine +parts sordid labor to one of glorious action. It was mixed with cooties, +mud, sleeping in the rain, marching all night and lying down under +artillery fire. It included digging, and the soldier found no more +romance in digging in at the front than in digging a ditch at home, +except that under fire he dug considerably faster. War involved carrying +a pack, and that became speedily the pet hatred of the enlisted man. As +the prisoner dreads the cell in which he is confined, so the infantryman +feels toward his pack clinging with its eighty-odd pounds as he trudges +along the weary roads. War is a glorious memory now, but it was neither +glorious nor pleasant to live through. + +When the troops retired for rest and training, the problem of morale +became reversed at once. Now it became a matter of discipline and drill. +Instead of danger and discomfort, our trials were work and monotony. A +high type of morale in the rear meant that the men were not absent +without leave, that they worked hard at their drill and became automatic +in its motions, that they obeyed every rule of discipline, large and +small. Saluting, for example, was very important at the rear; we never +once thought of it at the front. This régime was not always easy, though +at first we could hold out the object of winning the war, as in the +pamphlet on sex education, "Fit to Fight." After the war was over that +object no longer remained. But the hard work remained, the kitchen +police, the cleaning up of quarters, the carrying of the pack, the +incessant drill. "Squads east and west," when the fighting was at an end +and there was no direct use for maneuvers, seemed to the soldiers simply +made work. In fact, 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 mischief. + +The peril of this situation was obvious. It was that the tedium might +grow too great and the men yield to the temptations of drink, gambling +and vice. These would result in disorder, insubordination, time lost +from duty, venereal disease,--any number of possible evils. They would +demoralize a unit at the rear as readily as nerves would demoralize it +at the front. Sexual vice and sexual disease, while statistically not so +great in the army as among the same age groups in civil life, was still +serious. The different social system of France put temptation directly +in the way; prostitution was open and licensed, and the women of the +streets quick to accost the wealthy foreigners, whose dollar a day was +so much greater than the pay of the French soldier. At the same time, +the French girls of good family did not meet strange soldiers, dance +with them, talk to them, as was done in the States. 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 +home. Courteous in showing the stranger his way or telling him the time +of day, 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 soldiers. At home the soldier had been +lionized from the time of his enlistment until his leaving for overseas. +He had been entertained, fed, provided with dances, shows and automobile +rides. The daughters of rich and cultivated families tended canteen or +danced with the soldiers. But in France the daughter of a good family +went out only with a man she knew, and then strictly chaperoned. Even +when she knew a man personally, a respectable girl would hardly think of +walking down the street with him. + +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 generally. I remember an argument with one of the boys +who had just stated that all French girls were careless in their morals. +When pinned down to particulars, he admitted that he had met exactly +three French girls beside those who had accosted him on the street. Two +had been sisters, at whose home a friend of his had been billeted, and +when he and his friend had wanted to take them to an army vaudeville +their mother had gone along. The third was the daughter of my landlady +at Montfort, a fine rounded peasant type. On this scanty basis he had +formed his typical opinions. + +The control of the minutiæ of daily life together with the influence +over the minds of men in the army should have enabled the authorities to +suppress vice almost entirely. Unfortunately, this was never +accomplished. Lectures, severe penalties for disease "incurred not in +line of duty," and liberal provision for "early treatment" all together +did not work the miracle. The prophylactic stations for so-called "early +treatment" directly after exposure were patronized by a number of men, +but never by a very large proportion of the number who were certainly +exposed. The venereal hospitals where sufferers underwent both treatment +and punishment had their full quota from every division which remained +long in back areas, and most divisions left behind as many as two +hundred and fifty men for further treatment after the thorough +inspections preceding their departure for home. + +Drink was a less serious, though more prevalent danger. The law had +prevented men in uniform from drinking in the United States; in France +it forbade only their use of spirituous liquors, and even those were +often available. So there was a good deal of beer and wine drinking, and +some of cognac. The last was apt to result in drunkenness and disorder, +but our military authorities had always the power to declare certain +cafés, which had violated regulations, "out of bounds" for Americans, +and as a last resort the French police would close such a place +altogether. Gambling was the most prevalent vice of all, and one which +was never, to my knowledge, controlled anywhere. It lacked gravity in so +far as the soldiers had very little to gamble, and could incur no great +losses. But it was always an easy resort to break the monotony of army +life in training or rest areas, and always a menace to the type of +manhood which we wanted to see among our American fighting men. + +The reliance on penalties as the chief mode of controlling young +Americans was fundamentally unsound both in theory and practice. The +warnings against sexual vice lost half their effectiveness because they +were usually given by company officers, who emphasized the danger of +disease and the military penalties rather than the appeal of loyalty or +self-respect. Medical officers and chaplains were certainly better +equipped for such special work, although probably no human being and no +appeal can solve the entire problem. + +All these facts came slowly to the fore within the few months following +the armistice, and we were able to observe them very clearly in the 27th +Division while in the Montfort area. While we wintered there, from +November 1918 to February 1919, the morale of our troops, which had +never weakened at the front even under the most terrible conditions, +went down steadily during those three weary months. For one thing, we +were constantly expecting orders to leave for home and constantly +disappointed. We were inspected and reinspected, drilled and drilled +again. Warned not to begin an elaborate program of athletics, education +or amusement, we worked from week to week and never instituted one-third +of the work which we had planned and ready. Meanwhile there was the café +and the danger of vice and drink, so the men were kept drilling through +the winter rains to keep them busy during the day and make them tired at +night. This attempt was neither humane nor possible and had only the +worst effects. + +The failure with our division brought the possibility of a constructive +program before the higher command of the army, which inaugurated one +just about the time our division left the area. Large schools were +started in each permanent division in the district, giving both common +school and technical branches, with the army university at Beaune as the +head of the educational structure. Such a school was established in the +Forwarding Camp, near Le Mans, where I saw it in busy operation. +Athletic meets were arranged in each division, with larger ones at Le +Mans and other central points for the best men in the separate units. +More welfare huts of different agencies were established, with more +canteen supplies from the States and more women workers for canteen +service and dances. Each division devoted more attention to its "shows," +usually a musical comedy troupe, with very clever female impersonators +to make up for the lack of chorus girls. Some of these shows had tours +arranged by the Y. M. C. A. or other agency, and a few of them even had +gala performances in Paris. Regular religious services and other +appointments with the chaplains were instituted and advertised, although +we had always done this for ourselves in our own units. Leave areas +were designated in the most beautiful sections of France, as well as +permission for a few furloughs in Italy and England. The _Stars and +Stripes_, always a valuable organ as the soldiers' newspaper, became the +constant instrument of propaganda to upbuild morale. Finally, the army +took over official control of education, entertainment and athletics +from the civilian agencies, designated a Welfare Officer to control them +all, and asked the agencies formerly in control to coöperate with the +newly appointed officials. All these were steps in the right direction, +although at times such work was partially nullified by the choice of the +wrong man as Welfare Officer. This was a position which only a +professional educator could fill at all; even an expert could hardly +influence actively a hundred thousand minds at once. Hardly any +professional soldier, business man or engineer could have the breadth of +view and technical knowledge to approach them. Of course, when army +regulations prescribed a major for a particular position and only a +lieutenant was available with the proper training, an untrained major +was appointed and the lieutenant left in command of a platoon. +Promotions were naturally few after the armistice, and the table of +organization had to be complied with at all costs. + +The _Stars and Stripes_ demands a few words in itself, both because of +its excellent articles and cartoons and for its unique position as "the +soldiers' newspaper." It was a well-written weekly publication, which +could command the services of many of the best of the younger writers +and cartoonists in America. The knowledge that the _Stars and_ +_Stripes_ was semi-official, being published under military censorship, +made its news material very influential on morale. Men believed anything +they read there about the work of the various divisions, special +distinctions, or the date of the homeward troop movement. But that very +factor made the articles it published more or less suspected by the men. +They knew they were propaganda, written for the benefit of morale, and +they therefore read them, but derived much less effect from them than +would otherwise have been the case. Still the writers, themselves +soldiers, expressed the soldiers' view often enough and clearly enough +to lend some value even to the suspected material from General +Headquarters. + +After all, amusements, education and athletics were only palliatives in +a confessedly irksome situation. 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 +overworked. The essentials of morale were the elements which approached +the soldiers' welfare most nearly--food, pay, mail and daily military +routine. Army food was notoriously bad, army cooks famous for lack of +skill. Part of this, like other complaints, lay in the chronic grumbling +of the soldiers. Obviously, they did not receive the kind of meals that +"mother used to make" or the product of a famous hotel. The food itself +was usually of excellent quality but coarse, the menus well balanced but +monotonous. This last was the chief grievance and one that was largely +justified. Most of our food had to be brought overseas in cans, and it +took a skillful cook to disguise "corned willie," "monkeymeat" or +"goldfish" day in and day out. Yet corned beef, stew and salmon, to use +their civilian names, were staples in the army diet. It became a +question among us officers whether we preferred to drink good coffee, +ruined by army cooks, or the excellently prepared chicory of the usual +French restaurant. I, for one, preferred the British ration as superior +in variety to that we received after we came into the American area, +although it was normally not as large in amount as the ration of the +American soldier. + +Pay and mail were notoriously unreliable in the A. E. F. Pay was regular +for officers, of course, who could swear to their own pay vouchers, but +not always for enlisted men, who required a service record to have their +names put on the pay roll. When a man is a patient in nine hospitals +within four months, we cannot expect his mail to follow him, nor his +service record to stay at hand. These grievances were later remedied, +the mail through the Main Post Office, the pay question by means of pay +books and supplementary service records. Still, 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 months, or to find a man who had been +shifted so often from one unit to another that his pay was six months in +arrears. When we remember the little money at hand for any purpose +whatever, when we bear in mind the loneliness of these boys so far from +home, loved ones, even from common sights and familiar speech, we can +imagine what a deprivation such troubles brought, and how deeply they +effected morale. Of course, as I have mentioned before, the soldier +never made allowances either for the difficulty of the task or the +comparative success with which it was accomplished. The soldier merely +suffered and complained. + +I shall never forget the incessant complaints about that very necessary +institution, the censorship of letters home. The last hope of the +soldier was for glory in the eyes of the people at home. At least he +would be a hero to them. But here the censor lifted his terrible shears. +Stories of heroism, true or false, could not be told. 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 +details. For many of the soldiers this was more than annoying; it was +serious. They were often not educated, had written perhaps three or four +letters in their lives, and could hardly face the task of writing a +second letter if the first was condemned. In any case no American wanted +to submit his personal letters for his wife or sweetheart to a superior +officer for approval. 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 port, and censorship became another +grievance to the enlisted man. + +Finally, the greatest factor in morale, good or bad, was that intangible +but very real entity, military discipline. The American boy hates to be +under authority; to ask for leave to speak to his captain; to request +permission to go for a few hours' leave after his day's duties are over; +to address an officer in the third person: "Is the captain feeling well +this morning, sir?" Most American officers were human enough, with +little of the class feeling of the British army. For that reason the +soldier rarely hated his own officers, and often was heard to boast of +"my lieutenant" or "my captain." The soldier merely hated authority in +general, as represented largely by the necessity to salute any unknown +officer whom he might meet. He never understood the lectures about the +manliness of saluting or its military necessity; he knew only that it +was the sign of authority, to which he was subjected. + +Perhaps that is the root of the whole matter of morale. A good soldier +at the rear was the man who sank his personality and became a unit in +the squad. If too strongly defined an individual, he was a marked man; +he became company clerk or kitchen police, according to his previous +education. The good soldier was the one who acted automatically on +receipt of orders, who saluted, said "Yes, sir," turned on his heel and +seemed at once to be very busy. Even if he had been an executive or a +lawyer in civil life, the constant drill made an automaton of the +enlisted man; he sank back into the mind of the crowd, adopted the usual +opinions in the usual words, and lost for the time being his +personality. Drill made for automatic physical reactions to a certain +set of commands and the temporary cessation of thought. In close-order +drill Tom Smith submerged his personality and became "Number Three in +the rear rank." He learned to swing about at the proper moment, +following the man ahead of him, to respond instantly to the word of +command without hesitating for its meaning, to stand and march and +salute and obey. That was good for the rear, but at the front we needed +Tom Smith again, and he might forget his place in the line, rush forward +on his own initiative and become a hero. The finest acts were those of +individuals acting without orders, the private forming a stretcher party +of volunteers to go out for the wounded, the corporal reforming the +platoon when all the sergeants were disabled and leading them forward. +Then in the long period after the war Tom Smith had to be lost, for +Number Three in the rear ranks was needed again. + +The soldier lived in utter ignorance, not only of general events in the +world and the army, but even of the things which would affect himself +most closely. The enlisted man never knew a day in advance when he would +be transferred to a different post or a different duty, when he would be +promoted or degraded in rank, when he was to attack the enemy or retire +for a rest. Even the things he saw became distorted. A doughboy remarked +to me just before the battle of the Selle River, "We're held up by a +little stream twenty feet wide, with Jerry on top of the railroad +embankment on the other side. If we can just get across that river and +up that embankment, we'll end the war right there." Of course, our +success three days later did not end the war; it was only part of a +tremendous program which the private soldier did not envisage at all. +The attack on the Selle River was but one of a half-dozen actions +carried on simultaneously in Flanders, on the Scheld, at Rheims, in the +Argonne and on the Meuse. Our attack was made easier because of these +others, and they in turn were successful because of ours. The three +hundred miles of battle-line were all one, and only the broadest +possible view could give any idea at all of the truth. + +The officer, especially when on the staff, saw things in relation, but +the soldier had to work in the dark. He never did understand the rules +of the great game he was playing. Tactics were nothing to him. He knew +only what it meant to march with a heavy pack all night, to rest in the +damp cold of dawn when he was too weary to rest at all, to advance under +fire and to dig in again and yet again. Much as he might later on revel +in the raw heroism of it all, this arduous labor, blindfolded, left him +a prey to doubt and rumor at the time. Rumors were one of the few foes +of morale which persisted at both front and rear, because they were the +product of ignorance and in both places ignorance persisted. No man can +be quite steady in his duty when his mind is distracted by the countless +rumors of army life. So far as we had information to dispense, we were +building up morale, even when the facts were not reassuring. Rumors +about going home, being the most desirable, were the greatest menace of +all. Men would come back from the hospital with half-healed wounds +because the rumor said we were going home at once, and they wanted to go +along. Men would take unofficial leave to see Paris before they died, +just because the latest rumor had it that we were not to leave for +another month. Every such disappointment or lapse of duty made the next +rumor more dangerous and wider spread. + +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 home, when it took an immediate upward bound. During the +downward trend of the curve, the men grew to hate the army. The definite +elements which they naturally resented were emphasized and exaggerated, +although that was hardly necessary. At the same time, they felt immense +pride in their own achievements, and a thorough contempt for +"joy-riders," as they termed the civilian travelers through France, the +official investigators or representatives of civilian organizations, who +witnessed the trenches as if on a sight-seeing party. This pride in +their actual accomplishments, combined with resentment at the military +subversion of ordinary civilian standards of life and manhood, was +characteristic of the best minds in the ranks. + +The military system is of necessity heteronomous, while democracy must +be autonomous. The very virtues of self-reliance, independence, +responsibility, which we most emphasize in civil life, were the ones +most actively discouraged among enlisted men. At the same time, the +moral influences put upon them were those of compulsion and restraint. +The régime for officers was radically different; it demanded +responsibility and removed much of the restraint. Hence the tendency of +the army system was to produce officers with adequate mental processes +and soldiers with automatic obedience to any kind of orders. The result, +not difficult to foresee, was that the officers had far better minds but +far poorer morals than the enlisted men. The officer was responsible for +himself; the enlisted man had a number of superiors responsible for +him. As a consequence the officer used his mind, the soldier stopped +using his. On the other hand, the officer often abused his larger +liberty, so that some of the officers of the A. E. F. 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 fought. + +The conspicuous difference was not the result of differences in the men +themselves, for we had no castes in the American army. Officers and men +came from the same stock and from every group. It was the direct +consequence of the different type of discipline and control to which +they were subjected. The best officers and the best men surmounted it; +the worst yielded; the average were affected more or less. + +Obviously, morale was a loose general term for many actual conditions. +It meant one thing at the front, another thing at the rear. It included +morals, although sometimes a high state of morale could exist together +with many lapses from the moral code. 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 intended. A study of morale gave insight +into many related factors, including that of morality. The young man, as +we saw him in the army, had a morality of his own, related closely to +sport and business, but to neither law nor religion. It is a moral +standard--we cannot possibly mistake that--the young man is not in his +own mind immoral. But it is a standard which makes much of friendship, +loyalty, fair play, something of honesty, nothing of the special code +which we usually call "morality." It allowed much laxity in sexual +relations; it laid no stress at all on obedience to military +regulations; it had hardly such a word as "duty." Religion to the +soldier meant habit, or sentiment, or fear, or longing; it did not mean +a code of morals. The attempt to build up a moral standard on a basis of +duty to one's country or to one's self was largely inadequate. Courage +the soldier recognized, and sincerity and self-sacrifice; he did not +know much of duty. This fact was both the cause and the result of +military discipline, which made duty an external matter of obedience to +a million trivial and arbitrary rules, rather than to a few definite and +outstanding principles. The young man has a morality of his own in civil +life; he had a slightly different, but related morality in the army. It +was not the conventional morality of society, which rests upon the +historical standards of the middle-aged. It was a type of morality which +we must learn to recognize and understand for both his benefit and that +of society as a whole. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE MORAL GAIN AND LOSS OF THE SOLDIER + + +The military system, as I have tried to bring out in the last chapter, +had a definite and profound influence on the life and thought of the +individual soldier. It was so radically different from civilian life +that this influence became all the more striking through contrast. The +young man has certain moral standards and habits in civil life, some of +which became intensified, while others altered in the army. The millions +of young men who went through the military régime during the war have +brought this influence back into civilian life with them, even though it +is attenuated by environment and although they have largely returned to +their former, pre-military habits. War and danger brought out certain +characteristics and occasioned others. These new reactions of character +were not, as the pacifists would have it, all bad; neither were they all +good, as was generally proclaimed in patriotic fashion while the war was +going on. Some influences were good and some were bad, while almost +every man in the service would necessarily respond to both kinds. 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 months. It may be worth while to develop +some of these at a little length, not scientifically nor +psychologically, but simply and directly as they strike the soldier +himself. + +We saw at the front, as the experience of other armies had indicated, +that the average man has in him the stuff of which heroes are made. Not +merely the farmer or backwoodsman, but the men who followed prosaic city +occupations, were ready to sacrifice themselves for their comrades and +their country. The barber and the shipping clerk were as frequent +winners of the D. S. C. as any others in our huge heterogeneous army. +Heroism was evoked by the need, by the fact that it was the expected +response, the response of thousands of others. The crowd mind produced +heroism out of the most unexpected material. War created some of the +heroism which we saw; it merely evoked some which was already latent, +ready for the call. The stretcher-bearer, exposing himself to the +severest fire to carry his precious burden to safety; the battalion +runner, bearing his message through the barrage and then coming back +again to bring the answer; the machine gunner, carrying his heavy weapon +on his back to an advanced position where he could establish it +effectively; the infantryman, advancing against machine-gun fire, or +digging in under attack from heavy artillery or aëroplanes; the +engineer, digging away debris or laying bridges in plain sight of the +enemy, with his rifle laid near by to use in case of an attack--I might +enumerate hundreds of such duties in which courage, loyalty, and +endurance were exhibited by men who performed exceptional acts of +bravery and devotion, volunteering for difficult service or carrying on +in the face of overwhelming odds. All soldiers were afraid, 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 +danger. + +We felt that travel, with its attendant contact with other customs, +language and people, would broaden our soldiers mentally and tend to +break down the provincialism which has been often noticed in America, as +well as in many other countries. Only a small minority of our men were +equipped, either in knowledge or in attitude, to take advantage of the +opportunities offered. Museums meant comparatively little to them, +mediæval cathedrals not much more, Roman walls or ruins nothing at all. +Scenery did not mean as much as some of us thought it should, forgetting +that scenery looks entirely different to a man who rides past it and +another who walks through it. Altogether, knowledge of France, England +and Germany made, on the whole, not for a greater appreciation of +foreign lands, but instead for a great appreciation of America. + +The fact is that the boys grew homesick. Most of them were only boys in +years, and practically all of them were reduced to the boyish level of +thought by the general irresponsibility, thoughtlessness, and dependency +of army life. They were like boys in a military school, very often, +rather than men engaged in the grim business of modern war. To these +boys absence from home brought a higher appreciation of home. This was +often a true evaluation, in the face of previous neglect and +underestimation; sometimes it may have been a sentimentalizing of a home +that had never really meant very much. But in the danger, the monotony, +and the distance, the soldiers grew to higher appreciation of their own +homes and their home-land as well. + +Their complaints were often ridiculous enough. They objected to the +backwardness, the lack of sanitation, the absence of bathing facilities +in the French villages. These were true enough, as far as they went, +although I know personally that they can be matched in many details even +in prosperous and enlightened America. They objected to the French +climate, with the damp cold of its winters, not caring to remember that +certain parts of our own Pacific coast suffer from a rainy season, too. +This complaint becomes still more valueless when we remember how the +boys grumbled about the heat of the Texas border, in fact, how soldiers +not in action will always find a source of complaint in the weather, +whatever kind of weather it may be. As General O'Ryan remarked in his +famous definition of a soldier, "A soldier is a man who always wants to +be somewhere else than where he is." This restlessness accounts for some +of the complaints which we are apt to take a bit too seriously. A more +real complaint was the language difficulty. Soldier French was a +wonderful thing, consisting of the names of all ordinary things to eat +and drink, together with a few common expressions, such as "toute de +suite" (always pronounced "toot sweet"), and "combien." This prevented +easy communication, even with such French people as were encountered. +Few of the soldiers had any opportunity to use even their little French +on respectable, middle-class French families, especially not on young +men or girls. All these grievances, real and fancied, put the soldier +out of ease in France and made him appreciate America so much the +better. The sacrifices they were making for America, the service they +were rendering her, united with the home-sickness of a stranger in a +strange land to increase the devotion and respect of Americans for +America. + +I need not refer especially to the rather mixed gain in religious +attitude, as I have already devoted a chapter to that subject. I must, +however, repeat one point I mentioned there, the meanings of physical +sacrifice as these men saw it and practised it in the army. It was the +outcome of their courage, their dash, their enthusiasm, that when the +time of stress came ordinary men offered their lives for their friends +and their country. The soldier at the front equaled or exceeded the +forgetfulness of self of the fireman or the life-saver in time of peace. +This lesson of self-forgetfulness, of self-sacrifice, was one of the +great impressions made by the war upon the best men it influenced, and +one which touched in its way even the most thoughtless and careless of +all the soldiers who had their hour at the front. + +This brought out the group solidarity of the American army in stronger +relief. The fine thing about morale at the front, as I have outlined it, +was the mutual confidence which it called out in every breast. The pride +in his own company, his regiment, his division, in the American army as +a whole, which held a man to his duty under fire and impelled him to +resist the almost overwhelming influence of a sudden attack of panic, +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 +war. Pride in one's division meant also pride in one's state; pride in +the United States Army meant pride in the United States. Self-sacrifice, +devotion, heroism,--all these were profound lessons for any man, young +or old, a lesson which American democracy can profitably utilize in the +daily humdrum of American life. + +It was surprising how constantly our expectations were disappointed by +the actual facts of the men in the service. Most books and articles +since the war and all of those before the war were written on a +theoretical basis, and every one approached the facts with a theoretical +view. But the theory was proved wrong in so many instances that I am +making the present study entirely empirical, leaving theory out +altogether as more of a pitfall than an advantage. For one thing, I had +expected war to exert a directly brutalizing influence on the soldier. +This was never evident at all except in the actual stress of battle when +killing was a daily necessity, and human life, although the most +valuable asset of the contending forces, was still held cheaply enough +to be used up at a terrific rate. Men could not stop there to pity every +corpse; they had to save their own lives and at the same time to win the +war. But the effect wore off quickly; probably it left no result at all +except on men with a previous tendency to brutality or crime. I remember +the thrill of horror which went through Le Mans and the entire A. E. F. +in April 1919, when a railroad accident occurred near our post and a +group of soldiers and sailors on furlough were injured, some of them +fatally. We forgot all about the fact that these men had risked death in +entering the service, that the few of them in this accident were the +smallest fraction of a day's toll at the front if the war had continued. +We melted in sympathy, and the French population of Le Mans did the +same. + +The men were not brutalized, contrary to expectation. Human life was +held cheaply under exceptional circumstances and evidently the men felt +that they were exceptional. But the men did become accustomed to the use +of firearms, and those already brutalized were given the knowledge and +the means for crimes of violence. The carelessness with which men used +and flung about all kinds of deadly weapons shocked those of us with a +sense of responsibility; it was part of their boyish heedlessness in the +midst of the fierce game they were playing. They threw their discarded +rifles in a heap by the first-aid post when they went back to hospital; +they even played catch with hand-grenades, sometimes with most serious +results. Once I met a pair of Australians out hunting rabbits with their +high-powered rifles, in a place where hundreds of men were passing +hourly by the much-traveled road. When I remonstrated with them, they +only replied, "Oh, well, we haven't anything else to do. And we know how +to shoot without hurting anybody." + +But with all these real character acquisitions on the part of the men in +the service, and with the lack of that brutalizing which many theorists +had feared, at the same time certain moral losses were occasioned by the +military system. I shall not enter into the question of sexual morality +here, partly because I have discussed it in the previous chapter, and +partly because it was not distinctly the product of the army. The sexual +standards of the young men in the army were much the same as those of +young men everywhere, with some modifications through discipline. But to +the man who has served in any army at any time, the outstanding moral +weakness of the soldier is his entire disregard of the rights of +property. The sense of property, so strong in civilian life, which is +implanted so carefully into the little child, seems lost in the first +month of a man's army life. One brigade headquarters I knew in France +was established in a fine château, with large grounds surrounded by a +high wooden fence. At the same time, the men of the nearest unit were +living in barns and attics, with no light or heat of any kind in their +quarters. The result was that the fence disappeared, little by little. +Nobody ever saw the culprits, but I had reliable information that the +men billeted in that village had all the heat they needed. When we left +the area, about half the fence was gone, and I have little doubt it +vanished entirely during the occupancy of the next division. + +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 dark. Of course, lamps were scarce, having to be +shipped from the States, and the thief undoubtedly drove an army car +like ours. 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 lights. I tried to make him return them, but +for once he proved insubordinate. It was only another army car; the +other fellow had probably got them the same way; he could not identify +the car, anyway. Then came the finishing stroke when we tried the +lights and found them burned out! The other driver had left them in as a +blind. My driver felt a sense of personal injury, as though he had been +directly cheated in a legitimate business deal. And practically any +soldier would have agreed with him. + +The men "found" whatever they needed if it was not issued to them +properly, because property had no meaning to them in the army. They +owned nothing whatever; even their clothes, food and lodging belonged to +Uncle Sam. When their clothes wore out, they were replaced; when the +company's weekly supply of food was eaten up, more was forthcoming. +Rifles fallen into disrepair were exchanged for good ones; shoes were +sent to the salvage depot to be repaired and then issued to another man. +Equipment lost at the front or in the hospital was reissued without +question. Therefore the enlisted man felt a community sense of ownership +rather than a personal one. At the same time, he was constantly in need +of one thing or another. He needed fire wood, as in the incident of the +fence, or automobile supplies, as with my driver. The legend even goes +that the Australians, famous in their ability to care for their own +units, have been known to take an entire field kitchen, with the food +still cooking, from a British unit and make a successful escape. 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 quarters. "What are you doing with +that?" I asked him. "Oh, I think we can use it," was his unembarrassed +answer. + +The soldier learned to disregard law, just as he learned to disregard +property. Discipline meant obedience to constant minute surveillance. It +meant getting up at reveille, rolling his blankets in just such a way, +reporting at roll call, lining up for mess, working at whatever menial +tasks he might be detailed to do by the sergeant, asking for a pass when +he wanted to go to the nearest city, submitting his mail to censorship, +getting a day off for sickness only after lining up for "sick call," and +finally going to bed at night as soon as the bugle sounded "taps." These +men were not trained soldiers, accustomed to such a system; they were +healthy American boys in whom this constant subjection to external +control meant the immediate seeds of revolt. Autonomy meant then the +evasion of the law. A man could assert his individuality only in such +ways as going absent without leave, wearing a serge uniform (not +regulation for private soldiers), or gambling away his last month's +scanty pay. Add to this his constant contact with officers, who, if they +had to bear a heavy burden of responsibility and were forced to pay for +all the things the enlisted man received for nothing, still were not +subject to many of the restrictions which he found most galling. The +test of manly independence came to be simply "getting away with it." If +a man was caught in an infraction of the rules he had to take his +punishment; if he was not detected or not convicted he was a successful +soldier. This applied, for example, to a trip to Paris, the golden +dream of every American soldier. For a long time this was strictly +forbidden, although later three-day leaves to Paris were allowed to a +certain number of men. Yet thousands of Americans saw the lovely and +forbidden city unofficially. They got leave to Versailles, and rode into +Paris daily by street car. They took the wrong train, ostensibly by +accident, and had to change trains at Paris, dropping out of sight for a +day or two meanwhile. They borrowed the travel orders of other men and +used them over, risking detection. Neither the extreme harshness of the +Paris military police nor the menace of their own angry captains could +keep them from the enticing adventure. It was their boyishness, combined +with their lack of respect for the law itself, that led them into such +devious modes of disobedience. "If you know how, you can get away with +murder," was the usual apology--further excuse was not needed. + +Among officers a similar tendency showed itself in a different way. The +officer was not limited in the most petty ways which irritated the men, +although he also could not take a trip to Paris without proper travel +orders and could not absent himself from duty without special +permission. But the officer likewise grew to disregard the law +essentially, even while he obeyed it most carefully in its minutiæ. An +officer was bound by his signature on written documents. A request +coming from the sergeant had to be endorsed by the lieutenant, with his +reasons if he did not favor granting it. It would then pass on to the +captain, the major, the colonel, and if necessary also the brigadier and +the major general. Having passed through military channels for its +consideration, it came back again by the same route until it reached the +originator. This system made at once for diffusion of responsibility, +or, to use the familiar army term, "passing the buck." The first man who +approved the request had no responsibility, as it was approved likewise +by his superiors; the later endorsers had none, as they had signed it on +his recommendation, assuming his knowledge of the facts. Nobody could be +held responsible and every one was careful to evade responsibility +wherever he could. Naturally, this made for endless delays, for +complications interminable when a previous order had to be rescinded for +any reasons whatever, for evasion in case of difficulty or doubt. It +meant fundamentally the disregard of law, expressed by the soldier in +disobedience and by the officer in evasion. + +The military régime likewise tended to break down habits of regular +industry. 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 rear. It was a reversion to +the life of the savage, busy by spells at hunting or war, with rest and +languor between. The entire exhaustion, physical and mental, after a +"spell in the trenches" demanded complete relaxation afterward, while +there was always a little necessary work in the way of drill, +reëquipment and inspection. After the war was over, the drill went on in +still larger doses but without the incentive of returning to the +trenches again afterward. This alternation of work and rest together +with the general rebellion against routine, broke down the habit of +consistent work which is built up with such effort and such inducements +in civil life. 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 +buy. But the soldiers, so boyish in their life and their feelings, had +few such inducements given them. 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 occupation. + +Exceptions existed, of course, to every generalization in this chapter, +as they do to any generalization of any kind. But the exceptions +speedily lifted themselves out of the ranks by promotion, and were +therefore covered by the different influences on the officers and the +higher ranks of non-commissioned officers. And I feel that even these +exceptional men who retained their respect for law and property, their +habits of regular industry, did so only in comparison with the general +break-down, that even they felt a certain loosening of the standards +which they had possessed in civilian life. + +Army life developed a new series of moral values and moral reactions. It +brought out virtues which were latent or non-existent in civil life; it +reduced others to impotence. It produced love of country, of home, and +of God; it brought forth courage, loyalty, self-sacrifice, the extreme +of heroism, in such numbers and such variety that they seemed +commonplace. It did not brutalize any who were not very ready for such a +process. But at the same time, it destroyed the citizen's respect for +law and order, his respect for property, his habit of hard and +persistent work. It made him, for the time being, a lazy hero; a +jovial, careless, and lovable lawbreaker. It brought out exactly the +qualities which are least necessary in civil life, and injured those +most necessary; it took the student, the workingman, the farmer, and +made of him the doughboy. Army life was opposed directly to the whole +tenor of democracy, the régime where men control themselves, where they +work through ambition and desire for success, and where they strive to +accumulate property of their own, at the same time respecting the law +and the property of others. Army life meant a break in the lives of +millions of young Americans, an interruption of the steady development +of their characters and habits, a reversal of their tendencies and a +postponement of their ambitions. + +I feel that it is a great evidence of the essential soundness of +American manhood that these millions have returned to civil life, in +most cases to their former circles and their former occupations, with so +little difficulty. Society helped them at the moment by the splendid +reception home, by the plaudits, the speeches, and the parades. It +helped them also to obtain positions and then left them to find +themselves. Fortunately, after a brief transition most of them did find +themselves, and the ex-soldiers to-day are back in every type of work as +before. The former captain may sell you a suit; the holder of a D. S. C. +may wait on you at the restaurant. They have overcome the restlessness, +the carelessness, the thrill; they are civilians again. But here and +there the seeds fell on different soil; here and there a former soldier +has not found himself again. We see him most often among the wounded +and gassed, who cannot fit into industry so easily, and whose sufferings +have often affected their mentality and always their point of view. +America has wasted criminally precious years of these young ruined +lives, in not bringing to them instantly the full care and service of a +grateful nation. On the other hand, industry has made little effort to +absorb our soldiers; I have seen men with trades selling fruit from +push-carts because there was no other work at hand. I have seen a +jobless boy, honestly trying to make a little money by selling trinkets +in the street and driven away by a patriotic store-keeper, 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 him. The soldier who cannot +return to civil life is a rare exception, but he is an exception caused +in an unstable youth by our military or our industrial system. Our +nation, which profited by that army, must remember for good every +weakest individual whose sweat and blood poured forth to make that army +great. + + + + +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 philosophy, that men would +need a new philosophy of life after the war, just as they did after the +Renaissance or the epoch-making discoveries of Darwin. This opinion, +natural enough at the time, was certainly exaggerated. The war did not +shatter all ideals; it did not create any new ones except the wave of +spiritualism at present so wide-spread. But it did shift emphases, +exposed the hollowness of many easy beliefs, and implanted new ideas in +minds which otherwise might not have been ready for them. The soldier +really presents the typical reaction to the war, while the civilian +shows a milder type of influence and a smaller degree of change. The +revaluation of values which is really demanded to-day is nothing so +fundamental as we thought at the time. It is chiefly psychological, that +we shall understand what is in the mind of the soldier, and by that +means reach an understanding of the effect of the war on society as a +whole. The world contains in diluted form those same influences which +show so distinctly on these young men. The problem of evil is neither +greater nor less than it was before the war; the problem of life and +death is no different; the problem of conduct has not changed. But +certain phases of each of these problems have come very strongly to the +attention of the world; some of them have been branded into the +consciousness of the soldier. Just as the soldier has a viewpoint toward +American ideals, which America would do well to heed in working out her +programs for the era after the war, so the Jewish soldier has his own +viewpoint toward Judaism, 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 ahead. + +It is hard to call the soldier a progressive in religion when he had so +few theories about the matter. But he was certainly not a +traditionalist. Religious ideas and practices had to satisfy his +immediate needs or they had no meaning to him at all. This covered all +cant words, all ready-made formulas, whether as ancient as the Talmud or +as comparatively recent as reform Judaism. The answer of a twelfth +century Jew of Spain or a nineteenth century Jew of Germany were on an +equality to him; if either solved the problems of a young American at +war it was acceptable. The soldier was willing to accept old answers to +new questions if they were cogent; on the other hand, he was quite as +willing to consider a new and revolutionary theory. He possessed that +rare attribute, the open mind; on the narrow but keen basis of his own +mental experience he grasped and estimated soundly the new ideas and the +old. + +The soldier enjoyed ceremonies that reminded him of home and childhood, +but he regarded them largely as pleasant memories. However deep a +meaning the symbols might possess, the soldier had not the background to +grasp it. The symbols did not stand for enough to solve the problems of +his immediate life. In the same way, theological concepts, however +liberal, meant nothing to him practically. 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 it. +As it was, liberalism in theology meant exactly nothing to them. They +were not interested in theological problems; they did not care what +one's opinion might be about the literal inspiration of the Bible or +about the coming of the Messiah. The liberalism which expressed itself +constantly among the soldiers, and which they brought back with them +into civil life, was different from all this. Granting your liberalism +or your conservatism in regard to beliefs and ceremonies, the soldier +wanted to know your attitude toward other human beings. The liberalism +he wanted was social and humanitarian. On this plane he had his being. +This was the type of problem which interested him and which he could +understand. The soldier felt too often that the churches and synagogues +were dominated by capital, by a narrow social class which discriminated +against him. Among Jewish soldiers, many felt that the religious ideas +they might accept were expressed in rich reform temples, where they +themselves would not be acceptable or would not feel at home. On the +other hand, they did not feel at home in the little orthodox synagogues +where their fathers offered up their daily prayers. They did not +understand the Hebrew ritual uttered there, nor the devotional attitude +which was there expressed. + +But all this is not reaching directly the synagogue itself. The young +men, the former soldiers, are not the trustees of our temples and +synagogues; they are not a majority of our members; they are not often +to be found in the pews, where we might see their response to a +particular service or a particular sermon. If we are not very careful, +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 old. We must call to the +young men in the voice of youth, with the viewpoint and on the plane +which they understand and on which they may respond. That means that we +must be willing to accept new conclusions to new problems if these +conclusions seem to fit the new times. That means also that we must have +an aggressive attitude toward social and economic problems. This alone +can make liberalism religious and make religion concrete, applicable to +the needs of the latest era, the era after the world war. Without it, +religion will remain moribund, liberalism irreligious. Religious bodies +must give an equal hearing to both the conservative and the radical, +must show a definite platform of religious and moral work on which the +two can unite. That was done during the war. All groups in American +Jewry, orthodox, conservative and reform, were associated in the Jewish +Welfare Board and still work together on the Joint Distribution +Committee for the relief of Jewish war sufferers. All groups in American +life, Jew and non-Jew alike, met and worked together in the United War +Work campaign, to care for the soldiers in our emergency. But the young +men, no longer soldiers, need us as badly now, while we, the churches +and the synagogues, need them more than ever, with their new experience +and their new-found manhood. What they need and what we need, too, is +that we learn to coöperate on a common platform of action for their +benefit now. If we want them, if we want to be at one with them, we must +have a social program, a liberal attitude to life and especially to its +most immediate economic problems, a willingness to sink differences of +opinion that we may meet for practical effort and genuine progress. + +The boys in the service became largely socialized through the +tremendous, constant work of the welfare agencies. They felt the value +of the Y. M. C. A. or other welfare hut, not only for the +entertainments, dances and canteen, but just as much as a center for the +soldier community, a place to write, to read, to play games, to meet +their friends. Since their return they have turned to such institutions +as the Y. M. C. A., the Y. M. H. A. and the rest, to find the club life, +the community spirit, which they had in the welfare hut in camp or city +at home and abroad. This need of the young men for a social center and a +social life is a common need of all America. Every village needs a +social center to further its growth into a finer culture and a more +united citizenship. 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 channels. 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 one, growing out of the similar needs of the same young men +in war and peace. The furtherance of social centers for Jewish +communities, for other groups of citizens who possess a common heritage +or common background, and for a whole town where the town is not too +large, 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 +community. The return of the soldier may assist us more than we expect +in socializing the Jewish community. The social spirit we once showed in +his behalf, the social education we gave him while in the service, will +return to benefit us all if we convert the two into Jewish social life. +Such a socializing will cut across congregational or sectional lines, +across lines of birth and wealth, and unite the Jewish community in +America, just as the same process will eventually, if carried far +enough, weld together all the divergent social forces of America itself. + +The need for personal religion at the front was a temporary need, or +rather a temporary expression of a universal human yearning. It is now +almost forgotten by the boys themselves, certainly by the church and the +synagogue. Beside the liberal and the social demands of the day, there +exists this mystical longing to be sure of God, to know for a certainty +that He will protect His dear ones. This universal and eternal need was +felt for the time by our men in immediate danger, in thankfulness, in +mourning. Having discovered it once, they still feel it when the +occasion comes. Here, however, there seems little likelihood of their +contribution being accepted. The union of the social and mystical +elements, even at different times and for different occasions, seems +more than any human institution can accomplish. If the soldier, in tune +with the urge of the age, demands a social and a liberal response from +the synagogue, he may get it in a large number of cases. The mystical +element he will not ask for, and his inarticulate mood, now hardly +evident, will certainly evoke no response. + +One thing certainly the young men feel, which American Judaism is +accepting from them. While the young Jew is wholly sympathetic to +Zionism, he hardly ever feels that Zionism is the center or the +conclusion of the Jewish problem. Zionism, as a movement, has brought to +fruition much of the latent love of the young Jew for his people and his +religion. But the Jewish soldier, or the same boy as a civilian, is not +interested chiefly in solving the economic or the cultural problems of +Palestine. He responds also to the similar problems among the Jews of +America. Zionism is not enough for him; he must have Judaism as well. He +and all of us are compelled to confront the spiritual and moral problems +of the new world after the war. + +The young man does not know, and the synagogue does not always show him, +that the very things he demands most urgently are inherent in Judaism, +especially in those great prophets whose words still ring forth with a +youthful fervor. The unfaltering search for new truth, the recognition +of the poor and the weak, the unity of all groups in the community, the +triumphant search for God and finding of God--all these the young Jew +wants and the prophets have given us. This aspect of the problem, then, +becomes one of leadership, 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 heritage. The antiquity +of the prophetic summons is no disadvantage to the young men if it +answers their personal need. It is of the greatest advantage to the +synagogue in responding to the call of the great days after the war. +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 time. It needs but the skill and the courage to apply them +again, as in prophetic times, to the western world in the twentieth +century. + +War gave the world a new angle of vision on life and death, on good and +bad. The deepest impress of this new viewpoint is on those men who were +themselves at the front, who underwent the most extreme phase of it in +their own persons, but some traces have spread throughout the entire +western civilization. America must realize it as Europe does; Judaism +and Christianity alike are entering, for good or bad, a new period. The +world has changed in some respects; we who see the world have changed +far more. In facing the future, with its political, its social, its +moral problems, we need a new fullness of insight into the young men +whose lives have changed and whose souls expanded overnight, even though +they remain in externals the boys they were. We need a new intellectual +content, covering not only the new map of Europe and Asia, but also the +new ideas and ideals which swept the world for a time, as though they +were to be eternal. Above all, we must have complete honesty in facing +the thrilling challenge of the immediate future. We do not need a new +form of Judaism any more than we need a new type of government in +America. We are confronted by the demand to adapt Americanism and +Judaism to the changing demands of a changing era, to find among the +temporary and evanescent elements in both those things which have +permanent usefulness for any demand and any era. We need ideals of the +past, indeed, but only such ideals as have survived the past, as apply +fully to the present, as will aid in building up a future of promise and +achievement for the Jew. Judaism is on trial to-day. If we answer the +need of the young man, he will be the loyal, active Jew for to-day and +to-morrow. If we ignore him, whether through uncertainty, ignorance or +pride, he will not come to us and we shall not be going after him. +Judaism needs the young man; it needs equally his great ideals, social +and mystical as well. The test will result in a finer and more effective +faith only if we respond to it bravely and honestly, in the very spirit +of the soldier himself. + + + + +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 day, that our common +enthusiasm in our common cause had brought Catholics, Protestants and +Jews nearer together on a basis of their ardent Americanism. Especially +we who were at the front felt this in the first flush of our +coöperation, our mutual interest and our mutual helpfulness. After you +have stood beside a man in the stress of front-line work, have shared a +blanket with him, have seen him suffer like a hero or die like a martyr, +his origin, his family and his faith become less important than the +manhood of the man himself. More than once I have said, talking to +soldier audiences of Jewish or of mixed faith: "After this war no man +can knowingly call the Jew a coward again. If you ever hear such a +statement, you can be sure that our detractor is not an honest bigot, as +may have been the case in the past; he is either ignorant or malicious." + +We knew that and our comrades knew it. The men at the front knew very +little about the whole-hearted participation of every section of our +vast population, Jew and non-Jew together, in the campaigns for +production, Liberty Bonds, the United War Work campaign, and all the +rest. 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 war. +But those who served overseas know the record the Jew made for himself +at the front, his promotions, his decorations, his woundings and his +deaths. They know that differences of religion and race counted not at +all in the American army, that our heroes and our effective, able +soldiers came from all religions and all races. With what high hopes we +entered the war; with what fine fervor we saw it end! We felt that our +efforts had insured something more of liberty for the oppressed of all +the world, for Czech and Armenian, Alsatian and Belgian, Pole and Jew. + +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 form. I am thinking of the many national and +group hatreds and antagonisms which have tormented the world in the last +years, and especially of one of them, that against the Jews. The +oppression of the autocratic régime of the Czar has been carried on by +the free nation of Poland; the pogroms of the Black Hundred have been +revived in the Ukraine, where the slaughter of war was doubled by the +slaughter of peace. Hungary has seen its "white terror," where Jews were +murdered as Bolshevists and Bolshevists as Jews. Austria and Germany +have seen a strengthening of the political anti-Semitism of pre-war +times, here blaming the Jews for beginning the war, and there for ending +it. Finally the movement has been carried over into the freest and most +intelligent of nations, and some apologists for it have appeared even +in England and America. Here the Anti-Semites can work by neither +political nor legal means, 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 citizens. + +I shall not turn aside to deal, even for a moment, with the mass of +accusations against the Jew, trivial or grave as the case may be. They +have been adequately answered by Jew and non-Jew, especially in the +address on "The 'Protocols,' Bolshevism and the Jews," by ten national +organizations of American Jews on December 1, 1920, and the subsequent +protests against anti-Semitism by a distinguished group of non-Jewish +Americans, notably President Woodrow Wilson, former President William +Howard Taft and William Cardinal O'Connell. The only one of these +accusations with which I can properly deal in this place, and one on +which my fellow-soldiers will agree with me in every detail, is the +revival of the ancient slander against the patriotism and courage of the +Jew. We are reading, not for the first time in history, but for almost +the first time in the _English_ language, that the Jews are not patriots +in their respective nations, that they all have a super-national +allegiance to a Jewish international conspiracy, that their real loyalty +is to this other group within and above the state, even to the extent of +treachery or anarchy against their own governments. We feel the +disgrace, the pathos of such a charge just after the war when Jews died +with non-Jews that America might be safe, at a time when Jews even more +than non-Jews are enduring the dread aftermath of war, the famine, the +poverty and the epidemics, in Eastern and Central Europe. It is the +sort of charge which only facts can answer, the kind of facts which are +present in this book, as in every official or personal story of the war +by men who took a personal part in the war. Prejudice is too largely the +product of those who gained by the war but did not personally enter the +ranks. The men who know, the men who fought together and bled together, +have a different story. + +America has, in fact, too much fairness as well as too much humanity, to +listen to any such movement of partisan hatred or bigotry. I quote the +statement of over a hundred distinguished "citizens of Gentile birth and +Christian faith," referred to above: + +"The loyalty and patriotism of our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith +is equal to that of any part of our people, and requires no defense at +our hands. From the foundations of this Republic down to the recent +World War, 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 world. There is not the +slightest justification, therefore, for a campaign of anti-Semitism in +this country." + +In this connection, we can recall the words written by Theodore +Roosevelt, at that time President, in 1905, on the occasion of the 250th +anniversary of the first landing of Jews in what is now the United +States: + +"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 traditions, they are +engaged in generous rivalry with their fellow-citizens of other +denominations in advancing the interests of our common country. This is +true, not only of the descendants of the early settlers and those of +American birth, 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 misery. In a few +years, men and women hitherto utterly unaccustomed to any of the +privileges of citizenship have moved mightily upward toward the standard +of loyal, self-respecting American citizenship; of that citizenship +which not merely insists upon its rights, but also eagerly recognizes +its duty to do its full share in the material, social and moral +advancement of the nation." + +It would be beside the issue to refer to the Jewish participation in +American life during the past, if that also had not been brought up as +an accusation. But the records exist, and the facts are conclusive. In +the American revolution forty-six Jews fought under George Washington, +out of the little Jewish population of about two thousand in the United +States at that time. The leading Jews of New York and Newport left those +cities because they were patriots and would not carry on their business +under British rule. Haim Salomon, the Jewish banker of New York and +later of Philadelphia, was among those who rendered the greatest service +in financing the infant nation. In the Civil War ten thousand Jewish +soldiers of whom we to-day possess the records served in the Union and +Confederate armies. Each generation of immigrants has been most eager to +learn the English language and American ways, to take advantage to the +full of American liberty and opportunity, to make a home for their +families in a free land and to help that land maintain its freedom. The +World War was for the Jews, as for all Americans, simply the +culmination, bringing out most strongly the high lights in American +life. Heroes and slackers, loyal and disloyal, showed themselves in +their true colors during the war. And the Jew, like all Americans, +showed himself in this crisis loyal to America. The Jewish record stands +on a par with the best record of any group of American citizens, of any +church or any race. Jews of Russia, whose only contact with their native +government had fostered hatred and distrust, flocked to the colors in +America. Jews of American birth, like all citizens of American birth, +did their full duty for their country. + +On this point again, my own facts, clear as they are, need not stand +alone. I can quote Major General Robert Alexander, who commanded, in the +77th Division, the largest group of Jews in any unit of the American +Expeditionary Forces: "I found that Hebrew names on the Honor Roll of +the division were fully up to the proportion that they should have been; +in other words, the Hebrew boy paid his full share of the price of +victory. When the time came for recommendations to go in for marks of +distinction which we were able to give, I found there again that the +names of the Hebrews were as fully represented on that list as the +numbers in the division warranted, by long odds." + +To-day the Jewish soldier, no longer a soldier or a hero, but still a +Jew and an American, appeals to the American people. Will they suffer +such a propaganda, he wonders, such an attack on him and on his +brothers who still lie overseas, in their American graves on foreign +soil? Will they tolerate for a moment such a venomous and false attack +on the defenders of their nation, on any group, small or large, of the +boys who rallied to the defense of democracy? In the army overseas we +felt that prejudice was a thing of the past, that only in ignorance or +malice could the old serpent lift its head again. To-day, with all the +newer bitterness, we feel the same. We know that our soldier comrades +are loyal still, that America is still America, that as we have once +defended her we need not now muster our arguments or records to defend +ourselves against her. If the Jew ever needed justification, he surely +needs it no longer to-day. The Jewish soldier has once for all made +anti-Semitism impossible among the men who served America in arms, and +who still in days of quiet continue to serve and save their country. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Diacritics have be made consistent throughout the text. + +Hyphens removed from "Where[-e]ver I went" (page 8), "looked like +side[-]streets" (page 11), "a complete prayer[-]book" (page 18), "an +every[-]day matter" (page 147). + +Hyphens added to "new war-time societies" (page 3), "miles by side-car" +(page 70), "private soldier in war-time" (page 145), "their new-found +manhood" (page 209). + +Unchanged spellings: "Ausies", "B'nai B'rith" but "Brith" elsewhere. + +Page 6: "cemetary" changed to "cemetery" (hospital and cemetary). + +Page 10: "new born" changed to "newborn" (see my newborn son). + +Page 34: "devasted" changed to "devastated" (villages were devastated). + +Page 35: "conspicious" changed to "conspicuous" (village had a +conspicuous). + +Page 36: "experiencd" changed to "experienced" (experienced a queer +sensation). + +Pages 57, 59: "accomodations" changed to "accommodations" (separate +accommodations, living accommodations). + +Page 75: "excellant" changed to "excellent" (excellent coöperation). + +Page 78: "shown" changed to "shone" (shone directly upon). + +Page 86: "Fredman" changed to "Friedman" (Samuel Friedman). + +Page 90: "if" changed to "of" (in the interests of). + +Page 110: "Cemetarial" changed to "Cemeterial" (Cemeterial Division of +the War). + +Page 117: "Herschovitz" changed to "Herschkovitz" (Herschkovitz was the +only man). + +Page 124: "ocasion" changed to "occasion" (occasion of a further). + +Page 126: "grenades" changed to "grendates" (throwing grenades). + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Jewish Chaplain in France, by Lee J. 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Levinger. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.tnote { + border: dashed 1px; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's A Jewish Chaplain in France, by Lee J. Levinger + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Jewish Chaplain in France + +Author: Lee J. Levinger + +Release Date: November 25, 2010 [EBook #34440] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE</h1> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/logo.jpg" width="200" height="72" alt="Logo of the MacMillan Company" title="" /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<br /> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS<br /> +ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO<br /> +<br /> +MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br /> +LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA<br /> +MELBOURNE<br /> +<br /> +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br /> +TORONTO<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 640px;"> +<a href="images/i-iv-big.jpg"> +<img src="images/i-iv.jpg" width="600" height="365" alt="A group of Jewish welfare workers at Le Mans, France, in March 1919. From left to right, George +Rooby, Julius Halperin, Frank M. Dart, Chaplain Lee J. Levinger, Adele Winston, Charles S. Rivitz, David +Rosenthal and Esther Levy." title="" /></a><br /> +<span class="caption">A group of Jewish welfare workers at Le Mans, France, in March 1919. From left to right, George +Rooby, Julius Halperin, Frank M. Dart, Chaplain Lee J. Levinger, Adele Winston, Charles S. Rivitz, David +Rosenthal and Esther Levy.</span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> +<h1>A Jewish Chaplain in France</h1> +<div class='center'> +BY<br /> +<h2>RABBI LEE J. LEVINGER, M.A.,</h2> +Executive Director Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York City,<br /> +formerly First Lieutenant Chaplain United States Army<br /> +<br /> +WITH A FOREWORD BY<br /> +<h3>CYRUS ADLER, Ph.D.,</h3> +President of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, Philadelphia<br /> +<br /> +New York<br /> +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> +1921 +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Copyright 1921,<br /> +By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.<br /> +<br /> +Set up and printed. Published October, 1921<br /> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span> +TO A GOOD SOLDIER<br /> +WHO SENT ME TO FRANCE<br /> +AND BROUGHT ME BACK AGAIN—<br /> +MY WIFE<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> +<h2>FOREWORD</h2> + + +<p>The tendency to "forget the war" is not admirable. +Such an attitude is in effect a negation of +thought. 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 dead. Rabbi Levinger's +book is the narrative of a man who saw this great +tragedy, took a part in it and has thought about it.</p> + +<p>In all the wars of the United States Jews participated, +increasingly as their numbers grew appreciably. +They served both as officers and privates +from Colonial days. 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 forces. President Lincoln appointed several +Jewish ministers of religion as chaplains to +visit the wounded in the hospitals, but the tradition +of the Army up to the period of the Great War, +rendered the appointment of a Rabbi as chaplain +impossible. The chaplain had been a regimental +officer and was always either a Protestant or a +Catholic. The sect was determined by the majority +of the regiment. When the United States entered +the Great War, 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +in the body of chaplains. Twenty chaplains +were thus authorized of whom six were allotted +to the Synagogue the remainder being distributed +among the Unitarians, who were not included in the +Evangelical Churches, and the other smaller Christian +sects which had grown up in America.</p> + +<p>In order to meet the requirements of the War +Department and in consonance with the spirit of +unity which the war engendered, it was necessary +for the Jewish organizations to create a body which +could sift the applications for chaplaincies and +certify them to the War Department, as being +proper persons and meeting the requirements of the +law of being regularly ordained ministers of religion.</p> + +<p>Judaism in America is far from being a united +body. 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 practice. +Membership in the various Rabbinical and synagogue +organizations is voluntary and each synagogue +is autonomous. In the face of the awfulness +of the war, these differences seemed minimized and +through the coöperation of all the Rabbinical associations +and synagogue organizations, 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 Department. +So conscientiously did this Committee perform its +duties that every Rabbi recommended as a chaplain +was commissioned.</p> + +<p>As the law exempted ministers of religion and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span> +theological students, no person could be drafted for +a chaplaincy. Every clergyman who served was a +volunteer. It is therefore greatly to the credit of +the Jewish ministry in America that one-hundred +and forty men volunteered for the service. As +there are probably less than four hundred English +speaking Rabbis in the United States, many of whom +would have been disqualified by the age limit and +some by their country of origin, the response of the +American Rabbinate to this call, is a most gratifying +evidence of their patriotism and of their sense of +public service.</p> + +<p>Rabbi Levinger's narrative is his own, in the main +and properly enough a personal one, 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 Adventure. Every one +who saw the troops overseas, could not doubt the +real service of the chaplain or the appeal that religion +made to the men in uniform. However the +armchair philosophers may have viewed the war, it +strengthened the faith of the men who were engaged; +hundreds of thousands of young men turned +to the chaplain who would have been indifferent to +him at home. 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 +war, let it be blamed not so much upon religion, 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 +war." The soldier who came back and found that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> +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 pleasure, might very well have +had his faith, newly acquired if you choose, shaken +by this evident lack of seriousness on the part of +his fellow countrymen.</p> + +<p>I shall not commend Rabbi Levinger's book to his +readers, because if the book does not commend itself, +no approbation will. 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 faith, I want to express the obligations of +the Board to the Rabbis who without experience or +previous training for the purpose, entered upon this +service and carried it through with distinction. +Had it not been for them, 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 religion.</p> + +<p>I cannot help but think that the chaplain himself +derived much benefit from his service. In sections +of the synagogue, as I believe in sections of the +church, men are on many occasions a minority in +the congregation and ministration is largely to +women and children. It meant something for the +chaplain to have great congregations of men, and of +young men at that, and I am inclined to think hardened +his mental and even spiritual fiber. It emphasized +too the importance of emotion and sentiment +as against mere rationalism. The worship meant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span> +more than a preachment, and sympathetic human +contact for a minute was worth a barrel of oratory.</p> + +<p>The fine spirit of liberality which grew up among +the chaplains of the various faiths, reflecting as it +did the comradeship of the men themselves, should +not and will not be lost. The brotherhood of man +will be a mere abstraction until individual men can +act as brothers to one another. The ministers of +religion, if they have any God-given mission above +all others, surely have that of leading men, however +different their physical and spiritual equipment, into +the bonds of a common brotherhood. By this +way and this way alone will mankind arrive at +lasting peace.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Cyrus Adler.</span><br /> +<br /> +October 19, 1921.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>This book is the result of the profound conviction +that we are forgetting or ignoring the lessons of +the World War to Israel, America and humanity. +During the war such words as morale, democracy, +Americanism, became a sort of cant—so much so +that their actual content was forgotten. Now that +the war is over and their constant repetition is +discontinued, the grave danger exists that we may +lose their very real influence.</p> + +<p>These personal experiences and conclusions +worked out by an army chaplain as a result of his +overseas service may have some historical value +also, especially as the same ground has not yet been +covered by any Jewish chaplain or welfare worker +in the American Expeditionary Forces. The rôle +played by Jews in the army and navy of the United +States and the Jewish contribution to the morale of +the forces overseas deserve preservation, both as +a reminder to ourselves and to the nation.</p> + +<p>When the possibility of this book was first discussed +in Paris with the late Colonel Harry Cutler, +Chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board, he spoke +of writing a foreword for it. Since his lamented +death, Dr. Cyrus Adler, his successor as acting +Chairman, has consented to fulfill the same friendly +task. In addition to Dr. Adler, I acknowledge my +great indebtedness to Mr. Harry L. Glucksman, Executive +Director of the Jewish Welfare Board, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span> +giving me full access to their records; to Mr. John +Goldhaar for his personal reminiscences of the welfare +work overseas; to Captain Elkan C. Voorsanger +for the invaluable suggestions based upon his vast +personal experiences; to Justice Irving Lehman, +President of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, +for his encouragement and friendly advice; to a +host of coworkers and friends in both France and +America for the brilliant deeds and cordial comradeship +which are here embodied; and finally to +my secretary, Miss Hattie Tanzer, for her invaluable +assistance in seeing the book through the press.</p> + +<p>Much of the material used here has already been +published in the form of articles appearing at various +times in the <i>American Hebrew</i>, <i>American Israelite</i>, +<i>Biblical World</i>, <i>B'nai B'rith News</i>, <i>Hebrew Standard</i>, +<i>Jewish Forum</i> and <i>Reform Advocate</i>.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Lee J. Levinger.</span><br /> +<br /> +New York, May, 1921.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary=""> +<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER </td><td align="left"></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">I. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Chaplain's Function</span></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jewish Holydays of 1918 in the A. E. F.</span></td><td align="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">At the Front with the Twenty-seventh Division</span></td><td align="right">27</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">After the Armistice</span></td><td align="right">52</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">At the American Embarkation Center</span></td><td align="right">69</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jewish Chaplains Overseas</span></td><td align="right">81</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jewish Welfare Board in the A. E. F.</span></td><td align="right">92</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jew as a Soldier</span></td><td align="right">114</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jew and Christian at the Front</span></td><td align="right">132</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Religion of the Jewish Soldier</span></td><td align="right">145</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Preaching to Soldiers</span></td><td align="right">160</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XII. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Morale and Morals</span></td><td align="right">170</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIII. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Moral Gain and Loss of the Soldier</span></td><td align="right">190</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XIV. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jewish Soldier and Judaism</span></td><td align="right">205</td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XV. </td><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jewish Soldier and Anti-Semitism</span></td><td align="right">214</td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>THE CHAPLAIN'S FUNCTION</h3> + + +<p>In giving the story and the opinions of a Jewish +chaplain in the American Expeditionary Forces, +some statement is necessary of the work of the +chaplains as a whole. 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 command. Hardly a narrative of +soldiers' experiences exists without due place being +given to the chaplain. In every army in France, +chaplains were frequently cited for heroism and in +innumerable instances suffered and died with the +men in the ranks.</p> + +<p>There are two popular impressions of the purpose +of the chaplain in the military service; the one +sees him as a survival of mediævalism, blessing the +weapons of the men at arms; the other welcomes +him as a faint harbinger of a dawning humanitarianism, +one of the few men in an army who does not +have to kill, but is there to save. Some people +think of the physician and chaplain as having non-military +work to do, as being a kind of concession +to the pacific spirit of our generation.</p> + +<p>The actual work of the chaplain is quite as unknown +to the general public. People wonder what +he does between weekly sermons, much as they wonder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +what the minister or rabbi does during the six +and a half days a week that he is not preaching. In +fact, 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 week, but never +had time to write a sermon. People wonder sometimes +whether the soldiers and sailors can bear so +much preaching, sometimes what else they demand +of the chaplain. In fact, to the non-military mind +the whole subject seems shrouded in mystery.</p> + +<p>To the military man the subject is extremely +simple. There is no mystery about it. The chaplain +is in the army as the physician is, as the thousands +of other non-combatants are, for a strictly +military purpose. It happens that the non-combatants +may use non-military methods. One may +drive a locomotive, another carry a stretcher, another +sit in an office and make out papers. All are +essential to the military machine; none is in the service +for any special humanitarian purpose; none is +present as a survival of mediævalism, but all to take +part in the grim conflict of the twentieth century. +The work of a physician in the military service is +the very utilitarian one of saving men's lives and +returning them to the front. The work of a chaplain +is the equally essential and practical one of +stimulating the morale of the troops.</p> + +<p>Many factors bear upon the morale of a body of +men,—their physical environment, the strength and +spirit of their individual units, the temper and ability +of their leaders. 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 citizenry, or at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +least of large and influential groups. 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 overseas. These important organizations, +however, were under the handicap of doing +civilian work among soldiers—a handicap whose seriousness +only a soldier himself can ever realize. +Some months after the war was over, the army +recognized its obligation by appointing morale +officers for both larger and smaller units, with others +under them to supervise athletics, entertainment, +and the like. The civilian organizations then conducted +their activities under the orders of the +morale officer.</p> + +<p>But nearest of all to the men, because themselves +a part of the actual military machine, were their own +chaplains. The chaplain was under the same orders +as the men, took the same risk, wore the same uniform, +and naturally was regarded in every way as +one of their own. I have even heard old army men +scorning the new advances of all these new war-time +societies. "We have our own chaplain," they said, +"He looks after us all right."</p> + +<p>The chaplain was first the religious guide of his +men. He knew how to talk to them, for talking, not +preaching, was the usual tone of the army or navy +chaplain. He knew how to speak their own "lingo," +slang and all. He knew the spiritual appeal which +was most needed by these boys, transplanted, with all +their boyishness, into the deep realities which few +men have had to face. He knew their boyish shyness +of emotion, but with it their deep, immediate +need of such emotions as the love of home and God,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +to sustain them amid dangerous hours of duty and +tempting hours of idleness. This religious need +alone would have been enough work for the chaplain, +even with the intended increase in numbers to +three per regiment, or one chaplain for every twelve +hundred men. The need for religion was evident +in the training camp, the hospital, the transport, the +trenches; it was evident everywhere, and the chaplain +must be everywhere to satisfy it.</p> + +<p>But in addition the chaplain had much welfare +work of a more general kind to transact in connection +with the various welfare agencies. One man +wanted advice about getting married before leaving +for the front; another had trouble at home and +desired a furlough; another found himself misplaced +in his work and would like a transfer. A +Jewish boy came in to ask that a letter be written +to his pious father; the old man had not wanted +him to enlist, but would feel better if he knew there +was a rabbi in the camp. Another had a request +for a small service (a minyan) that he might say +the memorial prayer on the anniversary of his +father's death. And still another presented a letter +from his home community, for he was a fine musician +and wanted to help out at a concert or a "sing."</p> + +<p>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 +English, from a potential comedy team to a +crowd of eager listeners, from a timid boy with personal +troubles to their remedy, either by a change +in circumstances or by convincing the boy himself. +Sometimes a complaint of religious prejudice had +to be adjusted which might work grave harm in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +company unless it were investigated and either +proved groundless or remedied.</p> + +<p>In a later chapter I shall have an opportunity to +go into this more deeply. All that I want to bring out +here is the important and usually misunderstood +fact that American boys are restive under authority. +They object vigorously to the domination of another's +mind over theirs. And this objection too +often took the form of bitter resentment against +their officers. Therefore the final and most delicate +work of the chaplain was to befriend the enlisted +men against the oppression of their natural enemies +and tyrants, the line officers. The army often reminds +one of a school, the men are so boyish. In +this régime of stringent rules which must be constantly +obeyed, of short periods of intense and jovial +recreation, of constant oversight by authority, the +average enlisted man regarded his commanding +officer much as the average small boy regards his +school teacher, from whom he flees to a parent for +sympathy.</p> + +<p>That rôle of sympathetic parent was precisely +the one which the chaplain was called upon to play +for these boys in uniform. Not that he believed +everything he was told, or took sides unfairly, or +was always against authority. Simply that any +boy could talk to him, as he could only to the exceptional +commanding officer, and that every boy was +sure that the chaplain would help him if he could. +Being himself an officer, the chaplain could talk to +officers more freely than any soldier could. And +not being a line officer, he did not himself issue commands +to any one except his own hard-worked orderly +or clerk.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus the chaplain was fortunately placed. If he +was even partially congenial, he was the one man in +the army who had not an enemy high or low. The +soldier looked to him for friendly aid. The officer +referred to him as the great coöperating factor in +building up the spirit of the troops.</p> + +<p>During the stress of actual warfare the work of +the chaplain changed in character though not in +purpose. At the front the chaplain was with his +boys. 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 aid. He stood beside the +surgeon on the battle field, he was with the stretcher-bearers +searching for wounded and bringing them +to safety. He rode from post to post with the +ambulance driver, or tramped up to the trenches +with a ration party. And wherever he went he +was welcomed for his presence and for the work +that he tried to do.</p> + +<p>After a battle, when the men retired to rest and +recuperate, the chaplain had to remain behind. He +stayed with a group of men for the last terrible +task of burying the dead. And when, that sad duty +over, he returned to the troops in rest, he could not +yield for a time like the others, to delicious languor +after the ordeal of the battle field, hospital and cemetery. +Then the chaplain must take up his round +of duties, knowing that after the battle there is many +a prayer to be said, many a hospital to be visited, +many a soldier to be befriended. His task has just +begun.</p> + +<p>The military object of the chaplain is clear, to +stimulate the morale of the men. But his methods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +were most unmilitary. Instead of reminding the +men of the respect due him as an officer, the wise +chaplain took his salutes as a matter of course and +tried to draw the men personally, to make them +forget all about military distinctions when they +came to talk to him. The minute a chaplain insisted +upon his rank as an officer, he lost his influence as +a minister. Rank was useful to the chaplain in so +far as it gave him free access to the highest authorities; +it became the greatest obstacle to his work +whenever the boys began to talk to him as "Lieutenant" +or "Captain" instead of "Father" or "Chaplain." +In the military as in the civil field the religious +message can come only by personality, never by +command.</p> + +<p>The chaplain appealed for the men whenever he +felt that the appeal was justified and had some +chance of success, but never when it would be +subversive of military discipline. He remembered +always that he was in the army, a part of a great +military machine, and that his presence and his +work were to make the men better, not worse +soldiers. He met the men personally, with their +various needs and appeals, and often his best work +was accomplished in short personal interviews, +which would not look at all imposing on a monthly +report, but which made better soldiers or happier +men in one way or another. He encouraged every +effort at recreation for the men, and often took +part in these efforts himself. This last applies especially +in the navy, where the chaplain aboard ship +is the whole staff for religious, recreational, and +welfare work.</p> + +<p>In the main the work of the chaplain differed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +little, whatever his religion might be. He was first +of all a chaplain in the United States Army, and second +a representative of his own religious body. +That means that all welfare work or personal service +was rendered equally to men of any faith. The +only distinction authorized was between Protestant, +Catholic and Jewish services, and even to these a +"non-sectarian" service was often added. Wherever +I went I was called upon by Jew and non-Jew +alike, for in the service most men took their troubles +to the nearest chaplain irrespective of his religion. +The soldier discriminated only in a special case, such +as the memorial prayer (kaddish) for the Jewish +boy, or confession for the Catholic. The office at +once insured any soldier that he had a protector and +a friend.</p> + +<p>But as there were only twelve Jewish chaplains in +the entire American Expeditionary Forces, we were +instructed to devote our time so far as possible to +the Jewish men. 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 division, as I, for +one, was supposed to do. When instead of one division +a Jewish chaplain was assigned several, his +troubles were multiplied and his effectiveness divided. +Naturally, most of the work of the Jewish +chaplains had to be devoted to the needs of the Jewish +soldiers, which would not otherwise be satisfied.</p> + +<p>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 themselves. I think that +these men were a unique aggregation—devoted to +their country and its army, yet loving men of all nations;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +loving each his own religion, yet rendering +service to men of all creeds; bearing each his own +title, yet sharing equal service and equal friendship +with ministers of every other faith. 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 A. Kelley and +Rev. Almon A. Jaynes, of the 27th Division Headquarters, +to mention only two notable examples +among many others. I have seen Father Kelley on +the battlefield going from aid post to front line +trench, always most eager to be with the boys when +the danger was the greatest, always cheerful, yet always +a priest, doing the noble work which won him +his medals and his popularity. I have seen the devotion +and the regret which followed Chaplain John A. +Ward of the 108th Infantry to the hospital in England +after he was wounded in performance of duty, +and the burst of enthusiasm which welcomed his return +months afterward. I have seen one after another +laboring and serving in the same spirit, +and I tender to them the tribute of a co-worker who +knows and admires their great accomplishments.</p> + +<p>The place of morale in the army has not yet been +studied scientifically. All that can be done as yet is +to gather such personal and empirical observations +as mine, which may have bearing on the general +problem. These experiences were typical and these +conclusions are not mine alone. They are shared +by great masses, in many cases by the majority of +thinking men who had like experiences. 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 overseas.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>THE JEWISH HOLYDAYS OF 1918 IN THE A. E. F.</h3> + + +<p>My experiences as chaplain were as nearly typical +as possible with any individual. A few +of the Jewish chaplains saw more actual +fighting than I did; a few were assigned to the Army +of Occupation and saw the occupied portion of Germany. +But for nine months I served as chaplain in +the American Expeditionary Forces, first at the +headquarters of the Intermediate Section, Service of +Supply, at Nevers; then with the Twenty-Seventh +Division at the front and after the armistice at the +rear; finally at the American Embarkation Center +at Le Mans. I worked in coöperation with the Jewish +Welfare Board; I saw Paris in war time and +after; I had two weeks' leave in the Riviera.</p> + +<p>My commission as First Lieutenant Chaplain U. S. A. +came to me on July 4th, 1918 at Great Lakes +Naval Station, just north of Chicago, where I was +then serving as Field Representative of the Jewish +Welfare Board. Two weeks later I reported at +Hoboken for the trip overseas. 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 daughter. +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 1918.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>The trip was the usual one of those anxious days—thirteen +days at sea, constant look-out for a submarine, +but finally a mild disappointment when we +sailed into harbor without even a scare. We carried +our life preservers constantly and waited daily +for the sudden alarm of a boat drill. Our ship, the +<i>Balmoral Castle</i>, was one of a convoy of twelve, with +the usual quota of destroyers accompanying us. +Two days from England we met a flotilla of destroyers; +later two "mystery" ships joined us and in +the Irish Sea we were greeted by a huge Blimp or +dirigible balloon. With this escort we sailed down +the Irish Sea, had a glimpse of Ireland and Scotland +and finally disembarked at Liverpool. 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 city.</p> + +<p>Our pleasurable anticipations of a view of Liverpool +and perhaps a glimpse of London were +rudely disappointed. We disembarked about noon, +marched through side streets, which looked like side streets +in any of the dirtiest of American cities, lined +up at a freight station, and were loaded at once on +waiting trains and started off for Southampton. +All that afternoon we absorbed eagerly the dainty +beauty of the English countryside which most of +us knew only through literary references. 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 train, a custom which afterward became +a habit to all officers in France.</p> + +<p>Daybreak found us at Southampton in the rest +camp; evening on the <i>Maid of Orleans</i>, bound across +the channel. We had not seen England, we had no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +place to sleep and not too much to eat, even sitting +room on the decks was at a premium, but we were +hastening on our way to the war. At Le Havre we +were again assigned to a British rest camp, where +we appreciated the contrast between the excellent +meals of the officers' canteen and the primitive +bunks in double tiers where we had to sleep. After +two days of this sort of rest and a hasty visit to +the city in between, I received orders to report to +the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office at Chaumont.</p> + +<p>My first train journey across France impressed +me at once with the unique character of the landscape. +The English landscape is distinguished by +meadows, the French by trees. The most realistic +picture of the English landscape is the fantastic description +of a checker-board in "Alice in Wonderland." +In France, however, one is struck chiefly +by the profusion and arrangement of trees. They +are everywhere, alone or in clumps, and of all kinds, +with often a formal row of poplars or a little wood +of beeches to make the sky-line more impressive. +In northern France the houses and barns are all of +stone, peaked and windowless, with gardens that +seem bent on contrasting as strongly as possible +with the grayness of the walls. It seems as though +tiny villages are every few feet, and always with a +church steeple in the middle.</p> + +<p>In Paris the first man I met was my old friend, +Dr. H. G. Enelow, of Temple Emanu-El, New York, +who was standing by the desk in the Hotel Regina +when I registered. As the next day was Sunday, +Dr. Enelow was able to devote some time to me, +taking me for a long walk on the left bank of the +Seine, where we enjoyed the gardens of the Luxembourg<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +and sipped liqueurs at a side-walk café at the +famous corner of Boulevarde St. Michel and Germain. +Paris in war-time was infinitely touching. +It had all the marks of the great luxury center of +the world: shops, boulevards, hotels, and show places +of every kind. But many of the most attractive of +its tiny shops were closed; the streets at night were +wrapped in the deepest gloom, with tiny shaded +lights which were not intended to illuminate but only +to show the direction of the street. The crowds +were only a little repressed in the day-time, for the +extreme crisis of the summer had just passed, but +with dusk the streets became entirely deserted. +Through Dr. Enelow I met also Dr. Jacob Kohn, +who with Dr. Enelow and Congressman Siegel constituted +the commission of the Jewish Welfare +Board to outline its program for overseas work. +Dr. Enelow introduced me also to Mr. John Goldhaar, +the secretary of the commission, afterward +in charge of the Paris Office of the Jewish Welfare +Board, to whom I shall refer more fully in another +connection.</p> + +<p>At Chaumont the first man I met was my old +class-mate of the Hebrew Union College, Chaplain +Elkan C. Voorsanger, who was there temporarily detached +from the 77th Division to arrange for the +celebration of the Jewish holydays throughout +France. He welcomed me, told me something of +what my work was to be, and listened to my month-old +news, which was all fresh to him. For a few +days I lingered at the chaplains' headquarters at +the old château of Neuilly sur Suisse, not far from +Chaumont, where thirty chaplains received their +gas mask training and instruction in front line<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +work, and waited for assignments. The château +was a queer angular mediæval affair, set off by +lovely lawns, with the usual rows of straight poplars +all about. A few steps away was a little +village with a quaint old twelfth century church, +beautiful in feeling, if not in workmanship. We +chaplains newly arrived in France, most of us young, +and all eager to be at work, hung on the words of +our leaders fresh from the line. We talked much +of our ideals and our preparation, as most of the +men were graduates of the Chaplains' Training +School at Camp Taylor, Kentucky. My assignment +came very soon to organize and conduct services +for the Jewish holydays at Nevers, headquarters +of the Intermediate Section, Service of Supply.</p> + +<p>The entire American area in France had been +charted out for the purpose of holyday services +and the central cities designated, either those which +had French synagogues to receive our men, or +those points like Nevers where Americans were to +be found and had to be provided for. I quote the +official order which carried authority for our +arrangements.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Tours, Sept. 1, 1918.</p> + +<p>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 follows: from noon Sept. 6th +to morning of Sept. 9th and from noon Sept. 15th to +morning of Sept. 17th. If military necessity prevents +granting passes on days mentioned provision should be +made to hold divine services wherever possible."</p></blockquote> + +<p>This meant that all those had leave who were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +at the time in action or on the move. Chaplain +Voorsanger, for example, was not able to have any +service in the 77th Division as his troops were on +the march on New Year's Day and in action on the +Day of Atonement. Most of the central points +designated for Jewish services were important +cities with French synagogues,—Paris, Toul, Belfort, +Dijon, Épinal, Nantes, Rouen, Tours, Bordeaux +and Marseilles. Three of the chief American +centers had none, so Dr. Enelow was assigned to +Brest, Dr. Kohn to Chaumont, and I was sent to +Nevers.</p> + +<p>I spent a single busy day in Tours after leaving +Chaumont. I met the wife and father-in-law of +Rabbi Leon Sommers and inspected their little +synagogue with its seventy-five seats. The Rabbi +was on duty in the French army where he had been +from the very beginning of the war. I went to the +army headquarters and arranged for the proper +notices to be sent out to troops in the district, then +with two or three Jewish families whom I met I +discussed arrangements to accommodate the large +number of Jewish soldiers who would come in. I +was empowered to offer them the financial assistance +of the Jewish Welfare Board in providing +such accommodations as were possible.</p> + +<p>One surprise of a kind which I afterward came +to expect, was meeting an old friend of mine from +Great Lakes, a former sergeant in the Canadian +Army, mustered out of service because of the loss +of several fingers and now back in France again as +a representative of the Knights of Columbus. +When he left Great Lakes for overseas, I had parted +with one of the two knitted sweaters I possessed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +that if I did not see service at least my sweater +would. Now I met the sweater and its owner again +for a few brief moments. These fleeting glimpses +of friends became a delightful but always tense +element in our army life. Men came and went +like an ever-flowing stream, now and then pausing +for a greeting and always hurrying on again. A +single day sufficed for my work in Tours and then to +my own city for the holydays.</p> + +<p>Nevers is a historic town of thirty thousand on +the banks of the River Loire. The streets are as +wide as alleys and the sidewalks narrow and haphazard, +so that usually one walks in the street, +whether it goes up hill, down hill, or (as frequently) +around the corner. But the parks and squares are +frequent and lovely, and the old buildings have +a charm of their own, even if it is chiefly in the +quaintness of their outlines and the contrast of +their gray with the sunny skies of autumn. The +air was always cool and the skies always bright. +I stayed at the Grand Hotel de l'Europe, a rather +small place, which one had to enter by a back door +through a court. With the men at war, all the work +was being done by women, while most of the guests +were American officers on temporary or permanent +duty at the post. The cathedral (every French +city seems to have one) is interesting chiefly to the +antiquarian, as it has several different styles combined +rather inharmoniously, and the tower is not +at all imposing.</p> + +<p>Of course, a great many Americans were stationed +in or near the city—railroad engineers, training +camps of combat units newly arrived in France, +construction engineers, quartermaster units, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +two great hospital centers. Every company I +visited, every ward in the hospitals, had at least a +few Jewish boys, and all of them were equally glad +to see me and to attend my services. In fact, my +first clear impression in France was that here lay +a tremendous field for work, crying out for Jewish +chaplains and other religious workers, and that we +had such a pitiful force to answer the demand. At +that time there were over fifty thousand Jewish +soldiers in the A. E. F. at a very conservative estimate, +with exactly six chaplains and four representatives +of the Jewish Welfare Board to minister +to them. When I took up my work at Nevers, I +was simply staggered by the demands made on me +and my inability to fulfill more than a fraction of +them.</p> + +<p>At first came the sudden rush of men into the +city for the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish +New Year. The hotels filled up almost at once; then +came others who could not find accommodations, +and still others who had been confined to hospitals, +had drawn no pay for several months, and could not +pay for a hotel room or even a shave. 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 them. The accommodations were +crude, but the men were soldiers and glad to get +them. I was doubly proud, therefore, that this +crowd of ours, without official control, coming for +the festival and therefore released from the incessant +discipline they had become used to, never once +took advantage of their privileges. We troubled +the authorities for their sleeping quarters and for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +special permission to be on the street after nine at +night—but that was all. Many of the boys may +have appreciated their leave more than the festival, +but all justified the confidence shown in them by +their conduct.</p> + +<p>Imagine the difference between our services in +France and those to which I have been accustomed +in our rather tame and formal civilian congregations. +My congregation there was composed +almost entirely of men, and those men all very +young. We were meeting in a strange land, amid +an ancient but alien civilization, which some of us +liked and some disliked, but which none of us could +quite understand. We had no scroll of the Law, no +ram's horn, not even a complete prayerbook for the +festivals. We had no synagogue, and the places +we used were lent us by people of another faith, +friends and co-workers, indeed, but with little interest +in our festivals or our religious needs.</p> + +<p>Our services were held in the large Y. M. C. A. +hut at the chief barracks. The large, bare room +was turned over to us for certain hours; the workers +closed the canteen and attended the services. 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 pictures. +In fact, I found the Y. M. C. A. here, as everywhere, +most eager to coöperate with me and to serve the +Jews as well as the Christians in the army. My cantor +for most of the services was Corporal Cohen of +New York, although several other men volunteered +for certain portions of the prayers. The head usher +was Sergeant Wolf, who looked after the hall and the +seating with the thoroughness characteristic of sergeants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +everywhere. Among the congregation were +ten officers, two nurses, and three families of French +Jews, as well as a mixed group of enlisted men from +every branch in the army, from every section of +America and every group of Jewry. The festival +had caught us in a foreign land, in the service of +America, and it had brought us together as nothing +else could have done.</p> + +<p>We wore our hats during the service because that +was the natural desire of the majority, who were of +orthodox upbringing. Of course, a soldier naturally +wears his overseas cap under any circumstances and +it would have needed a special ruling to bring them +off. The service was read out of the little prayer +book circulated by the Jewish Welfare Board, with +which about a fourth of the congregation were already +provided from the camps in the States. We +read the abbreviated Hebrew service, then about half +of the prayers in English, and had an English sermon. +The only objection to these innovations came +from the cantor, Corporal Cohen, a young man with +a traditional Jewish background, who had gathered +the other Jews in his company every Friday evening +for a brief service and was generally looked up to +(although not always followed) as a religious leader. +My only way of convincing him was to inquire among +some of the other men as to the number who did not +understand Hebrew. 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 rank.</p> + +<p>I was much amused after the several services at +the number of young men who came to me, complaining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +about Cohen's rendering of the services and +boasting of their own ability. 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 reader, +quite possible to find one who reads with feeling +and understanding, but utterly impossible to pick +up in the army a cantor with a trained voice.</p> + +<p>Our arrangements were made under the approval +of my commanding officer, the senior chaplain of the +post, and few features of our service were more appreciated +than the address of Chaplain Stull at our +services on the second day of the festival. I had hesitated +to invite him, 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 service: two years before on the Mexican +Border, the year before in training camp in the +States and now in the American Forces in France, +Chaplain Stull was a regular army chaplain of eighteen +years standing, and his membership in the +Methodist Episcopal church was less conspicuous +in his makeup than his long experience in army +life. His sermon was one of the outstanding events +of our holy season. 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 rear. His moral interpretation of the +significance of each man to the whole army +was the sort of thing that the soldier needs and likes.</p> + +<p>These services were unusual in that they were the +first holy season which most of the men had spent +away from home. The war was still on then; the St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +Mihiel drive took place the day after Rosh Hashana; +the news from the front was usually good +and always thrilling. We at the rear were deeply +stirred. Some of us had been wounded and were +now recovering; some were in training and were +soon to leave for the front; some were in the S. O. S. +permanently. But the shadow of war was dark upon +us all. We were in the uncertainty, the danger, +the horror of it. We felt a personal thrill at the +words of the prayers,—"Who are to live and who to +die; who by the sword and who by fire." We +recited with personal fervor the memorial prayer for +our fallen comrades. Many among us were eager +to give thanks at recovery from wounds. Therefore, +the desire for a religious observance of our +solemn days was all the greater. Men came +in from a hundred miles, often walking ten miles to a +train before they could ride the rest.</p> + +<p>Brothers, long separated, often met by chance, +soon to separate again for an unknown future. I +remember two—one a veteran of two battles, now +convalescing at a hospital, the other newly arrived +from the States and still in training. They met on +Rosh Hashanah, each ignorant of the other's whereabouts +and the veteran not even knowing whether +his brother had arrived in France. The touching +scene of their reunion had its humorous side too, for +the wounded soldier from the hospital naturally had +not a franc in his possession, and the boy from the +States had enough money for a real holiday and +had reserved a hotel room with a luxurious French +bed. He was thus able to act as host for two happy +days and nights. But on Yom Kippur when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +wounded soldier came again his brother was not +there. His unit had been ordered to the front and +I do not know whether they ever met again.</p> + +<p>War had us all in its iron grip. I, for one, +expected soon to have my request granted that I +be assigned to a combat division. Not that I overlooked +the need for Jewish work in the S. O. S., but +the most pressing need at that time was at the front, +and I was looking forward to taking up the more +exacting duties there.</p> + +<p>The three Jewish families of the city added a +pathetic touch, for they were glad indeed to attend a +Jewish service and for the sake of the soldiers were +willing to sit through our English additions. Their +situation seemed similar to that of most recent immigrants +of the United States; the parents spoke +both Yiddish and French, the young people like +ours in America, spoke chiefly the language of the +country. 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 daughters. It was often their first chance +for a word with a girl of their own class, certainly +with a Jewish girl, since they had left America. +And the fact that the girl with her familiar appearance +could not communicate with them on a +conversational basis, did not seem to impede their +relations in the least. The isolated condition of +these French Jews in a city of 30,000 can only be +compared to that of American Jews in a country village.</p> + +<p>While at Nevers I could not overlook the opportunity +to visit the two great hospital centers at +Mars and at Mesves sur Loire. I visited from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +ward to ward in both of them, paying special attention +to the Jewish boys and finding always plenty of +occasion for favors of a hundred different kinds. +At that time we were short of chaplains of all denominations +in the army, so that even the hospitals +had not enough to minister fully to their thousands +of sick and wounded, while the convalescent camps +with their hundreds of problems were almost uncared +for in this respect.</p> + +<p>At Mars I held a service on Friday night which +was fairly typical of conditions in France. The +service was announced as a Jewish religious service, +but on my arrival I found the Red Cross room +crowded with men of every type, including four +negroes in the front row. Evidently it was the +only place the men had outside the wards, so they +came there every night for the show, movie, or +service which might be provided. They were not +merely respectful to the service and the minority of +Jews who took part in it. 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 abroad. +These wounded men from the lines, these medical +corpsmen who might never see the front, were alike +eager to feel the part they personally were playing +in the great, chaotic outlines of the world-wide +struggle. And they responded to a Jewish service +with an interest which I soon found was typical of +the soldier, in his restless attention, his open-mindedness, +his intolerance of cant but love of +genuine religion.</p> + +<p>The meetings and partings of war-time came home +to me several times at Nevers. I was called to see a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +young man in the hospital, suffering from spinal +meningitis. I found him a highly intelligent boy +from Chicago who knew a number of my old friends +there. 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 leave, but simply +locked up in the contagious ward. 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 common. At another +time I was approached at the Y. M. C. A. by +one of their women workers who had heard my name +announced. She turned out to be a Mrs. Campbell of +my old home town, Sioux City, Iowa, and an acquaintance +of my mother through several charity boards +of which they both were members. She was acting +as instructor in French and advisor to the American +soldiers in Nevers, while her husband, Prof. Campbell +of Morningside College, was on the French front +with the French auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A.</p> + +<p>Another interesting incident was my meeting with +Mr. Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, then touring +France as a member of the National Council of +Defense. The Y. M. C. A. secretary asked me to +introduce him to a soldier audience in one of their +huts. The first day I came, however, Mr. Rosenwald +was delayed and the boys had to put up with a new +film of Douglas Fairbanks in his stead, like good +soldiers accepting the substitution gladly enough. +On the second day Mr. Rosenwald himself was there +and I had the pleasure of introducing him to an +audience of about five hundred soldiers, as varied +a group as ever wore the American uniform. His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +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 home. +He called for a show of hands of the home states of +the different men, then responded by reading letters +and telegrams from governors and other local officials. +Mr. Rosenwald was one of the very few official +travelers in France whose trip was not merely +informative to himself but also valuable to the army. +We in the army grew to dislike "joy riders" so +heartily that it is a positive pleasure to mention +such a conspicuous exception.</p> + +<p>Another duty typical of the variety of tasks which +welcomed me as a chaplain, was to conduct the +defense of a Jewish boy at a general court martial. +He asked to see me during the holydays, told me his +story, and I stayed over in Nevers a few days to act +as his counsel. Since that time I have frequently +been called on for advice in similar cases, for an +army chaplain has almost as many legal and medical +duties as strictly religious ones. 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 +worked. He was only a boy, a volunteer who had +falsified his age in order to enlist. According to +his own story he was partially involved in the case, +acting ignorantly as agent for the real criminal.</p> + +<p>The trial was quite fair, bringing out the circumstantial +evidence against him, and his sentence was +as low as could possibly be expected. So, with memories +of friendships made, of work accomplished, of a +new world opening ahead, I left Nevers on September<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +20th after only eighteen days of service. I had to +report at Chaumont again to receive my orders to +join the 27th Division.</p> + +<p>For two months after that no Jewish chaplain was +stationed in the Intermediate Section, which covered +the entire central part of France and contained +many thousands of American troops, including +everywhere a certain proportion of Jews. Then +Chaplain Rabinowitz reported at Nevers temporarily +and served for his entire time in France in +various points in the Intermediate Section, at +Nevers, Blois and at St. Aignan.</p> + +<p>I had been thrust into the midst of this tremendous, +crying need for service of every kind, +religious, personal and military. I went to my +division to find the same or greater need, as the +situation was always more tense at the actual front. +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 France. Now I +left them for good. Their usual greeting on meeting +me had been, "You are the first Jewish chaplain +or worker we have met on this side." And unfortunately, +the same greeting was addressed to me +every time I came to a new unit or city until the +very day I left France. The need among these two +million soldiers was so tremendous that a hundred +times our resources would not have been sufficient. +As it was, we made no pretense at covering the +field, but simply did day labor wherever we were +stationed, serving the soldiers, Jews and Christians +alike, and giving our special attention to the religious +services and other needs of the Jewish men.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>AT THE FRONT WITH THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DIVISION</h3> + + +<p>I reached my division on the first of October, +1918, after a tedious ten days on the way. I +traveled most of the way with Lieutenant Colonel +True, whom I met on the train coming out of +Chaumont. I found that the higher ranking officers +invariably approached the chaplains not as officers +of inferior rank but as leaders of a different kind, +much as a prominent business man treats his minister +in civil life. Colonel True was a regular army +man of long standing who was being transferred +from another division to the Twenty-Seventh. +When we arrived at the Hotel Richmond, the +Y. M. C. A. hotel for officers in Paris, we found only +one room available with a double bed, and so for the +first time in my life I had the honor of sleeping +with a Lieutenant Colonel. 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 St. Mihiel drive. Colonel True had received +his promotion from a majority and his transfer +before the drive, but had not reported until he had +gone through the whole fight at the head of his battalion. +I mention this not as a striking, but strictly +as a typical proceeding on the part of the average +American officer.</p> + +<p>For a few days we were held at the Replacement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +Camp at Eu in Normandy—an idyllic spot within +sight of the English Channel, surrounded by gentle +hills. While there I made several trips to Tréport, +a favorite summer resort on the Channel before +the war. It is a quaint little fishing village +with a typical modern summer resort superimposed. +The old stone Norman cottages with their high roofs +always had a touch of decoration somewhere, in +mosaic, paint or stained glass, different from the +plainer architecture of Central France. The modern +part consists of several beautiful hotels and a +number of cheap restaurants and curio shops. Of +course, the hotels were all used by the British Army +as hospitals at this time. I visited Base Hospital 16, +a Philadelphia Unit, which was loaned to the British. +I had a delightful talk with our Red Cross Chaplain +and made a tour of many of the wards. The patients +were almost all British with a few Americans from +the August campaign in Flanders. Among the rest +I met about a dozen Jewish boys, English and +Australian, who were naturally delighted by the +rare visit of a Jewish Chaplain. The eight Jewish +Chaplains in the British Expeditionary Forces were +attached to the various Army Headquarters, and so +had to cover impossible areas in their work. The +nearest one to Tréport was Rabbi Geffen at +Boulogne with whom I afterward came into communication, +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 Forces.</p> + +<p>Hospital visiting is dreary work, especially when +there is action going on from which one is separated. +The work is exhausting physically, walking up and +down the long wards and stopping by bedsides. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +is especially a drain on the nerves and sympathies, +to see so many sick and mutilated boys—boys in age +most of them, certainly boys in spirit—and giving +oneself as the need arises. And in a hospital so +many men have requests. They are helpless and it +is always impossible to have enough visitors and +enough chaplains for them. I was glad to be useful +at Tréport but gladder still when the word came +through to release all troops in the Second Corps +Replacement Depot.</p> + +<p>We were loaded on a train, the soldiers in box-cars +of the familiar type ("40 men or 8 horses") with +the little group of officers crowded together in a +single first-class coach. Broken windows, flat +wheels and no lights showing—we were beginning +to feel that we were in the war zone. From Eu to +Peronne took from 4:30 <span class="smcap">A. M.</span> to 9:30 <span class="smcap">P. M.</span> with +three changes of trains and ten additional stops. +We got only a short view of the railroad station at +Amiens, at that time almost completely destroyed. +Our division was then in the British area on the +Somme sector, and at the time of our arrival they +had just come out of the great victory at the Hindenburg +Line.</p> + +<p>Our first ruined city was Peronne, which will +never leave my memory. The feeling of a ruined +town is absolutely indescribable, for how can one +imagine a town with neither houses nor people, +where the very streets have often been destroyed? +This situation contradicts our very definition of a +town, for a town is made of streets, houses and +people; no imagination can quite grasp the reality +of war and ruin without its actual experience. And +Peronne was much more striking than most cities in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +the war zone; it had been fought through six +different times, and its originally stately public +buildings showed only enough to impress us with the +ruin that had been wrought. Only one wall of one +end of the church was standing, with two fine Gothic +arches, only one side of the building on the square +and so on through the whole town. We became +inured to the sight of ruined villages later on, but +the first shock of seeing Peronne will be indelible.</p> + +<p>The headquarters of the division were then located +at the Bois de Buire, about ten miles out, though for +almost a half day we could find nobody to give us +exact directions. At last Lieutenant Colonel H. S. +Sternberger, the division quartermaster, put in an +appearance and offered to take me and Lieutenant +Colonel True up to headquarters in his car. The +rest of our party had all wandered off by then in the +direction of their various units. Colonel Sternberger +was the highest ranking officer at the time +among the thousand Jews in the Twenty-Seventh +Division. Lieutenant Colonel Morris Liebman of +the 106th Infantry, also a Jew, had been killed in +action in Flanders six weeks before, a loss which was +very deeply felt in his regiment. Colonel Sternberger +was one of the popular staff officers of the +division owing to his indefatigable labors for the +welfare of the boys. 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 time. While I was with the division, +Colonel Sternberger proved both a staunch personal +friend and an active ally in my work.</p> + +<p>It took more than a day to become acquainted +with the camouflaged offices in the woods. Small<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +huts, with semicircular iron roofs covered with +branches, were scattered about among the trees. +Some of them had signs, Division Adjutant, Commanding +General, and the rest; others were billets. +I invariably lost my way when I went to lunch and +wandered for some minutes before finding "home." +"Home" was a hut exactly like the rest, where the +French mission and the gas officer had their offices +during the day and where six of us slept at night. I +fell heir to the cot of one of the interpreters then +home on leave, Georges Lévy, who afterward became +one of my best friends. My baggage had disappeared +on the trip, so that I had only my hand bag +with the little it could hold. My first need, naturally, +was for blankets to cover the cot. I collected these +from various places, official and otherwise, until the +end of the month found me plentifully provided. I +must admit that the first cool nights in the woods +forced me to sleep in my clothes. Naturally, my first +task was to wire for my baggage, but it had completely +vanished and did not return for four long +months. Everybody lost his possessions at some +time during the war; I was unique only in losing +them at the outset and not seeing them until the +whole need for them was over.</p> + +<p>The boys had just come out of the line, worn out, +with terrible losses, but after a great victory such +as occurs only a few times in any war. They had +broken the Hindenburg Line, that triple row of +trenches and barbed wire, with its concrete pill-boxes, +its enfilading fire from machine guns, its intricate +and tremendous system of defenses. I +crossed the line many times during the month that +followed and never failed to marvel that human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +beings could ever have forced it. The famous tunnel +of the St. Quentin Canal was in our sector, too, +as well as part of the canal itself. 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 cellars.</p> + +<p>One wall always bore the name of the former +village in large letters, which became still larger +and more striking in the territory near the Hindenburg +Line, so long occupied by the Germans. I +used to repay the generous Tommies for their rides +on the constant stream of trucks (we called them +"lorries," like the English) by translating the numerous +German signs at railroad crossings and the +like, about which they always had much curiosity.</p> + +<p>One could travel anywhere on main roads by waiting +until a truck came along and then hailing it. If +the seat was occupied there was usually some room +in the rear, and the British drivers were always +glad to take one on and equally glad to air their views +on the war. When one came to a cross road, he +jumped off, hailed the M. P. (Military Police) for directions +and took the next truck which was going in +the proper direction. In that way I have often traveled +on a dozen trucks in a day, with stop-overs and +occasional walks of a few miles to fill in the gaps. +Between a map, a compass and the M. P.'s, we always +managed to circulate and eventually find our +way home again.</p> + +<p>We saw the heavy guns lumbering on their way +to the front, the aëroplanes humming overhead like +a swarm of dragon-flies. Day and night we could +hear the rumble of guns like distant thunder, while +at night the flashes showed low on the horizon like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +heat lightning. Our salvage depot was at Tincourt +at the foot of the hill, and when I went over there +Corporal Klein and Sergeant Friedlander were +quick to repair gaps in my equipment. One night +I witnessed the division musical comedy (the +"Broadway Boys") in an old barn at Templeux +le Fosse, where we walked in the dark, found the +place up an alley and witnessed a really excellent +performance with costumes, scenery and real orchestra. +In the middle of an act, an announcement +would be made that all men of the third battalion, +108th Infantry, should report back at once, and a +group of fellows would rise and file out for the five-mile +hike back in the darkness: they were to move up +to the front before morning.</p> + +<p>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 action. Unfortunately, almost every time +I arranged for a service and appeared to hold it the +"outfit" would already be on the move. The best +service I held was at the village of Buire, where +about forty boys gathered together under the trees +among the ruined houses. They were a deeply devotional +group, told me about their holyday services +conducted by a British army chaplain at Doulens, +about their fallen comrades for whom they wanted to +repeat the memorial prayers, and about their own +narrow escapes for which they were eager to offer +thanks. They had the deep spiritual consciousness +which comes to most men in moments of great peril.</p> + +<p>I managed to reach most of the infantry regiments, +however, by hiking down from the woods and sometimes +catching a ride. Everywhere was action. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +was the breathing space between our two great +battles of the war. Every unit was hoping and expecting +a long rest. But that hope could not be +fulfilled. 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 ahead. +So the rest of the Twenty-Seventh Division was +brief indeed. Every regiment was starting for the +front with no replacements after the terrific +slaughter of two weeks before, with very little new +equipment and practically no rest. And the front +was now further away than it had been. The success +of the allied forces meant longer marches for +our tired troops.</p> + +<p>All the villages were devastated in this area. It +was the section between Peronne and the old Hindenburg +Line. Not until we came to the German side +of the Hindenburg Line did we find the villages +in any sort of repair. The men lived in cellars +without roofs, in rooms without walls or sometimes +in barracks which were constructed by either of the +opposing armies during the long years of the struggle. +Of course, 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 Gerard.</p> + +<p>One day I "lorried" up to the division cemeteries +near the old battlefield, which were being laid out +by a group of chaplains with a large detail of enlisted +men. 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 marked. I got to know the country +about Bellicourt and Bony, where our heaviest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +fighting had taken place. I heard the story of the +eight British tanks, lying helpless at the top of +the long ridge near Bony, where they had run upon +a mine field. I got to know the "Ausies," always +the best friends and great admiration of our soldiers, +with their dashing courage and reckless heroism, +and the "Tommies," those steady, matter-of-fact +workmen at the business of war, whom our boys +could never quite understand.</p> + +<p>Finally our headquarters moved forward, too. 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 scouts. At last, finding the quarry, +I met a boy I knew, who took me to the dugout where +the senior chaplain was sleeping. I crawled into +a vacant bunk, made myself at home and left the +next morning for good. The quarry did not appeal +to me when wet; one was too likely to slide from the +top to the bottom and stay there; and I had no desire +to test its advantages when dry. The next time I +came back to headquarters they were in the village +of Joncourt, beyond the Hindenburg Line, in territory +which we had released from the Germans. The +chief attraction of Joncourt was an occasional roof—of +course, there were no windows. The cemetery +had been used as a "strong point" by the retreating +Germans, who had scattered the bodies about and +used the little vaults as pill-boxes in which to mount +machine guns. And our message center was located +in a German dugout fully fifty feet underground; +evidently plenty of precautions had been taken +against allied air raids. In fact, from this point +on every house in every village had a conspicuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +sign, telling of the <i>Fliegerschutz</i> for a certain +number of men in its cellar. In addition, the placard +told the number of officers, men and horses which +could be accommodated with billets on the premises. +Evidently, the Germans in laying out their permanently +occupied territory, went about it in their +usual business-like fashion.</p> + +<p>But between my glimpses of these various headquarters, +I was at the front with the troops going +into the trenches and had had a glimpse of war. My +first experience under fire was in some woods near +Maretz, where I spent part of the night with one +battalion, as they paused before going into the +trenches. I finished the night on the floor of a house +in the village, having grown accustomed enough to +the sound of the shells to sleep in spite of it. Like +most people I had wondered how one feels under +fire, and experienced a queer sensation when I first +heard the long whine of a distant shell culminating +in a sudden explosion. Now I realized that I was +under fire, too. But I speedily found that one feels +more curiosity than fear under long-distance fire; +real fear comes chiefly when the shells begin to land +really near by. I was to experience that, too, a little +later. In fact, I found out soon that every soldier +is frightened; a good soldier is simply one who does +his duty in spite of fear.</p> + +<p>Then a report came in that Chaplain John Ward, +of the 108th Infantry, had been seriously wounded +and I was sent to take his place with the unit. In +a push the chaplain works with the wounded; after +it, with the dead. Of many sad duties at the front, +his is perhaps the saddest of all. My first station +was with the third battalion headquarters and aid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +post in a big white house set back in a little park +in the tiny village of Escaufourt, a mile or so behind +the lines. Captain Merrill was in command +of the battalion and one could see how the work and +responsibility wore on him day by day, reducing the +round, cheerful soldier for the time almost to a +whispering, tottering old man. But his spirit held +him to the task; he slept for only a few minutes at a +time, and then was back at work again. A conscientious +man can have no more exacting duty than +this, to care for the lives of a thousand men.</p> + +<p>We were under constant fire there, though not +under observation, but the little ambulances ran up +to the gate of the château for the wounded, who had +to walk or be carried in and out from the house to the +gate. We ate upstairs in the stately dining room +at times, though we usually ate and always slept +in the crowded cellar where the major and his staff +were housed. There eight or nine of us would sit on +our brick seats and sleep with our backs against the +wall, being awakened from time to time by a messenger +coming in or by the ringing of the field telephone +in the corner. The telephone operator was +always testing one or another connection, day +and night, for the emergency when it would be +needed.</p> + +<p>One night companies H and I of the 108th Infantry +were almost completely wiped out by gas. They +were in low lying trenches by the side of the canal +under a constant fire of gas shells, while the damp +weather kept the dangerous fumes near the ground. +They had no orders to evacuate to a safer post and +no human being can live forever in a gas mask, so +one after another the men yielded to temptation, took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +off their masks for momentary relief, and inhaled +the gas-laden air. All evening and night they kept +coming in by twos and threes to our aid post, the +stronger ones walking, the rest on stretchers. +Their clothing reeked of the sickeningly sweet odor. +The room was soon full of it, so that we had to +blow out the candles and open the door for a few +minutes to avoid being gassed ourselves. There +were three ambulances running that night to the +Main Dressing Station, and I made it my task to +meet each car, notify the doctor and bring the gassed +and wounded men out to the ambulance. Most of +them were blinded for the time being by the effect +of the gas. No light was possible, as that would +have drawn fire at once. Every ten minutes through +the night our village was shelled, and in walking +the forty or fifty yards through the park to the gate, +I had to make two detours with my blinded men to +avoid fresh shell-holes made that very afternoon. 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 ambulances. The +final touch came when a youngster of perhaps seventeen +entered the aid post alone, walking painfully. +"What outfit are you from, sonny?" was my natural +greeting. "I am the last man left in Company H," +was the proud reply.</p> + +<p>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 defending, +and that troops, safely withdrawn a hundred +yards or more, can be moved forward again +quickly enough the moment the gas lifts. The English +had had the same lesson more than once until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +they learned it thoroughly; so had the Germans; +now our armies, with their examples before us, had +to learn it again through the suffering of our own +soldiers. Our division was not the only one in which +the same or a similar blunder cost the men so dearly, +for I have read the same incident of more than one +unit on other parts of the American line, and have +had them verified by officers who were present at +those other catastrophes. In the art of war the instruction +of the generals costs the lives of the +soldiers.</p> + +<p>We had the peculiar experience of seeing the village +which we had entered in good condition crumbling +about us under the enemy fire. Even the windows +were intact when we reached it; the Germans +were just out, and our artillery had been outstripped +completely in the forward rush. Under the constant +pounding of back area fire, designed to prevent +ammunition and supplies coming up to the line unmolested, +our little village lost windows, roofs and +walls, disintegrating steadily into a heap of ruins.</p> + +<p>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 +catastrophe. At last they had to leave, as the danger +to them was too direct and, in addition, they constituted +a hidden menace to our troops in case even +one of them had been left behind as a spy. I went +with a party of Australians and a few of our men to +the houses in the outskirts of the town, where the +greatest danger existed. I remember the utterly +disconsolate attitude of two old men and a little +old woman in one of them, when they were told +they had to leave. They seemed numb in the midst<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +of all the rush and roar of warfare. Their little possessions +were there, they were of the peasant type +and had probably never been out of the district in +their lives. The advance of the enemy in 1914 had +been accompanied by no fighting near their homes, +and now the allied victory, the one hope of their +country, was the one thing that bore destruction to +their little village and tore them away from the spot +where they were rooted.</p> + +<p>One evening I joined a ration party going forward +and visited the lines and advanced headquarters +at St. Souplet, hearing the peculiar whistle +of a sniper's bullet pass me as I made my way back +after dusk. One of the boys carrying a heavy bag +of hardtack had a sore shoulder, not quite well +from a previous wound. So I shouldered his bag +for a decidedly weary mile of skulking along a +sunken road and hurrying across the occasional +open spaces. When we came to his unit I was +glad to turn the bag over to him; I felt no pleasure +in such lumpy burden, and would far rather have +worn out my shoulder with something more appreciated +by the boys than hardtack,—the one thing +which nobody enjoyed but which was eaten only +because they were desperately hungry. On the night +of October 16th we all moved over, preparatory to +the push across the Selle River. We installed ourselves +in the large building at the cross roads, where +the aid post was stationed. I joined a group of +sleepers on the cellar floor, picking my way in the +darkness to find a vacant spot. My trench coat on +the plank floor made a really luxurious bed.</p> + +<p>The next morning, October 17th, I was awakened +at 5:20 by the barrage; the boys were going over;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the battle of the Selle River had began. By six +o'clock the wounded began to flow in, at first by +twos and threes, then in a steady stream. They +came walking wearily along or were carried on the +shoulders of German prisoners or occasionally by +our own men. As we were at the crossroads, we got +most of the wounded, English, German and American, +as well as a great deal of the shelling with +which back areas are always deluged during an attack. +In this case, our post was just behind the +lines at first, 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 top. They stormed the heights across the +stream after wading it in the first rush, and then +went on across the hills and fields.</p> + +<p>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 front. +Our task with that of the Thirtieth Division on our +right was to cross the Selle River and advance +toward the Sambre Canal. On our left were British +troops, while we were supported by Australian artillery +and the British Air Service. In our first +great battle, that of the Hindenburg Line, the "Ausies" +had acted as the second wave, coming up +just in time to save some of the hard pressed units +of our Division and to complete the success of our +assault. So we knew them well enough and were +glad indeed to have their excellent artillery to put +over the barrage for our second attack.</p> + +<p>The Australians and, in fact, all the British Colonial +troops, had much more in common with the +American soldiers than had the British troops themselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +They were like our men, young, hardy, dashing. +They were all volunteers. They had a type +of discipline of their own, which included saluting +their own officers when they wanted to and never +saluting British officers under any circumstances. +I took a natural pride in hearing of their commanding +officer, Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, +who held the highest rank of any Jew in the war. +It was no little honor to be the commander of those +magnificent troops from Australia.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile we were busy at the first aid post. I +found myself the only person at hand who could +speak any German, so I took charge of the door, with +a group of prisoners to carry the wounded in and +out and load them in the ambulances. 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 front. Our +opponents here were chiefly Wurtembergers, young +boys of about twenty, although one regiment of Prussian +marines was among them. Among the first +prisoners were two German physicians who offered +to assist ours in the work. They worked all day, +one in our aid post, the other in that of the 107th +Infantry, side by side with our surgeons and doing +excellent work for Americans and Germans alike. +They picked their own assistants from among their +captured medical corpsmen, and were strictly professional +in their attitude throughout. One of them +was Dr. Beckhard, a Jew from Stuttgart, with whom +I had a few snatches of conversation and whom I +should certainly like to meet again under more congenial +circumstances. I was amused in the midst +of it all when the doctor noticed his brother, an artilleryman,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +coming in as one of the endless file of +stretcher bearers, carrying wounded in gray or olive +drab. The doctor asked me whether he might take +his brother as one of his assistants for the day. +"Is he any good?" I asked. "Oh, yes," was the +answer, "as good as any medical orderly." So I +gave permission and the two, together with a real +medical orderly and another young prisoner as interpreter, +ran one room of the first aid post in their +own way. I kept an American soldier on guard there +chiefly to be prepared for any eventualities; as a +matter of fact the German surgeons treated American +wounded and American surgeons treated German +wounded with the same impartial spirit. The +two physicians joined the other prisoners at the +end of the day bearing letters of appreciation written +by Captain Miller, the surgeon in charge of our +post.</p> + +<p>About a year later when communication with Germany +was opened again, I found that this chance +meeting at the front proved an odd means of communication +with my German cousins. When Dr. +Beckhard returned to Stuttgart he lectured on his +experiences at the front, mentioning among other +things that he had met an American Rabbi by the +name of Levinger. 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 Wurtemberg, so that shortly after the actual experience +they knew of my being in the army and +serving at the front.</p> + +<p>Only the small Ford ambulances could come as +near the front as our post, while the larger ones +came only to the Advanced Dressing Station at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +Busigny. These smaller ambulances were unable to +accommodate the constant stream of gassed and +wounded men coming from the lines. Those who +had minor wounds, especially in the arms, had to +be directed along the proper road according to that +ironical term, "walking wounded." Cases which +in civil life would be carried to an ambulance, given +full treatment, and then driven gently to the nearest +hospital, were here given emergency dressings and +told, "The Advanced Dressing Station is two miles +down that road, boys. Walk slow and don't miss +the sign telling where to turn to the left." Other +more serious cases for whom there was no room in +ambulances, at the moment were carried on +stretchers by prisoners. I would assemble three or +four such cases, take a revolver left by some +wounded officer or non-com, and give it to a "walking +wounded" with instructions to "see that they get +safely to the next point." Naturally, these boys +with minor wounds of their own were safe guardians +to see that the German prisoners did their +duty. I can still see their grins as they assured +me: "Those fellows are sure going to stick on the +job, sir. I'll say they will!" The attitude of the +slightly wounded men was often full of grim humor. +I remember one Australian carried in on a stretcher +who called me to his side with their customary +"Here, Yank," and when I responded handed me +very gravely a Mills bomb which he had used to +overawe his captive bearers, apparently threatening +to blow them up with himself should they prove +insubordinate.</p> + +<p>A constant worry of mine were the weapons which +the wounded men dropped in front or within the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +aid post. Knowing that all army supplies would +be reissued to them on release from the hospital, the +soldiers did not care to carry heavy rifles or even revolvers +and bombs back with them. The result was +a pile of weapons at just the point where my +prisoner stretcher-bearers could have easy access +to them. I kept an M. P. busy much of the time +removing these to a place of comparative safety.</p> + +<p>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 ambulances. 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 necessities, which +come back to memory in later days with the full +measure of ghastly detail.</p> + +<p>The chaplain is the handy man at the front, one +of the few who is not limited by special duties or +confined to a particular spot. He works forward or +backward as the need exists. He ladles out hot +chocolate with the Red Cross, carries a stretcher +with the Medical Corps, ties up a bandage when that +is needed, and prays for Jew and Christian alike. +I ministered to a number of Jewish and Christian +soldiers who were dying, leading the Jews in the +traditional confession of faith, and reading a psalm +for the Protestants. One of the surgeons came to +me and said, "Captain Connor here is dying, and +Chaplain Hoffman our priest is at Battalion Headquarters +acting as interpreter to examine some +prisoners. What can we do?" So I borrowed the +surgeon's rosary and held the cross to the lips of +the dying Catholic. This incident, so impossible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +in civil life, is really expected among soldiers,—it +has been repeated so many times and in so many +different ways.</p> + +<p>We were constantly under heavy shell fire, as our +place at the cross roads was not only convenient +of access, but was also the only route for bringing +supplies and ammunition to our part of the front. +Once as I was in the middle of the road with several +prisoners loading stretchers on an ambulance, a shell +burst in a pool about twenty feet away, covering us +with a shower of mud. My prisoners, who had a +wholesome respect for their own artillery, could +hardly be prevented from dropping the stretcher. +However, we were too near the explosion to be hurt, +as the fragments flew over our heads, killing one boy +and wounding four others across the street. One +of the wounded was an American runner from the +front, who was enjoying a hasty bite at the army +field kitchen around the corner. 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 +lunch. The man who was killed was standing +about seventy-five feet from the spot of the +explosion beside the motor-cycle which he drove, +waiting for his commanding officer to come and use +the side-car. He pitched forward as though falling +to avoid the explosion, just as we would have done +if we had not been holding a stretcher. When he +did not rise, 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 helmet.</p> + +<p>And so the work went on. The next day we heard +of some wounded who had not yet been brought in +from Bandival Farm. Chaplain Burgh of the 107th<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +Infantry and I gathered together a few volunteers of +our ambulance men and several prisoners to go out +and carry them in. It was about a mile and a half +out across the battlefield under intermittent shell +fire. I placed my captured Luger revolver, which +one of the boys had brought me the day before, in a +conspicuous position with the handle projecting +from my front pocket. I had had the thing unloaded +as soon as I got it because I preferred not +to run any unnecessary risks. Being a non-combatant +both by orders and inclination, I was afraid it +might go off. But my prisoners did not know that +and so I had no difficulty in silencing their muttered +protests against such a hard and dangerous hike. +Working prisoners under fire like this was strictly +against international law, but that sort of a provision +we violated frankly and cheerfully. On the way +back with our wounded across the muddy and shell-pitted +fields, we passed German machine gun emplacements +with the dead gunners still beside the +guns, Americans lying with their faces toward the +enemy, and constant heaps of supplies of all kinds +strewn about. One of our stretchers was put down +for a moment's rest near such a scattered group of +German knapsacks. One of the prisoners asked if +he might help himself, 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 rations, the little sweetish crackers +which they carried instead of our hard tack.</p> + +<p>On the third day of the attack I joined two men +of the Intelligence Department in walking out to +the front line, then over five miles from the village. +It was a hard hike through the mud and about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +shell holes. Finally we found our friends dug in +(for the fourth time that day) on a little ridge. +Each time their temporary trenches had been completed +orders had come either for a short retreat +or a further advance, and now by the middle of the +afternoon the boys were digging another at the +place where they were to stay till the next morning. +Across the ravine in a little wood the Germans +were hanging on for the time being until their artillery +could be saved. I visited the 108th Infantry +in reserve and emptied my musette bag of the sacks +of Bull Durham which I had brought along from +the Red Cross. Then the boys wanted matches, +which I had forgotten, and their gratitude was lost +in their disgust.</p> + +<p>I found Captain Merrill with his staff inspecting +two captured German 77's, on which they had just +placed the name of their unit. By that time, after +three consecutive battles without replacements, our +units were so depleted that a regiment had only 250 +rifles in the line instead of the original 3,000. Captain +Merrill's battalion consisted on that day of +87 riflemen. Just as we finished our inspection of +the guns the enemy artillery started "strafing" +again, so we jumped into a shell-hole which had +been hollowed out into convenient form and finished +our conversation there. I then visited some of the +107th Infantry in the front line rifle pits, one hundred +yards or so ahead, and turned back again +toward the village.</p> + +<p>I was just losing my way among the hills with +approaching twilight, when I met an Australian artillery +train on their way back for supplies, and +climbed on a limber to ride into town. It was a wild<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +ride, with the rough roads and the drivers' habit of +trotting over the spots where shell-holes showed +that danger might linger. I held on in quite unmilitary +fashion and wondered if the horse behind +would be careful when I fell. But they brought me +in safely and added one more means of locomotion +to the dozens which I had utilized at various times: +ammunition "lorries," ambulances, side-cars and +even a railway locomotive—everything in fact except +a tank.</p> + +<p>The next day we breathed more freely again. +Our tired boys, reduced in numbers, weakened in +physical resistance, but going forward day after day +as their orders came, were at last to go out of the +lines. Their job was done; they had reached the +Sambre Canal; and though we did not know it, they +were not to go into battle again. I lorried back to +Joncourt, the temporary division headquarters, for +the night, changed my clothes, slept in a borrowed +cot, read a very heartening pile of home letters +which had accumulated for some weeks, and returned +to St. Souplet the next day for the burial detail. +It was the 21st of October; while the division as a +whole marched back to the railhead, five chaplains +with a detail of a hundred and fifty men stayed behind +for the sad work that remained to be done.</p> + +<p>At this time I stopped off at the 108th Infantry +for a few minutes, as they halted for a meal after +coming out of the lines, and had my orderly, David +Lefkowitz, detached from his unit to serve with +me for my entire remaining period with the division. +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 assistant.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +The order assigning him to this special work +was made out before we left the woods at Buire. +But our various units were so depleted at the time +that I arranged to leave him with his "outfit" for +the battle. It was a serious deprivation to me, 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 work. Now +that the fighting was over, 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 France. He was one of the many +Jewish soldiers who welcomed the presence of a +chaplain and gladly coöperated in every possible +way to make my work successful.</p> + +<p>Chaplain Francis A. Kelley, in charge of our +burial work, laid out the cemetery on a hill overlooking +the village and the battlefield. The rest +of us searched the field with details of men, brought +in the bodies on limbers, searched and identified +them as well as possible. In doubtful cases the +final identification was made at the cemetery, where +men from every regiment were working and where +most soldiers would have some one to recognize them. +In addition, we buried German dead on the field, +marking the graves and keeping a record of their +location for the Graves Registration Service. A +hundred and fifty-two men were buried there at St. +Souplet, the last cemetery of the Twenty-Seventh +Division in their battle grounds of France. The +last body of all, found after the work had been finished +and the men released from duty, was buried +by us chaplains and the surgeon, who went out under +the leadership of Father Kelley and dug the grave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +ourselves. Every evening the six of us gathered +about our grate fire and relaxed from the grim business +of the day. If we had allowed ourselves to +dwell on it, we would have been incapable of carrying +on the work: it was so ghastly, so full of pathetic +and horrible details. We sang, played checkers, +argued on religion. Imagine us singing the "Darktown +Strutters' Ball," or discussing the fundamental +principles of Judaism and Christianity for several +hours! The five of us were all of different creeds, +too—Catholic, Baptist, Christian, Christian Scientist +and Jew. Our coöperation and our congeniality +were typical of the spirit of the service throughout.</p> + +<p>On the last day we held our burial service. We +gathered together at the cemetery with a large flag +spread out in the middle of the plot. I read a brief +Jewish service, followed by Chaplains Bagby and +Stewart in the Protestant and Father Kelley in the +Catholic burial service, and at the end the bugle +sounded "taps" for all those men of different faiths +lying there together. We could see and hear the +shells bursting beyond the hill, probably a hostile +scout had caught sight of us at work. Above floated +a British aëroplane. Some English soldiers working +on their burial plot nearby stopped their digging +and listened to our service.</p> + +<p>And so we said farewell to our lost comrades and +to the war at the same time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>AFTER THE ARMISTICE</h3> + + +<p>AFTER the burial work at St. Souplet was over, +great covered lorries took us back the sixty +miles or more to Corbie, in the vicinity of +Amiens, which was to be our rest area. We greeted +its paved streets, its fairly intact houses, its few +tiny shops, as the height of luxury. Here and there +a roof was destroyed or a wall down, for the enemy +had come within three miles of Corbie in their +drives earlier in the year. But we were in rest and +comparative plenty at last. We saw real civilians +again, not merely the few old people and little +children left behind in the towns we had liberated. +We had regular meals again and a chance to purchase +a few luxuries beside, such as French bread +at a shop and hard candy at the "Y." We no longer +heard the whine of the shell or whistle of the bullet, +nor smelled gas, nor slept in cellars. I was even +lucky enough to capture a thick spring mattress +which, with my blankets, made a bed that even a +certain staff colonel envied me. A home-made grate +in the fire-place fitted it for a tiny coal fire; the +window frames were re-covered with oiled paper; +we read the London Daily Mail in its Paris edition +only one day late, instead of seeing it every ten +days and then often two weeks out of date.</p> + +<p>My billet, which I obtained from the British town<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +major, was a tall, narrow house just off the principal +square, very pleasant indeed in dry weather. Its +chief defect was a huge shell-hole in the roof through +which the water poured in torrents when it rained, +so that we had to cover ourselves with our rubber +shelter-halves when we slept at night. The shell-hole, +however, was a constant source of fuel, and we +burned the laths and wood-work, of which small +pieces were lying all about the top floor, until we +found means to obtain a small but steady supply +of coal. The house afforded room, after I had +preëmpted it, for the Senior Chaplain of the Division, +the Division Burial Officer and myself, together +with our three orderlies.</p> + +<p>Even in dry weather there was some excitement +about the old house. There was the time when +some tipsy soldiers, seeing the light in the Senior +Chaplain's room late at night, mistook the place +for a café and came stumbling in for a drink. +When they saw the chaplain, they suddenly sobered +and accepted very gravely the drink of water he +offered them from his canteen. On another day the +old woman who owned the house came in with her +son, a French lieutenant, to take away her furniture. +We did not mind losing the pretty inlaid table—we +were soldiers and could stand that—but our mattresses +and chairs were a different matter. None +of us could argue with her torrential flow of French, +but Lieutenant Curtiss, the Burial Officer, suddenly +felt his real attack of flu redoubled in violence and +had to take to his mattress. So the old lady finally +relented sufficiently to leave us our beds and a +chair or two, while her son became our devoted +friend at the price of an American cigar.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>I think that I shall never forget Corbie, with its +narrow streets, its half-ruined houses, its great ancient +church of gray, with one transept a heap of +ruins, and the straight rows of poplars on both +sides of the Somme Canal,—a bit of Corot in the +mist of twilight. I remember the quiet, gray square +one day with the American band playing a medley +from the "Chocolate Soldier," for all the world +like a phonograph at home. I remember the great +memorial review of the division by General O'Ryan +in honor of our men who had fallen; the staff stood +behind the General at the top of a long, gentle +slope, with three villages in the distance, the church +looming up with its square, ruined tower, and the +men spread out before us, a vanishing mass of olive +drab against the dull shades of early winter.</p> + +<p>I remember the day when three of us chaplains +made the long trip back to our division cemeteries at +St. Emelie, Bony and Guillemont Farm to read the +burial service over those many graves, the result +of the terrible battle at the Hindenburg Line. Chaplain +Burgh, Protestant, of the 105th Infantry, Chaplain +Eilers, Catholic, of the 106th Infantry, and I +were sent back the fifty miles or more by automobile +for this duty. It happened that it rained +that day, as on most days, and the car was an open +one. 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 services, one holding his steel +helmet as an umbrella over the prayerbook from +which the other read, and then accepting the same +service in return. There was none of the panoply +of war, no bugle, firing party or parade, just the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +prayer uttered for each man in the faith to which +he was born or to which he had clung. We did not +even know the religion of every man buried there, +but we knew that our prayers would serve for all.</p> + +<p>We were lucky to be in Corbie on November 11th +when the armistice was signed. 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 Belgium. +It was a study that made us all drunk with enthusiasm. +We were under orders to move toward the +front again on the 9th of November and to enter +the lines once more on November 14th. The men +had had very little rest and no fresh troops had +come up to fill the losses made by wounds, exposure +and disease. Our men could never hold a full divisional +area now; only the knowledge of the +wonders they had already accomplished made us +consider it possible that they could fight again so +soon. Time after time when their strength and +spirit seemed both exhausted they had responded +and gone ahead. Now they deserved their rest.</p> + +<p>We greeted the good news very calmly; the German +prisoners were a little more elated; the French +went mad with ecstasy. It was the only time I +have ever seen Frenchmen drunk, heard them go +home after midnight singing patriotic songs out of +key. In Amiens, where several thousand of the +inhabitants had returned by that time, the few +restaurants were crowded and gaiety was unrestrained. +I heard a middle-aged British lieutenant +sing the "Marseillaise" with a pretty waitress in +the "Café de la Cathédral" the following evening, +and respond when asked to repeat it in the main<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +dining room. He returned to our side room decidedly +redder than he had gone out. "Why, the +whole British general staff's in there!" he gasped. +But he received only applause without a reprimand. +The war was over and for the moment all France +was overcome with joy and all the allied armies +with relief and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>After the armistice the front line work, with its +absorption on the problems of the wounded and the +dead, became a thing of the past. The chaplain +could now turn to the more normal aspects of his +work, to religious ministration, personal service, +advice and assistance in the thousands of cases +which came before him constantly. In fact, on the +whole his work became much the same as it had been +in training camp in the States. A few differences +persisted; in France the chaplain was without the +magnificent backing of the Jewish communities at +home, which were always so eager to assist in entertaining +and helping the Jewish men in the nearby +camps. The Jewish Welfare Board with its excellent +workers could never cover the entire field +as well as it could at home in America. Then there +were special problems because the men were so far +away from home, because the mail service was +poor, because worries about allotments were more +acute than if home had been nearer, and because the +alien civilization and language never made the men +feel quite comfortable.</p> + +<p>In the Corbie area the 27th Division was scattered +about in twelve villages, the farthest one eight miles +from division headquarters. Transportation was +still common on the roads, though often I had to +walk and once I made the trip to Amiens in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +cab of a locomotive when neither train nor truck +was running, and found a ride back in an empty +ambulance which had brought patients to the evacuation +hospital. The villages were almost deserted, +and were in rather bad condition after their nearness +to the German advance of 1918, so that the men +could be crowded together and were very easy to +reach in a body. I began making regular visits to +the various units of the division, meeting the men, +holding services, receiving their requests and carrying +them out as well as possible. And I was constantly +making new acquaintances, as the wounded +and sick began coming back from the hospitals to +rejoin the division.</p> + +<p>I had the opportunity of an occasional visit to +Amiens, a city built for a hundred thousand, but at +the time inhabited by only a few thousand of the +more venturesome inhabitants, who had returned +to open shops and restaurants for the British, Australian +and American troops. On account of lack +of competition, prices were extreme even for France +in war-time. The great cathedral was piled high +with sandbags to protect its precious sculptures, +but it stood as always, the sentinel of the city, visible +ten miles away as one approached. The Church +Army Hut of the British forces afforded separate +accommodations for enlisted men and officers, and I +had the pleasure of afternoon tea once or twice +with some of the latter. Amiens was an unsatisfactory +place to shop, but my baggage had not been +found and winter was coming on fast, so I had to +replace some of my possessions at once at any prices +that might be demanded.</p> + +<p>Our mess held its formal celebration on November<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +17th, with Lieutenant Robert Bernstein, the French +liaison officer, 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 +previously. Our mess, officers' mess number two +of division headquarters, had an international character +through his presence and that of Captain Jenkins +of the British army, and a special tone of comradeship +through the influence of the president of +the mess, Major Joseph Farrell, the division disbursing +officer. So for once we had the rare treat +of turkey and wine, feeling that the occasion demanded +it.</p> + +<p>I felt little pleasure in the jollity of the evening, +however. I had just received a letter that day +telling me of the death of one of my twin babies +of the flu; it had happened almost a month before, +while I was on the lines and quite out of reach of +any kind of word. The war, through its attendant +epidemics, gathered its victims also from among +the innocent, far from the scene of struggle. I +felt then that my grief was but a part of the universal +sacrifice. With all these other parents, whose +older sons died at the front in actual fighting, or +whose younger ones were caught denuded of medical +protection at home, I hoped that all this sacrificial +blood might bring an end to war. To-day that faith +is harder and that consolation seems a mockery, +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 east. When I received the +news I took a long walk amid the most peaceful +scene I ever knew, up the tree-lined banks of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +Somme Canal, with the evening slowly coming on +and the sun setting behind the stiff rows of poplars.</p> + +<p>At last we were detached from the British Third +Army and received orders to entrain for the American +Embarkation Center (as it was later called) +near Le Mans. Our headquarters there were in the +village of Montfort, where we arrived on Thanksgiving +Day and stayed for three weary months. +Montfort le Routrou is a village of nine hundred +people, with one long street which runs up the hill +and down the other side. The hill is crowned with +a typical village church and a really fine château, +where the General made his headquarters. The +tiny gray houses seemed all to date from the time +of Henry of Navarre; my billet was a low cottage +with stone walls over three feet thick, as though +meant to stand a siege or to uphold a skyscraper. +The floor was of stone, the grate large and fuel +scarce, no artificial light available except candles. +The bed alone was real luxury, a typical French +bed, high, narrow and very soft—an indescribable +treat to a man who had slept on everything from +an army cot to a cellar floor.</p> + +<p>The surrounding country was rolling, with charming +little hills and constant knots of woods. The +division, as we had known it on the British front, +was housed in forty villages, widely scattered about +the countryside, and our artillery, which had fought +in the American sector, was contained by ten more, +located near Laval about fifty miles away. The +men lived chiefly in barns, as the houses were occupied +by peasants, who needed their own rooms. +As far as the enlisted men were concerned, living +accommodations were better in partially ruined territory,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +where they could at least occupy the houses, +such as they were. Because we were in a populous +region, only smaller units could be billeted in a single +village, which meant less access to places of amusement. +The typical French village has no single +room large enough for even a picture show, except +the one place of assembly, the church; apparently +the farmers and villagers have no amusements +except drinking, dancing (in tiny, crowded +rooms) and church attendance.</p> + +<p>Such cheerless lives hardly suited the Americans. +Often the men had to walk a mile or more to the +nearest <span class="smcap">Y. M. C. A.</span> canteen, and those were improvised +on our arrival by our own divisional <span class="smcap">Y. M. C. A.</span> +staff, which we had been permitted to bring +with us on the earnest request of the chaplains of +the division. After our long sojourn in the area, +we left a completely equipped series of canteens +and amusement buildings for the following divisions. +The nearest available place for light and warmth, +out of the mud and chill, was usually the French +café, and that was available only when the men had +money.</p> + +<p>The greatest handicap on any effort for the morale +of the men at the outset was the uncertainty of our +situation. We were semi-officially informed that our +stay in the area would be for only a few weeks, and +that no formal program of athletics, education or +entertainment could be arranged. When life grows +dreary and monotonous, as in the Embarkation +Center, the chief diet of the soldier is such rumors +of going home. In our case three orders were promulgated +for our troop movement, only to be rescinded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +again while the wounded, sick and special +small detachments went ahead.</p> + +<p>Another difficult problem was the one of covering +ground. 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 +access. 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 +me. At the rear the division would be billeted in +villages, scattered about over twenty miles of countryside; +it was impossible to get from place to place +without transportation, and that was very scarce. +The army gave the chaplains more encouragement +and friendship than actual facilities for work; the +chaplains' corps was just making its position strong +at the end of the war. Fortunately, the Jewish +Welfare Board came to the rescue here. It procured +Ford cars for the Jewish chaplains about the +first of the year 1919, thus doubling their scope for +work and making them the envy of all the chaplains +in France.</p> + +<p>My work became a matter of infinite details, with +little opportunity for organization but plenty for +day labor. I arranged as many services as possible, +getting to the various units by train, side-car, or +walking until I obtained my own machine for the +purpose. These services, from one to ten a week, +were arranged through the battalion chaplains as +a rule, though sometimes I established connections +with some of the Jewish boys or with the commanding +officer, especially in cases of detached companies +without any chaplain at hand. Every service had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +its share of requests for information, advice, assistance, +even for errands, as the men had difficulty +in getting to the city to have a watch repaired or in +reaching divisional headquarters for information. +Some men would want to know about brothers or +friends who had been wounded. Many had difficulty +with their allotments, in which case I worked +through the army, Red Cross, and Jewish Welfare +Board. Others wanted information about relatives +in Poland or Roumania, or to be mustered out of +service that they might join and assist their parents +in eastern Europe; unfortunately, neither information +nor help was possible during the time we were in +France. Some men wished to remain for the Army +of Occupation or other special service; far more +were afraid they might be ordered to such service +and wanted advice how to avoid it and return home +as soon as possible. Citizenship papers, back pay, +furloughs,—the requests were legion, and the chaplain +had no difficulty in being useful.</p> + +<p>Naturally, one of my tasks was to gather accurate +statistics of the 65 Jewish boys in our division who +had been killed, to find exactly where they were +buried, have their graves all marked with the <i>Magen +David</i>, the six-pointed star, and keep the list for +the benefit of their families when I should return. +I even made one trip to Tours to discuss the possibility +of making such a list for the other divisions +which came into the area, though the task was too +complicated to carry out completely in any but my +own. Often men were lost to view entirely when +they went to hospital; sometimes it transpired +months later that a certain man had died or been assigned +to another unit or sent back to the States.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +But little by little the facts all came to light. Even +here humorous incidents would occur, such as the +time when I read a list of dead from their unit at one +battalion service, only to have one of the men on +the list speak up: "Why, I'm not dead, Chaplain!" +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 fall. So +I had him in my records as "killed in action—grave +unknown," when he was actually in the hospital, recovering +slowly but completely. If he had been returned +from the hospital to another division, as was +often the case, I might never have known his fate.</p> + +<p>In spite of such conditions I found the exact +graves of all but three of the men on my list, and in +the entire division, with its almost 2,000 dead, only +fifteen graves were unknown at the time we returned. +This was largely due to the untiring efforts of Lieutenant +Summerfield S. Curtiss, the Division Burial +Officer, who was my room-mate in Corbie and with +whose methods I became familiar at that time. +With the coöperation of the various chaplains and +line officers, he was able to inspect and certify to the +valuables left by men killed in action, to record +every grave, and in the few instances where both +identification tags and personal acquaintances were +lacking, to take the finger-prints of the men before +burial and thus preserve the only remaining traces +of identity.</p> + +<p>At this time I had the opportunity of seeing our +division reviewed by General Pershing. The review +was held at the Belgian Camp near Le Mans in +massed formation. The men marched by in heavy +masses; the General bestowed decorations on over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +a hundred heroes, including six Jewish boys; at the +end he gave the officers an informal talk, telling us of +the special need that existed for keeping up morale +during the tedious period of waiting to go home.</p> + +<p>That very subject had been discussed only a few +days before by the chaplains of the division, meeting +with General O'Ryan for the purpose. Chaplains' +meetings were frequent, under the call of the Senior +Chaplain, Almon A. Jaynes, where we took up not +only details, such as arrangement of services in the +various units, but also the broader moral and educational +problems. The General's interest in our +work and our aims was evident in every word +spoken at the meeting, especially his searching queries +as to drunkenness, dissatisfaction, and remedies +for such evils as we brought out.</p> + +<p>The three months of waiting had been in many +ways harder than the previous months of battle. +Interest in our military purpose was gone; the men +had few amusements and much work to fill in their +time. We had very little athletic or educational +effort; that was prevented by our constant expectation +of an early departure. Mail service was often +bad, especially for the men who had been transferred +repeatedly. Pay was unreliable when a man had +been transferred or sent to hospital and his records +lost or mixed up. And the French winter is a rainy +season, with occasional days of clear cold. No +wonder that the soldiers were disgusted with France, +war, army and everything else. In the midst of +this growing irritation, their pet phrase became, +"Little old U. S. A. is good enough for me."</p> + +<p>The average soldier did not meet the better class +of French people, only the peasants and the prostitutes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +of the towns. He had little taste for the +wonderful architectural and historical treasures of +the country; he could not speak the language beyond +his elementary needs; and—one of his great +objections—the French undeniably have poor plumbing +and bathing facilities.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the French country people did +not like our soldiers over much. The soldier of any +nation was rather noisy, rather rough, and had no +idea whatever of property values. He took anything +he needed, simply "finding" it, the worst +possible trait to thrifty French country people. +Then, talking only a few words of French, the +American naturally left out phrases like "monsieur" +or "s'il vous plait," and he was considered +to be ignorant of ordinary politeness, a wild Indian, +the brother of the savage still supposed to be thronging +our plains. A small minority of our men did +penetrate into French life and grew to love it; a +minority of the French made the acquaintance of +Americans and came to respect them. Unfortunately, +the two peoples were introduced to each +other under most unfavorable circumstances.</p> + +<p>These conditions, together with the constant flood +of rumors, had the worst possible influence on the +spirit of the men, which went down steadily from +its magnificent power at the front, until the news +of our actual orders to move toward Brest brought +it suddenly up again. As the first division in the +American Embarkation Center on the way home, +we had to suffer for the later units, all of which +had a program of athletics, entertainments and +schools ready for them when they arrived. Working +to build up the spirit of the men under the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +discouraging circumstances, we received a powerful +object lesson of the influences most destructive +to morale.</p> + +<p>The value of my work was at least doubled by +the Ford touring car lent me by the Jewish Welfare +Board. I received it on New Year's Day, 1919, in +Paris and drove back to Le Mans, almost transfigured +by the fact. My driver, assigned for the +trip only, was splendid; I could stop for a brief +view of the château and park at Versailles and the +cathedral of Chartres; 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 +out. With this car I was able to visit the artillery +in the Laval area, about fifty miles from our headquarters, +and conduct one service in each of their +regiments. The artillery had not been on the British +front at all, but on the American, so they had +quite different adventures from ours. They had +supported several other American infantry units +in the St. Mihiel sector and north of Verdun, and had +received mercifully few casualties compared with +our infantrymen and engineers. The trip to them +by car was unusually delightful, over smooth roads +which the great army trucks had not yet ruined, +through country where American soldiers were a +rarity and the children would crowd the doorways +to cheer us as we went by; over the gentle wooded +hills of western France, with the trees hung with +mistletoe; through the tiny gray villages, with their +quaint Romanesque churches, many of them older +than the great Gothic cathedrals of the north.</p> + +<p>While in Paris on New Year, I enjoyed the rare +treat of a family dinner at the home of my friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +Georges Lévy, an interpreter with our division. +Through him and Lieutenant Bernstein I reached +some sort of an impression of the state of French +Jewry to-day. To tell the truth, neither I nor the +average Jewish soldier received a very flattering +impression. The shadow of the Dreyfus case +seemed still to hang over the Jews of France. +They feared to speak a word of Yiddish, which was +often their only mode of communication with the +American Jewish soldiers. One shopkeeper, asked +whether he was a Jew, took the visitor far in the +rear out of hearing of any possible customers before +replying in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>For one thing, except in Paris and the cities of +eastern France, Jews exist only in very small groups. +I have mentioned the four families of Nevers and +the little synagogue of Tours, with its seventy-five +seats. Le Mans possesses an old street named "Rue +de la Juiverie," so that at one time there must have +been enough Jews to need a Ghetto, but in 1919 Le +Mans had only four resident Jewish families and +one or two more of refugees from the occupied +territory.</p> + +<p>Another menace to the loyalty of Jews is the +general difficulty of all religious liberalism in France. +Religion to most people in France means orthodoxy, +Jewish and Catholic; this naturally suits only those +of conservative background or temperament. Almost +the only other movement is irreligious in literature, +art, government and philosophy. Those large +groups of liberals who in America would be adherents +of liberal movements, Jewish or Christian, +in France are usually entirely alienated from religion. +The liberals are intelligent but weak in numbers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +As a converse of this, the synagogue is largely +content with past glories, making little effort to adjust +itself either in thought or organization to the +conditions of the time. The American Jews were +always interested to hear about the Jews of France, +of the greatness of Rashi in former days, and eager +to inquire about the present status. They never +could quite understand the condition of a country +where the government had been divided for years +by a pro and anti-Jewish issue, as was the situation +at the time of the Dreyfus case. American democracy, +even in the young and unskilled mind +of the average soldier, had no concept for anti-Semitism.</p> + +<p>When we knew finally that the division was on its +way home, I preferred a request through General +O'Ryan that I should go home with it. But G. H. Q. +Chaplains' Office could not grant my wish; there +were too few chaplains of all religions overseas; and +we Jews in particular needed every worker there. +I was detached and assigned to the Le Mans area, +under the senior chaplain of the American Embarkation +Center. Naturally, I regretted deeply seeing +my old comrades go without me. I reported at Le +Mans, obtained fourteen days leave to the Riviera, +which had been due me for over two months, and +said good-by. The Twenty-Seventh was the first +division to reach the Embarkation Center, the first +to leave for home as a unit, and it finally paraded, +without its Jewish chaplain, up Fifth Avenue to a +tremendous ovation. I studied the pictures several +weeks later in the New York papers, and actually +thought I saw the vacant place in the column where +I should have been.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>AT THE AMERICAN EMBARKATION CENTER</h3> + + +<p>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 +Paris. It was my fourth visit to the metropolis, +a city which grows only more wonderful at every +view. Its boulevards and parks, public buildings +and shops were always attractive; in addition, the +art treasures were now beginning to come back to +their places, and the crowds were taking on the +gaiety of peace time in the brilliantly lighted streets, +so different from the sober groups and dismal streets +during the war. This trip carried me beyond to a +land of myriad attractions and surpassing loveliness. +The mediæval monuments of Avignon, the +Roman antiquities of Arles and Nimes, the splendid +modern city of Marseilles, Toulon with its quaint +streets and charming harbor, Hyères of the palm +trees, and on to Cannes, to Nice, that greater Atlantic +City, Grasse with its flowers and perfumes, +and Monte Carlo, garden spot of the whole—all +blended in a mosaic whose brilliant colors can never +fade. Overhanging mountains and sub-tropical sea +together unite all the types of attraction of all beautiful +lands the world over. The palms and flowers +never seemed quite real to me, while one was quite +bewildered by the works of man—ancient monuments,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +mediæval art, and the most modern trappings +of contemporary play and luxury.</p> + +<p>At Cannes I met Captain Limburger, in charge +of the Motor Transportation Corps there, who +helped me to reach the officers' convalescent hospital +at Hyères to search for a friend. The trip of +eighty-five miles by side-car was the bright particular +spot in the whole gorgeous festival of the +Coast of Azure, up the heights of the Maritime Alps +into the clouds and down again to the edge of the +blue inland sea, past ruined castles of the Roman +time and through the quaint southern villages of +nowadays; ending finally at the hospital, which +turned out to be the San Salvador, one of the most +splendid winter hotels on the Mediterranean. I +even heard Francis Macmillan, a captain in the intelligence +corps, give a violin concert for the officers +during my one evening there.</p> + +<p>Nice and the surrounding territory were crowded +by Americans, as it was the most popular leave +area for the American army. The great casino on +the pier was the Y. M. C. A. for enlisted men, while +the officers had their club on the square. In fact, +all the arrangements by the "Y" in the various +leave areas were magnificent. This, probably its +most successful single piece of work, has hardly +received the attention it deserves. I found the same +to be true of every leave area I visited, including +Grenoble, where I stopped for a day among the +Alps on my return trip. Altogether the brief fourteen +days were one of those unforgettable experiences +which linger in the memory. One of the fine +achievements of the army was that it was able to +give an experience such as this to many thousands<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +of officers and enlisted men, for their own elevation +and their greater knowledge of France.</p> + +<p>I should like to emphasize, if I could, the importance +of the leave areas for the morale of the troops +and their better appreciation of France. During +actual hostilities men were willing to give up their +leave, especially Americans who could not visit their +homes but wanted only a change. After the war, +however, military discipline became constantly more +irksome to the soldiers, and the week or two without +orders, in a real hotel with sheets and tablecloths, +sight-seeing or merely resting, was the one +thing necessary to bring them back to their units +content to work and wait till their turn came to go +back home. It was also a rare opportunity to see +the best side of France and the French, when they +had seen only the worst. No soldier admired the +France of the war zone, with its ruined villages, its +waste stretches, and its shell holes. Neither did +he care for the France of the rest areas, where +he knew only the smallest villages, with the least +attractive people to a young progressive from the +western world. 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 child.</p> + +<p>The trip back to Paris and Le Mans was an experience +in itself. I met three young and congenial +medical officers on the train, with whom I traveled +the rest of the way, stopping off for a half day at +the little known town of Digne in the Basse Alps, +where we saw the ancient church with its crypt, the +art gallery with its painters of local prominence, +and the old Roman sulphur baths, still used to-day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +Another day at Grenoble brought us into the heart +of the French Alps. We reveled in the city with +the snow-caps about. I felt the usual thrill at the +tomb of the Chevalier Bayard, and more than ordinary +pleasure in the beauty of the city itself.</p> + +<p>I now settled down at Le Mans for the work of the +Embarkation Center. Le Mans is too well known to +Americans who have recently been in France to require +much description. It is a city of about 75,000 +people, with the customary narrow streets in the +heart of the town, the fine parks and boulevards of +every French city, and the very interesting cathedral +overlooking the whole. There are fragments of +the old Roman walls of the third century, and as +an ironic contrast a fine street running through a +tunnel which is named after Wilbur Wright, whose +decisive experiments in aërial navigation were +carried on nearby. My billet was a pleasant home +opposite the very lovely park, the English Gardens, +and my landlady a tiny old gentlewoman, who used +to bring me a French breakfast and a French newspaper +every morning, and indulge in the most formal +compliments, reminding me of a romance of the +Third Empire. And for some time Le Mans was +the center of 200,000 American troops on their way +home!</p> + +<p>Instead of one division to cover, I now had from +three to six, varying as units came from their old +locations and departed on their way to America. +And if it had been impossible to cover one division +thoroughly, in a great area such as this a chaplain +could do only day labor. I traveled from one point +to another, had a schedule of services almost every +night of the week in a different camp, visited the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +transient divisions as they came in, and thus came +into the intimate contact with the men by which +alone I could be of use to them. The territory was +an immense one, though much of the time I did not +have to cover it alone. The 77th and 26th Divisions +had Jewish chaplains while they were with us; +Chaplain James G. Heller was associated with me +until he was transferred to the Second Army (in +fact, he was in Le Mans while I was still with the +27th), and after his departure Rabbi Reuben Kaufman +of the J. W. B. was assigned to religious work +under my direction. But even so the task was staggering. +So many regiments and companies scattered +over an area eighty miles long and sixty miles +wide was no feasible proposition, even with the best +of cars and a sergeant to drive it for me.</p> + +<p>In addition to the billeting accommodations in +every village, the area contained several large camps +of importance. The Classification Camp, within the +city, was an old French barracks turned over to our +use, which housed a constantly changing stream of +casuals and replacements, flowing from hospitals, +camps and schools toward their various units. The +Spur Camp held a large group of construction units, +engineers and bakers. The Forwarding Camp was +a replica of a training camp at home, and contained +a division at a time, at first in training, later in +transit toward the ports. The Belgian Camp, +originally built for Belgian refugees, now had long +rows of wooden barracks for soldiers, a huge and +always busy rifle range, and special camps of various +types, including one for venereal patients, who +underwent a mixture of medical treatment and discipline.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>The purpose of the Embarkation Center was to +provide a stopping place on the way to the busy +ports of Brest and St. Nazaire, where the men might +be deloused, have fresh clothing and equipment issued +to them, undergo thorough inspections of every +kind, and in all ways be divested of the effects of +war and prepared to return to America. This task +usually took a month or more, 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 week. On the other +hand, it might not pass the various inspections at +once, or at the time the transportation home might +be lacking, and hence its departure would be delayed +time and again. This uncertainty of tenure +made all work very difficult, especially work such +as the chaplains' which depended entirely on personal +contact.</p> + +<p>The problem of these divisions, as of the 27th, +was chiefly to preserve the splendid morale of the +front while the men were in the dreary tedium of +waiting. This was done by cutting down the drill +to an hour a day, which made enough work in addition +to the delousing, inspecting and other necessary +activities. The rest of the time was devoted +to athletics, an educational program, and a great +amount of entertainment, all three under the Welfare +Officer appointed by the commanding general +of the Embarkation Area, while all the welfare agencies +contributed to these various ends under his +general supervision. My work, of course, was directly +under the Senior Chaplain, according to army +regulation. And as the various units moved toward +their goal more rapidly and more steadily, the need<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +for special efforts to keep up morale grew less. +Men keep up their own morale when they really +know they are going home; the difficulties had been +largely caused by the complete uncertainty and endless +delays.</p> + +<p>Such success as I had was due very largely to the +excellent coöperation of the Jewish Welfare +Board. Sergeant Charles Rivitz, who had charge of +the work in the area, was deeply interested in the +welfare of the boys and shared the resources of the +organization freely with me in my work. I had +always found this same attitude; the J. W. B. furnished +me a car, an allowance for welfare work, an +office in its building, and offered its rooms for +services in the various camps. Where it had no +huts, I was accorded the same privilege by the +Y. M. C. A. Whenever its aid fell short, it was because +it had no more to give. By this time Le Mans +had a large and active group of J. W. B. workers, +both men and girls, with their center in the city and +huts in many surrounding points. I found the +workers' mess the most friendly and pleasant in +the city, quite as congenial as the one at the Junior +Officers' Club, which I often frequented.</p> + +<p>Even in the stress and turmoil of the Le Mans +area ("the madhouse," as the boys called it) striking +or humorous personalities appeared from time +to time. There was Abie, the wandering musician, +a little Jew who had a gift for rag-time but no great +intelligence, military or otherwise. Abie had gone +to France with a replacement unit, was located +near Le Mans and spent his spare time playing for +the Y. M. C. A. and the officers' dances. When his +unit moved toward the front to be incorporated in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +some fighting division, he stayed behind, not as a +deserter, but to play the piano for the "outfits" +that followed. He managed even to live at the local +hotel by the tips they gave him. After that time he +reported, giving his full story in detail, to every +commanding officer who entered the village, always +to be given enough to eat, but never accepted into +any unit as he had no transfer from his original +one. At last his story got abroad, he was brought +in by the Criminal Investigation Department and +investigated, only to prove the truth of his every +word. So Abie, happy once more, was stationed in +the Classification Camp and detailed to the Jewish +Welfare Board as a pianist, improvising his rag-time +adaptations of serious music and getting many +privileges and a steady income for doing the work +he enjoyed best.</p> + +<p>A different sort of man was the soldier in a famous +fighting division, who sought a private interview +with me. It seems that in the advance on the St. +Mihiel sector he had rescued a Torah, a scroll of +the Law, from a burning synagogue. Throwing +away the contents of his pack, he had wrapped the +scroll up in the pack carrier instead, and carried +it "over the top" three times since. Now he wanted +permission to take it home to give to an orphan +asylum in which his father was active. A soldier +was not ordinarily allowed to take anything with +him besides the regulation equipment and such small +souvenirs as might occupy little room, but in this +case a kindly colonel became interested and the +Torah went to America with the company records.</p> + +<p>The great event of my service in Le Mans was +our Passover celebration on April 14th, 15th and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +16th, 1919. The general order for Passover furloughs +read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Where it will not interfere with the public service, +members of the Jewish faith serving with the American +Expeditionary Forces will be excused from all duty from +noon, April 14th, to midnight, April 16th, 1919, and, +where deemed practicable, granted passes to enable them +to observe the Passover in their customary manner."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Among the central points designated for Passover +leaves was Le Mans, and the Jewish Welfare +Board and I labored to arrange a full celebration for +the thousand Jewish soldiers who came in from +four different divisions. Quarters were provided +in the Classification Camp for all the men who did +not have the money or the previous arrangements +for hotel rooms, as well as full accommodations for +the Passover feast, the Seder. The Jewish Welfare +Board obtained full supplies of Matzoth, unleavened +bread, as well as Haggadoth, or special prayer books +for the Seder.</p> + +<p>The spirit was as strong a contrast as possible +to that of my other great service at the fall holydays. +Among our congregation were two men from the +isolated post of military police at St. Calais, fifty +miles to the east, and five from among the students +at the University of Rennes, a hundred miles west. +We had a number of officers among us, while five +French families, several Jews in the horizon blue +of the French army, and two in the Russian uniform—labor +battalions, since Russia had withdrawn +from the war—worshiped beside us. And +when the crowd began to assemble, the first men +I saw were a group of engineers whom I had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +seen since Atonement Day, seven months before. +They were on the way home now, their presence +emphasizing more strongly than anything else the +change that had come to us and the world in the intervening +time. Again there were the meetings of +friends and brothers, but without the pang of parting +afterward. 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 present. Then how the whole gathering +would be electrified when a voice cried out, +"Here," and cousins or comrades who had not +known even of each other's safety were able to exchange +festal greetings and rejoice together.</p> + +<p>For the two and a half days' leave the Jewish +Welfare Board and I tried to keep the men busy, +with something for every taste. The full program +included a Seder, four services, a literary program, +a vaudeville show, a boxing exhibition, two dances +and a movie. All were well patronized, for the +soldier had a cultivated taste in diversion, especially +after the armistice. But certainly the most +popular of all was the Seder. The soup with +matzah balls, the fish, in fact the entire menu made +them think of home. We held the dinner in an +army mess hall, standing at the breast-high tables. +The altar with two candles and the symbols of the +feast was at the center of the low-roofed unwalled +structure. Toward evening the rain, so typical of +winter in western France, ceased; the sun came out, +and its last level rays shone directly upon Rabbi +Kaufman and his little altar. It was a scene never +to be forgotten, a feast of deepest joy mingled with +solemnity. Afterward we adjourned to the Theatre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +Municipale for a full religious service with a sermon. +Two of the shows of the festival leave were too +big for the hall of the Jewish Welfare Board, so +we were offered the Y. D. Hut, the great auditorium +of the Y. M. C. A., which had been named after +the famous 26th Division. One of these entertainments +was the last performance in France of the +"Liberty Players" of the 77th Division, who were +about to leave for the States that very week.</p> + +<p>Finally my work in France drew to a close. On +the first of May, 1919, I received the orders for +which I had been hoping so long. I was to be relieved +and sent home to America. Rabbis in the +uniform of the Jewish Welfare Board were now +at hand, the number of men in France was decreasing, +and my request to be relieved could at last +be granted. A final two days in Paris for a conference +with the heads of the J. W. B., Chaplain Voorsanger +and Colonel Harry Cutler, another day at Le +Mans to turn my records and office over to Rabbis +Kaufman and Leonard Rothstein, and then I was off +to Brest. 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 <i>Noordam</i>, of the Holland-American +Line. My last duty in Brest was to conduct +a funeral, in the absence of the post chaplain, of +four sailors drowned in an accident just outside the +harbor. We had a guard of honor, a bugler, all +naval, and I had the rare experience of an army +chaplain conducting a navy funeral, as well as of a +rabbi burying four Christian boys.</p> + +<p>We were at sea twelve days altogether, being delayed +by a gale of three days and also by a call for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +aid, which took us a hundred miles out of our course +without finding the sender of the message. We entered +New York harbor late one evening, and anchored +off Staten Island for the night. There was +little sleep that night; the officers danced with the +cabin passengers, while the men sang on the decks +below. The next morning early every one was at +the rail as we steamed in past the Statue of Liberty, +which stood for so much to us now, for which we had +longed so often, and which some of our company had +never expected to see again. After the customary +half day of formalities at the dock, we were directed +to different camps for discharge according to our +branches of the service. I reported at Camp Dix, +New Jersey, where I was mustered out of service, +receiving my honorable discharge on May 26th, 1919, +eleven months from the date of my commission, nine +of which were spent with the American Expeditionary +Forces.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>THE JEWISH CHAPLAINS OVERSEAS</h3> + + +<p>My experiences, which were fairly typical +throughout, showed clearly the great need +for Jewish chaplains in the army overseas. +Even my trip on leave to the Riviera was +typical, showing the effect of release from discipline +combined with a pleasure trip on thousands of our +soldiers, most of whom needed it far more than I; +for the privileges of a chaplain, just a little greater +than those of most officers, certainly had prevented +my morale falling as low as that of many of the +enlisted men. 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 +faiths; he had a definite contribution to make to the +moral and spiritual welfare of the forces. We had +to conduct Jewish religious services for both holydays +and ordinary seasons, to assist the dying Jew, +and to pray for him at his grave. We had to defend +the Jewish boys in the rare cases of prejudice against +them, or, what was just as important, to clear up +such accusations when they were unfounded. We +had to serve the special needs of the Jewish soldier, +whatever they might be, at the same time that we +did the chaplain's duty toward all soldiers with +whom we might be thrown.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>The American Expeditionary Forces never had +sufficient chaplains at any time for the work that was +planned for them. The proportion desired by the +G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office and approved by the war +department was one chaplain to every thousand men, +or one to an infantry battalion, besides those assigned +to administrative work as senior chaplains +of divisions and areas, and the very large number +detailed to hospitals. The total number of chaplains +who went to France was 1285, just half the number +needed by this program, and from this total we +must subtract a considerable group of deaths, +wounds and other casualties. The chaplains' corps +was undermanned at all times,—we Jews were +simply the most conspicuous example. Compared +to the general proportion of one chaplain to every +two thousand men, and the ideal one of a chaplain +to every thousand, we had one chaplain to every +eight thousand men, and those tremendous numbers +were not even concentrated in a few units but scattered +through every company, every battery, and +every hospital ward in the army.</p> + +<p>The British forces contained one Jewish chaplain +for every army headquarters, or nine in all. I had +the pleasure of meeting Rabbi Barnett, the chief +Jewish chaplain in the B. E. F., although I never +met his predecessor, Major Adler. Through their +long experience and the coöperation of the Chief +Rabbi of England, the English chaplains were well +equipped with suitable prayerbooks and other material, +which I obtained from one of them for the +use of our men while I was on the British front. +Still, even with their larger proportion of chaplains +to the Jews in service, the lack of transportation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +facilities and the tremendous rush of war-time, +especially at the front and in the hospitals, made +their actual duties impossible of complete fulfillment.</p> + +<p>To cover the enormous field before us was plainly +impossible. The chaplain could only work day by +day, clearing a little pathway ahead of him but never +making an impression on the great jungle about. +When I first reached France, I grew accustomed to +the greeting: "Why, you're the first Jewish chaplain +I've met in France!" That was hard enough +then, but it grew harder when the same words were +addressed me in Brest just before sailing and on +shipboard on the way home. 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 France. +Under these circumstances we all feel a natural pride +at the work accomplished against adverse conditions. +I for one feel that we did all that twelve men similarly +situated could possibly have done, and I gladly +bring my personal tribute to those others, chaplains, +welfare workers, officers, and enlisted men, whose +coöperation doubled and trebled the actual extent +and effectiveness of our work. This includes especially +the Christian chaplains and welfare +workers; their own field was great enough to take +all their time and energy, but they were always +ready to turn aside for a moment to lend a hand +to us, in order that the labors of twelve men serving +their faith in the great American army might +not be quite futile.</p> + +<p>The first of the Jewish chaplains to reach France<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +was Rabbi Elkan C. Voorsanger, who gave up his +pulpit in St. Louis in April, 1917, to join the St. +Louis Base Hospital as a private in the medical +corps. As his hospital unit was the third to reach +France in May, 1917, Rabbi Voorsanger was one of +the first five hundred American soldiers in the +American Expeditionary Forces. In the medical +corps he rose from private to sergeant, gaining at +the same time an intimate first-hand knowledge of +the problems of the man in the ranks. When the +bill was passed by Congress in November, 1917, +ordering the appointment of chaplains of sects not at +that time represented in the army, Rabbi Voorsanger +was the first Jew commissioned under its provisions. +He was examined by a special board appointed overseas +by General Pershing at the direction of the +Secretary of War; his commission was dated November +24th, 1917. In January 1918 he was assigned +to the 41st Division and in March to Base Hospital +101 at St. Nazaire. While posted there he conducted +his first important service overseas in Passover +1918, the first official Jewish service held in the A. E. F. +He was assigned to the 77th Division in May +1918 on their arrival in France where he served with +a most enviable record, receiving the Croix de +Guerre and being recommended for the D. S. M. +for exceptional courage and devotion to duty in time +of danger. The midnight patrol on the banks of +the Meuse, by which he won these honors, was both +a courageous and a useful exploit. He was promoted +to Senior Chaplain of his division with the +rank of Captain, the only Jew so distinguished. +Finally in April 1919, instead of accompanying his +division home he resigned his commission to become<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +the head of the overseas work of the Jewish Welfare +Board. He returned to the United States in September +1919, after two and a half years with the American +Expeditionary Forces. 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 Europe. +In 1920 and 1921 he conducted two relief units to +Poland and carried on their life-saving work.</p> + +<p>When I arrived in France, Chaplain Voorsanger +was stationed at Chaumont for the time being, to +take charge of the arrangements for the Jewish +holydays of 1918. I have already described how +these were carried out, by designating central points +for services, getting in touch with the French rabbis +and synagogue authorities and assigning the few +American rabbis at hand to fill in the deficiencies.</p> + +<p>I was the fifth Jewish chaplain to reach France. +Those who preceded me were first Voorsanger and +then Chaplains David Tannenbaum of the 82nd Division, +Harry S. Davidowitz of the 78th and Louis +I. Egelson of the 91st. All these men served at the +front, as did also Chaplain Benjamin Friedman of +the 77th Division, who took up the Jewish work of +that unit when Chaplain Voorsanger was promoted +to the Senior Chaplaincy. Chaplain Davidowitz was +the only Jewish chaplain to be wounded, receiving +severe injuries from shrapnel; these put him in the +hospital for several months and occasioned his being +sent back home, invalided, the first of us all. The +others, in order of their arrival, were Chaplains +Jacob Krohngold, of the 87th Division; Israel Bettan +of the 26th Division; Harry Richmond, at the port of +Bordeaux; Elias N. Rabinowitz, at Blois; Solomon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +B. Freehof, at First Army Headquarters; and James +G. Heller, at Le Mans. The last two left New York +on the day following the armistice, so that on November +eleventh, 1918, the Jews of America were represented +overseas by just ten chaplains and two representatives +of the Jewish Welfare Board, Rev. Dr. +Hyman G. Enelow and Mr. John Goldhaar.</p> + +<p>The twelve of us represented all three Jewish +seminaries in this country, although the majority +were naturally from the oldest, the Hebrew Union +College at Cincinnati, where Rabbi Freehof was even +a member of the faculty. We came from every section +of the country, east, west and south, including +Krohngold and myself from little towns in Kentucky +and Richmond from Trinidad, Colorado. Rabbi +Richmond had the unusual distinction of not claiming +exemption in the draft as a minister. He therefore +entered the service as a private and was promoted +to the chaplaincy just before his division went +overseas.</p> + +<p>The chaplains who were commissioned before the +armistice and served in the United States were thirteen +in number; Rabbis Nathan E. Barasch, Harry +W. Etteleson, Max Felshin, Samuel Friedman, +Raphael Goldenstein, Abram Hirschberg, Morris +S. Lazaron, Emil W. Leipziger, Julius A. Liebert, +Abraham Nowak, Jerome Rosen, Leonard W. Rothstein, +Israel J. Sarasohn. Three of them, Rabbis +Rothstein, Felshin and Barasch, soon after resigned +their commissions and came overseas as representatives +of the Jewish Welfare Board. When the great +need for morale agencies was realized after the armistice, +the War Department refused to relax its +prohibition against the transportation of more chaplains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +or other special branches of the service, but +favored the passage of large numbers of welfare +workers instead. Rabbi David Goldberg was the +only Jewish chaplain in the navy, with the rank of +Lieutenant, junior grade; he served at sea on the +transport, President Grant.</p> + +<p>We were almost all reassigned as our divisions left +for home and as the need grew in various areas, +especially in the base posts and the Army of Occupation. +Chaplain Davidowitz was sent home +wounded, and Friedman accompanied his own division +back. Krohngold, Bettan, Heller and Freehof +joined the Army of Occupation in the order named, +although for a long time Rabbi Krohngold was the +only Jewish chaplain there. Rabbi Egelson left his +division for the port of St. Nazaire, Rabinowitz was +transferred from Blois to St. Aignan, and I was left +behind at Le Mans together with Heller, who shortly +after was transferred to the Third Army in Germany. +Tannenbaum while stationed at Bordeaux +was also, by special arrangement, appointed as +supervisor of the Jewish Welfare Board for that +area; and Voorsanger was mustered out of service +to become executive director of their overseas work. +Rabbi Richmond alone held the same post to the very +end of his overseas service.</p> + +<p>As I have mentioned repeatedly in my personal +narrative, 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 them; as soon as he was assigned to an area, +he had to spread himself thin over a wide expanse +of territory and could cover it in only the most cursory +fashion. The problem was larger than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +matter of transportation, although that was serious +enough. The larger aspect lay in the number of +men, the number of companies, the infinite possibility +of individual service if one were only able to +know all these soldiers personally, to understand +their needs, and to minister to them. Every hospital +ward with its forty beds presented forty distinct +individual problems,—often, indeed, more than +forty. Sometimes the same man would need pay, +mail, home allotment, reading matter, and contact +with his original unit and comrades. With the constant +shifting to other hospitals further from the +front and then to convalescent camps, the ward +would always contain a new forty men and the +work was always beginning over again. This situation +was not in the least unique. The hospital +simply represents the extreme case of what was true +in a less degree in every branch of the service and +every unit.</p> + +<p>During the post-armistice period I had several +very agreeable reunions with my fellow chaplains, +which were at the same time valuable for our +common information and coöperation. At my very +first visit to Le Mans, on December 6th, I quite +unexpectedly met Chaplains Freehof, Bettan, and +Heller, as well as Rabbi Enelow, who had just come +to the city for the dedication of the J. W. B. headquarters. +I devoured their comparatively fresh +news from home as eagerly as Voorsanger had absorbed +mine several months before, when he was already +entering his second year in France. The +second time was on the last day of the year, when +I met Rabbis Friedman, Egelson and Rabinowitz in +Paris, all coming there as I did for the cars which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +the J. W. B. had ready for us. At the same time +Rabbis Martin Meyer of San Francisco and Abram +Simon of Washington were in the city, both captains +in the American Red Cross. Their six months of +duty in France had just expired and they were then +making ready for their return home. We all had dinner +together at one of the famous Parisian restaurants +and discussed war and peace, France, America +and Israel, until the early closing laws of war-time +sent us all out on the boulevards and home. Chaplain +Egelson and I saw the New Year in together, +first hearing "Romeo and Juliet" at the Opéra and +then watching the mad crowds on the streets, headed +always by American or Australian soldiers, the maddest +of them all.</p> + +<p>The most important meeting, however, was the +one called by Chaplain Voorsanger for February +24th at the Paris headquarters of the Jewish Welfare +Board. Six chaplains were present, Voorsanger, +Tannenbaum, Richmond, Heller, Bettan and +I, together with Mr. John Goldhaar of the J. W. B. +Our chief object was to work out a program of coöperation +with the J. W. B., our second, to discuss +our personal methods for the benefit of our own +work. Voorsanger was chairman; we decided to +form a Jewish Chaplains' Association, which never +developed afterward; and planned to hold another +meeting soon, which owing to military exigencies, +we never did. But we did adopt a program of coöperation +with the J. W. B., which indicates the +mutual dependency and the closeness of contact +which were almost uniformly the case. Our program +provided that the J. W. B. should submit to +the chaplain the weekly report of the area in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +he was stationed and should have relations with +the military authorities through him. The chaplain, +on the other hand, was to make suggestions to the +worker in his area, and in exceptional cases to the +Paris office and was to be in complete charge of +all Jewish religious work in his area, although religious +workers were personally responsible to their +superior in the J. W. B. Finally, provision was +made for frequent conferences between the chaplain +and the J. W. B. worker in the same organization. +This program was approved, not only nominally +but also in spirit by all the Jewish chaplains +and welfare workers throughout the A. E. F. I +know that in Le Mans our contact was so close that +Mr. Rivitz instructed his religious workers to report +directly to me for assignment of services and other +division of labor, and I included their work with +mine in my weekly reports to my senior chaplain.</p> + +<p>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 Board, the +Joint Distribution Committee for the relief of Jews +in Eastern Europe, the American Jewish Committee, +and the American Jewish Congress. At the office of +the J. W. B., I had a farewell conference with Rabbi +Voorsanger and Colonel Harry Cutler, giving them +a summary of the latest situation in my area. +Colonel Cutler was busy as chairman of the J. W. B., +one of the American Jewish Congress delegates +to the Peace Conference, and a member of the Joint +Distribution Committee. I met my old friend, Rabbi +Isaac Landman, who was reporting the Peace Conference +for his paper, the American Hebrew, and he +introduced me in turn to Miss Harriet Lowenstein,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +at that time the Paris purchasing agent of the Joint +Distribution Committee, especially in the important +work of buying supplies originally sent to Europe +for the use of the American forces. I encountered +also three of the active workers of American Jewry, +sent to represent us before the Peace Conference in +such matters as might concern the Jews; Judge +Julian Mack, representing the American Jewish Congress; +Dr. Cyrus Adler, for the American Jewish +Committee; and Mr. Louis Marshall, a representative +of both organizations. The two last were also +active in the Jewish Welfare Board, and Dr. Adler, +vice-chairman of the Board, took charge as the +representative of the Board after Colonel Cutler's +departure for the States. Even on the ship going +home I met two Jewish workers, Rabbi B. Levinthal +of the American Jewish Congress delegation and +Mr. Morris Engelman, returning from his work in +Holland for the Joint Distribution Committee. By +that time world Jewry was fully aroused and its +delegates were busy, both at the seat of the Peace +Conference and in the lands of eastern Europe, +where Jewish suffering was becoming daily more +intense.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD IN THE A. E. F.</h3> + + +<p>The Jewish Welfare Board in the United States +Army and Navy was the great authorized welfare +agency to represent the Jews of America, +as the Young Men's Christian Association represented +the Protestants and the Knights of Columbus +the Catholics. It was organized on April 9, 1917, +just three days after the declaration of war, and was +acknowledged by the Department of War as the official +welfare body of the Jews in September, 1917. +It was not so much a new organization as a new +activity of a number of the leading Jewish organizations +of the United States: the United Synagogue +of America, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, +the Central Conference of American Rabbis, +the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the +Agudath ha-Rabbonim, the Jewish Publication Society +of America, the council of Y. M. H. and Kindred +Associations, the Council of Jewish Women, +the Independent Order B'nai B'rith, the Jewish +Chautauqua Society, the Order Brith Abraham, the +National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, the New +York Board of Jewish Ministers, the Independent +Order Brith Sholom, the Independent Order Brith +Abraham, and the Women's League of the United +Synagogue. In the camps and cantonments at home +it did a large and important piece of work, establishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +490 representatives at 200 different posts and +putting up 48 buildings for its work at various important +points. This great field, however, is outside +the scope of the present study, which can take up +only the overseas activities of the J. W. B.</p> + +<p>One home organization must be mentioned in this +place, the Chaplains' Committee which made recommendations +to the War Department for the appointment +of Jewish chaplains. This was composed of +representatives of the leading religious bodies of +the country: for the Central Conference of American +Rabbis, Dr. William Rosenau and Dr. Louis Grossman; +the United Synagogue of America, Dr. Elias +L. Solomon; Eastern Council of Reform Rabbis, Dr. +Maurice H. Harris; the New York Board of Jewish +Ministers, Dr. David de Sola Pool; the Union of +Orthodox Jewish Congregations, Dr. Bernard +Drachman; the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, Rabbi M. S. +Margolies. Dr. Cyrus Adler, the Acting President +of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, +was chairman of this committee. They had the task +of reviewing the applications of one hundred and +forty-nine rabbis, 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 appointments. I have already given in +some detail the story of the twelve of us who served +in the A. E. F., while the other thirteen did their +service in cantonments in the United States.</p> + +<p>The Jewish Welfare Board began to take up the +overseas problem as early as August, 1917, when +Rabbi Voorsanger, then Sergeant in the Army Medical +Corps, received a letter from Colonel Harry Cutler, +asking for such information as he had at command<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +and also how far he might be able to coöperate +personally with the Jewish work. Some months +later, after Voorsanger had been appointed chaplain +he was again asked for information. This time he +was in a position to give a great deal together with +recommendations. A certain amount of supplies +was furnished him at once, but no welfare workers +were sent until the overseas commission had made +its investigation and report.</p> + +<p>The overseas commission of the Jewish Welfare +Board, consisting of Congressman Isaac N. Siegel, +chairman, Rabbi H. G. Enelow, Rabbi Jacob Kohn, +and Mr. John Goldhaar, secretary, went to France +in July, 1918, and were the first friends I met when +I reached Paris. Their general work was to study +the nature and scope of the overseas field so as to +make recommendations on their return; incidentally +to this, they were to establish contact with kindred +organizations and with the army, open headquarters, +and coöperate with the chaplains in the field in the +holyday services. 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 service. Congressman Siegel +made a trip to General Pershing's headquarters +and to the sector then occupied by the 77th Division, +where Chaplain Voorsanger was taken into consultation +regarding the problems ahead. The Congressman +then returned to America, while Mr. Goldhaar +was left as executive secretary pro tem of the Paris +office and Rabbis Kohn and Enelow conducted holyday +services at different points. Afterward Dr. +Kohn also returned home, and Dr. Enelow devoted +himself to field work, establishing welfare centers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +at various points. Later on, when the army educational +program was undertaken, he became the J. W. B. +representative on the faculty of the Army +University at Beaune. Dr. Enelow was recommended +for a chaplaincy by the J. W. B. Chaplains' +Committee, but was among those prevented by the +armistice from receiving the rank. Meanwhile he +labored in any capacity at hand, for he was determined +not to return to America while work remained +to be done among the soldiers in France.</p> + +<p>All this was entirely inadequate for the task at +hand, as we all realized at the time. At that time +the J. W. B. was functioning in the overseas forces, +not as a separate entity, but through the Y. M. C. A. +This naturally prevented the full expansion of +its independent viewpoint or the direct contact with +the army officials which alone could give it standing. +The arrival of the overseas commission made some +difference in this respect, but the J. W. B. was not +fully recognized as one of the responsible overseas +welfare organizations until Colonel Harry Cutler, +its national chairman, had come to France and presented +his case at General Pershing's headquarters. +There were more than the usual difficulties with +passports and visés, owing to the German or Austrian +ancestry of some of the most desirable +workers; this was finally overcome by the chairman +of the Board vouching personally for the loyalty of +every individual recommended. The selection was +limited, as with all welfare organizations, to men +not subject to draft. With these obstacles the difficulties +proved for the time insuperable.</p> + +<p>This situation made it impossible for the J. W. B. +to undertake any independent work before the armistice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +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 themselves. The early history of Jewish welfare +work abroad is that of a scattered band of eager, +self-sacrificing workers who gave up their own time +to labor incessantly for the welfare of the Jewish +men in the service. The first task was to acquaint +the soldiers with the fact that there was a Jewish +Welfare Board, even though its Paris staff consisted +only of Mr. Goldhaar, one stenographer and one +office boy. Advertisements in the <i>Stars and Stripes</i> +and the Paris editions of American newspapers and +correspondence with Jewish and non-Jewish chaplains, +American, French and British, did the work. +Letters began to pour in for supplies, advice, information, +and a great correspondence school of +welfare work began.</p> + +<p>The center of this work was naturally the Paris +club rooms, in connection with the office at 41 Boulevarde +Haussman. Mr. John Goldhaar was in immediate +charge of both, with a mountain of mail on +his desk from every part of the A. E. F. and a constant +crowd of doughboys outside in the club rooms. +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 forces. +He continued in this position, with its constantly +growing duties, until Captain Voorsanger was appointed +Overseas Director of the J. W. B., when Mr. +Goldhaar was made Overseas Field Director and put +in charge of the field work. His Medaille d'Honneur +from the French government was earned by the +hardest and most valuable kind of war work. Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +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 home. Every afternoon +they served tea—a little thing in itself, but +a big one to lonesome boys without a friend nearby. +It meant much effort, too, on the part of the ladies +themselves, especially their leaders, Mrs. Ralph +Stern, Mrs. Zacharie Eudlitz, Mrs. Engelman and +Mrs. Hertz. Some of them came from the suburbs +every afternoon, rain or shine, to render this devoted +service. Monsieur and Madame Henri Bodenheimer +opened their hearts and their homes, both in +Paris and Tours, to receive the Americans; every +Friday evening saw their table crowded with lonesome +"buck" privates, especially the ones whom +other people would overlook. With the assistance +of these same people hospital visitation was begun. +A registration book in the office began to fill up with +the names of Jewish soldiers and officers, and letters +sent home recorded the fact of their visits and often +established an important connection for the welfare +of the men themselves.</p> + +<p>At the same time, among the hundreds of letter-writers +and visitors eager to do something, anything, +for their fellow-soldiers, a few began to stand out +here and there as effective and central workers. +The soldiers were always ready to coöperate; I +found that out from my first service at Nevers to +my last at Le Mans. So it was only natural that +far more of them volunteered for this work than +I can possibly mention. I shall simply have to +speak of a few outstanding names, and leave it to +the imagination of the reader to multiply these examples<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +many times. In Chaumont there was Field +Clerk A. S. Weisberger, formerly of Scranton, Pa. +"Sandy" Weisberger mimeographed a little newspaper, +the "Junior Argus," for his fellow-soldiers +from Scranton; organized the Jewish soldiers at +<span class="smcap">G. H. Q.</span> for services and sociability; and referred +any number of men to the Jewish Welfare Board +for such advice or assistance as it could give. He +was later mustered out of service to become a <span class="smcap">J. W. B.</span> +worker and met his death most tragically by an +accident in the Paris headquarters, during the festivities +of Passover week, 1919.</p> + +<p>In Dijon there was a group, Major Jacob Jablons, +Medical Corps; Miss Bessie Spanner, a regular army +nurse; and Sergeant J. Howard Lichtenstein, of +Baker Co. 339. They organized hospital visiting in +the many hospital centers in that area, celebration of +the high holydays, Simchath Torah parties, and +group gatherings of all kinds. This work was spontaneous +and needed only supplies of stationery, +prayerbooks and the like to make it completely effective, +furnishing a fertile field for the welfare workers +when they opened their community center there. By +that time the two last were also in the service of the +Welfare Board, Miss Spanner in the unique position +of head of the women workers overseas. In Tours +the outstanding figure was Colonel Max B. Wainer, +at that time a Major. He gathered a group of active +workers among the soldiers, used the local synagogue +as a center, and organized a full welfare program, including +Friday evening services and round table discussions, +hospital visiting, and distribution of stationery +and prayerbooks. I dropped in at Tours for +a day to arrange for the holyday services; the local<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +committee of soldiers saw that special meals were +provided for the Jewish men; and the bills were paid +by the Jewish Welfare Board.</p> + +<p>In the Le Mans area, which before the armistice +was used as a classification camp from which soldiers +were sent as replacements to units in the field, the +first Jewish work was started by Sergeant Charles S. +Rivitz of Army Post Office 762 through the aid and +assistance of his commanding officer, Lieutenant +Willing of Cleveland. Lieutenant (later Captain) +Willing, though a non-Jew, had taken a deep interest +in the Jewish men in his unit while still in +camp in the States and continued this interest to +France. With the approval of Gen. Glenn, in command +of the area, Rivitz was detailed to the Jewish +Welfare Board under the supervision of the senior +chaplain of the area and Capt. Willing. Sergeant +Rivitz was not a social worker at all, but had one +source of strength which made his good will effective. +He was a soldier, had attained his sergeancy through +force of personality; he knew what the soldiers +wanted and insisted on giving it to them. He rented +a château as a club house largely on his own responsibility, +and the Jewish Welfare Board soon found +that both the structure and his method of conducting +it were excellent. His chief assistant was Corporal +George Rooby, who after his discharge from the service +volunteered for the first unit of the Joint Distribution +Committee in Poland, and continued serving +Jewry there.</p> + +<p>In fighting units also the Jewish officers and enlisted +men were early active in welfare work. Two +officers occur to me whose work I saw personally; undoubtedly +there were many others with the same sort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +of interest. Captain Leon Schwartz of the 123rd Infantry, +31st Division, was active from the outset in +his own division and the Le Mans area. Later, during +the time when the army was trying every means +to keep up the morale of the troops, and the temporary +organization of "Comrades in Service" was being +pushed through the <span class="smcap">G. H. Q.</span> Chaplains' Office, +Captain Schwartz was assigned to this work as the +Jewish representative, and addressed hundreds of +gatherings of soldiers, together with the Catholic +and Protestant spokesmen for morale and comradeship. +In the 26th Division, the "Yankee Division," +Captain Bernard I. Gorfinkle of the Judge Advocate's +office was one of the first and most effective +Jewish workers in France. Captain Gorfinkle organized +an overseas branch of the New England +<span class="smcap">Y. M. H. A.</span>, deriving his first funds from the Young +Men's Hebrew Associations of New England. Later, +when the Jewish Welfare Board arrived, he +joined forces with its Paris office for the benefit of +his men. Mr. Goldhaar tells how surprised he was +after the battle of Château Thierry to be highly complimented +for the work of the <span class="smcap">J. W. B.</span> in marking +the Jewish graves. Of course, at that time no such +work had yet been undertaken. On investigation he +found that the graves of Jews of the 26th Division +who fell in action had been marked with a crude +Magen David by their comrades under the initiative +of Captain Gorfinkle.</p> + +<p>Wherever a Jewish chaplain existed the Welfare +Board had a means of contact with the men. And +here and there throughout the A. E. F., volunteers +sprang up, establishing their little groups and doing +their own work, large or small. In the 42nd Division,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +to cite only one more example, some of the boys +came together and held holyday services during the +actual campaign, and afterward instituted their own +hospital visiting. But then came the armistice, and +at the same time the passport difficulty was disposed +of. Workers began to come; new plans were being +issued daily by the army authorities; the whole viewpoint +of the work was revolutionized and the facilities +suddenly enlarged.</p> + +<p>The determining factor was that troops were no +longer being scattered for training and fighting but +concentrated for their return home. Hence the J. W. B. +centered its work on the American Embarkation +Center and the base ports, established a line of +centers in the chief points of the Service of Supply, +and went with the Army of Occupation to Germany. +The last to be supplied with workers were some of +the combat divisions not in the organized areas. +Thus the work grew. The club-house at Le Mans +was dedicated on November 28, 1918, in the presence +of Major General Glenn, with speeches by Dr. Enelow +and the prefect of the Department of the Sarthe, +and a vaudeville show and refreshments to wind up +the evening. Buildings were rented in the ports of +Brest, St. Nazaire, Bordeaux and Marseilles, and a +line of centers established across France, from Le +Mans on through Tours, St. Aignan, Gievres, +Bourges, Beaune, Is-sur-Tille, Dijon and Chaumont. +The headquarters for the Army of Occupation were +at Coblenz, where the B'nai B'rith Building was employed +and seven huts established through the area. +Finally as workers continued coming, they were +assigned to seven of the combat divisions, staying +with them in their movements through France and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +saying farewell only after the troops were embarked +for home. These divisions were the 5th, 6th, 7th, +29th, 33rd, 79th, and 81st. When Antwerp became +an important port for army supplies a center was +established there as well.</p> + +<p>Altogether the Jewish Welfare Board employed +102 men and 76 women in 57 different centers in the +American Expeditionary Forces. Of this personnel, +24 men and one woman, Miss Spanner, were mustered +out of the service for this purpose, while the +others were transported from the States. Of the +buildings, 23 were located in towns and were rented; +the other 34 were provided by coöperation of other +organizations, 28 by the U. S. Army, two by the +Knights of Columbus, two by the Red Cross, one by +the Y. M. C. A. and one by the Belgian Government. +In camps rough barracks or tents were usually the +thing; in cities the equipment varied, and in some +places was complete with kitchen, dance hall, writing +room, and offices.</p> + +<p>I can speak of the large work in the Le Mans area +through personal acquaintance. There the personality +of Mr. Rivitz was the decisive factor. With +his unerring knowledge of the soldier, he established +at once the policy of everything free, which was soon +adopted by the J. W. B. throughout its overseas +work. Religious services were provided, hot chocolate +and cigarettes served, contact established with +thousands of soldiers for the personal needs which +they brought to the welfare worker. As the needs of +the area grew, other centers were established. +When the 77th Division, with its thousands of Jews, +was in the area, five huts were established in its various +regiments and the men provided with everything<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +possible right at home. In other units where +the Jews were more scattered, the centers were at +the Division Headquarters. In cases where units +stopped in our area for only a few days or a week, an +automobile load of supplies with two workers was +sent out on an extensive trip, meeting the boys and +giving them as much personal cheer and physical +sustenance as possible under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>I have described this type of activity several times +in connection with my own personal story. Here +and there, however, special personalities or incidents +stand out in the constant, exhausting labor to which +the workers subjected themselves in the terrific rush +of the morale agencies during that period of waiting +to go home. In Germany at the head of the work +was Mr. Leo Mielziner, son of the late Professor +Moses Mielziner of the Hebrew Union College, a man +of high reputation as an artist and of commanding +personality. Mr. Mielziner, who had two sons in the +service, conducted the work in the Army of Occupation +with the finest spirit of fellow-feeling for the enlisted +man. 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 J. W. B. was requested by the +army to take them over.</p> + +<p>At Gievres, where the great bakeries of the A. E. F. +were located, the J. W. B. was the center for the +bakery units. So when Purim came both Jews and +non-Jews coöperated in baking a gigantic cake for +the celebration. The cake, which had to be baked in +sections, occupied not only the stage but also an addition +made for the purpose. It was cut into 10,000 +portions and every man in that camp received a slice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +As the crowning achievement of the A. E. F. bakeries, +that Purim cake received a reputation of its +own.</p> + +<p>The Paris office, and still later the club rooms on +Rue Clement Marot, were the entertainment center +for the Paris district and all its many visitors. +After its formal opening on Simchath Torah, every +Sunday afternoon an entertainment was provided, +with vaudeville, speeches or dancing, concluding with +the famous chocolate layer cake made by volunteer +workers among the American women living in Paris. +The wounded were visited in the nearby hospitals +and usually a group of convalescents was present in +the front seats at the entertainment. 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 A. E. F. A +family wrote in from Kansas City that their son was +complaining at not hearing from home; when the J. W. B. +wrote him, it was his first news from home in +his six months as a "casual" in France. Through +the Paris office and the workers in the field the whole +immense field of personal service and entertainment +had to be covered, 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 provide.</p> + +<p>During the high holydays the Paris clubrooms presented +a remarkable mingling of Jewish soldiers of +all the allied armies. Mixed with the olive drab and +the navy blue of the United States were the Australians +with their hats rakishly turned up on the side, +the gray capes of the Italian, the French troops from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +Morocco, the Russian in Cossack uniform, and a few +Belgians. During Chanuka, which coincided with +Thanksgiving in 1918, special services were held at +the synagogue in the Rue de la Victoire, the largest +in France. The synagogue was crowded with +French men and women, all at a high pitch of enthusiasm, +and with 350 American soldiers, the heroes of +the occasion. The impressive service of the French +rabbi was followed by a brilliant Thanksgiving sermon +by Chaplain Voorsanger, who had been invited +to come to Paris for the occasion. After services +turkey and pumpkin pie were served at the club +rooms, and while I was not there that day, I can testify +that the pumpkin pie served at the Jewish Welfare +Board on New Year's day, 1919, was one of +the most poignant reminders of the United States +during my stay abroad.</p> + +<p>Due to the intense pressure of the situation, the +actual volume of work done by the J. W. B. was +surprisingly large. The entertainments and dances +conducted at every center numbered fully 5,000, with +an aggregate attendance of 2,750,000. Among the +conspicuous units which toured the A. E. F. under +Welfare Board auspices, was "Who Can Tell?" +the Second Army show, which was underwritten +by request of the Welfare Officer and was one of +the most elaborate of the army musical comedies, +with a full complement of chorus girls acted by +husky doughboys; this production toured for five +weeks and while in Paris was seen by President +and Mrs. Wilson. There was the "Dovetail +Troupe," a vaudeville unit which likewise went on +tour. And there was the "Tuneful Trio," led by +Mr. and Mrs. Henry Gideon of Boston, which came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +to France under the Y. M. C. A., and gave many +excellent concerts under J. W. B. auspices; I heard +one of their programs in Le Mans and felt not only +the musical excellence of their work, but also the +special appeal of their program of Yiddish folk +songs to the Jewish men; this troupe delivered 81 +concerts to fully 60,000 men. The army educational +work received much support in the various huts, +and two of the best equipped men in the J. W. B. +service were assigned to it, Dr. H. G. Enelow for +the University of Beaune, and Professor David +Blondheim of Johns Hopkins, for a time executive +director of the overseas work, for the Sorbonne in +Paris. The bulk of the daily work in the huts +throughout France appears from the fact that 2,500,000 +letterheads were distributed and refreshments +served without charge to a total of 3,000,000 men.</p> + +<p>The records of religious work are equally imposing, +as 1,740 services were held, with a total attendance +of 180,000 men. The constant coöperation +with the chaplains meant that far more than these +were indirectly influenced and aided. Eighteen +thousand prayer books were distributed and ten +thousand Bibles. On Passover of 1919 the J. W. B. +provided unleavened bread (matzoth), which had +been furnished through the Quartermaster Corps, +for the Jewish soldiers in the American forces, as +well as for French and Russian soldiers. The J. W. B. +even provided matzoth for six thousand Russian +prisoners in Germany during Passover of 1919. +At the request of the military officials, the Jewish +Welfare Board took charge of welfare work for +the sixty thousand Russian troops in France, who +had come originally as fighting units, but after the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +withdrawal of Russia from the war had been transferred +to agricultural labor. No other welfare +agency had provided for them and so they were assigned +to the J. W. B. which had a few workers who +could speak Russian. It was rather ironical that +these men in Cossack uniform, most of whom were +non-Jews, received their only friendly service in +France at the hands of the despised Jew.</p> + +<p>The whole work of the J. W. B. abroad culminated +in the Passover of 1919. The most intense moment +for us chaplains had come during the high holydays +when feeling was most profound and suspense +at its deepest and when, in addition, we had +to carry the burden almost unaided. By Passover +the feeling had changed, the war was safely +over, the men were rejoicing at their imminent return +home, and we had the Jewish Welfare Board +to arrange our celebration for us. Fully 30,000 of +the Jews in the A. E. F. ate the Seder dinners furnished +by the Welfare Board. I have already described +our celebration at Le Mans, with its many +features in which the J. W. B. and I worked together. +A similar program was carried out everywhere. +At Dijon Rabbi Schumacher of the local +French synagogue, who had been most active +throughout in the interest of the American soldiers, +led a great congregation of 2,000 men through the +rain to the synagogue for worship and afterward to +the Seder tables. In Germany, the city of Coblenz +became the leave area for soldiers of Jewish faith +and was closed for all other furloughs during the +three days. The Y. M. C. A. and the K. of C. assisted +in giving proper honor to the Jewish festival +and proper pleasures to the Jewish men, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +with their aid boat rides on the Rhine, entertainments +in the Festhalle, and all the features of a full +amusement program were provided.</p> + +<p>Most striking of all was the great Seder at Paris, +with its crowd of American, Australian, English, +French and Italian soldiers, some of them former +prisoners in Germany, all of them united in the great +occasion of their faith. Among the speakers and +the guests of honor were some of the great leaders +of Jewry, as well as personal representatives of +Marshall Foch and General Pershing. Colonel +Harry Cutler, Mr. Louis Marshall, Judge Julian +Mack, Dr. Cyrus Adler, and Dr. Chaim Weitzmann +were there, as well as many other celebrities. At +that time and in that place the highest honor for +any man was to worship and eat side by side with +the soldiers, who had carried love of their country +and loyalty to their faith to the last extreme of +service and of sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Decoration Day of 1919, which was observed by +all France together with its American visitors, was +another important ceremony for the Jewish Welfare +Board, together with its French hosts at the great +synagogue on the Rue de la Victoire. The sermon +was delivered by Rabbi Voorsanger, the service read +by Rabbi Lévy of Paris; 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 patriotism.</p> + +<p>In addition to the overseas commission and the +men in the field, several of the prominent officers of +the Jewish Welfare Board went to France at various +times and took personal part in the work. The first +was Mr. Mortimer L. Schiff, who spent the months<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +of December 1918 and January 1919 in France as a +member of the commission of eleven of the United +War Work Organization, which had just completed +its great financial drive. In that capacity Mr. Schiff +was equally interested in all the welfare agencies; +naturally, he gave the full benefit of his advice to +the J. W. B. In February 1919 Colonel Harry +Cutler, chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board, +came to France. Although burdened with duties for +other organizations as well, he accomplished +wonders for the work of the J. W. B. during his +four months in France. His enthusiasm and vigor +showed at once, as in any matter he ever undertook. +He traveled throughout the A. E. F., observed conditions +for himself, and then accomplished two important +pieces of work. First he obtained an order +from the General Headquarters releasing the J. W. B. +from its former dependence on the Y. M. C. A. +and allowing it to work directly in coöperation with +the military authorities; this was certainly advisable +under post-armistice conditions, and many others +felt with me that it would have been the preferable +system at all times. Second, he persuaded Chaplain +Elkan C. Voorsanger, then completing his second +year overseas, to allow his division to return home +without him, while he stayed on from April to +September as Overseas Director of the J. W. B. +Together with Chaplain Voorsanger, Colonel Cutler +administered the J. W. B. during the period of +growth, and then left him to carry it on successfully +during the time of retrenchment, until finally he also +returned home with the Paris Staff, and the only +representatives left in France were those working +in coöperation with the Graves Registration Service.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another important worker for the J. W. B. was +Dr. Cyrus Adler, vice-chairman of the national +organization, who reached France in March, 1919 +as a representative of the American Jewish Committee. +On Colonel Cutler's return in May, Dr. +Adler took over his duties for the Welfare Board, +and worked with Chaplain Voorsanger until the end +of his mission, in July 1919.</p> + +<p>One necessary part of the work of the Jewish Welfare +Board, after all its efforts on behalf of the men +in the service had been accomplished, was to care +for the graves of those Jews who gave their all in +the service of America. The Graves Registration +Service, later called the Cemeterial Division of the +War Department, had a great and necessary work. +The Jewish Welfare Board obtained in February, +1918 a War Department order that all graves of +Jews should be marked with the Magen David, the +double triangle.</p> + +<p>This order was confirmed by a response from +General Pershing on July 29, 1918. Temporary +Jewish headboards were supplied overseas, together +with the temporary crosses, and whenever we knew +definitely that a particular soldier had been a Jew +they were used. Unfortunately, that information +was not always available. Most units had no religious +census, certainly none was up to date including +the replacements. The order for marking +the identification tag with an additional letter—"P" +for Protestant, "C" for Catholic, and "H" +for Hebrew—was issued after most of us were overseas, +and hardly any of the tags had it; I know I +never had the "H" put on mine. Often a man +would carry a prayerbook in his pocket, but if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +bodies were searched by one detail and buried by +another that did not help. I know that it took me +three months to verify my list of Jewish dead in the +27th Division, so that one can imagine the task for +the entire A. E. F.</p> + +<p>In May, 1919, the J. W. B. undertook this duty of +identifying the Jewish graves, so that the War Department +could mark them all properly. They have +thus identified 1,500 altogether and where a cross +had already been put up the headboard was changed. +In this connection, a peculiar situation arose through +the efforts of the Red Cross to photograph all +graves in France for the benefit of the families +at home. Such graves as had not been identified +as Jewish still had the cross, and some families had +their religious sensibilities shocked by the photographs. +Hence the photographs in all such cases +were detained until the changes had been carried +out, and the Jewish Welfare Board had the graves +photographed for the benefit of the families. Naturally, +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 fell.</p> + +<p>The sad death of Colonel Cutler occurred in England +during the summer of 1920, on a trip which +he undertook in the interest of the Graves Registration +work, against the advice of his physicians and +solely through his profound interest in the cause. +His life was a sacrifice to his duty, to the tremendous +efforts he had made for the Jewish Welfare +Board and the other great national movements of +Jewry. He gave, as so many others gave, another +sacrifice for Judaism and America.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the whole, the field workers of the Jewish Welfare +Board made an enviable record in France. 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 +Y. M. C. A. The women workers were especially +conspicuous for their steady, uncomplaining service. +Their work was anything but romantic; it was driving, +wearing labor. They tended canteen all day +and danced almost every evening, a régime that +was hard physically and exhausting mentally. Only +those in the larger cities could enjoy the luxuries +which are so commonplace in America—electric +lights, a bath tub, and the other conveniences of +civilization. I have marveled to see them living +for months in tiny French villages or in army camps, +giving devoted service to the men in uniform, without +distinction of rank or creed.</p> + +<p>Through these workers the Jewish Welfare Board +was able to render the personal touch which was +missing in much of the war work overseas. This +applied especially to the Jewish man, who felt overjoyed +to meet a Jewish girl from America, to attend +a Seder, to write home on the J. W. B. letterhead. +He had found a touch of home in a foreign +land; his personal needs could be understood and +satisfied so much more easily and directly now. But +many men of many creeds found themselves at home +in the J. W. B. huts. Men learned to know Jews, +to respect Judaism in the army who had been ignorant +of both at home. They often attended a Jewish +service, met a Jewish chaplain, or simply preferred +the home-like atmosphere to that of other welfare +organizations. For one thing, the J. W. B. was run<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +according to the tastes of the soldiers; there was +no charge for anything, even a nominal one; there +was no condescension and no dictation, none of the +things which the soldiers hated. In the Le Mans +area, which was typical, from 56 to 60 per cent of +the men patronizing the J. W. B. building were non-Jews. +This constituted a return for the thousands +of Jews who patronized Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. +huts, as well as our contribution to the morale of +the forces.</p> + +<p>In some areas the Jewish Welfare Board was the +most popular of all the welfare agencies; in all, it +was very popular with the men of all faiths. The +high caliber of the women workers, the personal +touch and home-like spirit of the work, gave it a +hold on the affections of the men. For a long time +the Jewish soldiers had felt neglected by their own, +not knowing the obstacles which had to be overcome. +Then they found their own huts, suddenly springing +up in all the central points, crowded and popular +with all the groups of soldiers in America's composite +army. The Jewish soldier became proud and +the Christian soldier became appreciative. The +excellence of the work brought forgiveness for everything, +even though the soldier was not used to listening +to reasons but formed his opinions quickly from +the facts nearest at hand. 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 +America.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE JEW AS A SOLDIER</h3> + + +<p>The Jewish soldier demands no defense and +needs no tribute. His deeds are written large +in the history of every unit in the A. E. F.; +they are preserved in the memory of his comrades +of other races and other faiths. He was one with +all American soldiers, for in the service men of +every type and of every previous standpoint were +much alike, under the same orders, holding the same +ideals, with similar responses and similar accomplishments. +The Jew was an American soldier—that +really covers the story. For historical purposes, +however, a further statement of numbers, +honors, personalities, may be worth while. The Jew +was in the American army, as in all the allied armies, +because he exists among the population of every +land. The studies made in various lands show that +over 900,000 Jews fought in the World War altogether, +of whom over 80,000 were killed in action or +died of wounds. In the British forces casualties included +the names of 8,600 Jews, and in the French +forces, out of less than a hundred thousand Jewish +population in the nation, 2,200 were killed in the +service. These figures, picked practically at random +from enormous masses of similar material, tend to +show the participation of Jews in every army, just +as they participate everywhere in the national life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the American forces the Jewish soldier ranked +with the best; he was an American soldier, and there +is no higher praise than that. With all the panegyrics +on the American doughboy during and since +the war, not enough has been said or can ever be said +about him. His good humor, his self sacrifice, his +heroism, won the affection and the admiration of +every one. His officers loved him; his enemies respected +him; his allies regarded him with mingled +enthusiasm and patronage. They loved his youthful +dash and were amused at his youthful unsophistication; +at the same time they were profoundly +grateful for his forgetfulness of self when the time +for action came. I have mentioned some of the +incidents in my own experience, 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 company; the +weary boys on the brow of a hill, digging in for +the fourth time in a day of advances and fighting; +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 endless. Reading +a list of the dry, official citations for decorations +is like opening a mediæval romance of the deeds of +knightly heroes. There was Captain Ireland who +came to our aid post to have his wounds dressed and +then started out without waiting for the ambulance. +"Where are you going, Captain?" I asked. "Oh, +back to the boys," was the answer, "I'm the only +officer left in the battalion, and I don't want to leave +them." There was the chaplain's orderly, himself +a student for the ministry, who voluntarily organized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +a stretcher party to bring in some wounded men +out beyond the barbed wire. Every type of heroism +and self sacrifice existed, all carried off with the +good humored bravado of school boys at a football +game.</p> + +<p>Among these heroes the Jewish soldiers were +equal to the best, as their comrades and commanders +were quick to recognize. A typical attitude toward +them was that of a lieutenant colonel, telling me a +story of his first battle, when we were on shipboard +coming back home. "I was rather nervous about +that first time under fire," he told me, "because I +had a number of foreign boys in one company and +didn't know how they might behave. Among them +was a little Jew who was medical man of the company, +carrying bandages instead of weapons, but +going over the top with the others, a restless fellow, +always breaking orders and getting into trouble of +some kind or another. 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 run. I pulled my +revolver, ready to shoot him rather than have an example +of cowardice set for the rest. But I was surprised +to see him turn aside suddenly and jump into +another shell hole, and when I went over there I +found him hard at work bandaging up another +wounded soldier. He was simply doing his duty +under fire, absolutely without sign of fear as he +tended the boys who were hurt. I was sorry I had +misjudged him so badly and watched his work after +that, with the result that I was later able to recommend +him for a decoration."</p> + +<p>Ignorance, suspicion, ripening with knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +into understanding and admiration—that was the +usual course of events. I quote Colonel Whittlesey, +commander of the famous "Lost Battalion" of +the 308th Infantry, a New York unit with a +very large proportion of Jews: "As to the Jewish +boys in the Battalion, I cannot recall many of +them by name, but certain figures stand out +simply because they are so unexpected. The ordinary +run of soldiers, whether Jews, Irish, or Americans—the +big, husky chaps who simply do what they +are expected to do—naturally pass from our memory. +It is the odd figures who stick in your mind. +There was one chap for example (Herschkovitz was +his name) who seemed the worst possible material +from which to make soldier-stuff. He was thick-set, +stupid looking, extremely foreign, thoroughly East +Side, and yet, one day when we were holding the +bank of the Vesle, and it became necessary to send +runners to communicate with our commands, Herschkovitz +was the <i>only man</i> who volunteered for the +job. It was a nasty physical job. It would have +been a difficult thing if it had not been under fire, because +it meant cutting through under-brush, up hill +and down hill. Under fire this became almost impossible, +and the boys knew it, so none of them cared +for the job, but Herschkovitz made the trip four +times that day. What was it? Well, just plain +pluck, that's all. There were a great many fellows +of this type—East Siders of whom the regular army +men expected nothing at all—but the 77th Division +just seemed equal to anything...."</p> + +<p>In the same unit was Private Abraham Krotoshinsky, +who was awarded the D. S. C. for bearing +the message which informed the division of the exact +location of the unit, and was instrumental in releasing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +them. Krotoshinsky was an immigrant boy, not +yet a citizen, a barber by trade. His own words +give the story simply enough: "We began to be +afraid the division had forgotten us or that they +had given us up for dead. We had to get a messenger +through. It meant almost certain death, +we were all sure, because over a hundred and fifty +men had gone away and never come back. But it +had to be done. The morning of the fifth day they +called for volunteers for courier. I volunteered and +was accepted. I went because I thought I ought to. +First of all I was lucky enough not to be wounded. +Second, after five days of starving, I was stronger +than many of my friends who were twice my size. +You know a Jew finds strength to suffer. Third, +because I would just as soon die trying to help the +others as in the 'pocket' of hunger and thirst.</p> + +<p>"I got my orders and started. I had to run about +thirty feet in plain view of the Germans before I +got into the forest. They saw me when I got up +and fired everything they had at me. Then I had +to crawl right through their lines. They were looking +for me everywhere. I just moved along on my +stomach, in the direction I was told, keeping my +eyes open for them.... It was almost six o'clock +that night when I saw the American lines. All that +day I had been crawling or running doubled up after +five days and nights without food and practically +nothing to drink. Then my real trouble began. +I was coming from the direction of the German lines +and my English is none too good. I was afraid they +would shoot me for a German before I could explain +who I was.... Then the Captain asked me who I +was. I told him I was from the Lost Battalion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +Then he asked me whether I could lead him back to +the battalion. I said, 'Yes.' They gave me a +bite to eat and something to drink and after a little +rest I started back again with the command. I +will never forget the scene when the relief came. +The men were like crazy with joy."</p> + +<p>In high position and in low the same kind of +service came from the American Jew. This is the +official citation of a Colonel, who is in civil life one of +the prominent Jews of Chicago, Illinois:</p> + +<p>"Colonel Abel Davis, 132nd Infantry. For extraordinary +heroism in action near Consenvoye, France, +October 9, 1918. Upon reaching its objective, after +a difficult advance, involving two changes of directions, +Colonel Davis's regiment was subjected to a +determined enemy counterattack. Disregarding the +heavy shell and machine-gun fire, Colonel Davis personally +assumed command and by his fearless leadership +and courage the enemy was driven back."</p> + +<p>Judge Robert S. Marx of Cincinnati, Ohio, 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 Legion. But in 1917 and '18 he +was Captain Marx of the 90th Division, operations +officer of his regiment during the St. Mihiel and Argonne +offensives, and reported dead on the day before +the armistice, when he was struck on the head +and wounded severely. And on the other extreme, I +notice the case of First Sergeant Sam Dreben of +the 141st Infantry, a soldier of fortune in many +revolutions and a member of the Regular Army in +the Philippines several years ago. Discovering a +party of Germans coming to the support of a dangerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +machine-gun nest, Sergeant Dreben with +thirty men charged the German position, killed forty +of the enemy, took several prisoners, and captured +five machine guns, returning to his own lines without +losing a man. For this daring and important act +he was awarded the D. S. C.</p> + +<p>Of the various types of distinction emphasized +during the war, all were as true of Jews as of any +other group. Numerous cases exist where four or +more members of a single family were in the service. +There was the Fleshner family, of Springfield, +Mass., from which four sons of an immigrant father +and mother entered the service, the oldest of them +only twenty-three. The oldest of these boys lost an +arm and an eye while carrying ammunition through a +barrage, but exclaimed later in the hospital: "I'm +the luckiest Jew in the army. Any other man in +my place would have been killed."</p> + +<p>The New York Herald during the war described +an indefatigable Red Cross worker, Mrs. Louis +Rosenberg of North Bergen, N. J. This old Jewish +mother had six sons in the service; the two oldest, +each the father of two children, when summoned for +the draft refused to claim exemption, and having +invested their savings in two small notion stores, +they left their wives in charge of them and accepted +the call to military service. Mrs. Liba Goldstein, +of Cambridge Springs, Pa., a woman of eighty-four, +born in Russia, had twenty grandsons in the allied +armies, ten as officers in the British army, eight in +the American forces, and two with the Jewish Legion +in Palestine. And so one might bring out one example +after another, if one desired, all showing the +eagerness of loyal Jews to serve their country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 forces. The office possesses 150,000 individual +records, gathered by extensive coöperation +with national and local Jewish organizations. 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 200,000. Of these about +40,000 came from New York City, 8,000 from Philadelphia +and 5,000 from Chicago. Instead of their +quota of three per cent., according to the proportion +of Jews throughout the nation, the Jews in service +actually constituted fully four per cent. of the men +in the army and navy. The causes of this excess +are not easy to establish. The draft may have been +more fully enforced in cities than in many rural districts, +and the bulk of the Jews are city dwellers. +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 men, and +we possess no facts to confirm that. But certainly +the number of volunteers was an element in causing +this large number of Jews in the service. The records +show 40,000 volunteers among the Jewish men, +practically one-fourth of the total Jewish contingent +and a far higher record than that of the army as +a whole.</p> + +<p>In certain outstanding cases this record is even +more conspicuous. The little colony of immigrant +Jewish farmers at Woodbine, N. J., not over three +hundred families altogether, contributed forty-three +men to the service, of whom seventeen men, or forty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +per cent., were volunteers. Of the students at the +rabbinical seminaries, who were all exempt by law, +a conspicuously large number volunteered for service +in the line, 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 Board, lecturers in the training +camps and similar capacities. In fact, the seminaries +were almost empty for a year. Eleven students +of the Hebrew Union College and four of the +Jewish Theological Seminary waived exemption for +regular service in the army and navy, including a +number of men with very exceptional records. +Jacob Marcus, now Rabbi and Instructor at the Hebrew +Union College, volunteered in the Ohio National +Guard and won his lieutenancy by brilliant +work in the ranks. Three of the students there entered +the Marine Corps during the first weeks of the +war and served for over two years in that branch. +One, Michael Aaronson, serving in the 31st Division +overseas, was completely blinded while helping a +wounded comrade in No Man's Land; 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 soldier.</p> + +<p>The Jewish boys went into the army to fight. +That appears in their proportion in the combatant +branches of the American Expeditionary Forces. +While these branches—Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, +Engineers, and Signal-Aviation—constituted 60 per +cent. of the total, among the 114,000 records +of Jewish soldiers in the hands of the War Records +Office the distribution among these combatant +branches is fully 75 per cent. The Infantry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +constituted 26.6 per cent. of the entire army, while +among the Jewish records it constituted 48 per cent. +Artillery was 14 per cent. of the United States army, +8 per cent. of the Jewish total. In cavalry the rate +for the entire army was 2 per cent., for the Jews only +1.3 per cent. The engineer corps contributed 11 per +cent. of the army strength, and but 3 per cent. among +the Jewish records. The signal and aviation corps +represented 7 per cent. of the United States total, +and 15 per cent. of the Jewish total. The medical +corps was 8 per cent. of the army total, 9 per cent. of +the Jewish total. Ordnance was 1.7 per cent. of the +army total, and 1.5 of the Jewish total. The quartermaster +corps was 6.2 per cent. of the army total +and 5.9 per cent. of the Jewish total.</p> + +<p>The Army, Navy and Marine Corps altogether had +nearly 10,000 Jews as commissioned officers, and a +really tremendous number of non-commissioned officers. +The Army records show more than a hundred +colonels and lieutenant colonels of Jewish faith, +including such distinguished officers as Colonel Abel +Davis, whom I have already mentioned in connection +with his D. S. C. for heroism displayed on October 9, +1918; Colonel Nathan Horowitz, of Boston, Mass. +who spent 27 months in France in the heavy artillery; +Colonel Samuel Frankenberger, of Charleston, +W. Va., who commanded the 78th Field Artillery; +Colonel Samuel J. Kopetzky, Medical Corps, of New +York City, who commanded Sanitary Train 396, in +the A. E. F.; and Colonel Max Robert Wainer, Quartermaster +Corps, formerly of Delaware City, Del., +who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal +and appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by +the French government. These honors were but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +the climax to a military career that began with enlistment +as a private in 1905, and promotion to the +rank of Second Lieutenant in 1912. In the war +every one of the four battles in which he took part +was the occasion of a further promotion, so that +he concluded the war as a Colonel. I have already +mentioned Colonel Wainer in another connection, +as the first active Jewish worker at Tours; as a +matter of fact, he organized a Seder in his own unit +in 1918, where 500 men celebrated the Passover at +the same time that Chaplain Voorsanger was holding +his Seder at St. Nazaire, and when practically +no other Jewish work was being conducted in the +entire overseas forces.</p> + +<p>There were over 500 majors, 1,500 captains, and +more than 6,000 lieutenants in the American army, +with a full share of each in the A. E. F. Over 900 +Jews were officers in the navy, the most conspicuous +of them being Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, in command +of the mine laying work in the North Sea during +the war. In addition there were one captain, +five commanders and twelve lieutenant commanders. +The marine corps included among its personnel over +a hundred Jews as officers, among them three +majors, one colonel, and Brigadier-General Charles +Henry Laucheimer of Baltimore, Md., who died in +January 1920.</p> + +<p>The latest estimates of casualties run from 13,000 +to 14,000, including about 2,800 who died in the +service of America. This can be inferred easily +from the branches of the service in which our Jewish +boys were found, as well as from the number of +honors they received. After all, for every brave +man whose acts were noted and rewarded, many +others just as heroic fought and bled unseen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>The number of Jews decorated for conspicuous +courage is attested, not only by the Office of War +Records, but also by the Jewish Valor Legion, an +organization of American Jews who received such +awards during the World War. Fully 1,100 citations +for valor are on record. Of these, 723 were +conferred by the American command, 287 by the +French, 33 by the British, and 46 by other allied +commands. The Distinguished Service Cross is +worn by 150 American Jews, the French Medaille +Militaire by four, and the Croix de Guerre by 174. +The Congressional Medal of Honor, the rarest award +in the American or any other service, which was +conferred on only 78 men in the entire service, +is worn by three American Jews, one of them killed +in the act for which he was rewarded. I add their +official citations, not only for their personal interest, +but as an added tribute to these three heroes, a +glory both to Jewry and to America.</p> + +<p>"Sydney G. Gumpertz, first sergeant, Company +E, 132nd Infantry. 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 Forges, France, September +26, 1918. When the advancing line was held up by +machine-gun fire, 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 nest. His two companions soon +became casualties from a bursting shell, but Sergeant +Gumpertz continued on alone in the face of +direct fire from the machine-gun, jumped into the +nest and silenced the gun, capturing nine of the +crew. Awarded January 22, 1919."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"First Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman, Company +K, 308th Infantry, 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 Argonne, France, October 4, 1918. +Sergeant Kaufman took out a patrol for the purpose +of attacking an enemy machine-gun which had +checked the advance of his company. Before reaching +the gun he became separated from his patrol, +and a machine-gun bullet shattered his right arm. +Without hesitation he advanced on the gun alone, +throwing grenades with his left hand and charging +with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and +scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner +back to the first aid station. Awarded April 8, +1919."</p> + +<p>"Sergeant William Sawelson, deceased, Company +M, 312th Infantry, Congressional Medal of +Honor awarded for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity +above and beyond the call of duty in action +with the enemy at Grandpré, France, October 26, +1918. Hearing a wounded man in a shell-hole some +distance away calling for water, Sergeant Sawelson +upon his own initiative left shelter and crawled +through heavy machine-gun fire to where the man +lay, giving him what water he had in his own canteen. +He then went back to his own shell-hole, obtained +more water and was returning to the wounded man, +when he was killed by a machine-gun bullet. Posthumously +awarded January 10, 1919."</p> + +<p>The 27th Division, in which I served, was fairly +typical in this respect, as it was a National Guard +unit, composed of volunteers from both the New +York metropolitan district and "up-state." There<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +were about a thousand Jews in the entire division +and seven hundred of them were in the infantry, +machine-gun battalions and engineers, which served +together. I did not find a company without from +two to thirty Jewish soldiers, and seldom without +at least one Jew among the non-commissioned officers. +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 together. I was told that three top sergeants +out of the four companies were named Levi, +Cohen and Pesalovsky, and that I could take my +choice. The same thing occurred time and again +when I visited other divisions. For example, Sergeant +Major Wayne of the 320th Infantry prepared +the Passover passes for the 40 Jews of his regiment, +then in the Le Mans area, but missed the Seder himself, +staying at his post of duty to prepare the regimental +sailing list.</p> + +<p>The 27th Division had several Jews among the +officers of high rank—Lieutenant Colonel H. S. +Sternberger, the division quartermaster; Lieutenant +Colonel Morris Liebman, killed in action in Flanders; +Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Emanuel Goldstein, +Medical Corps, who was awarded the D. S. O. +by the British command, one of four such decorations +given to officers of our division. Captain +Simpson of the 106th Field Artillery, Lieutenant +King of the office of the division chief of staff, 2nd +Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown of the 108th Infantry, +2nd Lieutenant Sternberger of the Interpreters' +Corps and 2nd Lieutenant Florsheim of the division +quartermaster's office were among the officers of +Jewish origin. In addition, there were a few, such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +as Sergeant Schiff of the 102nd Engineers and +Sergeant Struck of division headquarters, who were +recommended for commissions for their excellent +service but were disappointed on account of the +stoppage of all promotions after the armistice.</p> + +<p>I mentioned in connection with my own work the +list of sixty-five Jews of the 27th who were killed +in action or died in hospitals in France, their full +proportion of the nearly 2,000 dead of the division. +The first man in the 27th who was killed in action +was a Jew, Private Robert Friedman of the 102nd +Engineers. Most of our losses, like those of the +division as a whole, were incurred in the terrific +fighting at the Hindenburg Line, and most of our +men were buried there in the great divisional cemeteries +of Bony and Guillemont Farm, right at the +furthest point which they reached alive. The +cemetery of Bony is to be one of the permanent +American cemeteries in France, and I can still see +the Magen Davids standing here and there among +the rows of crosses, where I had them placed.</p> + +<p>The Jews of the 27th won their full share of +decorations, too. Nine of them wear the Distinguished +Service Cross conferred by the American +command; one, the British honor of the Distinguished +Service Order; one, the British Distinguished +Conduct Medal; seven, the British Military +Medal; one, the French Croix de Guerre with star; +and one, the Belgian Order of the Crown. Eliminating +cases where one man received several such honors, +fifteen Jews of this one division alone were +decorated for unusual courage and initiative in battle. +I add the official citations of four of these men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +as further examples of the heroism of the Jewish +soldiers in the American forces.</p> + +<p>"Major Emanuel Goldstein, Medical Corps, 102nd +Engineers. D. S. O., Belgian Order of the Crown. +On Sept. 29, 1918, in the vicinity of Lompire and +Guillemont Farm near Ronssoy, France, he remained +in the most exposed positions under heavy +shell fire and machine-gun fire, to render first aid to +several wounded men, displaying exceptional +bravery and courage, and setting a fine example of +devotion to duty to all ranks."</p> + +<p>"Second Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown Jr., 108th +Infantry. D. S. C. awarded for extraordinary heroism +in action near Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. +Advancing with his platoon through heavy fog and +dense smoke and in the face of terrific fire which inflicted +heavy casualties on his forces, Lieutenant +Brown reached the wire in front of the main Hindenburg +Line, and, after reconnoitering for gaps, assaulted +the position and effected a foothold. Having +been reënforced by another platoon, he organized +a small force, and by bombing and trench +fighting captured over a hundred prisoners. Repeated +attacks throughout the day were repelled +by his small force. He also succeeded in taking +four field pieces, a large number of machine guns, +anti-tank rifles, and other military property, at the +same time keeping in subjection the prisoners he +had taken."</p> + +<p>"Corporal Abel J. Levine, Company A, 107th +Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near +Bony, France, Sept. 29, 1918. After his platoon +had suffered heavy casualties and all the sergeants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +had been wounded, Corporal Levine collected the remaining +effectives in his own and other units, formed +a platoon and continued the advance. When his +rifle was rendered useless he killed several of the +enemy with his pistol. He was wounded shortly +afterward, but he refused assistance until his men +had been cared for and evacuated." Corporal +Levine received the D. S. C. and the British D. C. M.</p> + +<p>"Private Morris Silverberg, Company G, 108th +Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near +Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Private Silverberg, +a stretcher bearer, displayed extreme courage +by repeatedly leaving shelter and advancing over +an area swept by machine-gun and shell fire to +rescue wounded comrades. Hearing that his company +commander had been wounded, he voluntarily +went forward alone, and upon finding that his officer +had been killed, brought back his body." Private +Silverberg received both the D. S. C. and the British +M. M.</p> + +<p>One more point must be noted with regard to +these Jewish boys who served America so bravely +and so effectively. Many of them showed in their +sacrifices the true Jewish spirit of Kiddush ha-Shem, +sanctification of the name of God. Time and again +have I heard men give such a turn to their speech, +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 regiment, an act in which the only +other Jew in the company had been killed and for +which my friend was later decorated. "Well, chaplain," +he answered me, "there were only two Jewish +boys in the company and we'd been kidded about it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +a little. We just wanted to show those fellows +what a Jew could do." Dr. Enelow tells a similar +story of a boy dying in a hospital, who gave the +rabbi a last message to his parents, saying: "Tell +them I did my duty as a soldier and brought honor +to the Jewish name."</p> + +<p>Once again, in the American forces during the +World War, the Jew has proved himself a devoted +patriot and a heroic soldier, and this time he has +done so in broad daylight, before the eyes of all the +world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>JEW AND CHRISTIAN AT THE FRONT</h3> + + +<p>To those of us who served with the United +States Army overseas, religious unity, coöperation +between denominations, is more +than a far-off ideal. We know under what circumstances +and to what extent it is feasible, and just +how it deepens and broadens the religious spirit +in both chaplain and soldier. We have passed beyond +the mutual tolerance of the older liberalism +to the mutual helpfulness of the newer devoutness. +Our common ground is no longer the irreducible +minimum of doctrines which we share; it is the +practical maximum of service which we can render +together. I was in a critical position to experience +this as the only Jewish chaplain in the Twenty-Seventh +Division; my duty was to minister to the +men of the Jewish faith throughout the various units +of our division, with the friendly coöperation of the +twenty other chaplains of various faiths. And I +was able to do my work among the Jews, and to a +certain extent among the Christians also, simply +because these Protestant and Catholic chaplains +were equally friendly and helpful to me and my +scattered flock. Not by mutual tolerance but by +mutual helpfulness we were able to serve together +the thousands of soldiers who needed us all.</p> + +<p>It is a commonplace that as men grow acquainted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +they naturally learn to respect and to like one another. +When a Jew from the East Side of New +York, who had never known any Christian well except +the corner policeman, and a Kentucky mountaineer, +who had been reared with the idea that +Jews have horns, were put into the same squad both +of them were bound to be broadened by it. And, +provided both of them were normal, average boys, +as they were likely to be, they probably became +"buddies" to the great advantage of both of them. +Often such associations would bring about the sort +of a friendship which death itself could not break.</p> + +<p>One of the Jewish chaplains tells an incident of +the first night he spent in the training camp at +Camp Taylor, Ky. The candidate for chaplain in +the cot next to his was a lanky backwoods preacher +from one of the southern States. The two met, +introduced themselves by name and denomination, +and then prepared to "turn in" for the night. The +rabbi noticed that his ministerial neighbor sat about, +hesitated, and played for time generally, even +though it was fully time to turn out the lights. +Finally the matter became so obvious that he could +not resist inquiring the reason for this delay. The +answer came, a bit embarrassed but certainly frank +enough: "I don't want to go to bed till I see how a +Jew says his prayers."</p> + +<p>On the whole, considering the many individual +differences in an army of two million men, religious +prejudice was not engendered by the army; some +persisted in spite of it, and much was lessened by +the comradeship and enforced intimacy of army +life. In most commands prejudice against the Jew +was a very small item indeed. It was so rare as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +be almost non-existent in places of responsibility. +It was often overcome by the acid test of battle +when men appeared in their true colors and won +respect for themselves alone. It was occasionally +the fault of the man himself, who turned a personal +matter into an accusation of anti-Semitism, and +sometimes without cause. One Jewish corporal +complained to me of discrimination on the part of +his commanding officer, who had recommended his +reduction to the ranks. On investigation, I found +that the officer might have been unfair in his judgment, +but had recommended the same for two non-Jews +at the same time; the case may therefore have +been one of personal dislike but was certainly not +a matter of religious prejudice. When I found +authentic cases of discrimination, they were usually +in the case of some ignorant non-commissioned officer, +who presumed on his scanty authority at the +expense of some Jewish private. Or it might be +a sort of hazing, when a group of "rough necks" +selected a foreigner with a small command of English +as the butt of their jokes. When men complain +of prejudice against Jews in the army, it usually +means that they met there a group of prejudiced +people with whom they would not have come into +contact in civil life. The tendency of the American +army during the World War was definitely against +prejudice of any kind; prejudice made against efficiency, +and the higher one went the more difficult +it became to find any traces of it.</p> + +<p>In the army and especially in overseas service +men went naturally to the nearest chaplain or welfare +organization for any benefit except worship, +and sometimes for that also. From my first religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +service in a hospital with the crowd of non-Jews +and sprinkling of Jews in the Red Cross room, +I found that the men went to the entertainment hut +for whatever it might offer. Every large service +afterward, especially if held in a convenient place, +included a proportion of non-Jews, and invariably +they were both respectful and interested.</p> + +<p>The burial work of the Twenty-Seventh Division +at St. Souplet was the climax of coöperation among +chaplains, where the five of us represented five different +churches. Our service was a three-fold one, +as was the later one held at the larger cemeteries +at Bony and Guillemont Farm. 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 together. My very +last duty in France was to read the burial service +over four Christian sailors drowned outside Brest +harbor.</p> + +<p>Such incidents as these were not exceptional at +the front or among men who have been at the front +and have learned its lesson; I give them especially +because they are typical. The men who were under +fire together grew to overlook differences as barriers +between man and man. 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 poor, +learned or ignorant, pious or infidel, virtuous or +wicked. They grew to respect men for themselves, +to serve them for themselves alone. The men used +any stationery that came to hand, writing home indifferently +on paper labeled Y. M. C. A. or K. of C., +or Salvation Army, or Red Cross, or Jewish Welfare +Board; they attended a picture show or boxing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +match under any auspices and were willing to help +at any of the huts that served them. In the same +way the welfare workers and chaplains overlooked +one distinction after another, at the end serving +all alike and regarding their status as soldiers alone. +Once when I dropped into a strange camp two boys +whom I had never seen crowded through the press +of men in the Y. M. C. A. hut; they had seen the +insignia of the 27th, and being fresh from hospital, +appealed to me to help them back to the division +that they might return home with their own units. +I was never surprised when non-Jews came to me +for advice in ordinary cases, but I have had such extreme +instances as a Jew and non-Jew coming +together, to ask advice in a case where both felt +they had been discriminated against by their commanding +officer. In hospital work, in front line +service, even in the ordinary routine of the rest +area, we came closer to one another than ever in +civil life.</p> + +<p>As I said above, the logical climax of friendly +coöperation comes when ministers of different faiths +assist each other in their own work. I shall never +forget a day in that busy October at the front when +I met a Baptist chaplain belonging to our division. +"Hello," he said, "I've just come to headquarters +here to look for you and a priest." "All right, +what can I do for you?" "Well," was his reply, +"our battalion goes into the line tonight, and I +wanted the Jewish and Catholic boys to have their +services, too. If you can come over at four o'clock, +I'll have the priest come at six." And so I came +there at four, to find the fifteen Jewish soldiers +grouped about a large tree near the battalion headquarters;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +the chaplain had notified them all. And, +as the barn was both dirty and crowded, we held +our little service under the tree, even though the +rain began in the middle of it. Two of those boys +did not come back three days later, and one was +cited for heroism, so that I have often remembered +the immeasurable service which the coöperation of +that chaplain meant for his men.</p> + +<p>On a minor scale such things took place constantly. +One day, going to a distant battalion in a rest area, +I not only went to the Y. M. C. A. man, who arranged +for my services in the school-house, and to +a Jewish corporal, who passed the word around to +the men of my faith, but I arranged also that the +"Y" man should conduct the Protestant service +the following Sunday, and that the Catholic chaplain +on coming should find arrangements made for his +confessions and mass. A classic incident of the +war is the story of Chief Rabbi Bloch, of Lyons, a +chaplain in the French army, who met his death before +Verdun in the early days of the war while +holding a cross before a dying Catholic lad. The +incident was related by the Catholic chaplain of the +regiment, who saw it from a little distance. But +by the time the gigantic struggle was over such incidents +had become almost matters of everyday. I, +for one, have read psalms at the bedside of dying +Protestant soldiers. I have held the cross before a +dying Catholic. I have recited the traditional confession +with the dying Jew. We were all one in a +very real sense.</p> + +<p>A Christian chaplain preached the sermon on the +second day of my Jewish New Year service in +Nevers. Similarly, I was a guest, with the other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +members of the divisional staff, at the splendid +midnight mass arranged by Father Kelley in the +little village church of Montfort. For the first time +in its history, the church was electrically lighted by +our signal corps; the villagers and the soldiers were +out in force; colonels assisted as acolytes; and the +brilliant red and gold of the vestments, with the +pink satin and white lace of the little choir boys, +stood out brilliantly from the dark garments of the +French and the olive drab of the Americans. Father +Kelley delivered a sermon of profound inspiration, +as well as a brief address in French to the villagers, +whose guests we were. The staff were seated in +a little chapel, at one side of the altar. The next +day my orderly overheard two of the soldiers arguing +about me. One insisted: "I did see the rabbi +there right on the platform." "You didn't," said +the other, "even if this is the army, they wouldn't +let him on the platform at a Catholic mass." It +reminded me of the incident in Paris when I had +visited the Cathédral of Notre Dame, accompanied +by my chauffeur, a Catholic boy, and I had given +him a lecture on the architecture and symbolism of +that splendid structure. It was only afterward that +the humor of the situation struck me—a rabbi explaining +a cathedral to a devoted Catholic.</p> + +<p>Every chaplain with whom I have compared notes +has told me of similar experiences. Chaplain Elkan +C. Voorsanger, for example, at the time when he +conducted the first official Jewish service overseas +at Passover 1918, received four other invitations +in various sections of France both from army officials +and Y. M. C. A. secretaries. At one point +the Young Men's Christian Association even offered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +to pay all his expenses if his commanding officer +would release him for the necessary time. I have +mentioned that Rabbi Voorsanger had no regular +services in the 77th Division during the fall holydays +of 1918, due to the military situation. There +was one exception to this, however, a hasty service +arranged at one of the brief stops during the march +by Father Dunne of the 306th Infantry, and that +service arranged by a priest was conducted by the +rabbi in a ruined Catholic church. Chaplain Voorsanger +is full of praise for the thirty chaplains of +various religions who worked under him when he +was Senior Chaplain of the 77th. Their enthusiastic +support as subordinates was fully equal to their +hearty coöperation as equals.</p> + +<p>Peculiarly enough, the Christian Science chaplain +in our division was the only one who found it difficult +to become adjusted with the rest. This could +hardly have been personal, as he was generally respected. +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 adherents. +But it seemed due chiefly to the ideas and the method +he represented. He was handicapped for the necessary +work of caring for the sick and wounded by +a unique attitude toward physical suffering, different +from the rest of us and different from that of +most of the soldiers themselves. As a consequence +he could serve most of them only as a layman might. +Certainly he could give no religious treatment of +disease, as the medical department was supreme in +its own field. In addition, he could conduct general +services only with difficulty. To the rest of us a +service meant the same thing,—a psalm, a prayer, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +talk, perhaps a song or two. But the Christian +Scientist could not give a prayer. Prevented from +using his ritual by the fact that the service was to +be non-sectarian, he had not the power of personal +prayer to fall back upon. He was not a minister in +the same sense as the rest of us, and the army had +no proper place for either a healer or a reader.</p> + +<p>With this single exception, I feel certain that +every chaplain in France had the same sort of experience. +When I first arrived in France I was one +of thirty-five chaplains assembled at the chaplains' +headquarters for instruction and assignment. Our +evening service was conducted in front of the quaint, +angular château on a level lawn surrounded by +straight rows of poplars. One evening Chaplain +Paul Moody, of the Senior Chaplain's office, gave +us an inspirational appeal derived from his own +experience and his observation of so many successful +chaplains at the front. Afterward, informally, +a Catholic told us briefly what we should do in case +we found a dying Catholic in the hospital or on the +field, with no priest at hand. Then I was asked +how best the others might minister to a Jewish +soldier in extremity. I repeated to them the old +Hebrew confession of faith; <i>Shema Yisroel adonoi +elohenu adonoi echod,</i> "Hear O Israel, the Lord is +our God, the Lord is One." I told them to lead the +boy in reciting it, or if necessary just to say it for +him, and the next morning when I brought down +copies of the words for them all I was deeply touched +by their eagerness to know them. These men did +not go out to convert others to their own view of +truth and life; they were ready to serve pious souls +and to bring God's presence near to all. Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +ministers were eager to help Jews to be better Jews; +rabbis were glad to help Christians to be better +Christians. We learned amid the danger and the +bitterness to serve God and man, not in opposition +and not even in toleration, but in true helpfulness +toward one another. I doubt whether these men, +once so willing to serve men of all creeds at the +risk of their lives, are foremost in the ranks of +Jewish conversionists to-day.</p> + +<p>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 Forces, Bishop Charles +H. Brent, now the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of +the Diocese of Western New York. Bishop Brent +utilized his great ability, his high spirituality and +his personal acquaintance with the Commander-in-Chief +all for the welfare of the men in the service. +Assiduous in his personal devotions, definite in his +personal preaching, when he turned to his duties as +Senior Chaplain he simply forgot his own affiliations +in the interest of all religions alike. Catholic and +Protestant had equal faith in the impartiality and +justice of his acts. He was especially careful in +behalf of the Jewish men because he knew that they +were a minority and might otherwise be neglected. +The official orders and the detailed arrangements +for the various holydays were a serious consideration +with him. His spirit animated his entire staff. +Chaplain Voorsanger felt it from the outset. Chaplain +Paul D. Moody, Bishop Brent's assistant in +the chaplains' office at General Headquarters, was +animated by it equally with his chief. Chaplain +Moody, a son of the great evangelist and now in one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +of the important Presbyterian churches in New +York City, was fond of telling how the various commanding +officers would often greet him as "Father" +or "Bishop."</p> + +<p>It is hardly surprising that such coöperation +strengthened men in loyalty to their own faith. As +the soldiers saw the military rank of all the chaplains +and their influence everywhere in the interests +of the men, as they saw men of other faiths coming +to their chaplain because of his loved personality +or his high standing, as they saw the official bulletins +announcing religious services of different +faiths at different hours but under the same auspices, +they grew to respect themselves and their +own faith a little more. A young man is likely to +be defiant or apologetic about being religious unless +he sees religion, including <i>his</i> religion, respected by +his comrades and his commanding officers. Therefore +this mutual service, instead of weakening the +religious consciousness of the various groups, rather +strengthened it. Men grew to respect themselves +more as they respected others more; they became +stronger in their own faith as they became more +understanding of others. The five chaplains at the +burial detail did not give up their own ideas, but +they did learn more about the others' faiths, and +they certainly learned to respect each other profoundly +as workers, as ministers and as men. Thus +our mutual friendship and our mutual help became +the foundation of all our efforts for the men, religious, +personal and military. We did our work +together as parts of one church, the United States +Army.</p> + +<p>This situation was brought out in strong relief<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +for me when I met in Le Mans a young French +priest, who had served as chaplain in an army hospital +through most of the war. He was overcome +with astonishment when I told him that, while the +majority of the men in our army were Protestant, +the Senior Chaplain of the area at that time was a +Catholic priest. I had to go into considerable detail, +explaining that in some organizations the head +was a Protestant, and in one division a Jew. Finally +he grasped it, with the remark, "<i>C'est la +liberté</i>." As a Frenchman it was hard for him to +understand the kind of religious liberty which means +coöperation and friendship. In France religious +liberty is based on hostility and intolerance of religion. +Religious liberty there means liberty for +the irreligious and consequent limitation of the +liberty of the religious. On the other hand, religion +there has meant historically, the domination of one +religion and the curtailment of liberty. It is a +peculiar view, which is paralleled among French +Jewry also. Active and interested Jews have little +interest in modernism, even in modern methods of +religious education; French Jews who are interested +in the world to-day have little interest in Judaism.</p> + +<p>We who served together in the United States +Army have a different ideal. We think of a religion +which gives equal freedom to all other types +of piety, which works equally with men of every +faith in the double cause of country and morality, +which does not give up its own high faith but sees +equally the common weal of all humanity, to be +served by men of many faiths. We have fixed our +gaze upon religion in action, and have found that +the things which divide us are chiefly matters of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +theory, which do not impede our working effectively +together. 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 America, to give us not +merely religious toleration, but religious helpfulness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>THE RELIGION OF THE JEWISH SOLDIER</h3> + + +<p>Much has been written of the soldier's religion, +most of it consisting of theoretical +treatises of how the soldier ought to feel +and act, 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 trenches. The soldier himself +was inarticulate on the subject of his own soul and +only the soldier really knew. Here and there one +finds a genuine human document, like Donald +Hankey's "Student in Arms," which gave the average +reaction of a thinking man subjected to the trials +and indignities of the private soldier in war-time, +in words far above those the average soldier could +have used. Theorizing about the soldier was worse +than useless; it often brought results so directly +opposite to the facts that the soldier himself would +have been immensely amused to see them.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the soldier had the average +mind and faith of the young American, with its +grave lapses and its profound sources of power. +He was characterized by inquiry rather than certainty, +by desire rather than belief. His mind was +restless, keen, eager; it had little background or stability. +It was dominated by the mind of the mass, so +that educated men had identical habits of mind with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +the ignorant on problems of army life. The moral +standards of the soldier were a direct outgrowth of +the morals of sport and business rather than those of +the church. He had a sense of fair play, of dealing +with men as men, but no feeling whatever of divine +commandments or of universal law.</p> + +<p>A significant incident, bringing out the peculiar +ideals of the soldier, is related by Judge Ben Lindsey +in his book, "The Doughboy's Religion." He tells +how a number of Y. M. C. A. secretaries conducted +questionnaires at various times as to what three sins +the soldiers considered most serious and what three +virtues the most important, hoping to elicit a reply +that the most reprehensible sins were drink, gambling +and sexual vice. But hardly a soldier mentioned +these three. The men were practically unanimous +in selecting as the most grievous sin, cowardice +and the greatest virtue, courage; as second, selfishness +and its correlative virtue, self-sacrifice; and +as third, pride, the holier-than-thou attitude, with +its virtue, modesty. The result, to one who knew the +soldier, would have been a foregone conclusion.</p> + +<p>The soldier was honest, he gave no cut-and-dried +answers but his own full opinion, based upon +the circumstances of his own life. At the front courage +is actually the most important attribute of manhood +and cowardice the unforgivable sin. One coward +can at any moment imperil the lives of his entire +unit by crying out in surprise on a night patrol, by +deserting his post as sentinel or gas guard, by infecting +with the spirit of panic the weaker men who follow +any contagious example. Selfishness likewise +was more than serious; it was vital. The selfish +man was one who ate more than his share of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +scanty rations on the march, who did not carry his +full pack but had to be helped by others, who was +first in line at the canteen but last to volunteer for +disagreeable duty. Pride, on the other hand, was +not dangerous but merely irritating in the extreme +to an army of civilians, of Americans with the spirit +of equal citizens, who felt that they were doing +everything for their country and resented equally the +autocratic and the patronizing manner. Besides the +soldier saw examples of these his highest virtues +about him constantly. Courage became a commonplace; +self-sacrifice an everyday matter. Officers +often shared the discomforts and exceeded the dangers +of their men. When one reads the accounts +of citations for the D. S. C. and Medal of +Honor, one wonders that human beings could do such +things. And when we who were at the front recall +the utter democracy of those days, how salutes and +formality of every kind were forgotten while only +leadership based on personality could prevail, 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 sinner.</p> + +<p>As to religious tendencies, the soldier had, first and +foremost, hope. He looked forward to better things +both for himself and for the world. He had the religious +longing and the religious certainty that the +future will witness the dawning of a better day. He +had a vast respect for manhood, though his democracy +did not go so far as to include other nations, +whom he very largely despised on account of their +"queerness" and his own ignorance. He had an +abiding hatred for anything which smacked in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +slightest degree of hypocrisy or "bluff." I mention +this in my next chapter in connection with +preaching to soldiers, but preaching was not the +only field in which it applied. The soldier laid an +inordinate value upon personal participation in +front line work, ignoring the orders which necessarily +kept the major part of the A. E. F. in back +area work, in supply, repair, or training duty. I +know of one chaplain, for example, who joined a +famous fighting division shortly after the armistice, +through no fault of his own but because he had been +previously detailed to other duty, 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 were. +Of course, this worked favorably for those of us +whom the boys had personally seen under fire at the +first aid post or in the trenches.</p> + +<p>This very respect for deeds and suspicion of +words, especially of polite or eloquent words, made +for suspicion of the churches and churchmen. We +had so pitifully few chaplains to a division, and some +of them were necessarily assigned to hospitals in the +rear. Only here and there did a Y. M. C. A. or +K. of C. secretary go with the men under fire. True, +they had nothing to do there, as there was no canteen +or entertainment hut at the front; true, strict +orders forbade their entering certain territory or +going over the top. The soldier asked not of orders +or duties; he knew only that this man, who in +many cases seemed to consider himself superior, +who preached and taught and organized, had not +slept night after night in the rain, had not fallen +prone in the mud to dodge the flying missiles, had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +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 fare.</p> + +<p>Therefore the soldier cared little for creeds of any +kind. 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 him. The soldier +needed religion; he wanted God; he cared very +little for churches, creeds or churchmen.</p> + +<p>In most characteristics the Jewish soldier was one +with his Christian brothers. He differed only in +those special facts or ideas which showed a different +home environment or a different tradition. For example, +the usual Christian minister used the word, +"atonement" with a special meaning which was +understood, if not accepted, by every Christian +present, but which meant nothing whatever to the +Jew, except through the very different association +with the Day of Atonement. So any analysis of +the religion of the Christian soldier would begin +with his attitude toward the atonement, but with the +Jewish soldier this must be omitted—he had no attitude +at all. 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 religion; the difference +was largely that of the religion which they +considered rather than of the men themselves.</p> + +<p>Of course, it was hard to be a good Jew in the +army. The dietary laws were impossible of fulfillment, +and the Talmudic permission to violate them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +in case of warfare meant less to the average soldier +than the fact that he was breaking them. The Sabbath +could not be kept at all, even in rest areas +where there was no immediate danger to life. No +soldier could disobey an order to work on the Sabbath; +if the work was there, the soldier had to +do it. In many ways Judaism was difficult and +Christianity just as difficult. For example, I know +of one division where the Passover service was +held under difficulties, as the unit was about to +move, and where the Easter service had the same +handicap, as the men had just finished moving and +were not yet established in their new quarters. +Most of the obstacles to religious observance were +common to all religions.</p> + +<p>A few Jews denied or concealed their religion in +the army as elsewhere. Some few enlisted under +assumed names; a number denied their Judaism and +avoided association with Jews, perhaps fearing the +anti-Semitism which they had heard was rife in +military circles. Their fear was groundless and +their deception, as a rule, deceived nobody. The +American army as it was organized during the war +had no place for prejudice of any kind. Efficiency +was the watchword; the best man was almost invariably +promoted; in all my experience abroad I +have never seen a clear case of anti-Semitism among +higher officers and only seldom in the ranks. Occasionally +also I met the type of Jew who admitted +his origin but had no interest in his religion. Such +a one—a lieutenant—who was known as a friend of +the enlisted men generally and especially of the Jewish +ones, assisted me greatly in arranging for the +services for the fall holydays, but did not attend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +those services himself. He represented the type +now fortunately becoming rarer in our colleges, the +men who have too much pride to deny their origin +but too little Jewish knowledge to benefit by it. It is +noteworthy that this particular man was stationed +in the S. O. S. and had at that time never been +at the front. Most men turn toward religion under +the stress of battle; those who have never been +in battle presented in certain ways a civilian frame +of mind.</p> + +<p>Most of the Jews in the army were orthodox in +background, rather than either reform or radical. +Perhaps the orthodox did not have the numerical +superiority they seemed to possess; in that case +I saw them as the most interested group, the ones +who came most gladly to meet the chaplain. Not +that the other two groups were lacking in this army, +which took in practically all the men of twenty-one +to thirty-one years in America. The dominating +group, however, was orthodox in background, though +most of them were not orthodox in conviction. +Causes are not far to seek—they had never studied +orthodoxy; they were young men and had few settled +religious convictions; they were in the midst of +a modern world where other doctrines were more +attractive. The fact is that their convictions were +usually directed toward Zionism rather than toward +one or another form of Judaism itself. Again, +they were without reasons for their interest. Zionism +appealed to them simply as a bold, manly, +Jewish ideal; they did not enter into questions +either of practicability or of desirability. In other +words, they were young men, not especially thoughtful, +who were interested in Jewish questions only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +as one of many phases of their lives. They had +their own trend, but were glad to accept leadership +of a certain type, adapted to their own lives and +problems.</p> + +<p>All these Jewish soldiers welcomed a Jewish chaplain. +The Catholics and Protestants had chaplains, +and all Jews except the negligible few who denied +their faith were very glad to be represented also, +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 religions. Most of the Jewish +soldiers had personal reasons also to greet a chaplain. +In many of the occasions, small and great, +when a Jewish soldier desired advice, aid or friendship, +he preferred a Jewish chaplain to any other +person. As a chaplain he had the influence to take +up a case anywhere and the information as to procedure, +while only a Jew can feel and respond to +the special circumstances of the Jewish men. On +the other hand, not all Jewish soldiers were eager to +welcome the Jewish Welfare Board although they +all liked it after it had arrived and made good. +Some were afraid of any distinction in these semi-military +welfare organizations, feeling that the two +already in the field, the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C., +were quite adequate. The Jewish Welfare Board, +however, 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 results. As always +among Jews, who lay great emphasis on non-Jewish +opinion, one of the chief causes of the popularity +among Jews of Jewish war work was its popularity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +among Christians. When a Jewish boy found +his building overcrowded by non-Jews, when he +had to come early to get a seat at the picture show +among all the Baptists and Catholics, when he saw +Christian boys writing to their parents on J. W. B. +stationery, he thought more of himself and his own +organization. This same fact refuted the argument +against segregation; men of all faiths used the +J. W. B. huts, just as they did those of the other +welfare organizations. They were one more facility +for men of every religion, even though organized +by Jews and conducted from a Jewish point of view.</p> + +<p>In their religious services, as in most other things, +the Jewish boys liked practices which reminded them +of home. Just as many of them enjoyed a Yiddish +story at an occasional literary evening, so they all +appreciated the traditional Seder at Passover more +than all the shows and entertainments which were +provided at the Passover leave. They preferred +to have many of the prayers in Hebrew, even though +I seldom had a Jewish congregation in the army +in which more than one third of the men understood +the Hebrew prayers. They liked the home-like and +familiar tone of the Jewish service on both Sabbaths +and festivals. They preferred to wear their caps +at service and to carry out the traditional custom +in all minor matters.</p> + +<p>But at the same time they had no objection to +changes in traditional practice. The abbreviated +prayerbook of the Jewish Welfare Board was much +appreciated, even though one or two of the boys +would state proudly that they had also a special +festival prayerbook. The short service was practical +and the boys therefore preferred it to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +longer one of the synagogue. They understood +that, with the large number of non-Jews at our +services and the usual majority of Jews who could +not read Hebrew, it was necessary to read part of +the prayers in English. They liked an English +sermon, too, although the chaplain skilled in army +methods always gave a very informal talk, far from +the formal sermon of the synagogue. And when +interested they asked questions, often interrupting +the even flow of the sermon but assisting the rabbi +and congregation to an understanding of the problem +at issue.</p> + +<p>One of the chief characteristics of an army congregation +was its constant desire to participate in +the service. The soldiers liked responsive readings; +they preferred sermons with the open forum +method; they were ready to volunteer to usher, +to announce the service throughout the unit, or for +any job from moving chairs to chanting the +service. At the Passover services at Le Mans, +we had all the volunteers necessary among +the crowd for everything from "K. P." (kitchen +police) to assist in preparing the dinner to an excellent +reader for the prophetic portion. The services +meant more to the soldiers as they became +their own.</p> + +<p>Another characteristic of services in the army was +the large number of non-Jews attending them. I +have come to a Y. M. C. A. on a Sunday morning +directly after the Protestant chaplain, when most of +his congregation joined me, and my group in consequence +was nine-tenths non-Jewish. At first this +factor was a source of embarrassment to many of the +Jewish men. They came to me beforehand to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +whisper that a few non-Jews were present, but I +took it as a matter of course, having learned my lesson +with my first service in France. 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 own. +When Jewish services often have from ten to eighty +per cent. of non-Jews in attendance, the Jewish soldiers +are doubly glad to have a partially English service +and a sermon. They want the Christians to respect +their religion as they do their own, an end +usually very easy of attainment. And while a few +Jews would have preferred to drop the special Jewish +characteristics of our service, I have never heard +a critical word from a Christian about our wearing +our hats, our Hebrew prayers, and the rest. Often, +in fact, I have had to answer respectful questions, +giving the sort of information which broadens both +sides and makes for general tolerance.</p> + +<p>At the front, even the most thoughtless desired +some sort of a personal religion. In the midst of the +constant danger to life and limb, seeing their comrades +about them dead and wounded, with life reduced +to the minimum of necessities and the few elemental +problems, men were forced to think of the +realities of life and death. With these eternal questions +forced upon them, the great majority must always +turn to religion. The men <i>prayed</i> at the front. +They wanted safety and they felt the need of God. +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 lives. +Perhaps the most religious congregation I have ever +had was the little group of men who gathered together<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +under the trees after the great battle at the +Hindenburg Lane. The impressions of the conflict +had not yet worn off. The men were, in a way, uplifted +by their terrific experiences. And the words +they spoke there of their fallen comrades were infinitely +touching. 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 custom.</p> + +<p>But with all this deep yearning for personal religion, +the men adopted fatalism as their prevalent +philosophy. For one thing, it seemed to answer the +immediate facts the best. When five men are together +in a shell hole and a bursting shell kills three +of them and leaves the two unharmed, all our +theories seem worthless. When one man, volunteering +for a dangerous duty, comes back only slightly +gassed, while another left at headquarters is killed +at his dinner by long distance fire, men wonder. +And when they must face conditions like this day +after day, never knowing their own fate from minute +to minute, only sure that they are certain to be killed +if they stay at the front long enough, they become fatalists +sooner or later. As the soldiers used to say, +"If my number isn't on that shell, it won't get me." +I argued against fatalism many times with the soldiers, +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 menace, and I fear that—with +proper philosophic qualifications—for the time +being, I was as much of a fatalist as the rest.</p> + +<p>At the rear the personal need for religion was less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +in evidence. The men who had gone through the fire +were not untouched by the flame, and gave some evidence +of it from time to time. The men who had not +been at the front, who comprised the majority in +back areas, had no touch of that feeling. They all +shared in the yearning for home and the things of +home and for Judaism as the religion of home, for +the traditional service of the festivals, for the friendship, +ministrations and assistance of the chaplain. +Judaism meant more to them in a strange land, amid +an alien people, living the hard and unlovely life of +the common soldier, than it ever did at home when +the schul was just around the corner and the careless +youth had seldom entered it. The lonely soldier +longed for Judaism as the religion of home just as +under fire he longed for comfort from the living +God. And the military approval of all religions on +the same plane, the recognition by the non-Jewish +authorities of his festivals and his services, 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 religion. Thus Judaism as +an institution, as the religion of home, had a great +place in the heart of the soldier in France.</p> + +<p>Some of the men, especially at the first, felt that +they were being neglected by the Jews of America, +that our effort was not commensurate with that +which the Christian denominations were making to +care for the soldiers of their faiths. We must admit +sadly that they had some justification for such a +view. Our representatives arrived in France late +though not at all too late for splendid results. +American Jewry was almost criminally slow in caring +for our hundred thousand boys in service<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +abroad. A few of the soldiers carried this complaint +even to the point of bitterness and estrangement +from Judaism. Here and there I met an enlisted +man who challenged Jewry as negligent. Usually +these were not our most loyal or interested +Jews, but they were Jews and should not have been +neglected. The men who entertained real loyalty +to their faith were usually active already in some +minor way and ready to coöperate with the Jewish +Welfare Board when it was in a position to back +them up. Most of the men, however, were eager to +forgive as in a family quarrel as soon as our welfare +workers arrived in France and showed immediate +accomplishment.</p> + +<p>Our Jewish boys came back from overseas with +certain new knowledge of life and new valuation +of their religion. Beginning merely as average +young men in their twenties, they acquired the need +and appreciation of their ancestral faith, though +not in a conventional sense. They are not to-day +reform Jews in the sense of adherents of a reform +theology; neither are they orthodox in the sense +of complete and consistent observance. They have +felt the reality of certain truths in Judaism, the comfort +it brings to the dying and the mourner, the +touch of home when one celebrates the festivals +in a foreign land, the real value of Jewish friends, +a Jewish minister, a Jewish club to take the place +of the home they missed over there. That is, Judaism +means more to them both as a longing and an +institution.</p> + +<p>But not all the things which we customarily associate +with Judaism have this appeal to them. +Some seem to them matters of complete indifference,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +and the usual emphasis on the wrong thing makes +them feel that the synagogue at home is out of +sympathy with their new-found yearning. If we +give them what we consider good for them, they +will take nothing. If we give them what they want—the +religion of God, of home, of service—and +with all three terms defined as they have seen and +felt them, then they will prove the great constructive +force in the synagogue of to-morrow. The Jewish +soldier had religion; if he was at the front, he has +had the personal desire for God; in any case he +has felt the longing for the religion of home. He +was often proud of his fellow Jews, sometimes of his +Judaism. He did heroic acts gladly, feeling the +added impetus to do them because he must not disgrace +the name of Jew. <i>Kiddush ha Shem</i>, sanctification +of the name of God, was the impelling motive +of many a wearer of the D. S. C., though he may +never have heard the term. 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 it, and for whom +those world-shaking events have become a part of +their very being.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>PREACHING TO SOLDIERS</h3> + + +<p>Preaching to soldiers, as I soon learned, was +a very different thing from addressing a civilian +congregation. The very appearance of the +group and place was odd to a minister from civil +life—young men in olive drab, sitting on the rough +benches of a welfare hut or grouped about in a +comfortable circle on the grass of a French pasture. +The group was homogeneous to an extent elsewhere +impossible, as all were men, all were young, and +all were engaged in the same work and had the +same interests. The congregation and the preaching +became specialized; the work became narrower +but more directly applicable to the individual than +in civil life. The soldiers had unusual experiences +and interests as their common background; +their needs were different from those of any group +of civilians, in or out of a church or synagogue. +They were soldiers and had to be understood and +approached as such.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of our services were never +twice the same. I have led groups in worship in +huts of the Y. M. C. A., K. of C., and J. W. B.; +in châteaux, army offices, and barns; yes, and out +of doors in the rain. I have come to a Y. M. C. A. +and found it full, taking my group for an announced +service to the stage and lowering the curtain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +for privacy. Once, in a great brick building +used by the "Y," I found the place occupied by +a miscellaneous crowd of a thousand men, reading, +writing, playing checkers, lined up at the canteen +for candy and cigarettes. My services had been +announced and my fifty men were present, some +of them after a five-mile walk. The secretary in +charge and I walked about to find a vacant spot +and finally found one, the prize ring. So I called +for attention, announced my service, and held it +in the prize ring, with my men seated on benches in +the ring itself. The non-Jews near by stopped their +reading or writing to listen to the little sermon, +so that my actual audience was considerably larger +than my group of worshipers.</p> + +<p>I remember one week-day evening when I came +to a J. W. B. hut in a camp near Le Mans for +an announced service only to find the place packed +to the doors. On inquiry, for such a crowd was +unprecedented in this particular camp, I found that +a minstrel show had been unexpectedly obtained +and was to run later in the evening. So, while +the actors were making up behind the curtain, I +held forth in front, and when the show was announced +as ready, a couple of Irish soldiers and a +Swede pushed to one side and made a little room +for me in the front row.</p> + +<p>This very informality and friendliness of spirit +meant, first of all, that one could not "preach" +to soldiers in any case. They were intolerant of +preaching. They did not want to be preached to. +They wanted "straight goods, right from the +shoulder." They wanted deeds more than words, +or at least words which were simple and direct, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +the force of deeds. One who knew soldiers had to +<i>talk</i> to them, not preach. The more informal, the +more direct, the more effective. A good sermon +would often miss fire completely before an audience +of soldiers when a good talk would wake them +up and stir them. Informality, simplicity, knowledge +of the soldier and his needs were the best +qualities with which to approach the enlisted man, +especially when he was or had been in the actual +fighting and thus acquired a new sense of perspective. +The strongest hatred of the fighting man was +directed toward sham of whatever type, and he exerted +that prejudice without any fine sense of discrimination +against anything that seemed to him pretentious +or hollow. The danger of pretense or dishonesty +in the trench or on a patrol seemed to have +entered into the whole mentality of the soldier. He +distrusted the brilliant orator, who found more difficulty +in winning him over than did the simpler +and more direct type of speaker. He was certain +to prick the bubble of a poseur at once, and was +more than suspicious of anything which even hinted +at pose or pretense.</p> + +<p>For one thing, the material had to be concrete, +the sort of thing the soldier knew. Jew and non-Jew +were very nearly the same in the army, with +certain minor differences of background. And +hardly ever did one have an audience composed +overwhelmingly of Jews; there was always a large +admixture of others in any army audience, even +when a Jewish service had been announced. Now, +as to background and memories, our army was too +mixed to rely on them for much material. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +the chaplain spoke of home, the soldier might think +of a tenement home or a ranch-house or a mountaineer's +cottage. Certainly, only a few would ever +have the same picture as the chaplain. When he +spoke of foreigners, he might be addressing a +group composed largely of Poles, Italians and Irish, +who entertained very different ideas of what a +foreigner might be, but would all consider our old +Southern population, white and black, as foreign.</p> + +<p>The only common ground of all soldiers was the +army. The men knew work, discipline, war. They +did not regard these things as an officer would, and +a wise preacher found out their attitude in detail +whenever he could. But this was concrete material, +common to them all. They all hated to be under +authority, but had nevertheless learned the lesson of +discipline for practical purposes. They were fascinated +by fighting, but feared it and preferred it, on +the whole, to the tedium of peace. They found a +greater monotony in army drill than in any other +one thing in the world. They were brave when +occasion arose. They had seen their friends drop +dead at their side and had mourned and buried +them. They had seen comrades promoted, now by +favoritism, now by ability, and held a mixed feeling +of ambition and of dislike for responsibility and the +drudgery of thinking for themselves. They had +problems of conduct, problems of morale, problems +of vision, and they welcomed any discussion of their +own problems in their own language, while despising +infinitely the man who made a mistake in military +terminology or showed lack of knowledge of +the army. Their knowledge and their interest was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +narrow but keen, and one was compelled to meet +the soldier on his own ground to interest or influence +him.</p> + +<p>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 vocabulary. +Here again the soldier proved a unique audience. +With all his quickness to grasp an idea, his lightning +sense of humor, his immediate sense of reality +and recognition of fact, he had in many cases the +vocabulary of a ten-year-old child. Many of our +soldiers were from the mine, the farm, the sweatshop. +Many of them learned English from the daily +papers; many from their semi-literate companions. +A few hundred very simple English words and plenty +of army slang were the chief reliance of the preacher, +and other expressions had to be defined as one went +along. 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 sympathy.</p> + +<p>Of course, the average soldier, Jew or non-Jew, +had no homiletic background; he was not a frequent +listener to sermons in civil life. In many cases +the men admitted that they had never been in a +church in their lives. Many of the Jewish boys had +not been to a synagogue for years, and when they +had gone many of them had attended an orthodox +service where they had not understood a single +word of the Hebrew service. Therefore the language +of the Bible meant literally nothing to them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +without paraphrasing, except where it came very +close to modern speech. Therefore also the cant +phrases of the pulpit or of the public speaker +generally had no meaning whatever to their minds, +favorable or the reverse. They left the soldiers +completely untouched. Thus the best civilian +sermon may have been meaningless to a group +of soldiers, while a direct talk, even a sort of conversation +with the audience, was of real benefit to +them. For there was no formality about an army +audience. If one made the mildest joke, the boys +laughed out. If one "paused for a reply," the reply +was apt to come in loud and unmistakable tones. +In a talk to a group about to return home, for example, +I remarked, "I suppose you'll all reënlist in +the National Guard when you get mustered out," +only to be greeted by an immediate chorus of groans. +If the soldiers were interested, they interrupted with +questions; if uninterested, they frankly got up and +left the room. They gave more than the cold decorum +of a church; they gave a living response; +they talked with and thought with the preacher. +But the type of decorum one found in a church or +temple was utterly beyond them. Their response +was better, but different in its very activity.</p> + +<p>Certainly, there were different audiences even +among soldiers. I know of one preacher who traveled +about France with a great speech on courage +which fell utterly flat on a certain occasion. He +had made the mistake of speaking on courage to +a group of men from the Service of Supply, whose +chief contribution to the war had been carrying +cases of canned salmon and repairing roads. A +certain chaplain had a battalion of recent immigrants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +mustered for a service before going into +battle, only to be privately cursed afterward in the +five languages spoken by the boys he had addressed. +For he had made those boys give up their short +period of rest to talk to them of home and mother, +to make them think of the dear ones they were +trying to forget, to put before them the one thought +that was most likely to unnerve them for the terrible +task ahead!</p> + +<p>It was just as great a mistake to preach about +sacrifice after a battle. In battle sacrifice was the +most common thing; ordinary men rose to heights +of heroism to save their "buddies" or to assist +in the advance. The high courage of self-sacrifice +became familiar. Preaching self-sacrifice to these +men was useless—for Christian as well as Jew. +They had seen stretcher bearers shot down while +carrying their precious burdens to the rear. They +had seen officers killed while getting their men +under shelter. They had seen the gas guard, as a +part of his daily duty, risk the most horrible of +deaths in order to give the alarm for his comrades. +Such men responded to an appeal on the divine +in man, on the brotherhood of all those heroes about +them, on Americanism, on a hundred congenial +themes; they did not see the cogency of an appeal +to sacrifice.</p> + +<p>The profound friendships and violent dislikes +of the soldier have been often noticed. His fidelity +to his "buddy," to any popular officer, to his +company and regiment, stand out as part of his +vigorous, boyish outlook. On the other hand, a +swiftly acquired prejudice would go with him forever +in the face of many facts and much argument<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +to the contrary. The relative standing of the Y. M. C. A. +and the Salvation Army among the men is a +case in point. The Young Men's Christian Association +was by far the largest war work organization +which worked among the mass of the soldiers, +as the Red Cross confined its activities largely to +hospitals and related fields. It was a wide-spread +organization, covering practically every unit and +almost every type of activity, religious, athletic, +entertainment, canteen. But the soldier, while using +the Y. M. C. A., disliked it. The Salvation Army, a +very small organization in both amount and scope +of work, which I never saw in action because I +did not happen to be in the limited sector it covered, +was, however, popular if only by hearsay in every +part of the great army. Now, the soldier had very +real grievances against the "Y." It charged him +more for its tobacco than did the quartermaster's +store; it gave away very little, while other organizations, +not burdened with the canteen, gave away +a great deal; it had a certain proportion of misfits, +men who did not belong in any military work, who +considered themselves better than the common +soldier and did not share his trials or his viewpoint.</p> + +<p>These facts were all explained later; some of +them were inevitable. 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 been. The canteen had been undertaken by the +Y. M. C. A. at the request of the army authorities, +who desired to be relieved of the tremendous burden, +and its prices were determined by cost plus transportation, +which latter item was not included by the +quartermaster's stores. The tremendous rush of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +the last six months of the war made the task too +great for any of the organizations in the field, including +sometimes even the quartermaster's corps. But +after the prejudice had been conceived it could not +be shaken. It persisted in spite of excuses, in spite +of remedies for some of the evils, in spite of the +excellent work which the Y. M. C. A. did in the +leave areas. I have mentioned its activities in Nice, +Monte Carlo, and Grenoble, how it provided the +enlisted man with free entertainment,—excursions, +dances and shows, during his entire period on leave. +This striking contribution to the morale and the +pleasure of the forces was almost overlooked in the +general criticism. On the other hand, nobody ever +heard the enthusiastic doughboy mention a mistake +made by the more limited forces of the Salvation +Army, which therefore received more than adequate +commendation for its really effective work.</p> + +<p>A similar violent contrast existed in the soldier's +attitude toward the British and colonial soldiers, especially +the Australians. The doughboy liked the +"Ausies"; he despised the "Tommie." The usual +phrase was: "Oh, well, the 'Tommies' are all right +to hold the line, but it takes the 'Ausies' to make +a push." This was strictly untrue, according to +the terrific fighting we ourselves witnessed on the +British front. It was simply that the Australians +were all volunteers, young and dashing, like the +pioneers of the western plains, the precursors of +our own men. They were independent, lawless and +aggressive. The British whom we knew were the survivors +of four years of warfare, veterans of many a +campaign in the field and siege in the hospital, or +older men, the last draft of the manhood of Great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +Britain. No wonder our boys liked the "Ausies" +and refused to see any good whatever in that very +different species of men, the "Tommies."</p> + +<p>So the soldier was an exacting but a grateful +audience. He emphasized deeds rather than words, +and therefore he was much easier of approach for +his own chaplain, who was under the same regulations +as he, who went with him to the front and +tended the wounded and the dead under fire, than +for the most eloquent or the most illustrious of +civilian preachers. He conceived violent likings and +equally violent prejudices, always based upon some +sort of reason but usually carried beyond a reasonable +degree. He had to be approached on his own +ground, with material from his own experience, with +language which he could understand. And when +that was done, he was the most thankful audience in +the world. He thought with the speaker, responded +to him, aided him. As an audience he was either the +most friendly and helpful in the world or the most +disappointing. But that depended on the speaker +and the audience being in harmony, knowing and +liking each other. A man who knew and loved the +soldier could work with him and help him in achieving +great results, for the American soldier, though +the most terrible enemy, was also the best friend +in the world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>MORALE AND MORALS</h3> + + +<p>No thorough scientific study of the problem of +morale has ever been made, in either military +or civilian life. Every one is familiar with +many of its manifestations, but very few have gone +into their causes except incidentally to the practical +needs of the moment. That was the case in the +A. E. F., where both chaplains and line officers were +deeply concerned in the morale of our troops, at +first as fighting forces and after the armistice as +citizens and representatives of America abroad. +We tried this and that expedient, some good and +some bad. Often we neglected the very act which +was most essential. Often we did nothing whatever +until it was too late. Unit commanders, chaplains, +and even G. H. Q. were alike forced to employ +empirical, trial-and-error methods instead of a +fundamental, scientific approach. 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 psychology, and that this same ignorance +is universal in civil life as well. 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 +army. This brief chapter is by no means intended +to take the place of such a scientific study; it may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +serve as material for one, and in addition may provide +certain facts of importance in themselves.</p> + +<p>Morale in the army represented two distinct problems, +the front line and the rear. The former demanded +high tension, the necessity of unified and +instantaneous action. The latter demanded steadiness +in daily duties, training, drill and study, the +same qualities needed by the worker in civil life +but under unusual circumstances. And between the +two there was a gap, because the let-down from the +one type of morale might result, not in the other +type, but in no morale at all. The good soldier in +camp might be a very poor soldier at the front, +where different qualities were required; the man +who would win his decoration at the front for reckless +bravery was often the worst soldier in camp, +judging by the number of punishments for the infraction +of minor rules of discipline. There is the +case, for example, of the former gunman who won +his D. S. C. for the very qualities which had formerly +sent him to prison. Even the best of soldiers, +at both front and rear, had to withstand a serious +mental shock when he passed from one of these +situations to the other, and especially when he retired +into a rest area after a hard spell in the +trenches.</p> + +<p>In the American army front-line morale was by +far the easier type to maintain. In some other +armies, I was told, the opposite was the case, 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 soldier. His is +the dash, the courage, the spirit of "Let's go!"; he +is more likely to lack the sense of subordination,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +of instant obedience to orders, which constitutes +the first essential of a good soldier in the rear. The +object of morale at the front is action—instant, unified, +aggressive, with every nerve and muscle +strained to the utmost toward the one end. The +means of this type of morale is confidence. The +good soldier thinks that he belongs to the best +company in the best division in any army in the +world; that his officers are the ablest, his comrades +the most loyal, his own soldierly qualities at least +on a par with the best. Each division was firmly +convinced that its own battles won the war, while +the others merely helped. None of them would give +the French and British credit for more than adequate +assistance, ignoring completely their years of +struggle before we even entered the conflict. But +this sort of self-centered confidence was the characteristic +of the good soldier, the man who would +follow his captain in any attack, however desperate, +who never looked whether his comrades were coming +but went ahead in calm certainty that they would +be even with him. One hint of wavering or doubt +would break up this high steadiness of spirit, but +as long as it held the men who possessed it would +fight on in the face of seemingly insuperable difficulties.</p> + +<p>I have mentioned the situation of the 27th Division +from October 17th to 21st, 1918, how they entered +the attack with depleted numbers, tired in +body and mind, after insufficient rest and with no +fresh replacements. Day after day their dearest +wish was that their relief might come and they +might enjoy the often promised rest. They had +seen their comrades killed and wounded until a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +regiment had only the normal number of men to +equip a company. Yet day after day the orders +came for an advance, and every day those tired +boys advanced. They did what we all considered +impossible because they had the morale of good +fighting men. They bore the ever-present danger +of bursting shells and the sniper's bullet with boyish +daring and constant success. They labored harder +than any worker in civilian life, sleeping in the rain, +marching, carrying their heavy rifles and packs +made mercifully light for the occasion, digging in +the clinging clay of the Somme valley. This, too, +they did not gladly, often not willingly, but because +it was part of the game, and they were good sportsmen +and would see it through.</p> + +<p>The peril to morale at the front was nerves. +Although it may be hard to conceive, the dashing, +aggressive soldiers might fall before this danger. +Aggravated cases, true neuroses, we called "shell +shock," slighter ones, "nerves," but the two were +the same. The constant noise, exertion, hard work, +loss of sleep, undernourishment, produced a peculiar +mental state. Above all, the high nervous tension +which was necessary for men to persist in these +conditions had its dangers, too. By reason of it the +wounded were able to bear more than their ordinary +share of suffering, so that we saw constant examples +of stoicism at the front. But when the +excitement and tension wore off its effect was lost, +and in base hospitals the soldiers were no better +patients than young men in civilian life. When +overburdened nerves gave way, the soldier was completely +lost. A chaplain has told me of a long night +spent with a patrol in front of the lines, not talking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +with the men but instead trying to hold the top sergeant +to his post. The sergeant was a fine soldier, +with a splendid record all through the Meuse-Argonne +campaign, but that night, in the long vigil, +his nerves had given way and the big, stolid soldier +was trembling with fear. Only constant persuasion +and the threat of force held him to his duty, 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-com. +in command failed them.</p> + +<p>The soldier had a mixed feeling toward battle. +The shock of conflict is exciting and exerts a sort +of fascination. But the excitement was short while +the danger was omnipresent and the work could +never be escaped. The soldier regarded war as +a sort of deadly game, where the contest called forth +every energy and the stakes were life itself. But +battle contains another factor—a compound of work +and discomfort. War is nine parts sordid labor +to one of glorious action. It was mixed with cooties, +mud, sleeping in the rain, marching all night and +lying down under artillery fire. It included digging, +and the soldier found no more romance in digging +in at the front than in digging a ditch at home, except +that under fire he dug considerably faster. +War involved carrying a pack, and that became +speedily the pet hatred of the enlisted man. As +the prisoner dreads the cell in which he is confined, +so the infantryman feels toward his pack clinging +with its eighty-odd pounds as he trudges along +the weary roads. War is a glorious memory now, +but it was neither glorious nor pleasant to live +through.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p> + +<p>When the troops retired for rest and training, the +problem of morale became reversed at once. Now +it became a matter of discipline and drill. Instead +of danger and discomfort, our trials were work and +monotony. A high type of morale in the rear meant +that the men were not absent without leave, that +they worked hard at their drill and became automatic +in its motions, that they obeyed every rule of discipline, +large and small. Saluting, for example, +was very important at the rear; we never once +thought of it at the front. This régime was not +always easy, though at first we could hold out +the object of winning the war, as in the pamphlet +on sex education, "Fit to Fight." After the war +was over that object no longer remained. But the +hard work remained, the kitchen police, the cleaning +up of quarters, the carrying of the pack, the +incessant drill. "Squads east and west," when the +fighting was at an end and there was no direct +use for maneuvers, seemed to the soldiers simply +made work. In fact, 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 mischief.</p> + +<p>The peril of this situation was obvious. It was +that the tedium might grow too great and the men +yield to the temptations of drink, gambling and vice. +These would result in disorder, insubordination, +time lost from duty, venereal disease,—any number +of possible evils. They would demoralize a unit +at the rear as readily as nerves would demoralize it +at the front. Sexual vice and sexual disease, while +statistically not so great in the army as among the +same age groups in civil life, was still serious. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +different social system of France put temptation +directly in the way; prostitution was open and +licensed, and the women of the streets quick to +accost the wealthy foreigners, whose dollar a day +was so much greater than the pay of the French +soldier. At the same time, the French girls of good +family did not meet strange soldiers, dance with +them, talk to them, as was done in the States. +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 home. Courteous in showing the stranger +his way or telling him the time of day, 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 soldiers. +At home the soldier had been lionized from the time +of his enlistment until his leaving for overseas. +He had been entertained, fed, provided with dances, +shows and automobile rides. The daughters of rich +and cultivated families tended canteen or danced +with the soldiers. But in France the daughter of +a good family went out only with a man she knew, +and then strictly chaperoned. Even when she knew +a man personally, a respectable girl would hardly +think of walking down the street with him.</p> + +<p>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 generally. I remember an argument with +one of the boys who had just stated that all French +girls were careless in their morals. When pinned +down to particulars, he admitted that he had met +exactly three French girls beside those who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +accosted him on the street. Two had been sisters, +at whose home a friend of his had been billeted, +and when he and his friend had wanted to take +them to an army vaudeville their mother had gone +along. The third was the daughter of my landlady +at Montfort, a fine rounded peasant type. On this +scanty basis he had formed his typical opinions.</p> + +<p>The control of the minutiæ of daily life together +with the influence over the minds of men in the +army should have enabled the authorities to suppress +vice almost entirely. Unfortunately, this was never +accomplished. Lectures, severe penalties for disease +"incurred not in line of duty," and liberal +provision for "early treatment" all together did not +work the miracle. The prophylactic stations for so-called +"early treatment" directly after exposure +were patronized by a number of men, but never +by a very large proportion of the number who were +certainly exposed. The venereal hospitals where +sufferers underwent both treatment and punishment +had their full quota from every division which +remained long in back areas, and most divisions +left behind as many as two hundred and fifty men for +further treatment after the thorough inspections +preceding their departure for home.</p> + +<p>Drink was a less serious, though more prevalent +danger. The law had prevented men in uniform +from drinking in the United States; in France it +forbade only their use of spirituous liquors, and +even those were often available. So there was a +good deal of beer and wine drinking, and some of +cognac. The last was apt to result in drunkenness +and disorder, but our military authorities had always +the power to declare certain cafés, which had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +violated regulations, "out of bounds" for Americans, +and as a last resort the French police would +close such a place altogether. Gambling was the +most prevalent vice of all, and one which was never, +to my knowledge, controlled anywhere. It lacked +gravity in so far as the soldiers had very little to +gamble, and could incur no great losses. But it was +always an easy resort to break the monotony of +army life in training or rest areas, and always a +menace to the type of manhood which we wanted to +see among our American fighting men.</p> + +<p>The reliance on penalties as the chief mode of controlling +young Americans was fundamentally unsound +both in theory and practice. The warnings +against sexual vice lost half their effectiveness because +they were usually given by company officers, +who emphasized the danger of disease and the military +penalties rather than the appeal of loyalty or +self-respect. Medical officers and chaplains were +certainly better equipped for such special work, although +probably no human being and no appeal +can solve the entire problem.</p> + +<p>All these facts came slowly to the fore within +the few months following the armistice, and we +were able to observe them very clearly in the +27th Division while in the Montfort area. While +we wintered there, from November 1918 to +February 1919, the morale of our troops, which +had never weakened at the front even under the most +terrible conditions, went down steadily during those +three weary months. For one thing, we were constantly +expecting orders to leave for home and constantly +disappointed. We were inspected and reinspected, +drilled and drilled again. Warned not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +to begin an elaborate program of athletics, education +or amusement, we worked from week to week +and never instituted one-third of the work which +we had planned and ready. Meanwhile there was +the café and the danger of vice and drink, so the men +were kept drilling through the winter rains to keep +them busy during the day and make them tired at +night. This attempt was neither humane nor possible +and had only the worst effects.</p> + +<p>The failure with our division brought the possibility +of a constructive program before the higher +command of the army, which inaugurated one just +about the time our division left the area. Large +schools were started in each permanent division in +the district, giving both common school and technical +branches, with the army university at Beaune as +the head of the educational structure. Such a school +was established in the Forwarding Camp, near Le +Mans, where I saw it in busy operation. Athletic +meets were arranged in each division, with larger +ones at Le Mans and other central points for the +best men in the separate units. More welfare huts +of different agencies were established, with more +canteen supplies from the States and more women +workers for canteen service and dances. Each division +devoted more attention to its "shows," usually +a musical comedy troupe, with very clever +female impersonators to make up for the lack of +chorus girls. Some of these shows had tours arranged +by the Y. M. C. A. or other agency, and +a few of them even had gala performances in Paris. +Regular religious services and other appointments +with the chaplains were instituted and advertised, +although we had always done this for ourselves in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +our own units. Leave areas were designated in the +most beautiful sections of France, as well as permission +for a few furloughs in Italy and England. +The <i>Stars and Stripes</i>, always a valuable organ as +the soldiers' newspaper, became the constant instrument +of propaganda to upbuild morale. Finally, +the army took over official control of education, +entertainment and athletics from the civilian agencies, +designated a Welfare Officer to control them +all, and asked the agencies formerly in control to +coöperate with the newly appointed officials. All +these were steps in the right direction, although at +times such work was partially nullified by the choice +of the wrong man as Welfare Officer. This was a +position which only a professional educator could +fill at all; even an expert could hardly influence actively +a hundred thousand minds at once. Hardly +any professional soldier, business man or engineer +could have the breadth of view and technical knowledge +to approach them. Of course, when army +regulations prescribed a major for a particular position +and only a lieutenant was available with the +proper training, an untrained major was appointed +and the lieutenant left in command of a platoon. +Promotions were naturally few after the armistice, +and the table of organization had to be complied +with at all costs.</p> + +<p>The <i>Stars and Stripes</i> demands a few words +in itself, both because of its excellent articles and +cartoons and for its unique position as "the soldiers' +newspaper." It was a well-written weekly publication, +which could command the services of many of +the best of the younger writers and cartoonists in +America. The knowledge that the <i>Stars and</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +<i>Stripes</i> was semi-official, being published under +military censorship, made its news material very +influential on morale. Men believed anything they +read there about the work of the various divisions, +special distinctions, or the date of the homeward +troop movement. But that very factor made the +articles it published more or less suspected by the +men. They knew they were propaganda, written +for the benefit of morale, and they therefore read +them, but derived much less effect from them than +would otherwise have been the case. Still the +writers, themselves soldiers, expressed the soldiers' +view often enough and clearly enough to lend some +value even to the suspected material from General +Headquarters.</p> + +<p>After all, amusements, education and athletics +were only palliatives in a confessedly irksome situation. +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 overworked. The essentials +of morale were the elements which approached +the soldiers' welfare most nearly—food, pay, mail +and daily military routine. Army food was notoriously +bad, army cooks famous for lack of skill. +Part of this, like other complaints, lay in the chronic +grumbling of the soldiers. Obviously, they did not +receive the kind of meals that "mother used to +make" or the product of a famous hotel. The food +itself was usually of excellent quality but coarse, the +menus well balanced but monotonous. This last was +the chief grievance and one that was largely justified. +Most of our food had to be brought overseas +in cans, and it took a skillful cook to disguise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +"corned willie," "monkeymeat" or "goldfish" day +in and day out. Yet corned beef, stew and salmon, +to use their civilian names, were staples in the army +diet. It became a question among us officers whether +we preferred to drink good coffee, ruined by army +cooks, or the excellently prepared chicory of the +usual French restaurant. I, for one, preferred the +British ration as superior in variety to that we +received after we came into the American area, although +it was normally not as large in amount as +the ration of the American soldier.</p> + +<p>Pay and mail were notoriously unreliable in the +A. E. F. Pay was regular for officers, of course, +who could swear to their own pay vouchers, but not +always for enlisted men, who required a service +record to have their names put on the pay roll. +When a man is a patient in nine hospitals within +four months, we cannot expect his mail to follow +him, nor his service record to stay at hand. +These grievances were later remedied, the mail +through the Main Post Office, the pay question by +means of pay books and supplementary service +records. Still, 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 months, +or to find a man who had been shifted so often from +one unit to another that his pay was six months +in arrears. When we remember the little money at +hand for any purpose whatever, when we bear in +mind the loneliness of these boys so far from home, +loved ones, even from common sights and familiar +speech, we can imagine what a deprivation such +troubles brought, and how deeply they effected +morale. Of course, as I have mentioned before, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +soldier never made allowances either for the difficulty +of the task or the comparative success with +which it was accomplished. The soldier merely suffered +and complained.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the incessant complaints +about that very necessary institution, the censorship +of letters home. The last hope of the soldier +was for glory in the eyes of the people at home. +At least he would be a hero to them. But here +the censor lifted his terrible shears. Stories of +heroism, true or false, could not be told. 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 details. +For many of the soldiers this was more than annoying; +it was serious. They were often not educated, +had written perhaps three or four letters in +their lives, and could hardly face the task of writing +a second letter if the first was condemned. In +any case no American wanted to submit his personal +letters for his wife or sweetheart to a superior officer +for approval. 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 port, and censorship became another +grievance to the enlisted man.</p> + +<p>Finally, the greatest factor in morale, good or bad, +was that intangible but very real entity, military +discipline. The American boy hates to be under +authority; to ask for leave to speak to his captain; +to request permission to go for a few hours' leave +after his day's duties are over; to address an officer +in the third person: "Is the captain feeling +well this morning, sir?" Most American officers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +were human enough, with little of the class feeling +of the British army. For that reason the soldier +rarely hated his own officers, and often was heard +to boast of "my lieutenant" or "my captain." The +soldier merely hated authority in general, as represented +largely by the necessity to salute any unknown +officer whom he might meet. He never understood +the lectures about the manliness of saluting or +its military necessity; he knew only that it was the +sign of authority, to which he was subjected.</p> + +<p>Perhaps that is the root of the whole matter of +morale. A good soldier at the rear was the man +who sank his personality and became a unit in the +squad. If too strongly defined an individual, he +was a marked man; he became company clerk or +kitchen police, according to his previous education. +The good soldier was the one who acted automatically +on receipt of orders, who saluted, said "Yes, +sir," turned on his heel and seemed at once to be +very busy. Even if he had been an executive or a +lawyer in civil life, the constant drill made an automaton +of the enlisted man; he sank back into the mind +of the crowd, adopted the usual opinions in the +usual words, and lost for the time being his personality. +Drill made for automatic physical reactions +to a certain set of commands and the temporary +cessation of thought. In close-order drill Tom +Smith submerged his personality and became +"Number Three in the rear rank." He learned to +swing about at the proper moment, following the +man ahead of him, to respond instantly to the word +of command without hesitating for its meaning, to +stand and march and salute and obey. That was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +good for the rear, but at the front we needed Tom +Smith again, and he might forget his place in the +line, rush forward on his own initiative and become +a hero. The finest acts were those of individuals +acting without orders, the private forming a +stretcher party of volunteers to go out for the +wounded, the corporal reforming the platoon when +all the sergeants were disabled and leading them +forward. Then in the long period after the war +Tom Smith had to be lost, for Number Three in the +rear ranks was needed again.</p> + +<p>The soldier lived in utter ignorance, not only of +general events in the world and the army, but even +of the things which would affect himself most +closely. The enlisted man never knew a day in advance +when he would be transferred to a different +post or a different duty, when he would be promoted +or degraded in rank, when he was to attack the +enemy or retire for a rest. Even the things he saw +became distorted. A doughboy remarked to me +just before the battle of the Selle River, "We're +held up by a little stream twenty feet wide, with +Jerry on top of the railroad embankment on the +other side. If we can just get across that river and +up that embankment, we'll end the war right there." +Of course, our success three days later did not end +the war; it was only part of a tremendous program +which the private soldier did not envisage at all. +The attack on the Selle River was but one of a half-dozen +actions carried on simultaneously in Flanders, +on the Scheld, at Rheims, in the Argonne and on the +Meuse. Our attack was made easier because of these +others, and they in turn were successful because of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +ours. The three hundred miles of battle-line were +all one, and only the broadest possible view could +give any idea at all of the truth.</p> + +<p>The officer, especially when on the staff, saw +things in relation, but the soldier had to work in the +dark. He never did understand the rules of the +great game he was playing. Tactics were nothing +to him. He knew only what it meant to march +with a heavy pack all night, to rest in the damp cold +of dawn when he was too weary to rest at all, +to advance under fire and to dig in again and yet +again. Much as he might later on revel in the +raw heroism of it all, this arduous labor, blindfolded, +left him a prey to doubt and rumor at the +time. Rumors were one of the few foes of morale +which persisted at both front and rear, because +they were the product of ignorance and in both +places ignorance persisted. No man can be quite +steady in his duty when his mind is distracted +by the countless rumors of army life. So far +as we had information to dispense, we were +building up morale, even when the facts were not +reassuring. Rumors about going home, being the +most desirable, were the greatest menace of all. +Men would come back from the hospital with half-healed +wounds because the rumor said we were going +home at once, and they wanted to go along. Men +would take unofficial leave to see Paris before they +died, just because the latest rumor had it that we +were not to leave for another month. Every such +disappointment or lapse of duty made the next +rumor more dangerous and wider spread.</p> + +<p>The morale of the overseas forces described a slow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +downward curve from the high point at the armistice +until the news that the particular unit was +going home, when it took an immediate upward +bound. During the downward trend of the curve, +the men grew to hate the army. The definite elements +which they naturally resented were emphasized +and exaggerated, although that was hardly +necessary. At the same time, they felt immense +pride in their own achievements, and a thorough +contempt for "joy-riders," as they termed the civilian +travelers through France, the official investigators +or representatives of civilian organizations, +who witnessed the trenches as if on a sight-seeing +party. This pride in their actual accomplishments, +combined with resentment at the military subversion +of ordinary civilian standards of life and manhood, +was characteristic of the best minds in the ranks.</p> + +<p>The military system is of necessity heteronomous, +while democracy must be autonomous. The very +virtues of self-reliance, independence, responsibility, +which we most emphasize in civil life, were the +ones most actively discouraged among enlisted men. +At the same time, the moral influences put upon them +were those of compulsion and restraint. The régime +for officers was radically different; it demanded responsibility +and removed much of the restraint. +Hence the tendency of the army system was to +produce officers with adequate mental processes and +soldiers with automatic obedience to any kind of +orders. The result, not difficult to foresee, was that +the officers had far better minds but far poorer +morals than the enlisted men. The officer was responsible +for himself; the enlisted man had a number<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +of superiors responsible for him. As a consequence +the officer used his mind, the soldier stopped using +his. On the other hand, the officer often abused +his larger liberty, so that some of the officers of +the A. E. F. 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 fought.</p> + +<p>The conspicuous difference was not the result of +differences in the men themselves, for we had no +castes in the American army. Officers and men +came from the same stock and from every group. +It was the direct consequence of the different type +of discipline and control to which they were subjected. +The best officers and the best men surmounted +it; the worst yielded; the average were affected +more or less.</p> + +<p>Obviously, morale was a loose general term for +many actual conditions. It meant one thing at the +front, another thing at the rear. It included morals, +although sometimes a high state of morale could +exist together with many lapses from the moral +code. 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 intended. +A study of morale gave insight into many +related factors, including that of morality. The +young man, as we saw him in the army, had a +morality of his own, related closely to sport and +business, but to neither law nor religion. It is a +moral standard—we cannot possibly mistake that—the +young man is not in his own mind immoral. +But it is a standard which makes much of friendship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +loyalty, fair play, something of honesty, nothing of +the special code which we usually call "morality." +It allowed much laxity in sexual relations; it laid +no stress at all on obedience to military regulations; +it had hardly such a word as "duty." Religion to +the soldier meant habit, or sentiment, or fear, or +longing; it did not mean a code of morals. The +attempt to build up a moral standard on a basis +of duty to one's country or to one's self was +largely inadequate. Courage the soldier recognized, +and sincerity and self-sacrifice; he did not know +much of duty. This fact was both the cause and the +result of military discipline, which made duty an +external matter of obedience to a million trivial and +arbitrary rules, rather than to a few definite and outstanding +principles. The young man has a morality +of his own in civil life; he had a slightly different, +but related morality in the army. It was not the +conventional morality of society, which rests upon +the historical standards of the middle-aged. It was +a type of morality which we must learn to recognize +and understand for both his benefit and that of society +as a whole.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MORAL GAIN AND LOSS OF THE SOLDIER</h3> + + +<p>The military system, as I have tried to bring +out in the last chapter, had a definite and +profound influence on the life and thought of +the individual soldier. It was so radically different +from civilian life that this influence became all +the more striking through contrast. The young man +has certain moral standards and habits in civil life, +some of which became intensified, while others altered +in the army. The millions of young men who +went through the military régime during the war +have brought this influence back into civilian life +with them, even though it is attenuated by environment +and although they have largely returned to +their former, pre-military habits. War and danger +brought out certain characteristics and occasioned +others. These new reactions of character were not, +as the pacifists would have it, all bad; neither were +they all good, as was generally proclaimed in patriotic +fashion while the war was going on. Some influences +were good and some were bad, while almost +every man in the service would necessarily respond +to both kinds. 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 +months. It may be worth while to develop some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +of these at a little length, not scientifically nor +psychologically, but simply and directly as they +strike the soldier himself.</p> + +<p>We saw at the front, as the experience of other +armies had indicated, that the average man has in +him the stuff of which heroes are made. Not merely +the farmer or backwoodsman, but the men who followed +prosaic city occupations, were ready to sacrifice +themselves for their comrades and their country. +The barber and the shipping clerk were as +frequent winners of the D. S. C. as any others in +our huge heterogeneous army. Heroism was evoked +by the need, by the fact that it was the expected response, +the response of thousands of others. The +crowd mind produced heroism out of the most unexpected +material. War created some of the heroism +which we saw; it merely evoked some which was +already latent, ready for the call. The stretcher-bearer, +exposing himself to the severest fire to carry +his precious burden to safety; the battalion runner, +bearing his message through the barrage and then +coming back again to bring the answer; the machine +gunner, carrying his heavy weapon on his back to +an advanced position where he could establish it effectively; +the infantryman, advancing against +machine-gun fire, or digging in under attack from +heavy artillery or aëroplanes; the engineer, digging +away debris or laying bridges in plain sight of the +enemy, with his rifle laid near by to use in case +of an attack—I might enumerate hundreds of such +duties in which courage, loyalty, and endurance were +exhibited by men who performed exceptional acts of +bravery and devotion, volunteering for difficult +service or carrying on in the face of overwhelming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +odds. All soldiers were afraid, 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 danger.</p> + +<p>We felt that travel, with its attendant contact +with other customs, language and people, would +broaden our soldiers mentally and tend to break +down the provincialism which has been often noticed +in America, as well as in many other countries. +Only a small minority of our men were equipped, +either in knowledge or in attitude, to take advantage +of the opportunities offered. Museums meant comparatively +little to them, mediæval cathedrals not +much more, Roman walls or ruins nothing at all. +Scenery did not mean as much as some of us thought +it should, forgetting that scenery looks entirely different +to a man who rides past it and another who +walks through it. Altogether, knowledge of France, +England and Germany made, on the whole, not for +a greater appreciation of foreign lands, but instead +for a great appreciation of America.</p> + +<p>The fact is that the boys grew homesick. Most +of them were only boys in years, and practically +all of them were reduced to the boyish level of +thought by the general irresponsibility, thoughtlessness, +and dependency of army life. They were +like boys in a military school, very often, rather than +men engaged in the grim business of modern war. +To these boys absence from home brought a higher +appreciation of home. This was often a true evaluation, +in the face of previous neglect and underestimation; +sometimes it may have been a sentimentalizing +of a home that had never really meant +very much. But in the danger, the monotony, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +the distance, the soldiers grew to higher appreciation +of their own homes and their home-land as +well.</p> + +<p>Their complaints were often ridiculous enough. +They objected to the backwardness, the lack of sanitation, +the absence of bathing facilities in the French +villages. These were true enough, as far as they +went, although I know personally that they can be +matched in many details even in prosperous and enlightened +America. They objected to the French +climate, with the damp cold of its winters, not caring +to remember that certain parts of our own +Pacific coast suffer from a rainy season, too. This +complaint becomes still more valueless when we +remember how the boys grumbled about the heat +of the Texas border, in fact, how soldiers not in +action will always find a source of complaint in the +weather, whatever kind of weather it may be. As +General O'Ryan remarked in his famous definition +of a soldier, "A soldier is a man who always wants +to be somewhere else than where he is." This +restlessness accounts for some of the complaints +which we are apt to take a bit too seriously. A +more real complaint was the language difficulty. +Soldier French was a wonderful thing, consisting +of the names of all ordinary things to eat and +drink, together with a few common expressions, such +as "toute de suite" (always pronounced "toot +sweet"), and "combien." This prevented easy +communication, even with such French people as +were encountered. Few of the soldiers had any opportunity +to use even their little French on respectable, +middle-class French families, especially not on +young men or girls. All these grievances, real and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +fancied, put the soldier out of ease in France and +made him appreciate America so much the better. +The sacrifices they were making for America, the +service they were rendering her, united with the +home-sickness of a stranger in a strange land to +increase the devotion and respect of Americans for +America.</p> + +<p>I need not refer especially to the rather mixed +gain in religious attitude, as I have already devoted +a chapter to that subject. I must, however, +repeat one point I mentioned there, the meanings of +physical sacrifice as these men saw it and practised +it in the army. It was the outcome of their courage, +their dash, their enthusiasm, that when the time of +stress came ordinary men offered their lives for +their friends and their country. The soldier at the +front equaled or exceeded the forgetfulness of self +of the fireman or the life-saver in time of peace. +This lesson of self-forgetfulness, of self-sacrifice, was +one of the great impressions made by the war upon +the best men it influenced, and one which touched in +its way even the most thoughtless and careless of all +the soldiers who had their hour at the front.</p> + +<p>This brought out the group solidarity of the +American army in stronger relief. The fine thing +about morale at the front, as I have outlined it, +was the mutual confidence which it called out in +every breast. The pride in his own company, his +regiment, his division, in the American army as +a whole, which held a man to his duty under fire +and impelled him to resist the almost overwhelming +influence of a sudden attack of panic, made for +loyalty at the rear as well and formed one basis +for the whole-hearted return of the young men into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +civilian society after the war. Pride in one's division +meant also pride in one's state; pride in the +United States Army meant pride in the United +States. Self-sacrifice, devotion, heroism,—all these +were profound lessons for any man, young or old, +a lesson which American democracy can profitably +utilize in the daily humdrum of American life.</p> + +<p>It was surprising how constantly our expectations +were disappointed by the actual facts of the men +in the service. Most books and articles since the +war and all of those before the war were written +on a theoretical basis, and every one approached +the facts with a theoretical view. But the theory +was proved wrong in so many instances that I am +making the present study entirely empirical, leaving +theory out altogether as more of a pitfall than an +advantage. For one thing, I had expected war to +exert a directly brutalizing influence on the soldier. +This was never evident at all except in the actual +stress of battle when killing was a daily necessity, +and human life, although the most valuable asset of +the contending forces, was still held cheaply enough +to be used up at a terrific rate. Men could not stop +there to pity every corpse; they had to save their +own lives and at the same time to win the war. +But the effect wore off quickly; probably it left no +result at all except on men with a previous tendency +to brutality or crime. I remember the thrill of +horror which went through Le Mans and the entire +A. E. F. in April 1919, when a railroad accident +occurred near our post and a group of soldiers +and sailors on furlough were injured, some of them +fatally. We forgot all about the fact that these men +had risked death in entering the service, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +few of them in this accident were the smallest +fraction of a day's toll at the front if the war +had continued. We melted in sympathy, and the +French population of Le Mans did the same.</p> + +<p>The men were not brutalized, contrary to expectation. +Human life was held cheaply under exceptional +circumstances and evidently the men felt that +they were exceptional. But the men did become accustomed +to the use of firearms, and those already +brutalized were given the knowledge and the means +for crimes of violence. The carelessness with which +men used and flung about all kinds of deadly weapons +shocked those of us with a sense of responsibility; +it was part of their boyish heedlessness in the midst +of the fierce game they were playing. They threw +their discarded rifles in a heap by the first-aid post +when they went back to hospital; they even played +catch with hand-grenades, sometimes with most serious +results. Once I met a pair of Australians out +hunting rabbits with their high-powered rifles, in a +place where hundreds of men were passing hourly +by the much-traveled road. When I remonstrated +with them, they only replied, "Oh, well, we haven't +anything else to do. And we know how to shoot +without hurting anybody."</p> + +<p>But with all these real character acquisitions on +the part of the men in the service, and with the +lack of that brutalizing which many theorists had +feared, at the same time certain moral losses were +occasioned by the military system. I shall not enter +into the question of sexual morality here, partly +because I have discussed it in the previous chapter, +and partly because it was not distinctly the product +of the army. The sexual standards of the young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +men in the army were much the same as those of +young men everywhere, with some modifications +through discipline. But to the man who has served +in any army at any time, the outstanding moral +weakness of the soldier is his entire disregard of +the rights of property. The sense of property, so +strong in civilian life, which is implanted so carefully +into the little child, seems lost in the first month +of a man's army life. One brigade headquarters I +knew in France was established in a fine château, +with large grounds surrounded by a high wooden +fence. At the same time, the men of the nearest +unit were living in barns and attics, with no light +or heat of any kind in their quarters. The result +was that the fence disappeared, little by little. Nobody +ever saw the culprits, but I had reliable information +that the men billeted in that village had +all the heat they needed. When we left the area, +about half the fence was gone, and I have little +doubt it vanished entirely during the occupancy of +the next division.</p> + +<p>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 dark. Of course, lamps were scarce, +having to be shipped from the States, and the thief +undoubtedly drove an army car like ours. 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 +lights. I tried to make him return them, but +for once he proved insubordinate. It was only another +army car; the other fellow had probably got +them the same way; he could not identify the car,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +anyway. Then came the finishing stroke when we +tried the lights and found them burned out! The +other driver had left them in as a blind. My driver +felt a sense of personal injury, as though he had +been directly cheated in a legitimate business deal. +And practically any soldier would have agreed with +him.</p> + +<p>The men "found" whatever they needed if it was +not issued to them properly, because property had +no meaning to them in the army. They owned +nothing whatever; even their clothes, food and lodging +belonged to Uncle Sam. When their clothes +wore out, they were replaced; when the company's +weekly supply of food was eaten up, more was +forthcoming. Rifles fallen into disrepair were exchanged +for good ones; shoes were sent to the +salvage depot to be repaired and then issued to another +man. Equipment lost at the front or in the +hospital was reissued without question. Therefore +the enlisted man felt a community sense of ownership +rather than a personal one. At the same time, +he was constantly in need of one thing or another. +He needed fire wood, as in the incident of the fence, +or automobile supplies, as with my driver. The +legend even goes that the Australians, famous in +their ability to care for their own units, have been +known to take an entire field kitchen, with the food +still cooking, from a British unit and make a successful +escape. 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 quarters. +"What are you doing with that?" I asked him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +"Oh, I think we can use it," was his unembarrassed +answer.</p> + +<p>The soldier learned to disregard law, just as he +learned to disregard property. Discipline meant +obedience to constant minute surveillance. It meant +getting up at reveille, rolling his blankets in just +such a way, reporting at roll call, lining up for mess, +working at whatever menial tasks he might be detailed +to do by the sergeant, asking for a pass when +he wanted to go to the nearest city, submitting his +mail to censorship, getting a day off for sickness +only after lining up for "sick call," and finally +going to bed at night as soon as the bugle sounded +"taps." These men were not trained soldiers, accustomed +to such a system; they were healthy +American boys in whom this constant subjection to +external control meant the immediate seeds of revolt. +Autonomy meant then the evasion of the law. +A man could assert his individuality only in such +ways as going absent without leave, wearing a +serge uniform (not regulation for private soldiers), +or gambling away his last month's scanty pay. +Add to this his constant contact with officers, who, if +they had to bear a heavy burden of responsibility +and were forced to pay for all the things the enlisted +man received for nothing, still were not subject +to many of the restrictions which he found +most galling. The test of manly independence came +to be simply "getting away with it." If a man +was caught in an infraction of the rules he had to +take his punishment; if he was not detected or not +convicted he was a successful soldier. This applied, +for example, to a trip to Paris, the golden<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +dream of every American soldier. For a long time +this was strictly forbidden, although later three-day +leaves to Paris were allowed to a certain number +of men. Yet thousands of Americans saw the lovely +and forbidden city unofficially. They got leave to +Versailles, and rode into Paris daily by street car. +They took the wrong train, ostensibly by accident, +and had to change trains at Paris, dropping out of +sight for a day or two meanwhile. They borrowed +the travel orders of other men and used them over, +risking detection. Neither the extreme harshness +of the Paris military police nor the menace of +their own angry captains could keep them from the +enticing adventure. It was their boyishness, combined +with their lack of respect for the law itself, +that led them into such devious modes of disobedience. +"If you know how, you can get away with +murder," was the usual apology—further excuse +was not needed.</p> + +<p>Among officers a similar tendency showed itself +in a different way. The officer was not limited in +the most petty ways which irritated the men, although +he also could not take a trip to Paris without +proper travel orders and could not absent himself +from duty without special permission. But the +officer likewise grew to disregard the law essentially, +even while he obeyed it most carefully in its minutiæ. +An officer was bound by his signature on written +documents. A request coming from the sergeant +had to be endorsed by the lieutenant, with his reasons +if he did not favor granting it. It would +then pass on to the captain, the major, the colonel, +and if necessary also the brigadier and the major +general. Having passed through military channels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +for its consideration, it came back again by the same +route until it reached the originator. This system +made at once for diffusion of responsibility, or, to +use the familiar army term, "passing the buck." +The first man who approved the request had no responsibility, +as it was approved likewise by his +superiors; the later endorsers had none, as they +had signed it on his recommendation, assuming his +knowledge of the facts. Nobody could be held responsible +and every one was careful to evade responsibility +wherever he could. Naturally, this made for +endless delays, for complications interminable when +a previous order had to be rescinded for any reasons +whatever, for evasion in case of difficulty or doubt. +It meant fundamentally the disregard of law, expressed +by the soldier in disobedience and by the officer +in evasion.</p> + +<p>The military régime likewise tended to break down +habits of regular industry. 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 rear. It was a reversion to the life of the +savage, busy by spells at hunting or war, with rest +and languor between. The entire exhaustion, physical +and mental, after a "spell in the trenches" +demanded complete relaxation afterward, while +there was always a little necessary work in the way +of drill, reëquipment and inspection. After the war +was over, the drill went on in still larger doses but +without the incentive of returning to the trenches +again afterward. This alternation of work and rest +together with the general rebellion against routine, +broke down the habit of consistent work which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +is built up with such effort and such inducements +in civil life. 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 buy. +But the soldiers, so boyish in their life and their +feelings, had few such inducements given them. +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 +occupation.</p> + +<p>Exceptions existed, of course, to every generalization +in this chapter, as they do to any generalization +of any kind. But the exceptions speedily lifted +themselves out of the ranks by promotion, and +were therefore covered by the different influences +on the officers and the higher ranks of non-commissioned +officers. And I feel that even these exceptional +men who retained their respect for law and +property, their habits of regular industry, did so +only in comparison with the general break-down, +that even they felt a certain loosening of the standards +which they had possessed in civilian life.</p> + +<p>Army life developed a new series of moral values +and moral reactions. It brought out virtues which +were latent or non-existent in civil life; it reduced +others to impotence. It produced love of country, +of home, and of God; it brought forth courage, +loyalty, self-sacrifice, the extreme of heroism, in +such numbers and such variety that they seemed +commonplace. It did not brutalize any who were +not very ready for such a process. But at the same +time, it destroyed the citizen's respect for law and +order, his respect for property, his habit of hard +and persistent work. It made him, for the time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +being, a lazy hero; a jovial, careless, and lovable +lawbreaker. It brought out exactly the qualities +which are least necessary in civil life, and injured +those most necessary; it took the student, the workingman, +the farmer, and made of him the doughboy. +Army life was opposed directly to the whole tenor +of democracy, the régime where men control themselves, +where they work through ambition and desire +for success, and where they strive to accumulate +property of their own, at the same time respecting +the law and the property of others. Army life +meant a break in the lives of millions of young +Americans, an interruption of the steady development +of their characters and habits, a reversal of +their tendencies and a postponement of their ambitions.</p> + +<p>I feel that it is a great evidence of the essential +soundness of American manhood that these millions +have returned to civil life, in most cases to their +former circles and their former occupations, with +so little difficulty. Society helped them at the +moment by the splendid reception home, by the +plaudits, the speeches, and the parades. It helped +them also to obtain positions and then left them to +find themselves. Fortunately, after a brief transition +most of them did find themselves, and the ex-soldiers +to-day are back in every type of work as +before. The former captain may sell you a suit; +the holder of a D. S. C. may wait on you at the +restaurant. They have overcome the restlessness, +the carelessness, the thrill; they are civilians again. +But here and there the seeds fell on different soil; +here and there a former soldier has not found himself +again. We see him most often among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +wounded and gassed, who cannot fit into industry so +easily, and whose sufferings have often affected their +mentality and always their point of view. America +has wasted criminally precious years of these young +ruined lives, in not bringing to them instantly the +full care and service of a grateful nation. On the +other hand, industry has made little effort to absorb +our soldiers; I have seen men with trades +selling fruit from push-carts because there was no +other work at hand. I have seen a jobless boy, +honestly trying to make a little money by selling +trinkets in the street and driven away by a patriotic +store-keeper, 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 him. The +soldier who cannot return to civil life is a rare exception, +but he is an exception caused in an unstable +youth by our military or our industrial system. +Our nation, which profited by that army, must +remember for good every weakest individual whose +sweat and blood poured forth to make that army +great.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND JUDAISM</h3> + + +<p>During the war we were so stunned by its +suddenness and vastness that we felt it would +shatter all former systems of philosophy, +that men would need a new philosophy of life after +the war, just as they did after the Renaissance or the +epoch-making discoveries of Darwin. This opinion, +natural enough at the time, was certainly exaggerated. +The war did not shatter all ideals; it +did not create any new ones except the wave of +spiritualism at present so wide-spread. But it did +shift emphases, exposed the hollowness of many +easy beliefs, and implanted new ideas in minds +which otherwise might not have been ready for +them. The soldier really presents the typical reaction +to the war, while the civilian shows a milder +type of influence and a smaller degree of change. +The revaluation of values which is really demanded +to-day is nothing so fundamental as we thought +at the time. It is chiefly psychological, that we +shall understand what is in the mind of the soldier, +and by that means reach an understanding of the effect +of the war on society as a whole. The world +contains in diluted form those same influences which +show so distinctly on these young men. The problem +of evil is neither greater nor less than it was before +the war; the problem of life and death is no different;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +the problem of conduct has not changed. +But certain phases of each of these problems have +come very strongly to the attention of the world; +some of them have been branded into the consciousness +of the soldier. Just as the soldier has a viewpoint +toward American ideals, which America would +do well to heed in working out her programs for the +era after the war, so the Jewish soldier has his own +viewpoint toward Judaism, 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 +ahead.</p> + +<p>It is hard to call the soldier a progressive in +religion when he had so few theories about the +matter. But he was certainly not a traditionalist. +Religious ideas and practices had to satisfy his immediate +needs or they had no meaning to him at +all. This covered all cant words, all ready-made +formulas, whether as ancient as the Talmud or as +comparatively recent as reform Judaism. The answer +of a twelfth century Jew of Spain or a nineteenth +century Jew of Germany were on an equality +to him; if either solved the problems of a young +American at war it was acceptable. The soldier +was willing to accept old answers to new questions +if they were cogent; on the other hand, he was quite +as willing to consider a new and revolutionary +theory. He possessed that rare attribute, the open +mind; on the narrow but keen basis of his own mental +experience he grasped and estimated soundly the +new ideas and the old.</p> + +<p>The soldier enjoyed ceremonies that reminded him +of home and childhood, but he regarded them largely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +as pleasant memories. However deep a meaning +the symbols might possess, the soldier had not the +background to grasp it. The symbols did not stand +for enough to solve the problems of his immediate +life. In the same way, theological concepts, however +liberal, meant nothing to him practically. 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 it. As it was, liberalism in theology +meant exactly nothing to them. They were not interested +in theological problems; they did not care +what one's opinion might be about the literal inspiration +of the Bible or about the coming of the +Messiah. The liberalism which expressed itself constantly +among the soldiers, and which they brought +back with them into civil life, was different from +all this. Granting your liberalism or your conservatism +in regard to beliefs and ceremonies, the +soldier wanted to know your attitude toward other +human beings. The liberalism he wanted was social +and humanitarian. On this plane he had his being. +This was the type of problem which interested him +and which he could understand. The soldier felt +too often that the churches and synagogues were +dominated by capital, by a narrow social class which +discriminated against him. Among Jewish soldiers, +many felt that the religious ideas they might accept +were expressed in rich reform temples, where they +themselves would not be acceptable or would not +feel at home. On the other hand, they did not feel +at home in the little orthodox synagogues where +their fathers offered up their daily prayers. They +did not understand the Hebrew ritual uttered there,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +nor the devotional attitude which was there expressed.</p> + +<p>But all this is not reaching directly the synagogue +itself. The young men, the former soldiers, are not +the trustees of our temples and synagogues; they +are not a majority of our members; they are not +often to be found in the pews, where we might see +their response to a particular service or a particular +sermon. If we are not very careful, 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 old. We must call to the +young men in the voice of youth, with the viewpoint +and on the plane which they understand and +on which they may respond. That means that we +must be willing to accept new conclusions to new +problems if these conclusions seem to fit the new +times. That means also that we must have an +aggressive attitude toward social and economic +problems. This alone can make liberalism religious +and make religion concrete, applicable to +the needs of the latest era, the era after the world +war. Without it, religion will remain moribund, +liberalism irreligious. Religious bodies must give +an equal hearing to both the conservative and the +radical, must show a definite platform of religious +and moral work on which the two can unite. That +was done during the war. All groups in American +Jewry, orthodox, conservative and reform, were associated +in the Jewish Welfare Board and still work +together on the Joint Distribution Committee for +the relief of Jewish war sufferers. All groups in +American life, Jew and non-Jew alike, met and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +worked together in the United War Work campaign, +to care for the soldiers in our emergency. But the +young men, no longer soldiers, need us as badly +now, while we, the churches and the synagogues, +need them more than ever, with their new experience +and their new-found manhood. What they need +and what we need, too, is that we learn to coöperate +on a common platform of action for their benefit +now. If we want them, if we want to be at one with +them, we must have a social program, a liberal +attitude to life and especially to its most immediate +economic problems, a willingness to sink differences +of opinion that we may meet for practical effort +and genuine progress.</p> + +<p>The boys in the service became largely socialized +through the tremendous, constant work of the +welfare agencies. They felt the value of the Y. M. C. A. +or other welfare hut, not only for the entertainments, +dances and canteen, but just as much +as a center for the soldier community, a place to +write, to read, to play games, to meet their friends. +Since their return they have turned to such institutions +as the Y. M. C. A., the Y. M. H. A. and the +rest, to find the club life, the community spirit, +which they had in the welfare hut in camp or city +at home and abroad. This need of the young men +for a social center and a social life is a common +need of all America. Every village needs a social +center to further its growth into a finer culture and +a more united citizenship. 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 +channels. The expansion of the Jewish Welfare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +Board to join and assist the activities of the National +Council of Young Men's Hebrew and Kindred Associations +is a logical one, growing out of the similar +needs of the same young men in war and peace. The +furtherance of social centers for Jewish communities, +for other groups of citizens who possess a +common heritage or common background, and for a +whole town where the town is not too large, 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 community. The return of the +soldier may assist us more than we expect in socializing +the Jewish community. The social spirit we +once showed in his behalf, the social education we +gave him while in the service, will return to benefit +us all if we convert the two into Jewish social +life. Such a socializing will cut across congregational +or sectional lines, across lines of birth and +wealth, and unite the Jewish community in America, +just as the same process will eventually, if carried +far enough, weld together all the divergent social +forces of America itself.</p> + +<p>The need for personal religion at the front was a +temporary need, or rather a temporary expression +of a universal human yearning. It is now almost +forgotten by the boys themselves, certainly by +the church and the synagogue. Beside the +liberal and the social demands of the day, there +exists this mystical longing to be sure of God, +to know for a certainty that He will protect +His dear ones. This universal and eternal need +was felt for the time by our men in immediate +danger, in thankfulness, in mourning. Having discovered +it once, they still feel it when the occasion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +comes. Here, however, there seems little likelihood +of their contribution being accepted. The union of +the social and mystical elements, even at different +times and for different occasions, seems more than +any human institution can accomplish. If the soldier, +in tune with the urge of the age, demands a +social and a liberal response from the synagogue, +he may get it in a large number of cases. The +mystical element he will not ask for, and his inarticulate +mood, now hardly evident, will certainly +evoke no response.</p> + +<p>One thing certainly the young men feel, which +American Judaism is accepting from them. While +the young Jew is wholly sympathetic to Zionism, he +hardly ever feels that Zionism is the center or the +conclusion of the Jewish problem. Zionism, as a +movement, has brought to fruition much of the +latent love of the young Jew for his people and +his religion. But the Jewish soldier, or the same +boy as a civilian, is not interested chiefly in solving +the economic or the cultural problems of Palestine. +He responds also to the similar problems among the +Jews of America. Zionism is not enough for him; +he must have Judaism as well. He and all +of us are compelled to confront the spiritual and +moral problems of the new world after the war.</p> + +<p>The young man does not know, and the synagogue +does not always show him, that the very things +he demands most urgently are inherent in Judaism, +especially in those great prophets whose words still +ring forth with a youthful fervor. The unfaltering +search for new truth, the recognition of the poor +and the weak, the unity of all groups in the community, +the triumphant search for God and finding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +of God—all these the young Jew wants and the +prophets have given us. This aspect of the problem, +then, becomes one of leadership, 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 heritage. +The antiquity of the prophetic summons is no disadvantage +to the young men if it answers their personal +need. It is of the greatest advantage to the +synagogue in responding to the call of the great days +after the war. 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 time. It needs but the skill and the +courage to apply them again, as in prophetic times, +to the western world in the twentieth century.</p> + +<p>War gave the world a new angle of vision on +life and death, on good and bad. The deepest impress +of this new viewpoint is on those men who +were themselves at the front, who underwent the +most extreme phase of it in their own persons, but +some traces have spread throughout the entire western +civilization. America must realize it as Europe +does; Judaism and Christianity alike are entering, +for good or bad, a new period. The world has +changed in some respects; we who see the world have +changed far more. In facing the future, with its +political, its social, its moral problems, we need +a new fullness of insight into the young men whose +lives have changed and whose souls expanded overnight, +even though they remain in externals the +boys they were. We need a new intellectual content, +covering not only the new map of Europe and Asia, +but also the new ideas and ideals which swept the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +world for a time, as though they were to be eternal. +Above all, we must have complete honesty in facing +the thrilling challenge of the immediate future. We +do not need a new form of Judaism any more than +we need a new type of government in America. +We are confronted by the demand to adapt Americanism +and Judaism to the changing demands of a +changing era, to find among the temporary and +evanescent elements in both those things which have +permanent usefulness for any demand and any era. +We need ideals of the past, indeed, but only such +ideals as have survived the past, as apply fully to +the present, as will aid in building up a future of +promise and achievement for the Jew. Judaism is +on trial to-day. If we answer the need of the young +man, he will be the loyal, active Jew for to-day and +to-morrow. If we ignore him, whether through uncertainty, +ignorance or pride, he will not come to +us and we shall not be going after him. Judaism +needs the young man; it needs equally his great +ideals, social and mystical as well. The test will result +in a finer and more effective faith only if +we respond to it bravely and honestly, in the very +spirit of the soldier himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND ANTI-SEMITISM</h3> + + +<p>During the war we felt that prejudice between +men of different groups and different faiths +was lessening day by day, that our common +enthusiasm in our common cause had brought Catholics, +Protestants and Jews nearer together on a +basis of their ardent Americanism. Especially we +who were at the front felt this in the first flush +of our coöperation, our mutual interest and our +mutual helpfulness. After you have stood beside a +man in the stress of front-line work, have shared +a blanket with him, have seen him suffer like a hero +or die like a martyr, his origin, his family and his +faith become less important than the manhood of +the man himself. More than once I have said, +talking to soldier audiences of Jewish or of mixed +faith: "After this war no man can knowingly call +the Jew a coward again. If you ever hear such +a statement, you can be sure that our detractor is +not an honest bigot, as may have been the case in +the past; he is either ignorant or malicious."</p> + +<p>We knew that and our comrades knew it. The +men at the front knew very little about the whole-hearted +participation of every section of our vast +population, Jew and non-Jew together, in the campaigns +for production, Liberty Bonds, the United +War Work campaign, and all the rest. That record<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +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 war. But those who served overseas +know the record the Jew made for himself at +the front, his promotions, his decorations, his woundings +and his deaths. They know that differences +of religion and race counted not at all in the American +army, that our heroes and our effective, able +soldiers came from all religions and all races. With +what high hopes we entered the war; with what fine +fervor we saw it end! We felt that our efforts had +insured something more of liberty for the oppressed +of all the world, for Czech and Armenian, Alsatian +and Belgian, Pole and Jew.</p> + +<p>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 form. I am thinking of the many +national and group hatreds and antagonisms which +have tormented the world in the last years, and +especially of one of them, that against the Jews. +The oppression of the autocratic régime of the Czar +has been carried on by the free nation of Poland; +the pogroms of the Black Hundred have been revived +in the Ukraine, where the slaughter of war +was doubled by the slaughter of peace. Hungary +has seen its "white terror," where Jews were +murdered as Bolshevists and Bolshevists as Jews. +Austria and Germany have seen a strengthening +of the political anti-Semitism of pre-war +times, here blaming the Jews for beginning the +war, and there for ending it. Finally the movement +has been carried over into the freest and most +intelligent of nations, and some apologists for it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +have appeared even in England and America. Here +the Anti-Semites can work by neither political nor +legal means, 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 +citizens.</p> + +<p>I shall not turn aside to deal, even for a moment, +with the mass of accusations against the Jew, trivial +or grave as the case may be. They have been adequately +answered by Jew and non-Jew, especially in +the address on "The 'Protocols,' Bolshevism and the +Jews," by ten national organizations of American +Jews on December 1, 1920, and the subsequent protests +against anti-Semitism by a distinguished +group of non-Jewish Americans, notably President +Woodrow Wilson, former President William +Howard Taft and William Cardinal O'Connell. The +only one of these accusations with which I can +properly deal in this place, and one on which my fellow-soldiers +will agree with me in every detail, is the +revival of the ancient slander against the patriotism +and courage of the Jew. We are reading, not +for the first time in history, but for almost the first +time in the <i>English</i> language, that the Jews are +not patriots in their respective nations, that they +all have a super-national allegiance to a Jewish +international conspiracy, that their real loyalty is +to this other group within and above the state, even +to the extent of treachery or anarchy against their +own governments. We feel the disgrace, the pathos +of such a charge just after the war when Jews died +with non-Jews that America might be safe, at a time +when Jews even more than non-Jews are enduring +the dread aftermath of war, the famine, the poverty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +and the epidemics, in Eastern and Central Europe. +It is the sort of charge which only facts can answer, +the kind of facts which are present in this book, +as in every official or personal story of the war by +men who took a personal part in the war. Prejudice +is too largely the product of those who gained by +the war but did not personally enter the ranks. +The men who know, the men who fought together +and bled together, have a different story.</p> + +<p>America has, in fact, too much fairness as well as +too much humanity, to listen to any such movement +of partisan hatred or bigotry. I quote the +statement of over a hundred distinguished "citizens +of Gentile birth and Christian faith," referred to +above:</p> + +<p>"The loyalty and patriotism of our fellow citizens +of the Jewish faith is equal to that of any part +of our people, and requires no defense at our hands. +From the foundations of this Republic down to +the recent World War, 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 world. +There is not the slightest justification, therefore, for +a campaign of anti-Semitism in this country."</p> + +<p>In this connection, we can recall the words written +by Theodore Roosevelt, at that time President, in +1905, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of +the first landing of Jews in what is now the United +States:</p> + +<p>"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 traditions, they are engaged in +generous rivalry with their fellow-citizens of other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +denominations in advancing the interests of our +common country. This is true, not only of the descendants +of the early settlers and those of American +birth, 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 misery. In a few +years, men and women hitherto utterly unaccustomed +to any of the privileges of citizenship have +moved mightily upward toward the standard of +loyal, self-respecting American citizenship; of that +citizenship which not merely insists upon its rights, +but also eagerly recognizes its duty to do its full +share in the material, social and moral advancement +of the nation."</p> + +<p>It would be beside the issue to refer to the Jewish +participation in American life during the past, if +that also had not been brought up as an accusation. +But the records exist, and the facts are conclusive. +In the American revolution forty-six Jews fought +under George Washington, out of the little Jewish +population of about two thousand in the United +States at that time. The leading Jews of New York +and Newport left those cities because they were +patriots and would not carry on their business under +British rule. Haim Salomon, the Jewish banker of +New York and later of Philadelphia, was among +those who rendered the greatest service in financing +the infant nation. In the Civil War ten thousand +Jewish soldiers of whom we to-day possess the +records served in the Union and Confederate armies. +Each generation of immigrants has been most eager +to learn the English language and American ways, +to take advantage to the full of American liberty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +and opportunity, to make a home for their families +in a free land and to help that land maintain its +freedom. The World War was for the Jews, as +for all Americans, simply the culmination, bringing +out most strongly the high lights in American life. +Heroes and slackers, loyal and disloyal, showed +themselves in their true colors during the war. +And the Jew, like all Americans, showed himself +in this crisis loyal to America. The Jewish record +stands on a par with the best record of any group +of American citizens, of any church or any race. +Jews of Russia, whose only contact with their native +government had fostered hatred and distrust, +flocked to the colors in America. Jews of American +birth, like all citizens of American birth, did their +full duty for their country.</p> + +<p>On this point again, my own facts, clear as they +are, need not stand alone. I can quote Major +General Robert Alexander, who commanded, in the +77th Division, the largest group of Jews in any +unit of the American Expeditionary Forces: "I +found that Hebrew names on the Honor Roll of the +division were fully up to the proportion that they +should have been; in other words, the Hebrew boy +paid his full share of the price of victory. When +the time came for recommendations to go in for +marks of distinction which we were able to give, +I found there again that the names of the Hebrews +were as fully represented on that list as the numbers +in the division warranted, by long odds."</p> + +<p>To-day the Jewish soldier, no longer a soldier or +a hero, but still a Jew and an American, appeals to +the American people. Will they suffer such a propaganda, +he wonders, such an attack on him and on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +his brothers who still lie overseas, in their American +graves on foreign soil? Will they tolerate for a +moment such a venomous and false attack on the +defenders of their nation, on any group, small or +large, of the boys who rallied to the defense of +democracy? In the army overseas we felt that +prejudice was a thing of the past, that only in ignorance +or malice could the old serpent lift its head +again. To-day, with all the newer bitterness, we +feel the same. We know that our soldier comrades +are loyal still, that America is still America, that as +we have once defended her we need not now muster +our arguments or records to defend ourselves +against her. If the Jew ever needed justification, +he surely needs it no longer to-day. The Jewish +soldier has once for all made anti-Semitism impossible +among the men who served America in arms, +and who still in days of quiet continue to serve and +save their country.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> + +<p>A high-resolution image of the photo on page iv can be displayed +by clicking on the image in the text.</p> + +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>Diacritics have be made consistent throughout the text.</p> + +<p>Hyphens removed from "Where[-e]ver I went" (page 8), "looked like +side[-]streets" (page 11), "a complete prayer[-]book" (page 18), "an +every[-]day matter" (page 147).</p> + +<p>Hyphens added to "new war-time societies" (page 3), "miles by side-car" +(page 70), "private soldier in war-time" (page 145), "their new-found +manhood" (page 209).</p> + +<p>Unchanged spellings: "Ausies", "B'rith" in "B'nai B'rith" but "Brith" +elsewhere. </p> + +<p>Page 6: "cemetary" changed to "cemetery" (hospital and cemetary).</p> + +<p>Page 10: "new born" changed to "newborn" (see my newborn son).</p> + +<p>Page 34: "devasted" changed to "devastated" (villages were devastated).</p> + +<p>Page 35: "conspicious" changed to "conspicuous" (village had a +conspicuous).</p> + +<p>Page 36: "experiencd" changed to "experienced" (experienced a queer +sensation ). </p> + +<p>Pages 57, 59: "accomodations" changed to "accommodations" (separate +accommodations, living accommodations). </p> + +<p>Page 75: "excellant" changed to "excellent" (excellent coöperation).</p> + +<p>Page 78: "shown" changed to "shone" (shone directly upon). </p> + +<p>Page 86: "Fredman" changed to "Friedman" (Samuel Friedman).</p> + +<p>Page 90: "if" changed to "of" (in the interests of).</p> + +<p>Page 110: "Cemetarial" changed to "Cemeterial" (Cemeterial Division of +the War).</p> + +<p>Page 117: "Herschovitz" changed to "Herschkovitz" (Herschkovitz was the +only man).</p> + +<p>Page 124: "ocasion" changed to "occasion" (occasion of a further).</p> + +<p>Page 126: "gernades" changed to "grenades" (throwing grenades).</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Jewish Chaplain in France, by Lee J. 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Levinger + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Jewish Chaplain in France + +Author: Lee J. Levinger + +Release Date: November 25, 2010 [EBook #34440] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +A JEWISH CHAPLAIN IN FRANCE + + + + +[Illustration: Logo of the MacMillan Company] + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO . DALLAS +ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO + +MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED +LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA +MELBOURNE + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA. LTD. +TORONTO + + +[Illustration: A group of Jewish welfare workers at Le Mans, France, in +March 1919. From left to right, George Rooby, Julius Halperin, Frank M. +Dart, Chaplain Lee J. Levinger, Adele Winston, Charles S. Rivitz, David +Rosenthal and Esther Levy.] + + + + +A Jewish Chaplain in France + +BY +RABBI LEE J. LEVINGER, M.A., +Executive Director Young Men's Hebrew Association, New York City, +formerly First Lieutenant Chaplain United States Army + +WITH A FOREWORD BY +CYRUS ADLER, Ph.D., +President of Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, +Philadelphia + +New York +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +1921 + + + + +COPYRIGHT 1921, +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + +Set up and printed. Published October, 1921 + + + + +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 admirable. Such an attitude is +in effect a negation of thought. 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 dead. Rabbi +Levinger's book is the narrative of a man who saw this great tragedy, +took a part in it and has thought about it. + +In all the wars of the United States Jews participated, increasingly as +their numbers grew appreciably. They served both as officers and +privates from Colonial days. 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 forces. President Lincoln appointed several +Jewish ministers of religion as chaplains to visit the wounded in the +hospitals, but the tradition of the Army up to the period of the Great +War, rendered the appointment of a Rabbi as chaplain impossible. The +chaplain had been a regimental officer and was always either a +Protestant or a Catholic. The sect was determined by the majority of the +regiment. When the United States entered the Great War, 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 chaplains. Twenty chaplains were thus authorized of whom six were +allotted to the Synagogue the remainder being distributed among the +Unitarians, who were not included in the Evangelical Churches, and the +other smaller Christian sects which had grown up in America. + +In order to meet the requirements of the War Department and in +consonance with the spirit of unity which the war engendered, it was +necessary for the Jewish organizations to create a body which could sift +the applications for chaplaincies and certify them to the War +Department, as being proper persons and meeting the requirements of the +law of being regularly ordained ministers of religion. + +Judaism in America is far from being a united body. 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 practice. Membership +in the various Rabbinical and synagogue organizations is voluntary and +each synagogue is autonomous. In the face of the awfulness of the war, +these differences seemed minimized and through the cooeperation of all +the Rabbinical associations and synagogue organizations, 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 Department. So conscientiously did this +Committee perform its duties that every Rabbi recommended as a chaplain +was commissioned. + +As the law exempted ministers of religion and theological students, no +person could be drafted for a chaplaincy. Every clergyman who served was +a volunteer. It is therefore greatly to the credit of the Jewish +ministry in America that one-hundred and forty men volunteered for the +service. As there are probably less than four hundred English speaking +Rabbis in the United States, many of whom would have been disqualified +by the age limit and some by their country of origin, the response of +the American Rabbinate to this call, is a most gratifying evidence of +their patriotism and of their sense of public service. + +Rabbi Levinger's narrative is his own, in the main and properly enough a +personal one, 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 Adventure. +Every one who saw the troops overseas, could not doubt the real service +of the chaplain or the appeal that religion made to the men in uniform. +However the armchair philosophers may have viewed the war, it +strengthened the faith of the men who were engaged; hundreds of +thousands of young men turned to the chaplain who would have been +indifferent to him at home. 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 war, let it be blamed not so much upon religion, +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 war." 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 pleasure, might very well have had his faith, +newly acquired if you choose, shaken by this evident lack of seriousness +on the part of his fellow countrymen. + +I shall not commend Rabbi Levinger's book to his readers, because if the +book does not commend itself, no approbation will. 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 +faith, I want to express the obligations of the Board to the Rabbis who +without experience or previous training for the purpose, entered upon +this service and carried it through with distinction. Had it not been +for them, 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 religion. + +I cannot help but think that the chaplain himself derived much benefit +from his service. In sections of the synagogue, as I believe in sections +of the church, men are on many occasions a minority in the congregation +and ministration is largely to women and children. It meant something +for the chaplain to have great congregations of men, and of young men at +that, and I am inclined to think hardened his mental and even spiritual +fiber. It emphasized too the importance of emotion and sentiment as +against mere rationalism. The worship meant more than a preachment, and +sympathetic human contact for a minute was worth a barrel of oratory. + +The fine spirit of liberality which grew up among the chaplains of the +various faiths, reflecting as it did the comradeship of the men +themselves, should not and will not be lost. The brotherhood of man will +be a mere abstraction until individual men can act as brothers to one +another. The ministers of religion, if they have any God-given mission +above all others, surely have that of leading men, however different +their physical and spiritual equipment, into the bonds of a common +brotherhood. By this way and this way alone will mankind arrive at +lasting peace. + +CYRUS ADLER. +October 19, 1921. + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book is the result of the profound conviction that we are +forgetting or ignoring the lessons of the World War to Israel, America +and humanity. During the war such words as morale, democracy, +Americanism, became a sort of cant--so much so that their actual content +was forgotten. Now that the war is over and their constant repetition is +discontinued, the grave danger exists that we may lose their very real +influence. + +These personal experiences and conclusions worked out by an army +chaplain as a result of his overseas service may have some historical +value also, especially as the same ground has not yet been covered by +any Jewish chaplain or welfare worker in the American Expeditionary +Forces. 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 preservation, both as a reminder to ourselves and to the nation. + +When the possibility of this book was first discussed in Paris with the +late Colonel Harry Cutler, Chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board, he +spoke of writing a foreword for it. Since his lamented death, Dr. Cyrus +Adler, his successor as acting Chairman, has consented to fulfill the +same friendly task. In addition to Dr. Adler, I acknowledge my great +indebtedness to Mr. Harry L. Glucksman, Executive Director of the Jewish +Welfare Board, for giving me full access to their records; to Mr. John +Goldhaar for his personal reminiscences of the welfare work overseas; to +Captain Elkan C. Voorsanger for the invaluable suggestions based upon +his vast personal experiences; to Justice Irving Lehman, President of +the Young Men's Hebrew Association, for his encouragement and friendly +advice; to a host of coworkers and friends in both France and America +for the brilliant deeds and cordial comradeship which are here embodied; +and finally to my secretary, Miss Hattie Tanzer, for her invaluable +assistance in seeing the book through the press. + +Much of the material used here has already been published in the form of +articles appearing at various times in the _American Hebrew_, _American +Israelite_, _Biblical World_, _B'nai B'rith News_, _Hebrew Standard_, +_Jewish Forum_ and _Reform Advocate_. + +LEE J. LEVINGER. +New York, May, 1921. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE CHAPLAIN'S FUNCTION 1 + II. THE JEWISH HOLYDAYS OF 1918 IN THE A. E. F. 10 + III. AT THE FRONT WITH THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DIVISION 27 + IV. AFTER THE ARMISTICE 52 + V. AT THE AMERICAN EMBARKATION CENTER 69 + VI. THE JEWISH CHAPLAINS OVERSEAS 81 + VII. THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD IN THE A. E. F. 92 + VIII. THE JEW AS A SOLDIER 114 + IX. JEW AND CHRISTIAN AT THE FRONT 132 + X. THE RELIGION OF THE JEWISH SOLDIER 145 + XI. PREACHING TO SOLDIERS 160 + XII. MORALE AND MORALS 170 + XIII. THE MORAL GAIN AND LOSS OF THE SOLDIER 190 + XIV. THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND JUDAISM 205 + XV. THE JEWISH SOLDIER AND ANTI-SEMITISM 214 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHAPLAIN'S FUNCTION + + +In giving the story and the opinions of a Jewish chaplain in the +American Expeditionary Forces, some statement is necessary of the work +of the chaplains as a whole. 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 command. Hardly a narrative of soldiers' experiences +exists without due place being given to the chaplain. In every army in +France, chaplains were frequently cited for heroism and in innumerable +instances suffered and died with the men in the ranks. + +There are two popular impressions of the purpose of the chaplain in the +military service; the one sees him as a survival of mediaevalism, +blessing the weapons of the men at arms; the other welcomes him as a +faint harbinger of a dawning humanitarianism, one of the few men in an +army who does not have to kill, but is there to save. Some people think +of the physician and chaplain as having non-military work to do, as +being a kind of concession to the pacific spirit of our generation. + +The actual work of the chaplain is quite as unknown to the general +public. People wonder what he does between weekly sermons, much as they +wonder what the minister or rabbi does during the six and a half days a +week that he is not preaching. In fact, 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 week, but never had time to write a sermon. +People wonder sometimes whether the soldiers and sailors can bear so +much preaching, sometimes what else they demand of the chaplain. In +fact, to the non-military mind the whole subject seems shrouded in +mystery. + +To the military man the subject is extremely simple. There is no mystery +about it. The chaplain is in the army as the physician is, as the +thousands of other non-combatants are, for a strictly military purpose. +It happens that the non-combatants may use non-military methods. One may +drive a locomotive, another carry a stretcher, another sit in an office +and make out papers. All are essential to the military machine; none is +in the service for any special humanitarian purpose; none is present as +a survival of mediaevalism, but all to take part in the grim conflict of +the twentieth century. The work of a physician in the military service +is the very utilitarian one of saving men's lives and returning them to +the front. The work of a chaplain is the equally essential and practical +one of stimulating the morale of the troops. + +Many factors bear upon the morale of a body of men,--their physical +environment, the strength and spirit of their individual units, the +temper and ability of their leaders. 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 citizenry, or at +least of large and influential groups. 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 +overseas. These important organizations, however, were under the +handicap of doing civilian work among soldiers--a handicap whose +seriousness only a soldier himself can ever realize. Some months after +the war was over, the army recognized its obligation by appointing +morale officers for both larger and smaller units, with others under +them to supervise athletics, entertainment, and the like. The civilian +organizations then conducted their activities under the orders of the +morale officer. + +But nearest of all to the men, because themselves a part of the actual +military machine, were their own chaplains. The chaplain was under the +same orders as the men, took the same risk, wore the same uniform, and +naturally was regarded in every way as one of their own. I have even +heard old army men scorning the new advances of all these new war-time +societies. "We have our own chaplain," they said, "He looks after us all +right." + +The chaplain was first the religious guide of his men. He knew how to +talk to them, for talking, not preaching, was the usual tone of the army +or navy chaplain. He knew how to speak their own "lingo," slang and all. +He knew the spiritual appeal which was most needed by these boys, +transplanted, with all their boyishness, into the deep realities which +few men have had to face. He knew their boyish shyness of emotion, but +with it their deep, immediate need of such emotions as the love of home +and God, to sustain them amid dangerous hours of duty and tempting +hours of idleness. This religious need alone would have been enough work +for the chaplain, even with the intended increase in numbers to three +per regiment, or one chaplain for every twelve hundred men. The need for +religion was evident in the training camp, the hospital, the transport, +the trenches; it was evident everywhere, and the chaplain must be +everywhere to satisfy it. + +But in addition the chaplain had much welfare work of a more general +kind to transact in connection with the various welfare agencies. One +man wanted advice about getting married before leaving for the front; +another had trouble at home and desired a furlough; another found +himself misplaced in his work and would like a transfer. A Jewish boy +came in to ask that a letter be written to his pious father; the old man +had not wanted him to enlist, but would feel better if he knew there was +a rabbi in the camp. Another had a request for a small service (a +minyan) that he might say the memorial prayer on the anniversary of his +father's death. And still another presented a letter from his home +community, for he was a fine musician and wanted to help out at a +concert or a "sing." + +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 English, from a potential comedy team to a crowd of eager +listeners, from a timid boy with personal troubles to their remedy, +either by a change in circumstances or by convincing the boy himself. +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 remedied. + +In a later chapter I shall have an opportunity to go into this more +deeply. All that I want to bring out here is the important and usually +misunderstood fact that American boys are restive under authority. They +object vigorously to the domination of another's mind over theirs. And +this objection too often took the form of bitter resentment against +their officers. Therefore the final and most delicate work of the +chaplain was to befriend the enlisted men against the oppression of +their natural enemies and tyrants, the line officers. The army often +reminds one of a school, the men are so boyish. In this regime of +stringent rules which must be constantly obeyed, of short periods of +intense and jovial recreation, of constant oversight by authority, the +average enlisted man regarded his commanding officer much as the average +small boy regards his school teacher, from whom he flees to a parent for +sympathy. + +That role of sympathetic parent was precisely the one which the chaplain +was called upon to play for these boys in uniform. Not that he believed +everything he was told, or took sides unfairly, or was always against +authority. Simply that any boy could talk to him, as he could only to +the exceptional commanding officer, and that every boy was sure that the +chaplain would help him if he could. Being himself an officer, the +chaplain could talk to officers more freely than any soldier could. And +not being a line officer, he did not himself issue commands to any one +except his own hard-worked orderly or clerk. + +Thus the chaplain was fortunately placed. If he was even partially +congenial, he was the one man in the army who had not an enemy high or +low. The soldier looked to him for friendly aid. The officer referred to +him as the great cooeperating factor in building up the spirit of the +troops. + +During the stress of actual warfare the work of the chaplain changed in +character though not in purpose. At the front the chaplain was with his +boys. 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 aid. He stood beside the surgeon on the +battle field, he was with the stretcher-bearers searching for wounded +and bringing them to safety. He rode from post to post with the +ambulance driver, or tramped up to the trenches with a ration party. And +wherever he went he was welcomed for his presence and for the work that +he tried to do. + +After a battle, when the men retired to rest and recuperate, the +chaplain had to remain behind. He stayed with a group of men for the +last terrible task of burying the dead. And when, that sad duty over, he +returned to the troops in rest, he could not yield for a time like the +others, to delicious languor after the ordeal of the battle field, +hospital and cemetery. Then the chaplain must take up his round of +duties, knowing that after the battle there is many a prayer to be said, +many a hospital to be visited, many a soldier to be befriended. His task +has just begun. + +The military object of the chaplain is clear, to stimulate the morale of +the men. But his methods were most unmilitary. Instead of reminding the +men of the respect due him as an officer, the wise chaplain took his +salutes as a matter of course and tried to draw the men personally, to +make them forget all about military distinctions when they came to talk +to him. The minute a chaplain insisted upon his rank as an officer, he +lost his influence as a minister. Rank was useful to the chaplain in so +far as it gave him free access to the highest authorities; it became the +greatest obstacle to his work whenever the boys began to talk to him as +"Lieutenant" or "Captain" instead of "Father" or "Chaplain." In the +military as in the civil field the religious message can come only by +personality, never by command. + +The chaplain appealed for the men whenever he felt that the appeal was +justified and had some chance of success, but never when it would be +subversive of military discipline. He remembered always that he was in +the army, a part of a great military machine, and that his presence and +his work were to make the men better, not worse soldiers. He met the men +personally, with their various needs and appeals, and often his best +work was accomplished in short personal interviews, which would not look +at all imposing on a monthly report, but which made better soldiers or +happier men in one way or another. He encouraged every effort at +recreation for the men, and often took part in these efforts himself. +This last applies especially in the navy, where the chaplain aboard ship +is the whole staff for religious, recreational, and welfare work. + +In the main the work of the chaplain differed little, whatever his +religion might be. He was first of all a chaplain in the United States +Army, and second a representative of his own religious body. That means +that all welfare work or personal service was rendered equally to men of +any faith. The only distinction authorized was between Protestant, +Catholic and Jewish services, and even to these a "non-sectarian" +service was often added. Wherever I went I was called upon by Jew and +non-Jew alike, for in the service most men took their troubles to the +nearest chaplain irrespective of his religion. The soldier discriminated +only in a special case, such as the memorial prayer (kaddish) for the +Jewish boy, or confession for the Catholic. The office at once insured +any soldier that he had a protector and a friend. + +But as there were only twelve Jewish chaplains in the entire American +Expeditionary Forces, we were instructed to devote our time so far as +possible to the Jewish men. 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 division, as I, for +one, was supposed to do. When instead of one division a Jewish chaplain +was assigned several, his troubles were multiplied and his effectiveness +divided. Naturally, most of the work of the Jewish chaplains had to be +devoted to the needs of the Jewish soldiers, which would not otherwise +be satisfied. + +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 themselves. I think that these men +were a unique aggregation--devoted to their country and its army, yet +loving men of all nations; loving each his own religion, yet rendering +service to men of all creeds; bearing each his own title, yet sharing +equal service and equal friendship with ministers of every other faith. +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 A. Kelley and Rev. Almon A. Jaynes, of the 27th Division +Headquarters, to mention only two notable examples among many others. I +have seen Father Kelley on the battlefield going from aid post to front +line trench, always most eager to be with the boys when the danger was +the greatest, always cheerful, yet always a priest, doing the noble work +which won him his medals and his popularity. I have seen the devotion +and the regret which followed Chaplain John A. Ward of the 108th +Infantry to the hospital in England after he was wounded in performance +of duty, and the burst of enthusiasm which welcomed his return months +afterward. I have seen one after another laboring and serving in the +same spirit, and I tender to them the tribute of a co-worker who knows +and admires their great accomplishments. + +The place of morale in the army has not yet been studied scientifically. +All that can be done as yet is to gather such personal and empirical +observations as mine, which may have bearing on the general problem. +These experiences were typical and these conclusions are not mine alone. +They are shared by great masses, in many cases by the majority of +thinking men who had like experiences. 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 +overseas. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE JEWISH HOLYDAYS OF 1918 IN THE A. E. F. + + +My experiences as chaplain were as nearly typical as possible with any +individual. A few of the Jewish chaplains saw more actual fighting than +I did; a few were assigned to the Army of Occupation and saw the +occupied portion of Germany. But for nine months I served as chaplain in +the American Expeditionary Forces, first at the headquarters of the +Intermediate Section, Service of Supply, at Nevers; then with the +Twenty-Seventh Division at the front and after the armistice at the +rear; finally at the American Embarkation Center at Le Mans. I worked in +cooeperation with the Jewish Welfare Board; I saw Paris in war time and +after; I had two weeks' leave in the Riviera. + +My commission as First Lieutenant Chaplain U. S. A. came to me on July +4th, 1918 at Great Lakes Naval Station, just north of Chicago, where I +was then serving as Field Representative of the Jewish Welfare Board. +Two weeks later I reported at Hoboken for the trip overseas. 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 +daughter. 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 1918. + +The trip was the usual one of those anxious days--thirteen days at sea, +constant look-out for a submarine, but finally a mild disappointment +when we sailed into harbor without even a scare. We carried our life +preservers constantly and waited daily for the sudden alarm of a boat +drill. Our ship, the _Balmoral Castle_, was one of a convoy of twelve, +with the usual quota of destroyers accompanying us. Two days from +England we met a flotilla of destroyers; later two "mystery" ships +joined us and in the Irish Sea we were greeted by a huge Blimp or +dirigible balloon. With this escort we sailed down the Irish Sea, had a +glimpse of Ireland and Scotland and finally disembarked at Liverpool. +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 city. + +Our pleasurable anticipations of a view of Liverpool and perhaps a +glimpse of London were rudely disappointed. We disembarked about noon, +marched through side streets, which looked like side streets in any of +the dirtiest of American cities, lined up at a freight station, and were +loaded at once on waiting trains and started off for Southampton. All +that afternoon we absorbed eagerly the dainty beauty of the English +countryside which most of us knew only through literary references. 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 train, a custom which +afterward became a habit to all officers in France. + +Daybreak found us at Southampton in the rest camp; evening on the _Maid +of Orleans_, bound across the channel. We had not seen England, we had +no place to sleep and not too much to eat, even sitting room on the +decks was at a premium, but we were hastening on our way to the war. At +Le Havre we were again assigned to a British rest camp, where we +appreciated the contrast between the excellent meals of the officers' +canteen and the primitive bunks in double tiers where we had to sleep. +After two days of this sort of rest and a hasty visit to the city in +between, I received orders to report to the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office +at Chaumont. + +My first train journey across France impressed me at once with the +unique character of the landscape. The English landscape is +distinguished by meadows, the French by trees. The most realistic +picture of the English landscape is the fantastic description of a +checker-board in "Alice in Wonderland." In France, however, one is +struck chiefly by the profusion and arrangement of trees. They are +everywhere, alone or in clumps, and of all kinds, with often a formal +row of poplars or a little wood of beeches to make the sky-line more +impressive. In northern France the houses and barns are all of stone, +peaked and windowless, with gardens that seem bent on contrasting as +strongly as possible with the grayness of the walls. It seems as though +tiny villages are every few feet, and always with a church steeple in +the middle. + +In Paris the first man I met was my old friend, Dr. H. G. Enelow, of +Temple Emanu-El, New York, who was standing by the desk in the Hotel +Regina when I registered. As the next day was Sunday, Dr. Enelow was +able to devote some time to me, taking me for a long walk on the left +bank of the Seine, where we enjoyed the gardens of the Luxembourg and +sipped liqueurs at a side-walk cafe at the famous corner of Boulevarde +St. Michel and Germain. Paris in war-time was infinitely touching. It +had all the marks of the great luxury center of the world: shops, +boulevards, hotels, and show places of every kind. But many of the most +attractive of its tiny shops were closed; the streets at night were +wrapped in the deepest gloom, with tiny shaded lights which were not +intended to illuminate but only to show the direction of the street. The +crowds were only a little repressed in the day-time, for the extreme +crisis of the summer had just passed, but with dusk the streets became +entirely deserted. Through Dr. Enelow I met also Dr. Jacob Kohn, who +with Dr. Enelow and Congressman Siegel constituted the commission of the +Jewish Welfare Board to outline its program for overseas work. Dr. +Enelow introduced me also to Mr. John Goldhaar, the secretary of the +commission, afterward in charge of the Paris Office of the Jewish +Welfare Board, to whom I shall refer more fully in another connection. + +At Chaumont the first man I met was my old class-mate of the Hebrew +Union College, Chaplain Elkan C. Voorsanger, who was there temporarily +detached from the 77th Division to arrange for the celebration of the +Jewish holydays throughout France. He welcomed me, told me something of +what my work was to be, and listened to my month-old news, which was all +fresh to him. For a few days I lingered at the chaplains' headquarters +at the old chateau of Neuilly sur Suisse, not far from Chaumont, where +thirty chaplains received their gas mask training and instruction in +front line work, and waited for assignments. The chateau was a queer +angular mediaeval affair, set off by lovely lawns, with the usual rows of +straight poplars all about. A few steps away was a little village with a +quaint old twelfth century church, beautiful in feeling, if not in +workmanship. We chaplains newly arrived in France, most of us young, and +all eager to be at work, hung on the words of our leaders fresh from the +line. We talked much of our ideals and our preparation, as most of the +men were graduates of the Chaplains' Training School at Camp Taylor, +Kentucky. My assignment came very soon to organize and conduct services +for the Jewish holydays at Nevers, headquarters of the Intermediate +Section, Service of Supply. + +The entire American area in France had been charted out for the purpose +of holyday services and the central cities designated, either those +which had French synagogues to receive our men, or those points like +Nevers where Americans were to be found and had to be provided for. I +quote the official order which carried authority for our arrangements. + + "Tours, Sept. 1, 1918. + + 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 + follows: from noon Sept. 6th to morning of Sept. 9th and from noon + Sept. 15th to morning of Sept. 17th. If military necessity prevents + granting passes on days mentioned provision should be made to hold + divine services wherever possible." + +This meant that all those had leave who were not at the time in action +or on the move. Chaplain Voorsanger, for example, was not able to have +any service in the 77th Division as his troops were on the march on New +Year's Day and in action on the Day of Atonement. Most of the central +points designated for Jewish services were important cities with French +synagogues,--Paris, Toul, Belfort, Dijon, Epinal, Nantes, Rouen, Tours, +Bordeaux and Marseilles. Three of the chief American centers had none, +so Dr. Enelow was assigned to Brest, Dr. Kohn to Chaumont, and I was +sent to Nevers. + +I spent a single busy day in Tours after leaving Chaumont. I met the +wife and father-in-law of Rabbi Leon Sommers and inspected their little +synagogue with its seventy-five seats. The Rabbi was on duty in the +French army where he had been from the very beginning of the war. I went +to the army headquarters and arranged for the proper notices to be sent +out to troops in the district, then with two or three Jewish families +whom I met I discussed arrangements to accommodate the large number of +Jewish soldiers who would come in. I was empowered to offer them the +financial assistance of the Jewish Welfare Board in providing such +accommodations as were possible. + +One surprise of a kind which I afterward came to expect, was meeting an +old friend of mine from Great Lakes, a former sergeant in the Canadian +Army, mustered out of service because of the loss of several fingers and +now back in France again as a representative of the Knights of Columbus. +When he left Great Lakes for overseas, I had parted with one of the two +knitted sweaters I possessed, that if I did not see service at least my +sweater would. Now I met the sweater and its owner again for a few brief +moments. These fleeting glimpses of friends became a delightful but +always tense element in our army life. Men came and went like an +ever-flowing stream, now and then pausing for a greeting and always +hurrying on again. A single day sufficed for my work in Tours and then +to my own city for the holydays. + +Nevers is a historic town of thirty thousand on the banks of the River +Loire. The streets are as wide as alleys and the sidewalks narrow and +haphazard, so that usually one walks in the street, whether it goes up +hill, down hill, or (as frequently) around the corner. But the parks and +squares are frequent and lovely, and the old buildings have a charm of +their own, even if it is chiefly in the quaintness of their outlines and +the contrast of their gray with the sunny skies of autumn. The air was +always cool and the skies always bright. I stayed at the Grand Hotel de +l'Europe, a rather small place, which one had to enter by a back door +through a court. With the men at war, all the work was being done by +women, while most of the guests were American officers on temporary or +permanent duty at the post. The cathedral (every French city seems to +have one) is interesting chiefly to the antiquarian, as it has several +different styles combined rather inharmoniously, and the tower is not at +all imposing. + +Of course, a great many Americans were stationed in or near the +city--railroad engineers, training camps of combat units newly arrived +in France, construction engineers, quartermaster units, and two great +hospital centers. Every company I visited, every ward in the hospitals, +had at least a few Jewish boys, and all of them were equally glad to see +me and to attend my services. In fact, my first clear impression in +France was that here lay a tremendous field for work, crying out for +Jewish chaplains and other religious workers, and that we had such a +pitiful force to answer the demand. At that time there were over fifty +thousand Jewish soldiers in the A. E. F. at a very conservative +estimate, with exactly six chaplains and four representatives of the +Jewish Welfare Board to minister to them. When I took up my work at +Nevers, I was simply staggered by the demands made on me and my +inability to fulfill more than a fraction of them. + +At first came the sudden rush of men into the city for the first day of +Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The hotels filled up almost at once; +then came others who could not find accommodations, and still others who +had been confined to hospitals, had drawn no pay for several months, and +could not pay for a hotel room or even a shave. 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 them. The accommodations were crude, but the men were +soldiers and glad to get them. I was doubly proud, therefore, that this +crowd of ours, without official control, coming for the festival and +therefore released from the incessant discipline they had become used +to, never once took advantage of their privileges. We troubled the +authorities for their sleeping quarters and for special permission to +be on the street after nine at night--but that was all. Many of the boys +may have appreciated their leave more than the festival, but all +justified the confidence shown in them by their conduct. + +Imagine the difference between our services in France and those to which +I have been accustomed in our rather tame and formal civilian +congregations. My congregation there was composed almost entirely of +men, and those men all very young. We were meeting in a strange land, +amid an ancient but alien civilization, which some of us liked and some +disliked, but which none of us could quite understand. We had no scroll +of the Law, no ram's horn, not even a complete prayerbook for the +festivals. We had no synagogue, and the places we used were lent us by +people of another faith, friends and co-workers, indeed, but with little +interest in our festivals or our religious needs. + +Our services were held in the large Y. M. C. A. hut at the chief +barracks. The large, bare room was turned over to us for certain hours; +the workers closed the canteen and attended the services. 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 pictures. +In fact, I found the Y. M. C. A. here, as everywhere, most eager to +cooeperate with me and to serve the Jews as well as the Christians in the +army. My cantor for most of the services was Corporal Cohen of New York, +although several other men volunteered for certain portions of the +prayers. The head usher was Sergeant Wolf, who looked after the hall and +the seating with the thoroughness characteristic of sergeants +everywhere. Among the congregation were ten officers, two nurses, and +three families of French Jews, as well as a mixed group of enlisted men +from every branch in the army, from every section of America and every +group of Jewry. The festival had caught us in a foreign land, in the +service of America, and it had brought us together as nothing else could +have done. + +We wore our hats during the service because that was the natural desire +of the majority, who were of orthodox upbringing. Of course, a soldier +naturally wears his overseas cap under any circumstances and it would +have needed a special ruling to bring them off. The service was read out +of the little prayer book circulated by the Jewish Welfare Board, with +which about a fourth of the congregation were already provided from the +camps in the States. We read the abbreviated Hebrew service, then about +half of the prayers in English, and had an English sermon. The only +objection to these innovations came from the cantor, Corporal Cohen, a +young man with a traditional Jewish background, who had gathered the +other Jews in his company every Friday evening for a brief service and +was generally looked up to (although not always followed) as a religious +leader. My only way of convincing him was to inquire among some of the +other men as to the number who did not understand Hebrew. 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 rank. + +I was much amused after the several services at the number of young men +who came to me, complaining about Cohen's rendering of the services and +boasting of their own ability. 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 +reader, quite possible to find one who reads with feeling and +understanding, but utterly impossible to pick up in the army a cantor +with a trained voice. + +Our arrangements were made under the approval of my commanding officer, +the senior chaplain of the post, and few features of our service were +more appreciated than the address of Chaplain Stull at our services on +the second day of the festival. I had hesitated to invite him, 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 service: two +years before on the Mexican Border, the year before in training camp in +the States and now in the American Forces in France, Chaplain Stull was +a regular army chaplain of eighteen years standing, and his membership +in the Methodist Episcopal church was less conspicuous in his makeup +than his long experience in army life. His sermon was one of the +outstanding events of our holy season. 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 rear. His moral interpretation of the +significance of each man to the whole army was the sort of thing that +the soldier needs and likes. + +These services were unusual in that they were the first holy season +which most of the men had spent away from home. The war was still on +then; the St. Mihiel drive took place the day after Rosh Hashana; the +news from the front was usually good and always thrilling. We at the +rear were deeply stirred. Some of us had been wounded and were now +recovering; some were in training and were soon to leave for the front; +some were in the S. O. S. permanently. But the shadow of war was dark +upon us all. We were in the uncertainty, the danger, the horror of it. +We felt a personal thrill at the words of the prayers,--"Who are to live +and who to die; who by the sword and who by fire." We recited with +personal fervor the memorial prayer for our fallen comrades. Many among +us were eager to give thanks at recovery from wounds. Therefore, the +desire for a religious observance of our solemn days was all the +greater. Men came in from a hundred miles, often walking ten miles to a +train before they could ride the rest. + +Brothers, long separated, often met by chance, soon to separate again +for an unknown future. I remember two--one a veteran of two battles, now +convalescing at a hospital, the other newly arrived from the States and +still in training. They met on Rosh Hashanah, each ignorant of the +other's whereabouts and the veteran not even knowing whether his brother +had arrived in France. The touching scene of their reunion had its +humorous side too, for the wounded soldier from the hospital naturally +had not a franc in his possession, and the boy from the States had +enough money for a real holiday and had reserved a hotel room with a +luxurious French bed. He was thus able to act as host for two happy days +and nights. But on Yom Kippur when the wounded soldier came again his +brother was not there. His unit had been ordered to the front and I do +not know whether they ever met again. + +War had us all in its iron grip. I, for one, expected soon to have my +request granted that I be assigned to a combat division. Not that I +overlooked the need for Jewish work in the S. O. S., but the most +pressing need at that time was at the front, and I was looking forward +to taking up the more exacting duties there. + +The three Jewish families of the city added a pathetic touch, for they +were glad indeed to attend a Jewish service and for the sake of the +soldiers were willing to sit through our English additions. Their +situation seemed similar to that of most recent immigrants of the United +States; the parents spoke both Yiddish and French, the young people like +ours in America, spoke chiefly the language of the country. 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 daughters. +It was often their first chance for a word with a girl of their own +class, certainly with a Jewish girl, since they had left America. And +the fact that the girl with her familiar appearance could not +communicate with them on a conversational basis, did not seem to impede +their relations in the least. The isolated condition of these French +Jews in a city of 30,000 can only be compared to that of American Jews +in a country village. + +While at Nevers I could not overlook the opportunity to visit the two +great hospital centers at Mars and at Mesves sur Loire. I visited from +ward to ward in both of them, paying special attention to the Jewish +boys and finding always plenty of occasion for favors of a hundred +different kinds. At that time we were short of chaplains of all +denominations in the army, so that even the hospitals had not enough to +minister fully to their thousands of sick and wounded, while the +convalescent camps with their hundreds of problems were almost uncared +for in this respect. + +At Mars I held a service on Friday night which was fairly typical of +conditions in France. The service was announced as a Jewish religious +service, but on my arrival I found the Red Cross room crowded with men +of every type, including four negroes in the front row. Evidently it was +the only place the men had outside the wards, so they came there every +night for the show, movie, or service which might be provided. They were +not merely respectful to the service and the minority of Jews who took +part in it. 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 abroad. These wounded men from the lines, these +medical corpsmen who might never see the front, were alike eager to feel +the part they personally were playing in the great, chaotic outlines of +the world-wide struggle. And they responded to a Jewish service with an +interest which I soon found was typical of the soldier, in his restless +attention, his open-mindedness, his intolerance of cant but love of +genuine religion. + +The meetings and partings of war-time came home to me several times at +Nevers. I was called to see a young man in the hospital, suffering from +spinal meningitis. I found him a highly intelligent boy from Chicago who +knew a number of my old friends there. 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 leave, but simply locked up in the +contagious ward. 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 common. At another time I was approached +at the Y. M. C. A. by one of their women workers who had heard my name +announced. She turned out to be a Mrs. Campbell of my old home town, +Sioux City, Iowa, and an acquaintance of my mother through several +charity boards of which they both were members. She was acting as +instructor in French and advisor to the American soldiers in Nevers, +while her husband, Prof. Campbell of Morningside College, was on the +French front with the French auxiliary of the Y. M. C. A. + +Another interesting incident was my meeting with Mr. Julius Rosenwald of +Chicago, then touring France as a member of the National Council of +Defense. The Y. M. C. A. secretary asked me to introduce him to a +soldier audience in one of their huts. The first day I came, however, +Mr. Rosenwald was delayed and the boys had to put up with a new film of +Douglas Fairbanks in his stead, like good soldiers accepting the +substitution gladly enough. On the second day Mr. Rosenwald himself was +there and I had the pleasure of introducing him to an audience of about +five hundred soldiers, as varied a group as ever wore the American +uniform. 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 home. He called for a show of hands of the +home states of the different men, then responded by reading letters and +telegrams from governors and other local officials. Mr. Rosenwald was +one of the very few official travelers in France whose trip was not +merely informative to himself but also valuable to the army. We in the +army grew to dislike "joy riders" so heartily that it is a positive +pleasure to mention such a conspicuous exception. + +Another duty typical of the variety of tasks which welcomed me as a +chaplain, was to conduct the defense of a Jewish boy at a general court +martial. He asked to see me during the holydays, told me his story, and +I stayed over in Nevers a few days to act as his counsel. Since that +time I have frequently been called on for advice in similar cases, for +an army chaplain has almost as many legal and medical duties as strictly +religious ones. 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 worked. He was only a boy, a volunteer +who had falsified his age in order to enlist. According to his own story +he was partially involved in the case, acting ignorantly as agent for +the real criminal. + +The trial was quite fair, bringing out the circumstantial evidence +against him, and his sentence was as low as could possibly be expected. +So, with memories of friendships made, of work accomplished, of a new +world opening ahead, I left Nevers on September 20th after only +eighteen days of service. I had to report at Chaumont again to receive +my orders to join the 27th Division. + +For two months after that no Jewish chaplain was stationed in the +Intermediate Section, which covered the entire central part of France +and contained many thousands of American troops, including everywhere a +certain proportion of Jews. Then Chaplain Rabinowitz reported at Nevers +temporarily and served for his entire time in France in various points +in the Intermediate Section, at Nevers, Blois and at St. Aignan. + +I had been thrust into the midst of this tremendous, crying need for +service of every kind, religious, personal and military. I went to my +division to find the same or greater need, as the situation was always +more tense at the actual front. 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 France. Now I left them for good. Their usual +greeting on meeting me had been, "You are the first Jewish chaplain or +worker we have met on this side." And unfortunately, the same greeting +was addressed to me every time I came to a new unit or city until the +very day I left France. The need among these two million soldiers was so +tremendous that a hundred times our resources would not have been +sufficient. As it was, we made no pretense at covering the field, but +simply did day labor wherever we were stationed, serving the soldiers, +Jews and Christians alike, and giving our special attention to the +religious services and other needs of the Jewish men. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AT THE FRONT WITH THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DIVISION + + +I reached my division on the first of October, 1918, after a tedious ten +days on the way. I traveled most of the way with Lieutenant Colonel +True, whom I met on the train coming out of Chaumont. I found that the +higher ranking officers invariably approached the chaplains not as +officers of inferior rank but as leaders of a different kind, much as a +prominent business man treats his minister in civil life. Colonel True +was a regular army man of long standing who was being transferred from +another division to the Twenty-Seventh. When we arrived at the Hotel +Richmond, the Y. M. C. A. hotel for officers in Paris, we found only one +room available with a double bed, and so for the first time in my life I +had the honor of sleeping with a Lieutenant Colonel. 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 St. Mihiel drive. Colonel +True had received his promotion from a majority and his transfer before +the drive, but had not reported until he had gone through the whole +fight at the head of his battalion. I mention this not as a striking, +but strictly as a typical proceeding on the part of the average American +officer. + +For a few days we were held at the Replacement Camp at Eu in +Normandy--an idyllic spot within sight of the English Channel, +surrounded by gentle hills. While there I made several trips to Treport, +a favorite summer resort on the Channel before the war. It is a quaint +little fishing village with a typical modern summer resort superimposed. +The old stone Norman cottages with their high roofs always had a touch +of decoration somewhere, in mosaic, paint or stained glass, different +from the plainer architecture of Central France. The modern part +consists of several beautiful hotels and a number of cheap restaurants +and curio shops. Of course, the hotels were all used by the British Army +as hospitals at this time. I visited Base Hospital 16, a Philadelphia +Unit, which was loaned to the British. I had a delightful talk with our +Red Cross Chaplain and made a tour of many of the wards. The patients +were almost all British with a few Americans from the August campaign in +Flanders. Among the rest I met about a dozen Jewish boys, English and +Australian, who were naturally delighted by the rare visit of a Jewish +Chaplain. The eight Jewish Chaplains in the British Expeditionary Forces +were attached to the various Army Headquarters, and so had to cover +impossible areas in their work. The nearest one to Treport was Rabbi +Geffen at Boulogne with whom I afterward came into communication, 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 Forces. + +Hospital visiting is dreary work, especially when there is action going +on from which one is separated. The work is exhausting physically, +walking up and down the long wards and stopping by bedsides. It is +especially a drain on the nerves and sympathies, to see so many sick and +mutilated boys--boys in age most of them, certainly boys in spirit--and +giving oneself as the need arises. And in a hospital so many men have +requests. They are helpless and it is always impossible to have enough +visitors and enough chaplains for them. 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 Depot. + +We were loaded on a train, the soldiers in box-cars of the familiar type +("40 men or 8 horses") with the little group of officers crowded +together in a single first-class coach. Broken windows, flat wheels and +no lights showing--we were beginning to feel that we were in the war +zone. From Eu to Peronne took from 4:30 A. M. to 9:30 P. M. with three +changes of trains and ten additional stops. We got only a short view of +the railroad station at Amiens, at that time almost completely +destroyed. Our division was then in the British area on the Somme +sector, and at the time of our arrival they had just come out of the +great victory at the Hindenburg Line. + +Our first ruined city was Peronne, which will never leave my memory. The +feeling of a ruined town is absolutely indescribable, for how can one +imagine a town with neither houses nor people, where the very streets +have often been destroyed? This situation contradicts our very +definition of a town, for a town is made of streets, houses and people; +no imagination can quite grasp the reality of war and ruin without its +actual experience. And Peronne was much more striking than most cities +in the war zone; it had been fought through six different times, and +its originally stately public buildings showed only enough to impress us +with the ruin that had been wrought. Only one wall of one end of the +church was standing, with two fine Gothic arches, only one side of the +building on the square and so on through the whole town. We became +inured to the sight of ruined villages later on, but the first shock of +seeing Peronne will be indelible. + +The headquarters of the division were then located at the Bois de Buire, +about ten miles out, though for almost a half day we could find nobody +to give us exact directions. At last Lieutenant Colonel H. S. +Sternberger, the division quartermaster, put in an appearance and +offered to take me and Lieutenant Colonel True up to headquarters in his +car. The rest of our party had all wandered off by then in the direction +of their various units. Colonel Sternberger was the highest ranking +officer at the time among the thousand Jews in the Twenty-Seventh +Division. Lieutenant Colonel Morris Liebman of the 106th Infantry, also +a Jew, had been killed in action in Flanders six weeks before, a loss +which was very deeply felt in his regiment. Colonel Sternberger was one +of the popular staff officers of the division owing to his indefatigable +labors for the welfare of the boys. 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 time. While I was with the division, +Colonel Sternberger proved both a staunch personal friend and an active +ally in my work. + +It took more than a day to become acquainted with the camouflaged +offices in the woods. Small huts, with semicircular iron roofs covered +with branches, were scattered about among the trees. Some of them had +signs, Division Adjutant, Commanding General, and the rest; others were +billets. I invariably lost my way when I went to lunch and wandered for +some minutes before finding "home." "Home" was a hut exactly like the +rest, where the French mission and the gas officer had their offices +during the day and where six of us slept at night. I fell heir to the +cot of one of the interpreters then home on leave, Georges Levy, who +afterward became one of my best friends. My baggage had disappeared on +the trip, so that I had only my hand bag with the little it could hold. +My first need, naturally, was for blankets to cover the cot. I collected +these from various places, official and otherwise, until the end of the +month found me plentifully provided. I must admit that the first cool +nights in the woods forced me to sleep in my clothes. Naturally, my +first task was to wire for my baggage, but it had completely vanished +and did not return for four long months. Everybody lost his possessions +at some time during the war; I was unique only in losing them at the +outset and not seeing them until the whole need for them was over. + +The boys had just come out of the line, worn out, with terrible losses, +but after a great victory such as occurs only a few times in any war. +They had broken the Hindenburg Line, that triple row of trenches and +barbed wire, with its concrete pill-boxes, its enfilading fire from +machine guns, its intricate and tremendous system of defenses. I crossed +the line many times during the month that followed and never failed to +marvel that human beings could ever have forced it. The famous tunnel +of the St. Quentin Canal was in our sector, too, as well as part of the +canal itself. 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 cellars. + +One wall always bore the name of the former village in large letters, +which became still larger and more striking in the territory near the +Hindenburg Line, so long occupied by the Germans. I used to repay the +generous Tommies for their rides on the constant stream of trucks (we +called them "lorries," like the English) by translating the numerous +German signs at railroad crossings and the like, about which they always +had much curiosity. + +One could travel anywhere on main roads by waiting until a truck came +along and then hailing it. If the seat was occupied there was usually +some room in the rear, and the British drivers were always glad to take +one on and equally glad to air their views on the war. When one came to +a cross road, he jumped off, hailed the M. P. (Military Police) for +directions and took the next truck which was going in the proper +direction. In that way I have often traveled on a dozen trucks in a day, +with stop-overs and occasional walks of a few miles to fill in the gaps. +Between a map, a compass and the M. P.'s, we always managed to circulate +and eventually find our way home again. + +We saw the heavy guns lumbering on their way to the front, the +aeroplanes humming overhead like a swarm of dragon-flies. Day and night +we could hear the rumble of guns like distant thunder, while at night +the flashes showed low on the horizon like heat lightning. Our salvage +depot was at Tincourt at the foot of the hill, and when I went over +there Corporal Klein and Sergeant Friedlander were quick to repair gaps +in my equipment. One night I witnessed the division musical comedy (the +"Broadway Boys") in an old barn at Templeux le Fosse, where we walked in +the dark, found the place up an alley and witnessed a really excellent +performance with costumes, scenery and real orchestra. In the middle of +an act, an announcement would be made that all men of the third +battalion, 108th Infantry, should report back at once, and a group of +fellows would rise and file out for the five-mile hike back in the +darkness: they were to move up to the front before morning. + +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 action. Unfortunately, almost every time I arranged +for a service and appeared to hold it the "outfit" would already be on +the move. The best service I held was at the village of Buire, where +about forty boys gathered together under the trees among the ruined +houses. They were a deeply devotional group, told me about their holyday +services conducted by a British army chaplain at Doulens, about their +fallen comrades for whom they wanted to repeat the memorial prayers, and +about their own narrow escapes for which they were eager to offer +thanks. They had the deep spiritual consciousness which comes to most +men in moments of great peril. + +I managed to reach most of the infantry regiments, however, by hiking +down from the woods and sometimes catching a ride. Everywhere was +action. It was the breathing space between our two great battles of the +war. Every unit was hoping and expecting a long rest. But that hope +could not be fulfilled. 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 ahead. So the rest of the Twenty-Seventh Division was +brief indeed. Every regiment was starting for the front with no +replacements after the terrific slaughter of two weeks before, with very +little new equipment and practically no rest. And the front was now +further away than it had been. The success of the allied forces meant +longer marches for our tired troops. + +All the villages were devastated in this area. It was the section +between Peronne and the old Hindenburg Line. Not until we came to the +German side of the Hindenburg Line did we find the villages in any sort +of repair. The men lived in cellars without roofs, in rooms without +walls or sometimes in barracks which were constructed by either of the +opposing armies during the long years of the struggle. Of course, 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 Gerard. + +One day I "lorried" up to the division cemeteries near the old +battlefield, which were being laid out by a group of chaplains with a +large detail of enlisted men. 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 marked. I got to know the +country about Bellicourt and Bony, where our heaviest fighting had +taken place. I heard the story of the eight British tanks, lying +helpless at the top of the long ridge near Bony, where they had run upon +a mine field. I got to know the "Ausies," always the best friends and +great admiration of our soldiers, with their dashing courage and +reckless heroism, and the "Tommies," those steady, matter-of-fact +workmen at the business of war, whom our boys could never quite +understand. + +Finally our headquarters moved forward, too. 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 scouts. At last, finding the quarry, I met a boy I knew, who took me +to the dugout where the senior chaplain was sleeping. I crawled into a +vacant bunk, made myself at home and left the next morning for good. The +quarry did not appeal to me when wet; one was too likely to slide from +the top to the bottom and stay there; and I had no desire to test its +advantages when dry. The next time I came back to headquarters they were +in the village of Joncourt, beyond the Hindenburg Line, in territory +which we had released from the Germans. The chief attraction of Joncourt +was an occasional roof--of course, there were no windows. The cemetery +had been used as a "strong point" by the retreating Germans, who had +scattered the bodies about and used the little vaults as pill-boxes in +which to mount machine guns. And our message center was located in a +German dugout fully fifty feet underground; evidently plenty of +precautions had been taken against allied air raids. In fact, from this +point on every house in every village had a conspicuous sign, telling +of the _Fliegerschutz_ for a certain number of men in its cellar. In +addition, the placard told the number of officers, men and horses which +could be accommodated with billets on the premises. Evidently, the +Germans in laying out their permanently occupied territory, went about +it in their usual business-like fashion. + +But between my glimpses of these various headquarters, I was at the +front with the troops going into the trenches and had had a glimpse of +war. My first experience under fire was in some woods near Maretz, where +I spent part of the night with one battalion, as they paused before +going into the trenches. I finished the night on the floor of a house in +the village, having grown accustomed enough to the sound of the shells +to sleep in spite of it. Like most people I had wondered how one feels +under fire, and experienced a queer sensation when I first heard the +long whine of a distant shell culminating in a sudden explosion. Now I +realized that I was under fire, too. But I speedily found that one feels +more curiosity than fear under long-distance fire; real fear comes +chiefly when the shells begin to land really near by. I was to +experience that, too, a little later. In fact, I found out soon that +every soldier is frightened; a good soldier is simply one who does his +duty in spite of fear. + +Then a report came in that Chaplain John Ward, of the 108th Infantry, +had been seriously wounded and I was sent to take his place with the +unit. In a push the chaplain works with the wounded; after it, with the +dead. Of many sad duties at the front, his is perhaps the saddest of +all. 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 Escaufourt, a mile or so behind the lines. Captain Merrill was in +command of the battalion and one could see how the work and +responsibility wore on him day by day, reducing the round, cheerful +soldier for the time almost to a whispering, tottering old man. But his +spirit held him to the task; he slept for only a few minutes at a time, +and then was back at work again. A conscientious man can have no more +exacting duty than this, to care for the lives of a thousand men. + +We were under constant fire there, though not under observation, but the +little ambulances ran up to the gate of the chateau for the wounded, who +had to walk or be carried in and out from the house to the gate. We ate +upstairs in the stately dining room at times, though we usually ate and +always slept in the crowded cellar where the major and his staff were +housed. There eight or nine of us would sit on our brick seats and sleep +with our backs against the wall, being awakened from time to time by a +messenger coming in or by the ringing of the field telephone in the +corner. The telephone operator was always testing one or another +connection, day and night, for the emergency when it would be needed. + +One night companies H and I of the 108th Infantry were almost completely +wiped out by gas. They were in low lying trenches by the side of the +canal under a constant fire of gas shells, while the damp weather kept +the dangerous fumes near the ground. They had no orders to evacuate to a +safer post and no human being can live forever in a gas mask, so one +after another the men yielded to temptation, took off their masks for +momentary relief, and inhaled the gas-laden air. All evening and night +they kept coming in by twos and threes to our aid post, the stronger +ones walking, the rest on stretchers. Their clothing reeked of the +sickeningly sweet odor. The room was soon full of it, so that we had to +blow out the candles and open the door for a few minutes to avoid being +gassed ourselves. There were three ambulances running that night to the +Main Dressing Station, and I made it my task to meet each car, notify +the doctor and bring the gassed and wounded men out to the ambulance. +Most of them were blinded for the time being by the effect of the gas. +No light was possible, as that would have drawn fire at once. Every ten +minutes through the night our village was shelled, and in walking the +forty or fifty yards through the park to the gate, I had to make two +detours with my blinded men to avoid fresh shell-holes made that very +afternoon. 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 +ambulances. The final touch came when a youngster of perhaps seventeen +entered the aid post alone, walking painfully. "What outfit are you +from, sonny?" was my natural greeting. "I am the last man left in +Company H," was the proud reply. + +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 +defending, and that troops, safely withdrawn a hundred yards or more, +can be moved forward again quickly enough the moment the gas lifts. The +English had had the same lesson more than once until they learned it +thoroughly; so had the Germans; now our armies, with their examples +before us, had to learn it again through the suffering of our own +soldiers. Our division was not the only one in which the same or a +similar blunder cost the men so dearly, for I have read the same +incident of more than one unit on other parts of the American line, and +have had them verified by officers who were present at those other +catastrophes. In the art of war the instruction of the generals costs +the lives of the soldiers. + +We had the peculiar experience of seeing the village which we had +entered in good condition crumbling about us under the enemy fire. Even +the windows were intact when we reached it; the Germans were just out, +and our artillery had been outstripped completely in the forward rush. +Under the constant pounding of back area fire, designed to prevent +ammunition and supplies coming up to the line unmolested, our little +village lost windows, roofs and walls, disintegrating steadily into a +heap of ruins. + +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 catastrophe. At last they had to leave, as the danger to +them was too direct and, in addition, they constituted a hidden menace +to our troops in case even one of them had been left behind as a spy. I +went with a party of Australians and a few of our men to the houses in +the outskirts of the town, where the greatest danger existed. I remember +the utterly disconsolate attitude of two old men and a little old woman +in one of them, when they were told they had to leave. They seemed numb +in the midst of all the rush and roar of warfare. Their little +possessions were there, they were of the peasant type and had probably +never been out of the district in their lives. The advance of the enemy +in 1914 had been accompanied by no fighting near their homes, and now +the allied victory, the one hope of their country, was the one thing +that bore destruction to their little village and tore them away from +the spot where they were rooted. + +One evening I joined a ration party going forward and visited the lines +and advanced headquarters at St. Souplet, hearing the peculiar whistle +of a sniper's bullet pass me as I made my way back after dusk. One of +the boys carrying a heavy bag of hardtack had a sore shoulder, not quite +well from a previous wound. So I shouldered his bag for a decidedly +weary mile of skulking along a sunken road and hurrying across the +occasional open spaces. When we came to his unit I was glad to turn the +bag over to him; I felt no pleasure in such lumpy burden, and would far +rather have worn out my shoulder with something more appreciated by the +boys than hardtack,--the one thing which nobody enjoyed but which was +eaten only because they were desperately hungry. On the night of October +16th we all moved over, preparatory to the push across the Selle River. +We installed ourselves in the large building at the cross roads, where +the aid post was stationed. I joined a group of sleepers on the cellar +floor, picking my way in the darkness to find a vacant spot. My trench +coat on the plank floor made a really luxurious bed. + +The next morning, October 17th, I was awakened at 5:20 by the barrage; +the boys were going over; the battle of the Selle River had began. By +six o'clock the wounded began to flow in, at first by twos and threes, +then in a steady stream. They came walking wearily along or were carried +on the shoulders of German prisoners or occasionally by our own men. As +we were at the crossroads, we got most of the wounded, English, German +and American, as well as a great deal of the shelling with which back +areas are always deluged during an attack. In this case, our post was +just behind the lines at first, 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 top. They stormed the heights across the +stream after wading it in the first rush, and then went on across the +hills and fields. + +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 +front. Our task with that of the Thirtieth Division on our right was to +cross the Selle River and advance toward the Sambre Canal. On our left +were British troops, while we were supported by Australian artillery and +the British Air Service. In our first great battle, that of the +Hindenburg Line, the "Ausies" had acted as the second wave, coming up +just in time to save some of the hard pressed units of our Division and +to complete the success of our assault. So we knew them well enough and +were glad indeed to have their excellent artillery to put over the +barrage for our second attack. + +The Australians and, in fact, all the British Colonial troops, had much +more in common with the American soldiers than had the British troops +themselves. They were like our men, young, hardy, dashing. They were +all volunteers. They had a type of discipline of their own, which +included saluting their own officers when they wanted to and never +saluting British officers under any circumstances. I took a natural +pride in hearing of their commanding officer, Lieutenant General Sir +John Monash, who held the highest rank of any Jew in the war. It was no +little honor to be the commander of those magnificent troops from +Australia. + +Meanwhile we were busy at the first aid post. I found myself the only +person at hand who could speak any German, so I took charge of the door, +with a group of prisoners to carry the wounded in and out and load them +in the ambulances. 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 front. Our opponents here were chiefly +Wurtembergers, young boys of about twenty, although one regiment of +Prussian marines was among them. Among the first prisoners were two +German physicians who offered to assist ours in the work. They worked +all day, one in our aid post, the other in that of the 107th Infantry, +side by side with our surgeons and doing excellent work for Americans +and Germans alike. They picked their own assistants from among their +captured medical corpsmen, and were strictly professional in their +attitude throughout. One of them was Dr. Beckhard, a Jew from Stuttgart, +with whom I had a few snatches of conversation and whom I should +certainly like to meet again under more congenial circumstances. I was +amused in the midst of it all when the doctor noticed his brother, an +artilleryman, coming in as one of the endless file of stretcher +bearers, carrying wounded in gray or olive drab. The doctor asked me +whether he might take his brother as one of his assistants for the day. +"Is he any good?" I asked. "Oh, yes," was the answer, "as good as any +medical orderly." So I gave permission and the two, together with a real +medical orderly and another young prisoner as interpreter, ran one room +of the first aid post in their own way. I kept an American soldier on +guard there chiefly to be prepared for any eventualities; as a matter of +fact the German surgeons treated American wounded and American surgeons +treated German wounded with the same impartial spirit. The two +physicians joined the other prisoners at the end of the day bearing +letters of appreciation written by Captain Miller, the surgeon in charge +of our post. + +About a year later when communication with Germany was opened again, I +found that this chance meeting at the front proved an odd means of +communication with my German cousins. When Dr. Beckhard returned to +Stuttgart he lectured on his experiences at the front, mentioning among +other things that he had met an American Rabbi by the name of Levinger. +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 +Wurtemberg, so that shortly after the actual experience they knew of my +being in the army and serving at the front. + +Only the small Ford ambulances could come as near the front as our post, +while the larger ones came only to the Advanced Dressing Station at +Busigny. These smaller ambulances were unable to accommodate the +constant stream of gassed and wounded men coming from the lines. Those +who had minor wounds, especially in the arms, had to be directed along +the proper road according to that ironical term, "walking wounded." +Cases which in civil life would be carried to an ambulance, given full +treatment, and then driven gently to the nearest hospital, were here +given emergency dressings and told, "The Advanced Dressing Station is +two miles down that road, boys. Walk slow and don't miss the sign +telling where to turn to the left." Other more serious cases for whom +there was no room in ambulances, at the moment were carried on +stretchers by prisoners. I would assemble three or four such cases, take +a revolver left by some wounded officer or non-com, and give it to a +"walking wounded" with instructions to "see that they get safely to the +next point." Naturally, these boys with minor wounds of their own were +safe guardians to see that the German prisoners did their duty. I can +still see their grins as they assured me: "Those fellows are sure going +to stick on the job, sir. I'll say they will!" The attitude of the +slightly wounded men was often full of grim humor. I remember one +Australian carried in on a stretcher who called me to his side with +their customary "Here, Yank," and when I responded handed me very +gravely a Mills bomb which he had used to overawe his captive bearers, +apparently threatening to blow them up with himself should they prove +insubordinate. + +A constant worry of mine were the weapons which the wounded men dropped +in front or within the aid post. Knowing that all army supplies would +be reissued to them on release from the hospital, the soldiers did not +care to carry heavy rifles or even revolvers and bombs back with them. +The result was a pile of weapons at just the point where my prisoner +stretcher-bearers could have easy access to them. I kept an M. P. busy +much of the time removing these to a place of comparative safety. + +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 ambulances. 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 necessities, which come back to +memory in later days with the full measure of ghastly detail. + +The chaplain is the handy man at the front, one of the few who is not +limited by special duties or confined to a particular spot. He works +forward or backward as the need exists. He ladles out hot chocolate with +the Red Cross, carries a stretcher with the Medical Corps, ties up a +bandage when that is needed, and prays for Jew and Christian alike. I +ministered to a number of Jewish and Christian soldiers who were dying, +leading the Jews in the traditional confession of faith, and reading a +psalm for the Protestants. One of the surgeons came to me and said, +"Captain Connor here is dying, and Chaplain Hoffman our priest is at +Battalion Headquarters acting as interpreter to examine some prisoners. +What can we do?" So I borrowed the surgeon's rosary and held the cross +to the lips of the dying Catholic. This incident, so impossible in +civil life, is really expected among soldiers,--it has been repeated so +many times and in so many different ways. + +We were constantly under heavy shell fire, as our place at the cross +roads was not only convenient of access, but was also the only route for +bringing supplies and ammunition to our part of the front. Once as I was +in the middle of the road with several prisoners loading stretchers on +an ambulance, a shell burst in a pool about twenty feet away, covering +us with a shower of mud. My prisoners, who had a wholesome respect for +their own artillery, could hardly be prevented from dropping the +stretcher. However, we were too near the explosion to be hurt, as the +fragments flew over our heads, killing one boy and wounding four others +across the street. One of the wounded was an American runner from the +front, who was enjoying a hasty bite at the army field kitchen around +the corner. 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 lunch. +The man who was killed was standing about seventy-five feet from the +spot of the explosion beside the motor-cycle which he drove, waiting for +his commanding officer to come and use the side-car. He pitched forward +as though falling to avoid the explosion, just as we would have done if +we had not been holding a stretcher. When he did not rise, 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 helmet. + +And so the work went on. The next day we heard of some wounded who had +not yet been brought in from Bandival Farm. Chaplain Burgh of the 107th +Infantry and I gathered together a few volunteers of our ambulance men +and several prisoners to go out and carry them in. It was about a mile +and a half out across the battlefield under intermittent shell fire. I +placed my captured Luger revolver, which one of the boys had brought me +the day before, in a conspicuous position with the handle projecting +from my front pocket. I had had the thing unloaded as soon as I got it +because I preferred not to run any unnecessary risks. Being a +non-combatant both by orders and inclination, I was afraid it might go +off. But my prisoners did not know that and so I had no difficulty in +silencing their muttered protests against such a hard and dangerous +hike. Working prisoners under fire like this was strictly against +international law, but that sort of a provision we violated frankly and +cheerfully. On the way back with our wounded across the muddy and +shell-pitted fields, we passed German machine gun emplacements with the +dead gunners still beside the guns, Americans lying with their faces +toward the enemy, and constant heaps of supplies of all kinds strewn +about. One of our stretchers was put down for a moment's rest near such +a scattered group of German knapsacks. One of the prisoners asked if he +might help himself, 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 rations, the little sweetish crackers which they carried +instead of our hard tack. + +On the third day of the attack I joined two men of the Intelligence +Department in walking out to the front line, then over five miles from +the village. It was a hard hike through the mud and about the shell +holes. Finally we found our friends dug in (for the fourth time that +day) on a little ridge. Each time their temporary trenches had been +completed orders had come either for a short retreat or a further +advance, and now by the middle of the afternoon the boys were digging +another at the place where they were to stay till the next morning. +Across the ravine in a little wood the Germans were hanging on for the +time being until their artillery could be saved. I visited the 108th +Infantry in reserve and emptied my musette bag of the sacks of Bull +Durham which I had brought along from the Red Cross. Then the boys +wanted matches, which I had forgotten, and their gratitude was lost in +their disgust. + +I found Captain Merrill with his staff inspecting two captured German +77's, on which they had just placed the name of their unit. By that +time, after three consecutive battles without replacements, our units +were so depleted that a regiment had only 250 rifles in the line instead +of the original 3,000. Captain Merrill's battalion consisted on that day +of 87 riflemen. Just as we finished our inspection of the guns the enemy +artillery started "strafing" again, so we jumped into a shell-hole which +had been hollowed out into convenient form and finished our conversation +there. I then visited some of the 107th Infantry in the front line rifle +pits, one hundred yards or so ahead, and turned back again toward the +village. + +I was just losing my way among the hills with approaching twilight, when +I met an Australian artillery train on their way back for supplies, and +climbed on a limber to ride into town. It was a wild ride, with the +rough roads and the drivers' habit of trotting over the spots where +shell-holes showed that danger might linger. I held on in quite +unmilitary fashion and wondered if the horse behind would be careful +when I fell. But they brought me in safely and added one more means of +locomotion to the dozens which I had utilized at various times: +ammunition "lorries," ambulances, side-cars and even a railway +locomotive--everything in fact except a tank. + +The next day we breathed more freely again. Our tired boys, reduced in +numbers, weakened in physical resistance, but going forward day after +day as their orders came, were at last to go out of the lines. Their job +was done; they had reached the Sambre Canal; and though we did not know +it, they were not to go into battle again. I lorried back to Joncourt, +the temporary division headquarters, for the night, changed my clothes, +slept in a borrowed cot, read a very heartening pile of home letters +which had accumulated for some weeks, and returned to St. Souplet the +next day for the burial detail. It was the 21st of October; while the +division as a whole marched back to the railhead, five chaplains with a +detail of a hundred and fifty men stayed behind for the sad work that +remained to be done. + +At this time I stopped off at the 108th Infantry for a few minutes, as +they halted for a meal after coming out of the lines, and had my +orderly, David Lefkowitz, detached from his unit to serve with me for my +entire remaining period with the division. 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 assistant. The order +assigning him to this special work was made out before we left the woods +at Buire. But our various units were so depleted at the time that I +arranged to leave him with his "outfit" for the battle. It was a serious +deprivation to me, 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 work. Now that the fighting was over, 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 France. 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 +successful. + +Chaplain Francis A. Kelley, in charge of our burial work, laid out the +cemetery on a hill overlooking the village and the battlefield. The rest +of us searched the field with details of men, brought in the bodies on +limbers, searched and identified them as well as possible. In doubtful +cases the final identification was made at the cemetery, where men from +every regiment were working and where most soldiers would have some one +to recognize them. In addition, we buried German dead on the field, +marking the graves and keeping a record of their location for the Graves +Registration Service. A hundred and fifty-two men were buried there at +St. Souplet, the last cemetery of the Twenty-Seventh Division in their +battle grounds of France. The last body of all, found after the work had +been finished and the men released from duty, was buried by us chaplains +and the surgeon, who went out under the leadership of Father Kelley and +dug the grave ourselves. Every evening the six of us gathered about our +grate fire and relaxed from the grim business of the day. If we had +allowed ourselves to dwell on it, we would have been incapable of +carrying on the work: it was so ghastly, so full of pathetic and +horrible details. We sang, played checkers, argued on religion. Imagine +us singing the "Darktown Strutters' Ball," or discussing the fundamental +principles of Judaism and Christianity for several hours! The five of us +were all of different creeds, too--Catholic, Baptist, Christian, +Christian Scientist and Jew. Our cooeperation and our congeniality were +typical of the spirit of the service throughout. + +On the last day we held our burial service. We gathered together at the +cemetery with a large flag spread out in the middle of the plot. I read +a brief Jewish service, followed by Chaplains Bagby and Stewart in the +Protestant and Father Kelley in the Catholic burial service, and at the +end the bugle sounded "taps" for all those men of different faiths lying +there together. We could see and hear the shells bursting beyond the +hill, probably a hostile scout had caught sight of us at work. Above +floated a British aeroplane. Some English soldiers working on their +burial plot nearby stopped their digging and listened to our service. + +And so we said farewell to our lost comrades and to the war at the same +time. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AFTER THE ARMISTICE + + +AFTER the burial work at St. Souplet was over, great covered lorries +took us back the sixty miles or more to Corbie, in the vicinity of +Amiens, which was to be our rest area. We greeted its paved streets, its +fairly intact houses, its few tiny shops, as the height of luxury. Here +and there a roof was destroyed or a wall down, for the enemy had come +within three miles of Corbie in their drives earlier in the year. But we +were in rest and comparative plenty at last. We saw real civilians +again, not merely the few old people and little children left behind in +the towns we had liberated. We had regular meals again and a chance to +purchase a few luxuries beside, such as French bread at a shop and hard +candy at the "Y." We no longer heard the whine of the shell or whistle +of the bullet, nor smelled gas, nor slept in cellars. I was even lucky +enough to capture a thick spring mattress which, with my blankets, made +a bed that even a certain staff colonel envied me. A home-made grate in +the fire-place fitted it for a tiny coal fire; the window frames were +re-covered with oiled paper; we read the London Daily Mail in its Paris +edition only one day late, instead of seeing it every ten days and then +often two weeks out of date. + +My billet, which I obtained from the British town major, was a tall, +narrow house just off the principal square, very pleasant indeed in dry +weather. Its chief defect was a huge shell-hole in the roof through +which the water poured in torrents when it rained, so that we had to +cover ourselves with our rubber shelter-halves when we slept at night. +The shell-hole, however, was a constant source of fuel, and we burned +the laths and wood-work, of which small pieces were lying all about the +top floor, until we found means to obtain a small but steady supply of +coal. The house afforded room, after I had preempted it, for the Senior +Chaplain of the Division, the Division Burial Officer and myself, +together with our three orderlies. + +Even in dry weather there was some excitement about the old house. There +was the time when some tipsy soldiers, seeing the light in the Senior +Chaplain's room late at night, mistook the place for a cafe and came +stumbling in for a drink. When they saw the chaplain, they suddenly +sobered and accepted very gravely the drink of water he offered them +from his canteen. On another day the old woman who owned the house came +in with her son, a French lieutenant, to take away her furniture. We did +not mind losing the pretty inlaid table--we were soldiers and could +stand that--but our mattresses and chairs were a different matter. None +of us could argue with her torrential flow of French, but Lieutenant +Curtiss, the Burial Officer, suddenly felt his real attack of flu +redoubled in violence and had to take to his mattress. So the old lady +finally relented sufficiently to leave us our beds and a chair or two, +while her son became our devoted friend at the price of an American +cigar. + +I think that I shall never forget Corbie, with its narrow streets, its +half-ruined houses, its great ancient church of gray, with one transept +a heap of ruins, and the straight rows of poplars on both sides of the +Somme Canal,--a bit of Corot in the mist of twilight. I remember the +quiet, gray square one day with the American band playing a medley from +the "Chocolate Soldier," for all the world like a phonograph at home. I +remember the great memorial review of the division by General O'Ryan in +honor of our men who had fallen; the staff stood behind the General at +the top of a long, gentle slope, with three villages in the distance, +the church looming up with its square, ruined tower, and the men spread +out before us, a vanishing mass of olive drab against the dull shades of +early winter. + +I remember the day when three of us chaplains made the long trip back to +our division cemeteries at St. Emelie, Bony and Guillemont Farm to read +the burial service over those many graves, the result of the terrible +battle at the Hindenburg Line. Chaplain Burgh, Protestant, of the 105th +Infantry, Chaplain Eilers, Catholic, of the 106th Infantry, and I were +sent back the fifty miles or more by automobile for this duty. It +happened that it rained that day, as on most days, and the car was an +open one. 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 services, one holding his steel helmet +as an umbrella over the prayerbook from which the other read, and then +accepting the same service in return. There was none of the panoply of +war, no bugle, firing party or parade, just the prayer uttered for each +man in the faith to which he was born or to which he had clung. We did +not even know the religion of every man buried there, but we knew that +our prayers would serve for all. + +We were lucky to be in Corbie on November 11th when the armistice was +signed. 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 Belgium. It was a study that made us all drunk with +enthusiasm. We were under orders to move toward the front again on the +9th of November and to enter the lines once more on November 14th. The +men had had very little rest and no fresh troops had come up to fill the +losses made by wounds, exposure and disease. Our men could never hold a +full divisional area now; only the knowledge of the wonders they had +already accomplished made us consider it possible that they could fight +again so soon. Time after time when their strength and spirit seemed +both exhausted they had responded and gone ahead. Now they deserved +their rest. + +We greeted the good news very calmly; the German prisoners were a little +more elated; the French went mad with ecstasy. It was the only time I +have ever seen Frenchmen drunk, heard them go home after midnight +singing patriotic songs out of key. In Amiens, where several thousand of +the inhabitants had returned by that time, the few restaurants were +crowded and gaiety was unrestrained. I heard a middle-aged British +lieutenant sing the "Marseillaise" with a pretty waitress in the "Cafe +de la Cathedral" the following evening, and respond when asked to repeat +it in the main dining room. He returned to our side room decidedly +redder than he had gone out. "Why, the whole British general staff's in +there!" he gasped. But he received only applause without a reprimand. +The war was over and for the moment all France was overcome with joy and +all the allied armies with relief and satisfaction. + +After the armistice the front line work, with its absorption on the +problems of the wounded and the dead, became a thing of the past. The +chaplain could now turn to the more normal aspects of his work, to +religious ministration, personal service, advice and assistance in the +thousands of cases which came before him constantly. In fact, on the +whole his work became much the same as it had been in training camp in +the States. A few differences persisted; in France the chaplain was +without the magnificent backing of the Jewish communities at home, which +were always so eager to assist in entertaining and helping the Jewish +men in the nearby camps. The Jewish Welfare Board with its excellent +workers could never cover the entire field as well as it could at home +in America. Then there were special problems because the men were so far +away from home, because the mail service was poor, because worries about +allotments were more acute than if home had been nearer, and because the +alien civilization and language never made the men feel quite +comfortable. + +In the Corbie area the 27th Division was scattered about in twelve +villages, the farthest one eight miles from division headquarters. +Transportation was still common on the roads, 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 running, and found a ride back in an empty +ambulance which had brought patients to the evacuation hospital. The +villages were almost deserted, and were in rather bad condition after +their nearness to the German advance of 1918, so that the men could be +crowded together and were very easy to reach in a body. I began making +regular visits to the various units of the division, meeting the men, +holding services, receiving their requests and carrying them out as well +as possible. And I was constantly making new acquaintances, as the +wounded and sick began coming back from the hospitals to rejoin the +division. + +I had the opportunity of an occasional visit to Amiens, a city built for +a hundred thousand, but at the time inhabited by only a few thousand of +the more venturesome inhabitants, who had returned to open shops and +restaurants for the British, Australian and American troops. On account +of lack of competition, prices were extreme even for France in war-time. +The great cathedral was piled high with sandbags to protect its precious +sculptures, but it stood as always, the sentinel of the city, visible +ten miles away as one approached. The Church Army Hut of the British +forces afforded separate accommodations for enlisted men and officers, +and I had the pleasure of afternoon tea once or twice with some of the +latter. Amiens was an unsatisfactory place to shop, but my baggage had +not been found and winter was coming on fast, so I had to replace some +of my possessions at once at any prices that might be demanded. + +Our mess held its formal celebration on November 17th, with Lieutenant +Robert Bernstein, the French liaison officer, 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 previously. Our mess, +officers' mess number two of division headquarters, had an international +character through his presence and that of Captain Jenkins of the +British army, and a special tone of comradeship through the influence of +the president of the mess, Major Joseph Farrell, the division disbursing +officer. So for once we had the rare treat of turkey and wine, feeling +that the occasion demanded it. + +I felt little pleasure in the jollity of the evening, however. I had +just received a letter that day telling me of the death of one of my +twin babies of the flu; it had happened almost a month before, while I +was on the lines and quite out of reach of any kind of word. The war, +through its attendant epidemics, gathered its victims also from among +the innocent, far from the scene of struggle. I felt then that my grief +was but a part of the universal sacrifice. With all these other parents, +whose older sons died at the front in actual fighting, or whose younger +ones were caught denuded of medical protection at home, I hoped that all +this sacrificial blood might bring an end to war. To-day that faith is +harder and that consolation seems a mockery, 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 +east. When I received the news I took a long walk amid the most peaceful +scene I ever knew, up the tree-lined banks of the Somme Canal, with the +evening slowly coming on and the sun setting behind the stiff rows of +poplars. + +At last we were detached from the British Third Army and received orders +to entrain for the American Embarkation Center (as it was later called) +near Le Mans. Our headquarters there were in the village of Montfort, +where we arrived on Thanksgiving Day and stayed for three weary months. +Montfort le Routrou is a village of nine hundred people, with one long +street which runs up the hill and down the other side. The hill is +crowned with a typical village church and a really fine chateau, where +the General made his headquarters. The tiny gray houses seemed all to +date from the time of Henry of Navarre; my billet was a low cottage with +stone walls over three feet thick, as though meant to stand a siege or +to uphold a skyscraper. The floor was of stone, the grate large and fuel +scarce, no artificial light available except candles. The bed alone was +real luxury, a typical French bed, high, narrow and very soft--an +indescribable treat to a man who had slept on everything from an army +cot to a cellar floor. + +The surrounding country was rolling, with charming little hills and +constant knots of woods. The division, as we had known it on the British +front, was housed in forty villages, widely scattered about the +countryside, and our artillery, which had fought in the American sector, +was contained by ten more, located near Laval about fifty miles away. +The men lived chiefly in barns, as the houses were occupied by peasants, +who needed their own rooms. As far as the enlisted men were concerned, +living accommodations were better in partially ruined territory, where +they could at least occupy the houses, such as they were. Because we +were in a populous region, only smaller units could be billeted in a +single village, which meant less access to places of amusement. The +typical French village has no single room large enough for even a +picture show, except the one place of assembly, the church; apparently +the farmers and villagers have no amusements except drinking, dancing +(in tiny, crowded rooms) and church attendance. + +Such cheerless lives hardly suited the Americans. Often the men had to +walk a mile or more to the nearest Y. M. C. A. canteen, and those were +improvised on our arrival by our own divisional Y. M. C. A. staff, which +we had been permitted to bring with us on the earnest request of the +chaplains of the division. After our long sojourn in the area, we left a +completely equipped series of canteens and amusement buildings for the +following divisions. The nearest available place for light and warmth, +out of the mud and chill, was usually the French cafe, and that was +available only when the men had money. + +The greatest handicap on any effort for the morale of the men at the +outset was the uncertainty of our situation. We were semi-officially +informed that our stay in the area would be for only a few weeks, and +that no formal program of athletics, education or entertainment could be +arranged. When life grows dreary and monotonous, as in the Embarkation +Center, the chief diet of the soldier is such rumors of going home. In +our case three orders were promulgated for our troop movement, only to +be rescinded again while the wounded, sick and special small +detachments went ahead. + +Another difficult problem was the one of covering ground. 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 access. +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 +me. At the rear the division would be billeted in villages, scattered +about over twenty miles of countryside; it was impossible to get from +place to place without transportation, and that was very scarce. The +army gave the chaplains more encouragement and friendship than actual +facilities for work; the chaplains' corps was just making its position +strong at the end of the war. Fortunately, the Jewish Welfare Board came +to the rescue here. It procured Ford cars for the Jewish chaplains about +the first of the year 1919, thus doubling their scope for work and +making them the envy of all the chaplains in France. + +My work became a matter of infinite details, with little opportunity for +organization but plenty for day labor. I arranged as many services as +possible, getting to the various units by train, side-car, or walking +until I obtained my own machine for the purpose. These services, from +one to ten a week, were arranged through the battalion chaplains as a +rule, though sometimes I established connections with some of the Jewish +boys or with the commanding officer, especially in cases of detached +companies without any chaplain at hand. Every service had its share of +requests for information, advice, assistance, even for errands, as the +men had difficulty in getting to the city to have a watch repaired or in +reaching divisional headquarters for information. Some men would want to +know about brothers or friends who had been wounded. Many had difficulty +with their allotments, in which case I worked through the army, Red +Cross, and Jewish Welfare Board. Others wanted information about +relatives in Poland or Roumania, or to be mustered out of service that +they might join and assist their parents in eastern Europe; +unfortunately, neither information nor help was possible during the time +we were in France. Some men wished to remain for the Army of Occupation +or other special service; far more were afraid they might be ordered to +such service and wanted advice how to avoid it and return home as soon +as possible. Citizenship papers, back pay, furloughs,--the requests were +legion, and the chaplain had no difficulty in being useful. + +Naturally, one of my tasks was to gather accurate statistics of the 65 +Jewish boys in our division who had been killed, to find exactly where +they were buried, have their graves all marked with the _Magen David_, +the six-pointed star, and keep the list for the benefit of their +families when I should return. I even made one trip to Tours to discuss +the possibility of making such a list for the other divisions which came +into the area, though the task was too complicated to carry out +completely in any but my own. Often men were lost to view entirely when +they went to hospital; sometimes it transpired months later that a +certain man had died or been assigned to another unit or sent back to +the States. But little by little the facts all came to light. Even here +humorous incidents would occur, such as the time when I read a list of +dead from their unit at one battalion service, only to have one of the +men on the list speak up: "Why, I'm not dead, Chaplain!" 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 fall. So I had him in +my records as "killed in action--grave unknown," when he was actually in +the hospital, recovering slowly but completely. If he had been returned +from the hospital to another division, as was often the case, I might +never have known his fate. + +In spite of such conditions I found the exact graves of all but three of +the men on my list, and in the entire division, with its almost 2,000 +dead, only fifteen graves were unknown at the time we returned. This was +largely due to the untiring efforts of Lieutenant Summerfield S. +Curtiss, the Division Burial Officer, who was my room-mate in Corbie and +with whose methods I became familiar at that time. With the cooeperation +of the various chaplains and line officers, he was able to inspect and +certify to the valuables left by men killed in action, to record every +grave, and in the few instances where both identification tags and +personal acquaintances were lacking, to take the finger-prints of the +men before burial and thus preserve the only remaining traces of +identity. + +At this time I had the opportunity of seeing our division reviewed by +General Pershing. The review was held at the Belgian Camp near Le Mans +in massed formation. The men marched by in heavy masses; the General +bestowed decorations on over a hundred heroes, including six Jewish +boys; at the end he gave the officers an informal talk, telling us of +the special need that existed for keeping up morale during the tedious +period of waiting to go home. + +That very subject had been discussed only a few days before by the +chaplains of the division, meeting with General O'Ryan for the purpose. +Chaplains' meetings were frequent, under the call of the Senior +Chaplain, Almon A. Jaynes, where we took up not only details, such as +arrangement of services in the various units, but also the broader moral +and educational problems. The General's interest in our work and our +aims was evident in every word spoken at the meeting, especially his +searching queries as to drunkenness, dissatisfaction, and remedies for +such evils as we brought out. + +The three months of waiting had been in many ways harder than the +previous months of battle. Interest in our military purpose was gone; +the men had few amusements and much work to fill in their time. We had +very little athletic or educational effort; that was prevented by our +constant expectation of an early departure. Mail service was often bad, +especially for the men who had been transferred repeatedly. Pay was +unreliable when a man had been transferred or sent to hospital and his +records lost or mixed up. And the French winter is a rainy season, with +occasional days of clear cold. No wonder that the soldiers were +disgusted with France, war, army and everything else. In the midst of +this growing irritation, their pet phrase became, "Little old U. S. A. +is good enough for me." + +The average soldier did not meet the better class of French people, only +the peasants and the prostitutes of the towns. He had little taste for +the wonderful architectural and historical treasures of the country; he +could not speak the language beyond his elementary needs; and--one of +his great objections--the French undeniably have poor plumbing and +bathing facilities. + +On the other hand, the French country people did not like our soldiers +over much. The soldier of any nation was rather noisy, rather rough, and +had no idea whatever of property values. He took anything he needed, +simply "finding" it, the worst possible trait to thrifty French country +people. Then, talking only a few words of French, the American naturally +left out phrases like "monsieur" or "s'il vous plait," and he was +considered to be ignorant of ordinary politeness, a wild Indian, the +brother of the savage still supposed to be thronging our plains. A small +minority of our men did penetrate into French life and grew to love it; +a minority of the French made the acquaintance of Americans and came to +respect them. Unfortunately, the two peoples were introduced to each +other under most unfavorable circumstances. + +These conditions, together with the constant flood of rumors, had the +worst possible influence on the spirit of the men, which went down +steadily from its magnificent power at the front, until the news of our +actual orders to move toward Brest brought it suddenly up again. As the +first division in the American Embarkation Center on the way home, we +had to suffer for the later units, all of which had a program of +athletics, entertainments and schools ready for them when they arrived. +Working to build up the spirit of the men under the most discouraging +circumstances, we received a powerful object lesson of the influences +most destructive to morale. + +The value of my work was at least doubled by the Ford touring car lent +me by the Jewish Welfare Board. I received it on New Year's Day, 1919, +in Paris and drove back to Le Mans, almost transfigured by the fact. My +driver, assigned for the trip only, was splendid; I could stop for a +brief view of the chateau and park at Versailles and the cathedral of +Chartres; 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 +out. With this car I was able to visit the artillery in the Laval area, +about fifty miles from our headquarters, and conduct one service in each +of their regiments. The artillery had not been on the British front at +all, but on the American, so they had quite different adventures from +ours. They had supported several other American infantry units in the +St. Mihiel sector and north of Verdun, and had received mercifully few +casualties compared with our infantrymen and engineers. The trip to them +by car was unusually delightful, over smooth roads which the great army +trucks had not yet ruined, through country where American soldiers were +a rarity and the children would crowd the doorways to cheer us as we +went by; over the gentle wooded hills of western France, with the trees +hung with mistletoe; through the tiny gray villages, with their quaint +Romanesque churches, many of them older than the great Gothic cathedrals +of the north. + +While in Paris on New Year, I enjoyed the rare treat of a family dinner +at the home of my friend Georges Levy, an interpreter with our +division. Through him and Lieutenant Bernstein I reached some sort of an +impression of the state of French Jewry to-day. To tell the truth, +neither I nor the average Jewish soldier received a very flattering +impression. The shadow of the Dreyfus case seemed still to hang over the +Jews of France. They feared to speak a word of Yiddish, which was often +their only mode of communication with the American Jewish soldiers. One +shopkeeper, asked whether he was a Jew, took the visitor far in the rear +out of hearing of any possible customers before replying in the +affirmative. + +For one thing, except in Paris and the cities of eastern France, Jews +exist only in very small groups. I have mentioned the four families of +Nevers and the little synagogue of Tours, with its seventy-five seats. +Le Mans possesses an old street named "Rue de la Juiverie," so that at +one time there must have been enough Jews to need a Ghetto, but in 1919 +Le Mans had only four resident Jewish families and one or two more of +refugees from the occupied territory. + +Another menace to the loyalty of Jews is the general difficulty of all +religious liberalism in France. Religion to most people in France means +orthodoxy, Jewish and Catholic; this naturally suits only those of +conservative background or temperament. Almost the only other movement +is irreligious in literature, art, government and philosophy. Those +large groups of liberals who in America would be adherents of liberal +movements, Jewish or Christian, in France are usually entirely alienated +from religion. The liberals are intelligent but weak in numbers. As a +converse of this, the synagogue is largely content with past glories, +making little effort to adjust itself either in thought or organization +to the conditions of the time. The American Jews were always interested +to hear about the Jews of France, of the greatness of Rashi in former +days, and eager to inquire about the present status. They never could +quite understand the condition of a country where the government had +been divided for years by a pro and anti-Jewish issue, as was the +situation at the time of the Dreyfus case. American democracy, even in +the young and unskilled mind of the average soldier, had no concept for +anti-Semitism. + +When we knew finally that the division was on its way home, I preferred +a request through General O'Ryan that I should go home with it. But G. +H. Q. Chaplains' Office could not grant my wish; there were too few +chaplains of all religions overseas; and we Jews in particular needed +every worker there. I was detached and assigned to the Le Mans area, +under the senior chaplain of the American Embarkation Center. Naturally, +I regretted deeply seeing my old comrades go without me. I reported at +Le Mans, obtained fourteen days leave to the Riviera, which had been due +me for over two months, and said good-by. The Twenty-Seventh was the +first division to reach the Embarkation Center, the first to leave for +home as a unit, and it finally paraded, without its Jewish chaplain, up +Fifth Avenue to a tremendous ovation. I studied the pictures several +weeks later in the New York papers, and actually thought I saw the +vacant place in the column where I should have been. + + + + +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 Paris. It was my +fourth visit to the metropolis, a city which grows only more wonderful +at every view. Its boulevards and parks, public buildings and shops were +always attractive; in addition, the art treasures were now beginning to +come back to their places, and the crowds were taking on the gaiety of +peace time in the brilliantly lighted streets, so different from the +sober groups and dismal streets during the war. This trip carried me +beyond to a land of myriad attractions and surpassing loveliness. The +mediaeval monuments of Avignon, the Roman antiquities of Arles and Nimes, +the splendid modern city of Marseilles, Toulon with its quaint streets +and charming harbor, Hyeres of the palm trees, and on to Cannes, to +Nice, that greater Atlantic City, Grasse with its flowers and perfumes, +and Monte Carlo, garden spot of the whole--all blended in a mosaic whose +brilliant colors can never fade. Overhanging mountains and sub-tropical +sea together unite all the types of attraction of all beautiful lands +the world over. The palms and flowers never seemed quite real to me, +while one was quite bewildered by the works of man--ancient monuments, +mediaeval art, and the most modern trappings of contemporary play and +luxury. + +At Cannes I met Captain Limburger, in charge of the Motor Transportation +Corps there, who helped me to reach the officers' convalescent hospital +at Hyeres to search for a friend. The trip of eighty-five miles by +side-car was the bright particular spot in the whole gorgeous festival +of the Coast of Azure, up the heights of the Maritime Alps into the +clouds and down again to the edge of the blue inland sea, past ruined +castles of the Roman time and through the quaint southern villages of +nowadays; ending finally at the hospital, which turned out to be the San +Salvador, one of the most splendid winter hotels on the Mediterranean. I +even heard Francis Macmillan, a captain in the intelligence corps, give +a violin concert for the officers during my one evening there. + +Nice and the surrounding territory were crowded by Americans, as it was +the most popular leave area for the American army. The great casino on +the pier was the Y. M. C. A. for enlisted men, while the officers had +their club on the square. In fact, all the arrangements by the "Y" in +the various leave areas were magnificent. This, probably its most +successful single piece of work, has hardly received the attention it +deserves. I found the same to be true of every leave area I visited, +including Grenoble, where I stopped for a day among the Alps on my +return trip. Altogether the brief fourteen days were one of those +unforgettable experiences which linger in the memory. 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 men, for their own +elevation and their greater knowledge of France. + +I should like to emphasize, if I could, the importance of the leave +areas for the morale of the troops and their better appreciation of +France. During actual hostilities men were willing to give up their +leave, especially Americans who could not visit their homes but wanted +only a change. After the war, however, military discipline became +constantly more irksome to the soldiers, and the week or two without +orders, in a real hotel with sheets and tablecloths, sight-seeing or +merely resting, was the one thing necessary to bring them back to their +units content to work and wait till their turn came to go back home. It +was also a rare opportunity to see the best side of France and the +French, when they had seen only the worst. No soldier admired the France +of the war zone, with its ruined villages, its waste stretches, and its +shell holes. Neither did he care for the France of the rest areas, where +he knew only the smallest villages, with the least attractive people to +a young progressive from the western world. 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 child. + +The trip back to Paris and Le Mans was an experience in itself. I met +three young and congenial medical officers on the train, with whom I +traveled the rest of the way, stopping off for a half day at the little +known town of Digne in the Basse Alps, where we saw the ancient church +with its crypt, the art gallery with its painters of local prominence, +and the old Roman sulphur baths, still used to-day. Another day at +Grenoble brought us into the heart of the French Alps. We reveled in the +city with the snow-caps about. I felt the usual thrill at the tomb of +the Chevalier Bayard, and more than ordinary pleasure in the beauty of +the city itself. + +I now settled down at Le Mans for the work of the Embarkation Center. Le +Mans is too well known to Americans who have recently been in France to +require much description. It is a city of about 75,000 people, with the +customary narrow streets in the heart of the town, the fine parks and +boulevards of every French city, and the very interesting cathedral +overlooking the whole. There are fragments of the old Roman walls of the +third century, and as an ironic contrast a fine street running through a +tunnel which is named after Wilbur Wright, whose decisive experiments in +aerial navigation were carried on nearby. My billet was a pleasant home +opposite the very lovely park, the English Gardens, and my landlady a +tiny old gentlewoman, who used to bring me a French breakfast and a +French newspaper every morning, and indulge in the most formal +compliments, reminding me of a romance of the Third Empire. And for some +time Le Mans was the center of 200,000 American troops on their way +home! + +Instead of one division to cover, I now had from three to six, varying +as units came from their old locations and departed on their way to +America. And if it had been impossible to cover one division thoroughly, +in a great area such as this a chaplain could do only day labor. I +traveled from one point to another, had a schedule of services almost +every night of the week in a different camp, visited the transient +divisions as they came in, and thus came into the intimate contact with +the men by which alone I could be of use to them. The territory was an +immense one, though much of the time I did not have to cover it alone. +The 77th and 26th Divisions had Jewish chaplains while they were with +us; Chaplain James G. Heller was associated with me until he was +transferred to the Second Army (in fact, he was in Le Mans while I was +still with the 27th), and after his departure Rabbi Reuben Kaufman of +the J. W. B. was assigned to religious work under my direction. But even +so the task was staggering. So many regiments and companies scattered +over an area eighty miles long and sixty miles wide was no feasible +proposition, even with the best of cars and a sergeant to drive it for +me. + +In addition to the billeting accommodations in every village, the area +contained several large camps of importance. The Classification Camp, +within the city, was an old French barracks turned over to our use, +which housed a constantly changing stream of casuals and replacements, +flowing from hospitals, camps and schools toward their various units. +The Spur Camp held a large group of construction units, engineers and +bakers. The Forwarding Camp was a replica of a training camp at home, +and contained a division at a time, at first in training, later in +transit toward the ports. The Belgian Camp, originally built for Belgian +refugees, now had long rows of wooden barracks for soldiers, a huge and +always busy rifle range, and special camps of various types, including +one for venereal patients, who underwent a mixture of medical treatment +and discipline. + +The purpose of the Embarkation Center was to provide a stopping place on +the way to the busy ports of Brest and St. Nazaire, where the men might +be deloused, have fresh clothing and equipment issued to them, undergo +thorough inspections of every kind, and in all ways be divested of the +effects of war and prepared to return to America. This task usually took +a month or more, 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 week. On the other hand, it might not pass the +various inspections at once, or at the time the transportation home +might be lacking, and hence its departure would be delayed time and +again. This uncertainty of tenure made all work very difficult, +especially work such as the chaplains' which depended entirely on +personal contact. + +The problem of these divisions, as of the 27th, was chiefly to preserve +the splendid morale of the front while the men were in the dreary tedium +of waiting. This was done by cutting down the drill to an hour a day, +which made enough work in addition to the delousing, inspecting and +other necessary activities. The rest of the time was devoted to +athletics, an educational program, and a great amount of entertainment, +all three under the Welfare Officer appointed by the commanding general +of the Embarkation Area, while all the welfare agencies contributed to +these various ends under his general supervision. My work, of course, +was directly under the Senior Chaplain, according to army regulation. +And as the various units moved toward their goal more rapidly and more +steadily, the need for special efforts to keep up morale grew less. Men +keep up their own morale when they really know they are going home; the +difficulties had been largely caused by the complete uncertainty and +endless delays. + +Such success as I had was due very largely to the excellent cooeperation +of the Jewish Welfare Board. Sergeant Charles Rivitz, who had charge of +the work in the area, was deeply interested in the welfare of the boys +and shared the resources of the organization freely with me in my work. +I had always found this same attitude; the J. W. B. furnished me a car, +an allowance for welfare work, an office in its building, and offered +its rooms for services in the various camps. Where it had no huts, I was +accorded the same privilege by the Y. M. C. A. Whenever its aid fell +short, it was because it had no more to give. By this time Le Mans had a +large and active group of J. W. B. workers, both men and girls, with +their center in the city and huts in many surrounding points. I found +the workers' mess the most friendly and pleasant in the city, quite as +congenial as the one at the Junior Officers' Club, which I often +frequented. + +Even in the stress and turmoil of the Le Mans area ("the madhouse," as +the boys called it) striking or humorous personalities appeared from +time to time. There was Abie, the wandering musician, a little Jew who +had a gift for rag-time but no great intelligence, military or +otherwise. Abie had gone to France with a replacement unit, was located +near Le Mans and spent his spare time playing for the Y. M. C. A. and +the officers' dances. When his unit moved toward the front to be +incorporated in some fighting division, he stayed behind, not as a +deserter, but to play the piano for the "outfits" that followed. He +managed even to live at the local hotel by the tips they gave him. After +that time he reported, giving his full story in detail, to every +commanding officer who entered the village, always to be given enough to +eat, but never accepted into any unit as he had no transfer from his +original one. At last his story got abroad, he was brought in by the +Criminal Investigation Department and investigated, only to prove the +truth of his every word. So Abie, happy once more, was stationed in the +Classification Camp and detailed to the Jewish Welfare Board as a +pianist, improvising his rag-time adaptations of serious music and +getting many privileges and a steady income for doing the work he +enjoyed best. + +A different sort of man was the soldier in a famous fighting division, +who sought a private interview with me. It seems that in the advance on +the St. Mihiel sector he had rescued a Torah, a scroll of the Law, from +a burning synagogue. Throwing away the contents of his pack, he had +wrapped the scroll up in the pack carrier instead, and carried it "over +the top" three times since. Now he wanted permission to take it home to +give to an orphan asylum in which his father was active. A soldier was +not ordinarily allowed to take anything with him besides the regulation +equipment and such small souvenirs as might occupy little room, but in +this case a kindly colonel became interested and the Torah went to +America with the company records. + +The great event of my service in Le Mans was our Passover celebration on +April 14th, 15th and 16th, 1919. The general order for Passover +furloughs read: + + "Where it will not interfere with the public service, members of + the Jewish faith serving with the American Expeditionary Forces + will be excused from all duty from noon, April 14th, to midnight, + April 16th, 1919, and, where deemed practicable, granted passes to + enable them to observe the Passover in their customary manner." + +Among the central points designated for Passover leaves was Le Mans, and +the Jewish Welfare Board and I labored to arrange a full celebration for +the thousand Jewish soldiers who came in from four different divisions. +Quarters were provided in the Classification Camp for all the men who +did not have the money or the previous arrangements for hotel rooms, as +well as full accommodations for the Passover feast, the Seder. The +Jewish Welfare Board obtained full supplies of Matzoth, unleavened +bread, as well as Haggadoth, or special prayer books for the Seder. + +The spirit was as strong a contrast as possible to that of my other +great service at the fall holydays. Among our congregation were two men +from the isolated post of military police at St. Calais, fifty miles to +the east, and five from among the students at the University of Rennes, +a hundred miles west. We had a number of officers among us, while five +French families, several Jews in the horizon blue of the French army, +and two in the Russian uniform--labor battalions, since Russia had +withdrawn from the war--worshiped beside us. And when the crowd began to +assemble, the first men I saw were a group of engineers whom I had not +seen since Atonement Day, seven months before. They were on the way home +now, their presence emphasizing more strongly than anything else the +change that had come to us and the world in the intervening time. Again +there were the meetings of friends and brothers, but without the pang of +parting afterward. 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 present. Then how the whole gathering would be +electrified when a voice cried out, "Here," and cousins or comrades who +had not known even of each other's safety were able to exchange festal +greetings and rejoice together. + +For the two and a half days' leave the Jewish Welfare Board and I tried +to keep the men busy, with something for every taste. The full program +included a Seder, four services, a literary program, a vaudeville show, +a boxing exhibition, two dances and a movie. All were well patronized, +for the soldier had a cultivated taste in diversion, especially after +the armistice. But certainly the most popular of all was the Seder. The +soup with matzah balls, the fish, in fact the entire menu made them +think of home. We held the dinner in an army mess hall, standing at the +breast-high tables. The altar with two candles and the symbols of the +feast was at the center of the low-roofed unwalled structure. Toward +evening the rain, so typical of winter in western France, ceased; the +sun came out, and its last level rays shone directly upon Rabbi Kaufman +and his little altar. It was a scene never to be forgotten, a feast of +deepest joy mingled with solemnity. Afterward we adjourned to the +Theatre Municipale for a full religious service with a sermon. Two of +the shows of the festival leave were too big for the hall of the Jewish +Welfare Board, so we were offered the Y. D. Hut, the great auditorium of +the Y. M. C. A., which had been named after the famous 26th Division. +One of these entertainments was the last performance in France of the +"Liberty Players" of the 77th Division, who were about to leave for the +States that very week. + +Finally my work in France drew to a close. On the first of May, 1919, I +received the orders for which I had been hoping so long. I was to be +relieved and sent home to America. Rabbis in the uniform of the Jewish +Welfare Board were now at hand, the number of men in France was +decreasing, and my request to be relieved could at last be granted. A +final two days in Paris for a conference with the heads of the J. W. B., +Chaplain Voorsanger and Colonel Harry Cutler, another day at Le Mans to +turn my records and office over to Rabbis Kaufman and Leonard Rothstein, +and then I was off to Brest. 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 _Noordam_, +of the Holland-American Line. My last duty in Brest was to conduct a +funeral, in the absence of the post chaplain, of four sailors drowned in +an accident just outside the harbor. We had a guard of honor, a bugler, +all naval, and I had the rare experience of an army chaplain conducting +a navy funeral, as well as of a rabbi burying four Christian boys. + +We were at sea twelve days altogether, being delayed by a gale of three +days and also by a call for aid, which took us a hundred miles out of +our course without finding the sender of the message. We entered New +York harbor late one evening, and anchored off Staten Island for the +night. There was little sleep that night; the officers danced with the +cabin passengers, while the men sang on the decks below. The next +morning early every one was at the rail as we steamed in past the Statue +of Liberty, which stood for so much to us now, for which we had longed +so often, and which some of our company had never expected to see again. +After the customary half day of formalities at the dock, we were +directed to different camps for discharge according to our branches of +the service. I reported at Camp Dix, New Jersey, where I was mustered +out of service, receiving my honorable discharge on May 26th, 1919, +eleven months from the date of my commission, nine of which were spent +with the American Expeditionary Forces. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE JEWISH CHAPLAINS OVERSEAS + + +My experiences, which were fairly typical throughout, showed clearly the +great need for Jewish chaplains in the army overseas. Even my trip on +leave to the Riviera was typical, showing the effect of release from +discipline combined with a pleasure trip on thousands of our soldiers, +most of whom needed it far more than I; for the privileges of a +chaplain, just a little greater than those of most officers, certainly +had prevented my morale falling as low as that of many of the enlisted +men. 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 faiths; +he had a definite contribution to make to the moral and spiritual +welfare of the forces. We had to conduct Jewish religious services for +both holydays and ordinary seasons, to assist the dying Jew, and to pray +for him at his grave. We had to defend the Jewish boys in the rare cases +of prejudice against them, or, what was just as important, to clear up +such accusations when they were unfounded. We had to serve the special +needs of the Jewish soldier, whatever they might be, at the same time +that we did the chaplain's duty toward all soldiers with whom we might +be thrown. + +The American Expeditionary Forces never had sufficient chaplains at any +time for the work that was planned for them. The proportion desired by +the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office and approved by the war department was +one chaplain to every thousand men, or one to an infantry battalion, +besides those assigned to administrative work as senior chaplains of +divisions and areas, and the very large number detailed to hospitals. +The total number of chaplains who went to France was 1285, just half the +number needed by this program, and from this total we must subtract a +considerable group of deaths, wounds and other casualties. The +chaplains' corps was undermanned at all times,--we Jews were simply the +most conspicuous example. Compared to the general proportion of one +chaplain to every two thousand men, and the ideal one of a chaplain to +every thousand, we had one chaplain to every eight thousand men, and +those tremendous numbers were not even concentrated in a few units but +scattered through every company, every battery, and every hospital ward +in the army. + +The British forces contained one Jewish chaplain for every army +headquarters, or nine in all. I had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi +Barnett, the chief Jewish chaplain in the B. E. F., although I never met +his predecessor, Major Adler. Through their long experience and the +cooeperation of the Chief Rabbi of England, the English chaplains were +well equipped with suitable prayerbooks and other material, which I +obtained from one of them for the use of our men while I was on the +British front. Still, even with their larger proportion of chaplains to +the Jews in service, the lack of transportation facilities and the +tremendous rush of war-time, especially at the front and in the +hospitals, made their actual duties impossible of complete fulfillment. + +To cover the enormous field before us was plainly impossible. The +chaplain could only work day by day, clearing a little pathway ahead of +him but never making an impression on the great jungle about. When I +first reached France, I grew accustomed to the greeting: "Why, you're +the first Jewish chaplain I've met in France!" That was hard enough +then, but it grew harder when the same words were addressed me in Brest +just before sailing and on shipboard on the way home. 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 France. Under these +circumstances we all feel a natural pride at the work accomplished +against adverse conditions. I for one feel that we did all that twelve +men similarly situated could possibly have done, and I gladly bring my +personal tribute to those others, chaplains, welfare workers, officers, +and enlisted men, whose cooeperation doubled and trebled the actual +extent and effectiveness of our work. This includes especially the +Christian chaplains and welfare workers; their own field was great +enough to take all their time and energy, but they were always ready to +turn aside for a moment to lend a hand to us, in order that the labors +of twelve men serving their faith in the great American army might not +be quite futile. + +The first of the Jewish chaplains to reach France was Rabbi Elkan C. +Voorsanger, who gave up his pulpit in St. Louis in April, 1917, to join +the St. Louis Base Hospital as a private in the medical corps. As his +hospital unit was the third to reach France in May, 1917, Rabbi +Voorsanger was one of the first five hundred American soldiers in the +American Expeditionary Forces. In the medical corps he rose from private +to sergeant, gaining at the same time an intimate first-hand knowledge +of the problems of the man in the ranks. When the bill was passed by +Congress in November, 1917, ordering the appointment of chaplains of +sects not at that time represented in the army, Rabbi Voorsanger was the +first Jew commissioned under its provisions. He was examined by a +special board appointed overseas by General Pershing at the direction of +the Secretary of War; his commission was dated November 24th, 1917. In +January 1918 he was assigned to the 41st Division and in March to Base +Hospital 101 at St. Nazaire. While posted there he conducted his first +important service overseas in Passover 1918, the first official Jewish +service held in the A. E. F. He was assigned to the 77th Division in May +1918 on their arrival in France where he served with a most enviable +record, receiving the Croix de Guerre and being recommended for the D. +S. M. for exceptional courage and devotion to duty in time of danger. +The midnight patrol on the banks of the Meuse, by which he won these +honors, was both a courageous and a useful exploit. He was promoted to +Senior Chaplain of his division with the rank of Captain, the only Jew +so distinguished. Finally in April 1919, instead of accompanying his +division home he resigned his commission to become the head of the +overseas work of the Jewish Welfare Board. He returned to the United +States in September 1919, after two and a half years with the American +Expeditionary Forces. 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 Europe. +In 1920 and 1921 he conducted two relief units to Poland and carried on +their life-saving work. + +When I arrived in France, Chaplain Voorsanger was stationed at Chaumont +for the time being, to take charge of the arrangements for the Jewish +holydays of 1918. I have already described how these were carried out, +by designating central points for services, getting in touch with the +French rabbis and synagogue authorities and assigning the few American +rabbis at hand to fill in the deficiencies. + +I was the fifth Jewish chaplain to reach France. Those who preceded me +were first Voorsanger and then Chaplains David Tannenbaum of the 82nd +Division, Harry S. Davidowitz of the 78th and Louis I. Egelson of the +91st. All these men served at the front, as did also Chaplain Benjamin +Friedman of the 77th Division, who took up the Jewish work of that unit +when Chaplain Voorsanger was promoted to the Senior Chaplaincy. Chaplain +Davidowitz was the only Jewish chaplain to be wounded, receiving severe +injuries from shrapnel; these put him in the hospital for several months +and occasioned his being sent back home, invalided, the first of us all. +The others, in order of their arrival, were Chaplains Jacob Krohngold, +of the 87th Division; Israel Bettan of the 26th Division; Harry +Richmond, at the port of Bordeaux; Elias N. Rabinowitz, at Blois; +Solomon B. Freehof, at First Army Headquarters; and James G. Heller, at +Le Mans. The last two left New York on the day following the armistice, +so that on November eleventh, 1918, the Jews of America were represented +overseas by just ten chaplains and two representatives of the Jewish +Welfare Board, Rev. Dr. Hyman G. Enelow and Mr. John Goldhaar. + +The twelve of us represented all three Jewish seminaries in this +country, although the majority were naturally from the oldest, the +Hebrew Union College at Cincinnati, where Rabbi Freehof was even a +member of the faculty. We came from every section of the country, east, +west and south, including Krohngold and myself from little towns in +Kentucky and Richmond from Trinidad, Colorado. Rabbi Richmond had the +unusual distinction of not claiming exemption in the draft as a +minister. He therefore entered the service as a private and was promoted +to the chaplaincy just before his division went overseas. + +The chaplains who were commissioned before the armistice and served in +the United States were thirteen in number; Rabbis Nathan E. Barasch, +Harry W. Etteleson, Max Felshin, Samuel Friedman, Raphael Goldenstein, +Abram Hirschberg, Morris S. Lazaron, Emil W. Leipziger, Julius A. +Liebert, Abraham Nowak, Jerome Rosen, Leonard W. Rothstein, Israel J. +Sarasohn. Three of them, Rabbis Rothstein, Felshin and Barasch, soon +after resigned their commissions and came overseas as representatives of +the Jewish Welfare Board. When the great need for morale agencies was +realized after the armistice, the War Department refused to relax its +prohibition against the transportation of more chaplains or other +special branches of the service, but favored the passage of large +numbers of welfare workers instead. Rabbi David Goldberg was the only +Jewish chaplain in the navy, with the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade; +he served at sea on the transport, President Grant. + +We were almost all reassigned as our divisions left for home and as the +need grew in various areas, especially in the base posts and the Army of +Occupation. Chaplain Davidowitz was sent home wounded, and Friedman +accompanied his own division back. Krohngold, Bettan, Heller and Freehof +joined the Army of Occupation in the order named, although for a long +time Rabbi Krohngold was the only Jewish chaplain there. Rabbi Egelson +left his division for the port of St. Nazaire, Rabinowitz was +transferred from Blois to St. Aignan, and I was left behind at Le Mans +together with Heller, who shortly after was transferred to the Third +Army in Germany. Tannenbaum while stationed at Bordeaux was also, by +special arrangement, appointed as supervisor of the Jewish Welfare Board +for that area; and Voorsanger was mustered out of service to become +executive director of their overseas work. Rabbi Richmond alone held the +same post to the very end of his overseas service. + +As I have mentioned repeatedly in my personal narrative, 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 them; as +soon as he was assigned to an area, he had to spread himself thin over a +wide expanse of territory and could cover it in only the most cursory +fashion. The problem was larger than the matter of transportation, +although that was serious enough. The larger aspect lay in the number of +men, the number of companies, the infinite possibility of individual +service if one were only able to know all these soldiers personally, to +understand their needs, and to minister to them. Every hospital ward +with its forty beds presented forty distinct individual +problems,--often, indeed, more than forty. Sometimes the same man would +need pay, mail, home allotment, reading matter, and contact with his +original unit and comrades. With the constant shifting to other +hospitals further from the front and then to convalescent camps, the +ward would always contain a new forty men and the work was always +beginning over again. This situation was not in the least unique. The +hospital simply represents the extreme case of what was true in a less +degree in every branch of the service and every unit. + +During the post-armistice period I had several very agreeable reunions +with my fellow chaplains, which were at the same time valuable for our +common information and cooeperation. At my very first visit to Le Mans, +on December 6th, I quite unexpectedly met Chaplains Freehof, Bettan, and +Heller, as well as Rabbi Enelow, who had just come to the city for the +dedication of the J. W. B. headquarters. I devoured their comparatively +fresh news from home as eagerly as Voorsanger had absorbed mine several +months before, when he was already entering his second year in France. +The second time was on the last day of the year, when I met Rabbis +Friedman, Egelson and Rabinowitz in Paris, all coming there as I did for +the cars which the J. W. B. had ready for us. At the same time Rabbis +Martin Meyer of San Francisco and Abram Simon of Washington were in the +city, both captains in the American Red Cross. Their six months of duty +in France had just expired and they were then making ready for their +return home. We all had dinner together at one of the famous Parisian +restaurants and discussed war and peace, France, America and Israel, +until the early closing laws of war-time sent us all out on the +boulevards and home. Chaplain Egelson and I saw the New Year in +together, first hearing "Romeo and Juliet" at the Opera and then +watching the mad crowds on the streets, headed always by American or +Australian soldiers, the maddest of them all. + +The most important meeting, however, was the one called by Chaplain +Voorsanger for February 24th at the Paris headquarters of the Jewish +Welfare Board. Six chaplains were present, Voorsanger, Tannenbaum, +Richmond, Heller, Bettan and I, together with Mr. John Goldhaar of the +J. W. B. Our chief object was to work out a program of cooeperation with +the J. W. B., our second, to discuss our personal methods for the +benefit of our own work. Voorsanger was chairman; we decided to form a +Jewish Chaplains' Association, which never developed afterward; and +planned to hold another meeting soon, which owing to military +exigencies, we never did. But we did adopt a program of cooeperation with +the J. W. B., which indicates the mutual dependency and the closeness of +contact which were almost uniformly the case. Our program provided that +the J. W. B. 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 him. The chaplain, on the other hand, was to make +suggestions to the worker in his area, and in exceptional cases to the +Paris office and was to be in complete charge of all Jewish religious +work in his area, although religious workers were personally responsible +to their superior in the J. W. B. Finally, provision was made for +frequent conferences between the chaplain and the J. W. B. worker in the +same organization. This program was approved, not only nominally but +also in spirit by all the Jewish chaplains and welfare workers +throughout the A. E. F. I know that in Le Mans our contact was so close +that Mr. Rivitz instructed his religious workers to report directly to +me for assignment of services and other division of labor, and I +included their work with mine in my weekly reports to my senior +chaplain. + +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 +Board, the Joint Distribution Committee for the relief of Jews in +Eastern Europe, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Jewish +Congress. At the office of the J. W. B., I had a farewell conference +with Rabbi Voorsanger and Colonel Harry Cutler, giving them a summary of +the latest situation in my area. Colonel Cutler was busy as chairman of +the J. W. B., one of the American Jewish Congress delegates to the Peace +Conference, and a member of the Joint Distribution Committee. I met my +old friend, Rabbi Isaac Landman, who was reporting the Peace Conference +for his paper, the American Hebrew, and he introduced me in turn to Miss +Harriet Lowenstein, at that time the Paris purchasing agent of the +Joint Distribution Committee, especially in the important work of buying +supplies originally sent to Europe for the use of the American forces. I +encountered also three of the active workers of American Jewry, sent to +represent us before the Peace Conference in such matters as might +concern the Jews; Judge Julian Mack, representing the American Jewish +Congress; Dr. Cyrus Adler, for the American Jewish Committee; and Mr. +Louis Marshall, a representative of both organizations. The two last +were also active in the Jewish Welfare Board, and Dr. Adler, +vice-chairman of the Board, took charge as the representative of the +Board after Colonel Cutler's departure for the States. Even on the ship +going home I met two Jewish workers, Rabbi B. Levinthal of the American +Jewish Congress delegation and Mr. Morris Engelman, returning from his +work in Holland for the Joint Distribution Committee. By that time world +Jewry was fully aroused and its delegates were busy, both at the seat of +the Peace Conference and in the lands of eastern Europe, where Jewish +suffering was becoming daily more intense. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE JEWISH WELFARE BOARD IN THE A. E. F. + + +The Jewish Welfare Board in the United States Army and Navy was the +great authorized welfare agency to represent the Jews of America, as the +Young Men's Christian Association represented the Protestants and the +Knights of Columbus the Catholics. It was organized on April 9, 1917, +just three days after the declaration of war, and was acknowledged by +the Department of War as the official welfare body of the Jews in +September, 1917. It was not so much a new organization as a new activity +of a number of the leading Jewish organizations of the United States: +the United Synagogue of America, the Union of American Hebrew +Congregations, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union of +Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, the Jewish +Publication Society of America, the council of Y. M. H. and Kindred +Associations, the Council of Jewish Women, the Independent Order B'nai +B'rith, the Jewish Chautauqua Society, the Order Brith Abraham, the +National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, the New York Board of Jewish +Ministers, the Independent Order Brith Sholom, the Independent Order +Brith Abraham, and the Women's League of the United Synagogue. In the +camps and cantonments at home it did a large and important piece of +work, establishing 490 representatives at 200 different posts and +putting up 48 buildings for its work at various important points. This +great field, however, is outside the scope of the present study, which +can take up only the overseas activities of the J. W. B. + +One home organization must be mentioned in this place, the Chaplains' +Committee which made recommendations to the War Department for the +appointment of Jewish chaplains. This was composed of representatives of +the leading religious bodies of the country: for the Central Conference +of American Rabbis, Dr. William Rosenau and Dr. Louis Grossman; the +United Synagogue of America, Dr. Elias L. Solomon; Eastern Council of +Reform Rabbis, Dr. Maurice H. Harris; the New York Board of Jewish +Ministers, Dr. David de Sola Pool; the Union of Orthodox Jewish +Congregations, Dr. Bernard Drachman; the Agudath ha-Rabbonim, Rabbi M. +S. Margolies. Dr. Cyrus Adler, the Acting President of the Jewish +Theological Seminary of America, was chairman of this committee. They +had the task of reviewing the applications of one hundred and forty-nine +rabbis, 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 appointments. I have already given in some detail the story of the +twelve of us who served in the A. E. F., while the other thirteen did +their service in cantonments in the United States. + +The Jewish Welfare Board began to take up the overseas problem as early +as August, 1917, when Rabbi Voorsanger, then Sergeant in the Army +Medical Corps, received a letter from Colonel Harry Cutler, asking for +such information as he had at command and also how far he might be able +to cooperate personally with the Jewish work. Some months later, after +Voorsanger had been appointed chaplain he was again asked for +information. This time he was in a position to give a great deal +together with recommendations. A certain amount of supplies was +furnished him at once, but no welfare workers were sent until the +overseas commission had made its investigation and report. + +The overseas commission of the Jewish Welfare Board, consisting of +Congressman Isaac N. Siegel, chairman, Rabbi H. G. Enelow, Rabbi Jacob +Kohn, and Mr. John Goldhaar, secretary, went to France in July, 1918, +and were the first friends I met when I reached Paris. Their general +work was to study the nature and scope of the overseas field so as to +make recommendations on their return; incidentally to this, they were to +establish contact with kindred organizations and with the army, open +headquarters, and cooperate with the chaplains in the field in the +holyday services. 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 service. Congressman Siegel made a trip to +General Pershing's headquarters and to the sector then occupied by the +77th Division, where Chaplain Voorsanger was taken into consultation +regarding the problems ahead. The Congressman then returned to America, +while Mr. Goldhaar was left as executive secretary pro tem of the Paris +office and Rabbis Kohn and Enelow conducted holyday services at +different points. Afterward Dr. Kohn also returned home, and Dr. Enelow +devoted himself to field work, establishing welfare centers at various +points. Later on, when the army educational program was undertaken, he +became the J. W. B. representative on the faculty of the Army University +at Beaune. Dr. Enelow was recommended for a chaplaincy by the J. W. B. +Chaplains' Committee, but was among those prevented by the armistice +from receiving the rank. Meanwhile he labored in any capacity at hand, +for he was determined not to return to America while work remained to be +done among the soldiers in France. + +All this was entirely inadequate for the task at hand, as we all +realized at the time. At that time the J. W. B. was functioning in the +overseas forces, not as a separate entity, but through the Y. M. C. A. +This naturally prevented the full expansion of its independent viewpoint +or the direct contact with the army officials which alone could give it +standing. The arrival of the overseas commission made some difference in +this respect, but the J. W. B. was not fully recognized as one of the +responsible overseas welfare organizations until Colonel Harry Cutler, +its national chairman, had come to France and presented his case at +General Pershing's headquarters. There were more than the usual +difficulties with passports and vises, owing to the German or Austrian +ancestry of some of the most desirable workers; this was finally +overcome by the chairman of the Board vouching personally for the +loyalty of every individual recommended. The selection was limited, as +with all welfare organizations, to men not subject to draft. With these +obstacles the difficulties proved for the time insuperable. + +This situation made it impossible for the J. W. B. to undertake any +independent work before the armistice. 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 themselves. The early +history of Jewish welfare work abroad is that of a scattered band of +eager, self-sacrificing workers who gave up their own time to labor +incessantly for the welfare of the Jewish men in the service. The first +task was to acquaint the soldiers with the fact that there was a Jewish +Welfare Board, even though its Paris staff consisted only of Mr. +Goldhaar, one stenographer and one office boy. Advertisements in the +_Stars and Stripes_ and the Paris editions of American newspapers and +correspondence with Jewish and non-Jewish chaplains, American, French +and British, did the work. Letters began to pour in for supplies, +advice, information, and a great correspondence school of welfare work +began. + +The center of this work was naturally the Paris club rooms, in +connection with the office at 41 Boulevarde Haussman. Mr. John Goldhaar +was in immediate charge of both, with a mountain of mail on his desk +from every part of the A. E. F. and a constant crowd of doughboys +outside in the club rooms. 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 forces. He continued in this +position, with its constantly growing duties, until Captain Voorsanger +was appointed Overseas Director of the J. W. B., when Mr. Goldhaar was +made Overseas Field Director and put in charge of the field work. His +Medaille d'Honneur from the French government was earned by the hardest +and most valuable kind of war work. Mr. 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 home. Every afternoon they served tea--a little thing in itself, +but a big one to lonesome boys without a friend nearby. It meant much +effort, too, on the part of the ladies themselves, especially their +leaders, Mrs. Ralph Stern, Mrs. Zacharie Eudlitz, Mrs. Engelman and Mrs. +Hertz. Some of them came from the suburbs every afternoon, rain or +shine, to render this devoted service. Monsieur and Madame Henri +Bodenheimer opened their hearts and their homes, both in Paris and +Tours, to receive the Americans; every Friday evening saw their table +crowded with lonesome "buck" privates, especially the ones whom other +people would overlook. With the assistance of these same people hospital +visitation was begun. A registration book in the office began to fill up +with the names of Jewish soldiers and officers, and letters sent home +recorded the fact of their visits and often established an important +connection for the welfare of the men themselves. + +At the same time, among the hundreds of letter-writers and visitors +eager to do something, anything, for their fellow-soldiers, a few began +to stand out here and there as effective and central workers. The +soldiers were always ready to cooperate; I found that out from my first +service at Nevers to my last at Le Mans. So it was only natural that far +more of them volunteered for this work than I can possibly mention. I +shall simply have to speak of a few outstanding names, and leave it to +the imagination of the reader to multiply these examples many times. In +Chaumont there was Field Clerk A. S. Weisberger, formerly of Scranton, +Pa. "Sandy" Weisberger mimeographed a little newspaper, the "Junior +Argus," for his fellow-soldiers from Scranton; organized the Jewish +soldiers at G. H. Q. for services and sociability; and referred any +number of men to the Jewish Welfare Board for such advice or assistance +as it could give. He was later mustered out of service to become a J. W. +B. worker and met his death most tragically by an accident in the Paris +headquarters, during the festivities of Passover week, 1919. + +In Dijon there was a group, Major Jacob Jablons, Medical Corps; Miss +Bessie Spanner, a regular army nurse; and Sergeant J. Howard +Lichtenstein, of Baker Co. 339. They organized hospital visiting in the +many hospital centers in that area, celebration of the high holydays, +Simchath Torah parties, and group gatherings of all kinds. This work was +spontaneous and needed only supplies of stationery, prayerbooks and the +like to make it completely effective, furnishing a fertile field for the +welfare workers when they opened their community center there. By that +time the two last were also in the service of the Welfare Board, Miss +Spanner in the unique position of head of the women workers overseas. In +Tours the outstanding figure was Colonel Max B. Wainer, at that time a +Major. He gathered a group of active workers among the soldiers, used +the local synagogue as a center, and organized a full welfare program, +including Friday evening services and round table discussions, hospital +visiting, and distribution of stationery and prayerbooks. I dropped in +at Tours for a day to arrange for the holyday services; the local +committee of soldiers saw that special meals were provided for the +Jewish men; and the bills were paid by the Jewish Welfare Board. + +In the Le Mans area, which before the armistice was used as a +classification camp from which soldiers were sent as replacements to +units in the field, the first Jewish work was started by Sergeant +Charles S. Rivitz of Army Post Office 762 through the aid and assistance +of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Willing of Cleveland. Lieutenant +(later Captain) Willing, though a non-Jew, had taken a deep interest in +the Jewish men in his unit while still in camp in the States and +continued this interest to France. With the approval of Gen. Glenn, in +command of the area, Rivitz was detailed to the Jewish Welfare Board +under the supervision of the senior chaplain of the area and Capt. +Willing. Sergeant Rivitz was not a social worker at all, but had one +source of strength which made his good will effective. He was a soldier, +had attained his sergeancy through force of personality; he knew what +the soldiers wanted and insisted on giving it to them. He rented a +chateau as a club house largely on his own responsibility, and the +Jewish Welfare Board soon found that both the structure and his method +of conducting it were excellent. His chief assistant was Corporal George +Rooby, who after his discharge from the service volunteered for the +first unit of the Joint Distribution Committee in Poland, and continued +serving Jewry there. + +In fighting units also the Jewish officers and enlisted men were early +active in welfare work. Two officers occur to me whose work I saw +personally; undoubtedly there were many others with the same sort of +interest. Captain Leon Schwartz of the 123rd Infantry, 31st Division, +was active from the outset in his own division and the Le Mans area. +Later, during the time when the army was trying every means to keep up +the morale of the troops, and the temporary organization of "Comrades in +Service" was being pushed through the G. H. Q. Chaplains' Office, +Captain Schwartz was assigned to this work as the Jewish representative, +and addressed hundreds of gatherings of soldiers, together with the +Catholic and Protestant spokesmen for morale and comradeship. In the +26th Division, the "Yankee Division," Captain Bernard I. Gorfinkle of +the Judge Advocate's office was one of the first and most effective +Jewish workers in France. Captain Gorfinkle organized an overseas branch +of the New England Y. M. H. A., deriving his first funds from the Young +Men's Hebrew Associations of New England. Later, when the Jewish Welfare +Board arrived, he joined forces with its Paris office for the benefit of +his men. Mr. Goldhaar tells how surprised he was after the battle of +Chateau Thierry to be highly complimented for the work of the J. W. B. +in marking the Jewish graves. Of course, at that time no such work had +yet been undertaken. On investigation he found that the graves of Jews +of the 26th Division who fell in action had been marked with a crude +Magen David by their comrades under the initiative of Captain Gorfinkle. + +Wherever a Jewish chaplain existed the Welfare Board had a means of +contact with the men. And here and there throughout the A. E. F., +volunteers sprang up, establishing their little groups and doing their +own work, large or small. In the 42nd Division, to cite only one more +example, some of the boys came together and held holyday services during +the actual campaign, and afterward instituted their own hospital +visiting. But then came the armistice, and at the same time the passport +difficulty was disposed of. Workers began to come; new plans were being +issued daily by the army authorities; the whole viewpoint of the work +was revolutionized and the facilities suddenly enlarged. + +The determining factor was that troops were no longer being scattered +for training and fighting but concentrated for their return home. Hence +the J. W. B. centered its work on the American Embarkation Center and +the base ports, established a line of centers in the chief points of the +Service of Supply, and went with the Army of Occupation to Germany. The +last to be supplied with workers were some of the combat divisions not +in the organized areas. Thus the work grew. The club-house at Le Mans +was dedicated on November 28, 1918, in the presence of Major General +Glenn, with speeches by Dr. Enelow and the prefect of the Department of +the Sarthe, and a vaudeville show and refreshments to wind up the +evening. Buildings were rented in the ports of Brest, St. Nazaire, +Bordeaux and Marseilles, and a line of centers established across +France, from Le Mans on through Tours, St. Aignan, Gievres, Bourges, +Beaune, Is-sur-Tille, Dijon and Chaumont. The headquarters for the Army +of Occupation were at Coblenz, where the B'nai B'rith Building was +employed and seven huts established through the area. Finally as workers +continued coming, they were assigned to seven of the combat divisions, +staying with them in their movements through France and saying farewell +only after the troops were embarked for home. These divisions were the +5th, 6th, 7th, 29th, 33rd, 79th, and 81st. When Antwerp became an +important port for army supplies a center was established there as well. + +Altogether the Jewish Welfare Board employed 102 men and 76 women in 57 +different centers in the American Expeditionary Forces. Of this +personnel, 24 men and one woman, Miss Spanner, were mustered out of the +service for this purpose, while the others were transported from the +States. Of the buildings, 23 were located in towns and were rented; the +other 34 were provided by cooeperation of other organizations, 28 by the +U. S. Army, two by the Knights of Columbus, two by the Red Cross, one by +the Y. M. C. A. and one by the Belgian Government. In camps rough +barracks or tents were usually the thing; in cities the equipment +varied, and in some places was complete with kitchen, dance hall, +writing room, and offices. + +I can speak of the large work in the Le Mans area through personal +acquaintance. There the personality of Mr. Rivitz was the decisive +factor. With his unerring knowledge of the soldier, he established at +once the policy of everything free, which was soon adopted by the J. W. +B. throughout its overseas work. Religious services were provided, hot +chocolate and cigarettes served, contact established with thousands of +soldiers for the personal needs which they brought to the welfare +worker. As the needs of the area grew, other centers were established. +When the 77th Division, with its thousands of Jews, was in the area, +five huts were established in its various regiments and the men provided +with everything possible right at home. In other units where the Jews +were more scattered, the centers were at the Division Headquarters. In +cases where units stopped in our area for only a few days or a week, an +automobile load of supplies with two workers was sent out on an +extensive trip, meeting the boys and giving them as much personal cheer +and physical sustenance as possible under the circumstances. + +I have described this type of activity several times in connection with +my own personal story. Here and there, however, special personalities or +incidents stand out in the constant, exhausting labor to which the +workers subjected themselves in the terrific rush of the morale agencies +during that period of waiting to go home. In Germany at the head of the +work was Mr. Leo Mielziner, son of the late Professor Moses Mielziner of +the Hebrew Union College, a man of high reputation as an artist and of +commanding personality. Mr. Mielziner, who had two sons in the service, +conducted the work in the Army of Occupation with the finest spirit of +fellow-feeling for the enlisted man. 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 J. W. B. was +requested by the army to take them over. + +At Gievres, where the great bakeries of the A. E. F. were located, the +J. W. B. was the center for the bakery units. So when Purim came both +Jews and non-Jews cooperated in baking a gigantic cake for the +celebration. The cake, which had to be baked in sections, occupied not +only the stage but also an addition made for the purpose. It was cut +into 10,000 portions and every man in that camp received a slice. As +the crowning achievement of the A. E. F. bakeries, that Purim cake +received a reputation of its own. + +The Paris office, and still later the club rooms on Rue Clement Marot, +were the entertainment center for the Paris district and all its many +visitors. After its formal opening on Simchath Torah, every Sunday +afternoon an entertainment was provided, with vaudeville, speeches or +dancing, concluding with the famous chocolate layer cake made by +volunteer workers among the American women living in Paris. The wounded +were visited in the nearby hospitals and usually a group of +convalescents was present in the front seats at the entertainment. 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 A. E. F. A family wrote in from Kansas City that their son was +complaining at not hearing from home; when the J. W. B. wrote him, it +was his first news from home in his six months as a "casual" in France. +Through the Paris office and the workers in the field the whole immense +field of personal service and entertainment had to be covered, 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 provide. + +During the high holydays the Paris clubrooms presented a remarkable +mingling of Jewish soldiers of all the allied armies. Mixed with the +olive drab and the navy blue of the United States were the Australians +with their hats rakishly turned up on the side, the gray capes of the +Italian, the French troops from Morocco, the Russian in Cossack +uniform, and a few Belgians. During Chanuka, which coincided with +Thanksgiving in 1918, special services were held at the synagogue in the +Rue de la Victoire, the largest in France. The synagogue was crowded +with French men and women, all at a high pitch of enthusiasm, and with +350 American soldiers, the heroes of the occasion. The impressive +service of the French rabbi was followed by a brilliant Thanksgiving +sermon by Chaplain Voorsanger, who had been invited to come to Paris for +the occasion. After services turkey and pumpkin pie were served at the +club rooms, and while I was not there that day, I can testify that the +pumpkin pie served at the Jewish Welfare Board on New Year's day, 1919, +was one of the most poignant reminders of the United States during my +stay abroad. + +Due to the intense pressure of the situation, the actual volume of work +done by the J. W. B. was surprisingly large. The entertainments and +dances conducted at every center numbered fully 5,000, with an aggregate +attendance of 2,750,000. Among the conspicuous units which toured the A. +E. F. under Welfare Board auspices, was "Who Can Tell?" the Second Army +show, which was underwritten by request of the Welfare Officer and was +one of the most elaborate of the army musical comedies, with a full +complement of chorus girls acted by husky doughboys; this production +toured for five weeks and while in Paris was seen by President and Mrs. +Wilson. There was the "Dovetail Troupe," a vaudeville unit which +likewise went on tour. And there was the "Tuneful Trio," led by Mr. and +Mrs. Henry Gideon of Boston, which came to France under the Y. M. C. +A., and gave many excellent concerts under J. W. B. auspices; I heard +one of their programs in Le Mans and felt not only the musical +excellence of their work, but also the special appeal of their program +of Yiddish folk songs to the Jewish men; this troupe delivered 81 +concerts to fully 60,000 men. The army educational work received much +support in the various huts, and two of the best equipped men in the J. +W. B. service were assigned to it, Dr. H. G. Enelow for the University +of Beaune, and Professor David Blondheim of Johns Hopkins, for a time +executive director of the overseas work, for the Sorbonne in Paris. The +bulk of the daily work in the huts throughout France appears from the +fact that 2,500,000 letterheads were distributed and refreshments served +without charge to a total of 3,000,000 men. + +The records of religious work are equally imposing, as 1,740 services +were held, with a total attendance of 180,000 men. The constant +cooeperation with the chaplains meant that far more than these were +indirectly influenced and aided. Eighteen thousand prayer books were +distributed and ten thousand Bibles. On Passover of 1919 the J. W. B. +provided unleavened bread (matzoth), which had been furnished through +the Quartermaster Corps, for the Jewish soldiers in the American forces, +as well as for French and Russian soldiers. The J. W. B. even provided +matzoth for six thousand Russian prisoners in Germany during Passover of +1919. At the request of the military officials, the Jewish Welfare Board +took charge of welfare work for the sixty thousand Russian troops in +France, who had come originally as fighting units, but after the +withdrawal of Russia from the war had been transferred to agricultural +labor. No other welfare agency had provided for them and so they were +assigned to the J. W. B. which had a few workers who could speak +Russian. It was rather ironical that these men in Cossack uniform, most +of whom were non-Jews, received their only friendly service in France at +the hands of the despised Jew. + +The whole work of the J. W. B. abroad culminated in the Passover of +1919. The most intense moment for us chaplains had come during the high +holydays when feeling was most profound and suspense at its deepest and +when, in addition, we had to carry the burden almost unaided. By +Passover the feeling had changed, the war was safely over, the men were +rejoicing at their imminent return home, and we had the Jewish Welfare +Board to arrange our celebration for us. Fully 30,000 of the Jews in the +A. E. F. ate the Seder dinners furnished by the Welfare Board. I have +already described our celebration at Le Mans, with its many features in +which the J. W. B. and I worked together. A similar program was carried +out everywhere. At Dijon Rabbi Schumacher of the local French synagogue, +who had been most active throughout in the interest of the American +soldiers, led a great congregation of 2,000 men through the rain to the +synagogue for worship and afterward to the Seder tables. In Germany, the +city of Coblenz became the leave area for soldiers of Jewish faith and +was closed for all other furloughs during the three days. The Y. M. C. +A. and the K. of C. assisted in giving proper honor to the Jewish +festival and proper pleasures to the Jewish men, and with their aid +boat rides on the Rhine, entertainments in the Festhalle, and all the +features of a full amusement program were provided. + +Most striking of all was the great Seder at Paris, with its crowd of +American, Australian, English, French and Italian soldiers, some of them +former prisoners in Germany, all of them united in the great occasion of +their faith. Among the speakers and the guests of honor were some of the +great leaders of Jewry, as well as personal representatives of Marshall +Foch and General Pershing. Colonel Harry Cutler, Mr. Louis Marshall, +Judge Julian Mack, Dr. Cyrus Adler, and Dr. Chaim Weitzmann were there, +as well as many other celebrities. At that time and in that place the +highest honor for any man was to worship and eat side by side with the +soldiers, who had carried love of their country and loyalty to their +faith to the last extreme of service and of sacrifice. + +Decoration Day of 1919, which was observed by all France together with +its American visitors, was another important ceremony for the Jewish +Welfare Board, together with its French hosts at the great synagogue on +the Rue de la Victoire. The sermon was delivered by Rabbi Voorsanger, +the service read by Rabbi Levy of Paris; 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 patriotism. + +In addition to the overseas commission and the men in the field, several +of the prominent officers of the Jewish Welfare Board went to France at +various times and took personal part in the work. The first was Mr. +Mortimer L. Schiff, who spent the months of December 1918 and January +1919 in France as a member of the commission of eleven of the United War +Work Organization, which had just completed its great financial drive. +In that capacity Mr. Schiff was equally interested in all the welfare +agencies; naturally, he gave the full benefit of his advice to the J. W. +B. In February 1919 Colonel Harry Cutler, chairman of the Jewish Welfare +Board, came to France. Although burdened with duties for other +organizations as well, he accomplished wonders for the work of the J. W. +B. during his four months in France. His enthusiasm and vigor showed at +once, as in any matter he ever undertook. He traveled throughout the A. +E. F., observed conditions for himself, and then accomplished two +important pieces of work. First he obtained an order from the General +Headquarters releasing the J. W. B. from its former dependence on the Y. +M. C. A. and allowing it to work directly in cooeperation with the +military authorities; this was certainly advisable under post-armistice +conditions, and many others felt with me that it would have been the +preferable system at all times. Second, he persuaded Chaplain Elkan C. +Voorsanger, then completing his second year overseas, to allow his +division to return home without him, while he stayed on from April to +September as Overseas Director of the J. W. B. Together with Chaplain +Voorsanger, Colonel Cutler administered the J. W. B. during the period +of growth, and then left him to carry it on successfully during the time +of retrenchment, until finally he also returned home with the Paris +Staff, and the only representatives left in France were those working in +cooeperation with the Graves Registration Service. + +Another important worker for the J. W. B. was Dr. Cyrus Adler, +vice-chairman of the national organization, who reached France in March, +1919 as a representative of the American Jewish Committee. On Colonel +Cutler's return in May, Dr. Adler took over his duties for the Welfare +Board, and worked with Chaplain Voorsanger until the end of his mission, +in July 1919. + +One necessary part of the work of the Jewish Welfare Board, after all +its efforts on behalf of the men in the service had been accomplished, +was to care for the graves of those Jews who gave their all in the +service of America. The Graves Registration Service, later called the +Cemeterial Division of the War Department, had a great and necessary +work. The Jewish Welfare Board obtained in February, 1918 a War +Department order that all graves of Jews should be marked with the Magen +David, the double triangle. + +This order was confirmed by a response from General Pershing on July 29, +1918. Temporary Jewish headboards were supplied overseas, together with +the temporary crosses, and whenever we knew definitely that a particular +soldier had been a Jew they were used. Unfortunately, that information +was not always available. Most units had no religious census, certainly +none was up to date including the replacements. The order for marking +the identification tag with an additional letter--"P" for Protestant, +"C" for Catholic, and "H" for Hebrew--was issued after most of us were +overseas, and hardly any of the tags had it; I know I never had the "H" +put on mine. Often a man would carry a prayerbook in his pocket, but if +the bodies were searched by one detail and buried by another that did +not help. I know that it took me three months to verify my list of +Jewish dead in the 27th Division, so that one can imagine the task for +the entire A. E. F. + +In May, 1919, the J. W. B. undertook this duty of identifying the Jewish +graves, so that the War Department could mark them all properly. They +have thus identified 1,500 altogether and where a cross had already been +put up the headboard was changed. In this connection, a peculiar +situation arose through the efforts of the Red Cross to photograph all +graves in France for the benefit of the families at home. Such graves as +had not been identified as Jewish still had the cross, and some families +had their religious sensibilities shocked by the photographs. Hence the +photographs in all such cases were detained until the changes had been +carried out, and the Jewish Welfare Board had the graves photographed +for the benefit of the families. Naturally, 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 +fell. + +The sad death of Colonel Cutler occurred in England during the summer of +1920, on a trip which he undertook in the interest of the Graves +Registration work, against the advice of his physicians and solely +through his profound interest in the cause. His life was a sacrifice to +his duty, to the tremendous efforts he had made for the Jewish Welfare +Board and the other great national movements of Jewry. He gave, as so +many others gave, another sacrifice for Judaism and America. + +On the whole, the field workers of the Jewish Welfare Board made an +enviable record in France. 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 Y. M. C. A. The women +workers were especially conspicuous for their steady, uncomplaining +service. Their work was anything but romantic; it was driving, wearing +labor. They tended canteen all day and danced almost every evening, a +regime that was hard physically and exhausting mentally. Only those in +the larger cities could enjoy the luxuries which are so commonplace in +America--electric lights, a bath tub, and the other conveniences of +civilization. I have marveled to see them living for months in tiny +French villages or in army camps, giving devoted service to the men in +uniform, without distinction of rank or creed. + +Through these workers the Jewish Welfare Board was able to render the +personal touch which was missing in much of the war work overseas. This +applied especially to the Jewish man, who felt overjoyed to meet a +Jewish girl from America, to attend a Seder, to write home on the J. W. +B. letterhead. He had found a touch of home in a foreign land; his +personal needs could be understood and satisfied so much more easily and +directly now. But many men of many creeds found themselves at home in +the J. W. B. huts. Men learned to know Jews, to respect Judaism in the +army who had been ignorant of both at home. They often attended a Jewish +service, met a Jewish chaplain, or simply preferred the home-like +atmosphere to that of other welfare organizations. For one thing, the J. +W. B. was run according to the tastes of the soldiers; there was no +charge for anything, even a nominal one; there was no condescension and +no dictation, none of the things which the soldiers hated. In the Le +Mans area, which was typical, from 56 to 60 per cent of the men +patronizing the J. W. B. building were non-Jews. This constituted a +return for the thousands of Jews who patronized Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. +huts, as well as our contribution to the morale of the forces. + +In some areas the Jewish Welfare Board was the most popular of all the +welfare agencies; in all, it was very popular with the men of all +faiths. The high caliber of the women workers, the personal touch and +home-like spirit of the work, gave it a hold on the affections of the +men. For a long time the Jewish soldiers had felt neglected by their +own, not knowing the obstacles which had to be overcome. Then they found +their own huts, suddenly springing up in all the central points, crowded +and popular with all the groups of soldiers in America's composite army. +The Jewish soldier became proud and the Christian soldier became +appreciative. The excellence of the work brought forgiveness for +everything, even though the soldier was not used to listening to reasons +but formed his opinions quickly from the facts nearest at hand. 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 America. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE JEW AS A SOLDIER + + +The Jewish soldier demands no defense and needs no tribute. His deeds +are written large in the history of every unit in the A. E. F.; they are +preserved in the memory of his comrades of other races and other faiths. +He was one with all American soldiers, for in the service men of every +type and of every previous standpoint were much alike, under the same +orders, holding the same ideals, with similar responses and similar +accomplishments. The Jew was an American soldier--that really covers the +story. For historical purposes, however, a further statement of numbers, +honors, personalities, may be worth while. The Jew was in the American +army, as in all the allied armies, because he exists among the +population of every land. The studies made in various lands show that +over 900,000 Jews fought in the World War altogether, of whom over +80,000 were killed in action or died of wounds. In the British forces +casualties included the names of 8,600 Jews, and in the French forces, +out of less than a hundred thousand Jewish population in the nation, +2,200 were killed in the service. These figures, picked practically at +random from enormous masses of similar material, tend to show the +participation of Jews in every army, just as they participate everywhere +in the national life. + +In the American forces the Jewish soldier ranked with the best; he was +an American soldier, and there is no higher praise than that. With all +the panegyrics on the American doughboy during and since the war, not +enough has been said or can ever be said about him. His good humor, his +self sacrifice, his heroism, won the affection and the admiration of +every one. His officers loved him; his enemies respected him; his allies +regarded him with mingled enthusiasm and patronage. They loved his +youthful dash and were amused at his youthful unsophistication; at the +same time they were profoundly grateful for his forgetfulness of self +when the time for action came. I have mentioned some of the incidents in +my own experience, 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 company; the weary boys on the brow of a hill, digging in for the +fourth time in a day of advances and fighting; 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 endless. Reading a list of the +dry, official citations for decorations is like opening a mediaeval +romance of the deeds of knightly heroes. There was Captain Ireland who +came to our aid post to have his wounds dressed and then started out +without waiting for the ambulance. "Where are you going, Captain?" I +asked. "Oh, back to the boys," was the answer, "I'm the only officer +left in the battalion, and I don't want to leave them." There was the +chaplain's orderly, himself a student for the ministry, who voluntarily +organized a stretcher party to bring in some wounded men out beyond the +barbed wire. Every type of heroism and self sacrifice existed, all +carried off with the good humored bravado of school boys at a football +game. + +Among these heroes the Jewish soldiers were equal to the best, as their +comrades and commanders were quick to recognize. A typical attitude +toward them was that of a lieutenant colonel, telling me a story of his +first battle, when we were on shipboard coming back home. "I was rather +nervous about that first time under fire," he told me, "because I had a +number of foreign boys in one company and didn't know how they might +behave. Among them was a little Jew who was medical man of the company, +carrying bandages instead of weapons, but going over the top with the +others, a restless fellow, always breaking orders and getting into +trouble of some kind or another. 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 run. I pulled +my revolver, ready to shoot him rather than have an example of cowardice +set for the rest. But I was surprised to see him turn aside suddenly and +jump into another shell hole, and when I went over there I found him +hard at work bandaging up another wounded soldier. He was simply doing +his duty under fire, absolutely without sign of fear as he tended the +boys who were hurt. I was sorry I had misjudged him so badly and watched +his work after that, with the result that I was later able to recommend +him for a decoration." + +Ignorance, suspicion, ripening with knowledge into understanding and +admiration--that was the usual course of events. I quote Colonel +Whittlesey, commander of the famous "Lost Battalion" of the 308th +Infantry, a New York unit with a very large proportion of Jews: "As to +the Jewish boys in the Battalion, I cannot recall many of them by name, +but certain figures stand out simply because they are so unexpected. The +ordinary run of soldiers, whether Jews, Irish, or Americans--the big, +husky chaps who simply do what they are expected to do--naturally pass +from our memory. It is the odd figures who stick in your mind. There was +one chap for example (Herschkovitz was his name) who seemed the worst +possible material from which to make soldier-stuff. He was thick-set, +stupid looking, extremely foreign, thoroughly East Side, and yet, one +day when we were holding the bank of the Vesle, and it became necessary +to send runners to communicate with our commands, Herschkovitz was the +_only man_ who volunteered for the job. It was a nasty physical job. It +would have been a difficult thing if it had not been under fire, because +it meant cutting through under-brush, up hill and down hill. Under fire +this became almost impossible, and the boys knew it, so none of them +cared for the job, but Herschkovitz made the trip four times that day. +What was it? Well, just plain pluck, that's all. There were a great many +fellows of this type--East Siders of whom the regular army men expected +nothing at all--but the 77th Division just seemed equal to anything...." + +In the same unit was Private Abraham Krotoshinsky, who was awarded the +D. S. C. for bearing the message which informed the division of the +exact location of the unit, and was instrumental in releasing them. +Krotoshinsky was an immigrant boy, not yet a citizen, a barber by trade. +His own words give the story simply enough: "We began to be afraid the +division had forgotten us or that they had given us up for dead. We had +to get a messenger through. It meant almost certain death, we were all +sure, because over a hundred and fifty men had gone away and never come +back. But it had to be done. The morning of the fifth day they called +for volunteers for courier. I volunteered and was accepted. I went +because I thought I ought to. First of all I was lucky enough not to be +wounded. Second, after five days of starving, I was stronger than many +of my friends who were twice my size. You know a Jew finds strength to +suffer. Third, because I would just as soon die trying to help the +others as in the 'pocket' of hunger and thirst. + +"I got my orders and started. I had to run about thirty feet in plain +view of the Germans before I got into the forest. They saw me when I got +up and fired everything they had at me. Then I had to crawl right +through their lines. They were looking for me everywhere. I just moved +along on my stomach, in the direction I was told, keeping my eyes open +for them.... It was almost six o'clock that night when I saw the +American lines. All that day I had been crawling or running doubled up +after five days and nights without food and practically nothing to +drink. Then my real trouble began. I was coming from the direction of +the German lines and my English is none too good. I was afraid they +would shoot me for a German before I could explain who I was.... Then +the Captain asked me who I was. I told him I was from the Lost +Battalion. Then he asked me whether I could lead him back to the +battalion. I said, 'Yes.' They gave me a bite to eat and something to +drink and after a little rest I started back again with the command. I +will never forget the scene when the relief came. The men were like +crazy with joy." + +In high position and in low the same kind of service came from the +American Jew. This is the official citation of a Colonel, who is in +civil life one of the prominent Jews of Chicago, Illinois: + +"Colonel Abel Davis, 132nd Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action +near Consenvoye, France, October 9, 1918. Upon reaching its objective, +after a difficult advance, involving two changes of directions, Colonel +Davis's regiment was subjected to a determined enemy counterattack. +Disregarding the heavy shell and machine-gun fire, Colonel Davis +personally assumed command and by his fearless leadership and courage +the enemy was driven back." + +Judge Robert S. Marx of Cincinnati, Ohio, 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 +Legion. But in 1917 and '18 he was Captain Marx of the 90th Division, +operations officer of his regiment during the St. Mihiel and Argonne +offensives, and reported dead on the day before the armistice, when he +was struck on the head and wounded severely. And on the other extreme, I +notice the case of First Sergeant Sam Dreben of the 141st Infantry, a +soldier of fortune in many revolutions and a member of the Regular Army +in the Philippines several years ago. Discovering a party of Germans +coming to the support of a dangerous machine-gun nest, Sergeant Dreben +with thirty men charged the German position, killed forty of the enemy, +took several prisoners, and captured five machine guns, returning to his +own lines without losing a man. For this daring and important act he was +awarded the D. S. C. + +Of the various types of distinction emphasized during the war, all were +as true of Jews as of any other group. Numerous cases exist where four +or more members of a single family were in the service. There was the +Fleshner family, of Springfield, Mass., from which four sons of an +immigrant father and mother entered the service, the oldest of them only +twenty-three. The oldest of these boys lost an arm and an eye while +carrying ammunition through a barrage, but exclaimed later in the +hospital: "I'm the luckiest Jew in the army. Any other man in my place +would have been killed." + +The New York Herald during the war described an indefatigable Red Cross +worker, Mrs. Louis Rosenberg of North Bergen, N. J. This old Jewish +mother had six sons in the service; the two oldest, each the father of +two children, when summoned for the draft refused to claim exemption, +and having invested their savings in two small notion stores, they left +their wives in charge of them and accepted the call to military service. +Mrs. Liba Goldstein, of Cambridge Springs, Pa., a woman of eighty-four, +born in Russia, had twenty grandsons in the allied armies, ten as +officers in the British army, eight in the American forces, and two with +the Jewish Legion in Palestine. And so one might bring out one example +after another, if one desired, all showing the eagerness of loyal Jews +to serve their country. + +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 forces. The office possesses 150,000 individual records, +gathered by extensive cooeperation with national and local Jewish +organizations. 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 200,000. Of these about +40,000 came from New York City, 8,000 from Philadelphia and 5,000 from +Chicago. Instead of their quota of three per cent., according to the +proportion of Jews throughout the nation, the Jews in service actually +constituted fully four per cent. of the men in the army and navy. The +causes of this excess are not easy to establish. The draft may have been +more fully enforced in cities than in many rural districts, and the bulk +of the Jews are city dwellers. 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 men, and we possess no facts to confirm that. +But certainly the number of volunteers was an element in causing this +large number of Jews in the service. The records show 40,000 volunteers +among the Jewish men, practically one-fourth of the total Jewish +contingent and a far higher record than that of the army as a whole. + +In certain outstanding cases this record is even more conspicuous. The +little colony of immigrant Jewish farmers at Woodbine, N. J., not over +three hundred families altogether, contributed forty-three men to the +service, of whom seventeen men, or forty per cent., were volunteers. Of +the students at the rabbinical seminaries, who were all exempt by law, a +conspicuously large number volunteered for service in the line, 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 Board, lecturers in the training camps and similar capacities. +In fact, the seminaries were almost empty for a year. Eleven students of +the Hebrew Union College and four of the Jewish Theological Seminary +waived exemption for regular service in the army and navy, including a +number of men with very exceptional records. Jacob Marcus, now Rabbi and +Instructor at the Hebrew Union College, volunteered in the Ohio National +Guard and won his lieutenancy by brilliant work in the ranks. Three of +the students there entered the Marine Corps during the first weeks of +the war and served for over two years in that branch. One, Michael +Aaronson, serving in the 31st Division overseas, was completely blinded +while helping a wounded comrade in No Man's Land; 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 soldier. + +The Jewish boys went into the army to fight. That appears in their +proportion in the combatant branches of the American Expeditionary +Forces. While these branches--Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, Engineers, +and Signal-Aviation--constituted 60 per cent. of the total, among the +114,000 records of Jewish soldiers in the hands of the War Records +Office the distribution among these combatant branches is fully 75 per +cent. The Infantry constituted 26.6 per cent. of the entire army, while +among the Jewish records it constituted 48 per cent. Artillery was 14 +per cent. of the United States army, 8 per cent. of the Jewish total. In +cavalry the rate for the entire army was 2 per cent., for the Jews only +1.3 per cent. The engineer corps contributed 11 per cent. of the army +strength, and but 3 per cent. among the Jewish records. The signal and +aviation corps represented 7 per cent. of the United States total, and +15 per cent. of the Jewish total. The medical corps was 8 per cent. of +the army total, 9 per cent. of the Jewish total. Ordnance was 1.7 per +cent. of the army total, and 1.5 of the Jewish total. The quartermaster +corps was 6.2 per cent. of the army total and 5.9 per cent. of the +Jewish total. + +The Army, Navy and Marine Corps altogether had nearly 10,000 Jews as +commissioned officers, and a really tremendous number of +non-commissioned officers. The Army records show more than a hundred +colonels and lieutenant colonels of Jewish faith, including such +distinguished officers as Colonel Abel Davis, whom I have already +mentioned in connection with his D. S. C. for heroism displayed on +October 9, 1918; Colonel Nathan Horowitz, of Boston, Mass. who spent 27 +months in France in the heavy artillery; Colonel Samuel Frankenberger, +of Charleston, W. Va., who commanded the 78th Field Artillery; Colonel +Samuel J. Kopetzky, Medical Corps, of New York City, who commanded +Sanitary Train 396, in the A. E. F.; and Colonel Max Robert Wainer, +Quartermaster Corps, formerly of Delaware City, Del., who was awarded +the Distinguished Service Medal and appointed a Chevalier of the Legion +of Honor by the French government. These honors were but the climax to +a military career that began with enlistment as a private in 1905, and +promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1912. In the war every one +of the four battles in which he took part was the occasion of a further +promotion, so that he concluded the war as a Colonel. I have already +mentioned Colonel Wainer in another connection, as the first active +Jewish worker at Tours; as a matter of fact, he organized a Seder in his +own unit in 1918, where 500 men celebrated the Passover at the same time +that Chaplain Voorsanger was holding his Seder at St. Nazaire, and when +practically no other Jewish work was being conducted in the entire +overseas forces. + +There were over 500 majors, 1,500 captains, and more than 6,000 +lieutenants in the American army, with a full share of each in the A. E. +F. Over 900 Jews were officers in the navy, the most conspicuous of them +being Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, in command of the mine laying work in +the North Sea during the war. In addition there were one captain, five +commanders and twelve lieutenant commanders. The marine corps included +among its personnel over a hundred Jews as officers, among them three +majors, one colonel, and Brigadier-General Charles Henry Laucheimer of +Baltimore, Md., who died in January 1920. + +The latest estimates of casualties run from 13,000 to 14,000, including +about 2,800 who died in the service of America. This can be inferred +easily from the branches of the service in which our Jewish boys were +found, as well as from the number of honors they received. After all, +for every brave man whose acts were noted and rewarded, many others just +as heroic fought and bled unseen. + +The number of Jews decorated for conspicuous courage is attested, not +only by the Office of War Records, but also by the Jewish Valor Legion, +an organization of American Jews who received such awards during the +World War. Fully 1,100 citations for valor are on record. Of these, 723 +were conferred by the American command, 287 by the French, 33 by the +British, and 46 by other allied commands. The Distinguished Service +Cross is worn by 150 American Jews, the French Medaille Militaire by +four, and the Croix de Guerre by 174. The Congressional Medal of Honor, +the rarest award in the American or any other service, which was +conferred on only 78 men in the entire service, is worn by three +American Jews, one of them killed in the act for which he was rewarded. +I add their official citations, not only for their personal interest, +but as an added tribute to these three heroes, a glory both to Jewry and +to America. + +"Sydney G. Gumpertz, first sergeant, Company E, 132nd Infantry. +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 Forges, France, September 26, 1918. When the advancing line was held +up by machine-gun fire, 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 nest. His two companions soon became +casualties from a bursting shell, but Sergeant Gumpertz continued on +alone in the face of direct fire from the machine-gun, jumped into the +nest and silenced the gun, capturing nine of the crew. Awarded January +22, 1919." + +"First Sergeant Benjamin Kaufman, Company K, 308th Infantry, +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 Argonne, France, October 4, 1918. Sergeant Kaufman took out a patrol +for the purpose of attacking an enemy machine-gun which had checked the +advance of his company. Before reaching the gun he became separated from +his patrol, and a machine-gun bullet shattered his right arm. Without +hesitation he advanced on the gun alone, throwing grenades with his left +hand and charging with an empty pistol, taking one prisoner and +scattering the crew, bringing the gun and prisoner back to the first aid +station. Awarded April 8, 1919." + +"Sergeant William Sawelson, deceased, Company M, 312th Infantry, +Congressional Medal of Honor awarded for conspicuous gallantry and +intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy +at Grandpre, France, October 26, 1918. Hearing a wounded man in a +shell-hole some distance away calling for water, Sergeant Sawelson upon +his own initiative left shelter and crawled through heavy machine-gun +fire to where the man lay, giving him what water he had in his own +canteen. He then went back to his own shell-hole, obtained more water +and was returning to the wounded man, when he was killed by a +machine-gun bullet. Posthumously awarded January 10, 1919." + +The 27th Division, in which I served, was fairly typical in this +respect, as it was a National Guard unit, composed of volunteers from +both the New York metropolitan district and "up-state." There were +about a thousand Jews in the entire division and seven hundred of them +were in the infantry, machine-gun battalions and engineers, which served +together. I did not find a company without from two to thirty Jewish +soldiers, and seldom without at least one Jew among the non-commissioned +officers. 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 together. I was told that three top sergeants +out of the four companies were named Levi, Cohen and Pesalovsky, and +that I could take my choice. The same thing occurred time and again when +I visited other divisions. For example, Sergeant Major Wayne of the +320th Infantry prepared the Passover passes for the 40 Jews of his +regiment, then in the Le Mans area, but missed the Seder himself, +staying at his post of duty to prepare the regimental sailing list. + +The 27th Division had several Jews among the officers of high +rank--Lieutenant Colonel H. S. Sternberger, the division quartermaster; +Lieutenant Colonel Morris Liebman, killed in action in Flanders; Major +(later Lieutenant Colonel) Emanuel Goldstein, Medical Corps, who was +awarded the D. S. O. by the British command, one of four such +decorations given to officers of our division. Captain Simpson of the +106th Field Artillery, Lieutenant King of the office of the division +chief of staff, 2nd Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown of the 108th Infantry, +2nd Lieutenant Sternberger of the Interpreters' Corps and 2nd Lieutenant +Florsheim of the division quartermaster's office were among the officers +of Jewish origin. In addition, there were a few, such as Sergeant +Schiff of the 102nd Engineers and Sergeant Struck of division +headquarters, who were recommended for commissions for their excellent +service but were disappointed on account of the stoppage of all +promotions after the armistice. + +I mentioned in connection with my own work the list of sixty-five Jews +of the 27th who were killed in action or died in hospitals in France, +their full proportion of the nearly 2,000 dead of the division. The +first man in the 27th who was killed in action was a Jew, Private Robert +Friedman of the 102nd Engineers. Most of our losses, like those of the +division as a whole, were incurred in the terrific fighting at the +Hindenburg Line, and most of our men were buried there in the great +divisional cemeteries of Bony and Guillemont Farm, right at the furthest +point which they reached alive. The cemetery of Bony is to be one of the +permanent American cemeteries in France, and I can still see the Magen +Davids standing here and there among the rows of crosses, where I had +them placed. + +The Jews of the 27th won their full share of decorations, too. Nine of +them wear the Distinguished Service Cross conferred by the American +command; one, the British honor of the Distinguished Service Order; one, +the British Distinguished Conduct Medal; seven, the British Military +Medal; one, the French Croix de Guerre with star; and one, the Belgian +Order of the Crown. Eliminating cases where one man received several +such honors, fifteen Jews of this one division alone were decorated for +unusual courage and initiative in battle. I add the official citations +of four of these men as further examples of the heroism of the Jewish +soldiers in the American forces. + +"Major Emanuel Goldstein, Medical Corps, 102nd Engineers. D. S. O., +Belgian Order of the Crown. On Sept. 29, 1918, in the vicinity of +Lompire and Guillemont Farm near Ronssoy, France, he remained in the +most exposed positions under heavy shell fire and machine-gun fire, to +render first aid to several wounded men, displaying exceptional bravery +and courage, and setting a fine example of devotion to duty to all +ranks." + +"Second Lieutenant Samuel A. Brown Jr., 108th Infantry. D. S. C. awarded +for extraordinary heroism in action near Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, +1918. Advancing with his platoon through heavy fog and dense smoke and +in the face of terrific fire which inflicted heavy casualties on his +forces, Lieutenant Brown reached the wire in front of the main +Hindenburg Line, and, after reconnoitering for gaps, assaulted the +position and effected a foothold. Having been reenforced by another +platoon, he organized a small force, and by bombing and trench fighting +captured over a hundred prisoners. Repeated attacks throughout the day +were repelled by his small force. He also succeeded in taking four field +pieces, a large number of machine guns, anti-tank rifles, and other +military property, at the same time keeping in subjection the prisoners +he had taken." + +"Corporal Abel J. Levine, Company A, 107th Infantry. For extraordinary +heroism in action near Bony, France, Sept. 29, 1918. After his platoon +had suffered heavy casualties and all the sergeants had been wounded, +Corporal Levine collected the remaining effectives in his own and other +units, formed a platoon and continued the advance. When his rifle was +rendered useless he killed several of the enemy with his pistol. He was +wounded shortly afterward, but he refused assistance until his men had +been cared for and evacuated." Corporal Levine received the D. S. C. and +the British D. C. M. + +"Private Morris Silverberg, Company G, 108th Infantry. For extraordinary +heroism in action near Ronssoy, France, Sept. 29, 1918. Private +Silverberg, a stretcher bearer, displayed extreme courage by repeatedly +leaving shelter and advancing over an area swept by machine-gun and +shell fire to rescue wounded comrades. Hearing that his company +commander had been wounded, he voluntarily went forward alone, and upon +finding that his officer had been killed, brought back his body." +Private Silverberg received both the D. S. C. and the British M. M. + +One more point must be noted with regard to these Jewish boys who served +America so bravely and so effectively. Many of them showed in their +sacrifices the true Jewish spirit of Kiddush ha-Shem, sanctification of +the name of God. Time and again have I heard men give such a turn to +their speech, 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 regiment, an act in which +the only other Jew in the company had been killed and for which my +friend was later decorated. "Well, chaplain," he answered me, "there +were only two Jewish boys in the company and we'd been kidded about it +a little. We just wanted to show those fellows what a Jew could do." Dr. +Enelow tells a similar story of a boy dying in a hospital, who gave the +rabbi a last message to his parents, saying: "Tell them I did my duty as +a soldier and brought honor to the Jewish name." + +Once again, in the American forces during the World War, the Jew has +proved himself a devoted patriot and a heroic soldier, and this time he +has done so in broad daylight, before the eyes of all the world. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +JEW AND CHRISTIAN AT THE FRONT + + +To those of us who served with the United States Army overseas, +religious unity, cooeperation between denominations, is more than a +far-off ideal. We know under what circumstances and to what extent it is +feasible, and just how it deepens and broadens the religious spirit in +both chaplain and soldier. We have passed beyond the mutual tolerance of +the older liberalism to the mutual helpfulness of the newer devoutness. +Our common ground is no longer the irreducible minimum of doctrines +which we share; it is the practical maximum of service which we can +render together. I was in a critical position to experience this as the +only Jewish chaplain in the Twenty-Seventh Division; my duty was to +minister to the men of the Jewish faith throughout the various units of +our division, with the friendly cooeperation of the twenty other +chaplains of various faiths. And I was able to do my work among the +Jews, and to a certain extent among the Christians also, simply because +these Protestant and Catholic chaplains were equally friendly and +helpful to me and my scattered flock. Not by mutual tolerance but by +mutual helpfulness we were able to serve together the thousands of +soldiers who needed us all. + +It is a commonplace that as men grow acquainted they naturally learn to +respect and to like one another. When a Jew from the East Side of New +York, who had never known any Christian well except the corner +policeman, and a Kentucky mountaineer, who had been reared with the idea +that Jews have horns, were put into the same squad both of them were +bound to be broadened by it. And, provided both of them were normal, +average boys, as they were likely to be, they probably became "buddies" +to the great advantage of both of them. Often such associations would +bring about the sort of a friendship which death itself could not break. + +One of the Jewish chaplains tells an incident of the first night he +spent in the training camp at Camp Taylor, Ky. The candidate for +chaplain in the cot next to his was a lanky backwoods preacher from one +of the southern States. The two met, introduced themselves by name and +denomination, and then prepared to "turn in" for the night. The rabbi +noticed that his ministerial neighbor sat about, hesitated, and played +for time generally, even though it was fully time to turn out the +lights. Finally the matter became so obvious that he could not resist +inquiring the reason for this delay. The answer came, a bit embarrassed +but certainly frank enough: "I don't want to go to bed till I see how a +Jew says his prayers." + +On the whole, considering the many individual differences in an army of +two million men, religious prejudice was not engendered by the army; +some persisted in spite of it, and much was lessened by the comradeship +and enforced intimacy of army life. In most commands prejudice against +the Jew was a very small item indeed. It was so rare as to be almost +non-existent in places of responsibility. It was often overcome by the +acid test of battle when men appeared in their true colors and won +respect for themselves alone. It was occasionally the fault of the man +himself, who turned a personal matter into an accusation of +anti-Semitism, and sometimes without cause. One Jewish corporal +complained to me of discrimination on the part of his commanding +officer, who had recommended his reduction to the ranks. On +investigation, I found that the officer might have been unfair in his +judgment, but had recommended the same for two non-Jews at the same +time; the case may therefore have been one of personal dislike but was +certainly not a matter of religious prejudice. When I found authentic +cases of discrimination, they were usually in the case of some ignorant +non-commissioned officer, who presumed on his scanty authority at the +expense of some Jewish private. Or it might be a sort of hazing, when a +group of "rough necks" selected a foreigner with a small command of +English as the butt of their jokes. When men complain of prejudice +against Jews in the army, it usually means that they met there a group +of prejudiced people with whom they would not have come into contact in +civil life. The tendency of the American army during the World War was +definitely against prejudice of any kind; prejudice made against +efficiency, and the higher one went the more difficult it became to find +any traces of it. + +In the army and especially in overseas service men went naturally to the +nearest chaplain or welfare organization for any benefit except worship, +and sometimes for that also. From my first religious service in a +hospital with the crowd of non-Jews and sprinkling of Jews in the Red +Cross room, I found that the men went to the entertainment hut for +whatever it might offer. Every large service afterward, especially if +held in a convenient place, included a proportion of non-Jews, and +invariably they were both respectful and interested. + +The burial work of the Twenty-Seventh Division at St. Souplet was the +climax of cooeperation among chaplains, where the five of us represented +five different churches. Our service was a three-fold one, as was the +later one held at the larger cemeteries at Bony and Guillemont Farm. 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 together. My very last duty in France was to read the burial +service over four Christian sailors drowned outside Brest harbor. + +Such incidents as these were not exceptional at the front or among men +who have been at the front and have learned its lesson; I give them +especially because they are typical. The men who were under fire +together grew to overlook differences as barriers between man and man. +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 poor, learned or +ignorant, pious or infidel, virtuous or wicked. They grew to respect men +for themselves, to serve them for themselves alone. The men used any +stationery that came to hand, writing home indifferently on paper +labeled Y. M. C. A. or K. of C., or Salvation Army, or Red Cross, or +Jewish Welfare Board; they attended a picture show or boxing match +under any auspices and were willing to help at any of the huts that +served them. In the same way the welfare workers and chaplains +overlooked one distinction after another, at the end serving all alike +and regarding their status as soldiers alone. Once when I dropped into a +strange camp two boys whom I had never seen crowded through the press of +men in the Y. M. C. A. hut; they had seen the insignia of the 27th, and +being fresh from hospital, appealed to me to help them back to the +division that they might return home with their own units. I was never +surprised when non-Jews came to me for advice in ordinary cases, but I +have had such extreme instances as a Jew and non-Jew coming together, to +ask advice in a case where both felt they had been discriminated against +by their commanding officer. In hospital work, in front line service, +even in the ordinary routine of the rest area, we came closer to one +another than ever in civil life. + +As I said above, the logical climax of friendly cooeperation comes when +ministers of different faiths assist each other in their own work. I +shall never forget a day in that busy October at the front when I met a +Baptist chaplain belonging to our division. "Hello," he said, "I've just +come to headquarters here to look for you and a priest." "All right, +what can I do for you?" "Well," was his reply, "our battalion goes into +the line tonight, and I wanted the Jewish and Catholic boys to have +their services, too. If you can come over at four o'clock, I'll have the +priest come at six." And so I came there at four, to find the fifteen +Jewish soldiers grouped about a large tree near the battalion +headquarters; the chaplain had notified them all. And, as the barn was +both dirty and crowded, we held our little service under the tree, even +though the rain began in the middle of it. Two of those boys did not +come back three days later, and one was cited for heroism, so that I +have often remembered the immeasurable service which the cooeperation of +that chaplain meant for his men. + +On a minor scale such things took place constantly. One day, going to a +distant battalion in a rest area, I not only went to the Y. M. C. A. +man, who arranged for my services in the school-house, and to a Jewish +corporal, who passed the word around to the men of my faith, but I +arranged also that the "Y" man should conduct the Protestant service the +following Sunday, and that the Catholic chaplain on coming should find +arrangements made for his confessions and mass. A classic incident of +the war is the story of Chief Rabbi Bloch, of Lyons, a chaplain in the +French army, who met his death before Verdun in the early days of the +war while holding a cross before a dying Catholic lad. The incident was +related by the Catholic chaplain of the regiment, who saw it from a +little distance. But by the time the gigantic struggle was over such +incidents had become almost matters of everyday. I, for one, have read +psalms at the bedside of dying Protestant soldiers. I have held the +cross before a dying Catholic. I have recited the traditional confession +with the dying Jew. We were all one in a very real sense. + +A Christian chaplain preached the sermon on the second day of my Jewish +New Year service in Nevers. Similarly, I was a guest, with the other +members of the divisional staff, at the splendid midnight mass arranged +by Father Kelley in the little village church of Montfort. For the first +time in its history, the church was electrically lighted by our signal +corps; the villagers and the soldiers were out in force; colonels +assisted as acolytes; and the brilliant red and gold of the vestments, +with the pink satin and white lace of the little choir boys, stood out +brilliantly from the dark garments of the French and the olive drab of +the Americans. Father Kelley delivered a sermon of profound inspiration, +as well as a brief address in French to the villagers, whose guests we +were. The staff were seated in a little chapel, at one side of the +altar. The next day my orderly overheard two of the soldiers arguing +about me. One insisted: "I did see the rabbi there right on the +platform." "You didn't," said the other, "even if this is the army, they +wouldn't let him on the platform at a Catholic mass." It reminded me of +the incident in Paris when I had visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame, +accompanied by my chauffeur, a Catholic boy, and I had given him a +lecture on the architecture and symbolism of that splendid structure. It +was only afterward that the humor of the situation struck me--a rabbi +explaining a cathedral to a devoted Catholic. + +Every chaplain with whom I have compared notes has told me of similar +experiences. Chaplain Elkan C. Voorsanger, for example, at the time when +he conducted the first official Jewish service overseas at Passover +1918, received four other invitations in various sections of France both +from army officials and Y. M. C. A. secretaries. 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 time. I have +mentioned that Rabbi Voorsanger had no regular services in the 77th +Division during the fall holydays of 1918, due to the military +situation. There was one exception to this, however, a hasty service +arranged at one of the brief stops during the march by Father Dunne of +the 306th Infantry, and that service arranged by a priest was conducted +by the rabbi in a ruined Catholic church. Chaplain Voorsanger is full of +praise for the thirty chaplains of various religions who worked under +him when he was Senior Chaplain of the 77th. Their enthusiastic support +as subordinates was fully equal to their hearty cooeperation as equals. + +Peculiarly enough, the Christian Science chaplain in our division was +the only one who found it difficult to become adjusted with the rest. +This could hardly have been personal, as he was generally respected. 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 adherents. +But it seemed due chiefly to the ideas and the method he represented. He +was handicapped for the necessary work of caring for the sick and +wounded by a unique attitude toward physical suffering, different from +the rest of us and different from that of most of the soldiers +themselves. As a consequence he could serve most of them only as a +layman might. Certainly he could give no religious treatment of disease, +as the medical department was supreme in its own field. In addition, he +could conduct general services only with difficulty. To the rest of us a +service meant the same thing,--a psalm, a prayer, a talk, perhaps a +song or two. But the Christian Scientist could not give a prayer. +Prevented from using his ritual by the fact that the service was to be +non-sectarian, he had not the power of personal prayer to fall back +upon. He was not a minister in the same sense as the rest of us, and the +army had no proper place for either a healer or a reader. + +With this single exception, I feel certain that every chaplain in France +had the same sort of experience. When I first arrived in France I was +one of thirty-five chaplains assembled at the chaplains' headquarters +for instruction and assignment. Our evening service was conducted in +front of the quaint, angular chateau on a level lawn surrounded by +straight rows of poplars. One evening Chaplain Paul Moody, of the Senior +Chaplain's office, gave us an inspirational appeal derived from his own +experience and his observation of so many successful chaplains at the +front. Afterward, informally, a Catholic told us briefly what we should +do in case we found a dying Catholic in the hospital or on the field, +with no priest at hand. Then I was asked how best the others might +minister to a Jewish soldier in extremity. I repeated to them the old +Hebrew confession of faith; _Shema Yisroel adonoi elohenu adonoi echod,_ +"Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One." I told them to +lead the boy in reciting it, or if necessary just to say it for him, and +the next morning when I brought down copies of the words for them all I +was deeply touched by their eagerness to know them. These men did not go +out to convert others to their own view of truth and life; they were +ready to serve pious souls and to bring God's presence near to all. +Christian ministers were eager to help Jews to be better Jews; rabbis +were glad to help Christians to be better Christians. We learned amid +the danger and the bitterness to serve God and man, not in opposition +and not even in toleration, but in true helpfulness toward one another. +I doubt whether these men, once so willing to serve men of all creeds at +the risk of their lives, are foremost in the ranks of Jewish +conversionists to-day. + +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 Forces, Bishop Charles H. Brent, +now the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York. +Bishop Brent utilized his great ability, his high spirituality and his +personal acquaintance with the Commander-in-Chief all for the welfare of +the men in the service. Assiduous in his personal devotions, definite in +his personal preaching, when he turned to his duties as Senior Chaplain +he simply forgot his own affiliations in the interest of all religions +alike. Catholic and Protestant had equal faith in the impartiality and +justice of his acts. He was especially careful in behalf of the Jewish +men because he knew that they were a minority and might otherwise be +neglected. The official orders and the detailed arrangements for the +various holydays were a serious consideration with him. His spirit +animated his entire staff. Chaplain Voorsanger felt it from the outset. +Chaplain Paul D. Moody, Bishop Brent's assistant in the chaplains' +office at General Headquarters, was animated by it equally with his +chief. Chaplain Moody, a son of the great evangelist and now in one of +the important Presbyterian churches in New York City, was fond of +telling how the various commanding officers would often greet him as +"Father" or "Bishop." + +It is hardly surprising that such cooeperation strengthened men in +loyalty to their own faith. As the soldiers saw the military rank of all +the chaplains and their influence everywhere in the interests of the +men, as they saw men of other faiths coming to their chaplain because of +his loved personality or his high standing, as they saw the official +bulletins announcing religious services of different faiths at different +hours but under the same auspices, they grew to respect themselves and +their own faith a little more. A young man is likely to be defiant or +apologetic about being religious unless he sees religion, including +_his_ religion, respected by his comrades and his commanding officers. +Therefore this mutual service, instead of weakening the religious +consciousness of the various groups, rather strengthened it. Men grew to +respect themselves more as they respected others more; they became +stronger in their own faith as they became more understanding of others. +The five chaplains at the burial detail did not give up their own ideas, +but they did learn more about the others' faiths, and they certainly +learned to respect each other profoundly as workers, as ministers and as +men. Thus our mutual friendship and our mutual help became the +foundation of all our efforts for the men, religious, personal and +military. We did our work together as parts of one church, the United +States Army. + +This situation was brought out in strong relief for me when I met in Le +Mans a young French priest, who had served as chaplain in an army +hospital through most of the war. He was overcome with astonishment when +I told him that, while the majority of the men in our army were +Protestant, the Senior Chaplain of the area at that time was a Catholic +priest. I had to go into considerable detail, explaining that in some +organizations the head was a Protestant, and in one division a Jew. +Finally he grasped it, with the remark, "_C'est la liberte_." As a +Frenchman it was hard for him to understand the kind of religious +liberty which means cooeperation and friendship. In France religious +liberty is based on hostility and intolerance of religion. Religious +liberty there means liberty for the irreligious and consequent +limitation of the liberty of the religious. On the other hand, religion +there has meant historically, the domination of one religion and the +curtailment of liberty. It is a peculiar view, which is paralleled among +French Jewry also. Active and interested Jews have little interest in +modernism, even in modern methods of religious education; French Jews +who are interested in the world to-day have little interest in Judaism. + +We who served together in the United States Army have a different ideal. +We think of a religion which gives equal freedom to all other types of +piety, which works equally with men of every faith in the double cause +of country and morality, which does not give up its own high faith but +sees equally the common weal of all humanity, to be served by men of +many faiths. We have fixed our gaze upon religion in action, and have +found that the things which divide us are chiefly matters of theory, +which do not impede our working effectively together. 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 America, to give us not merely religious toleration, but +religious helpfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RELIGION OF THE JEWISH SOLDIER + + +Much has been written of the soldier's religion, most of it consisting +of theoretical treatises of how the soldier ought to feel and act, +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 trenches. The soldier himself was +inarticulate on the subject of his own soul and only the soldier really +knew. Here and there one finds a genuine human document, like Donald +Hankey's "Student in Arms," which gave the average reaction of a +thinking man subjected to the trials and indignities of the private +soldier in war-time, in words far above those the average soldier could +have used. Theorizing about the soldier was worse than useless; it often +brought results so directly opposite to the facts that the soldier +himself would have been immensely amused to see them. + +As a matter of fact, the soldier had the average mind and faith of the +young American, with its grave lapses and its profound sources of power. +He was characterized by inquiry rather than certainty, by desire rather +than belief. His mind was restless, keen, eager; it had little +background or stability. It was dominated by the mind of the mass, so +that educated men had identical habits of mind with the ignorant on +problems of army life. The moral standards of the soldier were a direct +outgrowth of the morals of sport and business rather than those of the +church. He had a sense of fair play, of dealing with men as men, but no +feeling whatever of divine commandments or of universal law. + +A significant incident, bringing out the peculiar ideals of the soldier, +is related by Judge Ben Lindsey in his book, "The Doughboy's Religion." +He tells how a number of Y. M. C. A. secretaries conducted +questionnaires at various times as to what three sins the soldiers +considered most serious and what three virtues the most important, +hoping to elicit a reply that the most reprehensible sins were drink, +gambling and sexual vice. But hardly a soldier mentioned these three. +The men were practically unanimous in selecting as the most grievous +sin, cowardice and the greatest virtue, courage; as second, selfishness +and its correlative virtue, self-sacrifice; and as third, pride, the +holier-than-thou attitude, with its virtue, modesty. The result, to one +who knew the soldier, would have been a foregone conclusion. + +The soldier was honest, he gave no cut-and-dried answers but his own +full opinion, based upon the circumstances of his own life. At the front +courage is actually the most important attribute of manhood and +cowardice the unforgivable sin. One coward can at any moment imperil the +lives of his entire unit by crying out in surprise on a night patrol, by +deserting his post as sentinel or gas guard, by infecting with the +spirit of panic the weaker men who follow any contagious example. +Selfishness likewise was more than serious; it was vital. The selfish +man was one who ate more than his share of the scanty rations on the +march, who did not carry his full pack but had to be helped by others, +who was first in line at the canteen but last to volunteer for +disagreeable duty. Pride, on the other hand, was not dangerous but +merely irritating in the extreme to an army of civilians, of Americans +with the spirit of equal citizens, who felt that they were doing +everything for their country and resented equally the autocratic and the +patronizing manner. Besides the soldier saw examples of these his +highest virtues about him constantly. Courage became a commonplace; +self-sacrifice an everyday matter. Officers often shared the discomforts +and exceeded the dangers of their men. When one reads the accounts of +citations for the D. S. C. and Medal of Honor, one wonders that human +beings could do such things. And when we who were at the front recall +the utter democracy of those days, how salutes and formality of every +kind were forgotten while only leadership based on personality could +prevail, 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 +sinner. + +As to religious tendencies, the soldier had, first and foremost, hope. +He looked forward to better things both for himself and for the world. +He had the religious longing and the religious certainty that the future +will witness the dawning of a better day. He had a vast respect for +manhood, though his democracy did not go so far as to include other +nations, whom he very largely despised on account of their "queerness" +and his own ignorance. He had an abiding hatred for anything which +smacked in the slightest degree of hypocrisy or "bluff." I mention this +in my next chapter in connection with preaching to soldiers, but +preaching was not the only field in which it applied. The soldier laid +an inordinate value upon personal participation in front line work, +ignoring the orders which necessarily kept the major part of the A. E. +F. in back area work, in supply, repair, or training duty. I know of one +chaplain, for example, who joined a famous fighting division shortly +after the armistice, through no fault of his own but because he had been +previously detailed to other duty, 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 were. Of course, +this worked favorably for those of us whom the boys had personally seen +under fire at the first aid post or in the trenches. + +This very respect for deeds and suspicion of words, especially of polite +or eloquent words, made for suspicion of the churches and churchmen. We +had so pitifully few chaplains to a division, and some of them were +necessarily assigned to hospitals in the rear. Only here and there did a +Y. M. C. A. or K. of C. secretary go with the men under fire. True, they +had nothing to do there, as there was no canteen or entertainment hut at +the front; true, strict orders forbade their entering certain territory +or going over the top. The soldier asked not of orders or duties; he +knew only that this man, who in many cases seemed to consider himself +superior, who preached and taught and organized, had not slept night +after night in the rain, had not fallen prone in the mud to dodge the +flying missiles, 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 fare. + +Therefore the soldier cared little for creeds of any kind. 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 him. The +soldier needed religion; he wanted God; he cared very little for +churches, creeds or churchmen. + +In most characteristics the Jewish soldier was one with his Christian +brothers. He differed only in those special facts or ideas which showed +a different home environment or a different tradition. For example, the +usual Christian minister used the word, "atonement" with a special +meaning which was understood, if not accepted, by every Christian +present, but which meant nothing whatever to the Jew, except through the +very different association with the Day of Atonement. So any analysis of +the religion of the Christian soldier would begin with his attitude +toward the atonement, but with the Jewish soldier this must be +omitted--he had no attitude at all. 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 +religion; the difference was largely that of the religion which they +considered rather than of the men themselves. + +Of course, it was hard to be a good Jew in the army. The dietary laws +were impossible of fulfillment, and the Talmudic permission to violate +them in case of warfare meant less to the average soldier than the fact +that he was breaking them. The Sabbath could not be kept at all, even in +rest areas where there was no immediate danger to life. No soldier could +disobey an order to work on the Sabbath; if the work was there, the +soldier had to do it. In many ways Judaism was difficult and +Christianity just as difficult. For example, I know of one division +where the Passover service was held under difficulties, as the unit was +about to move, and where the Easter service had the same handicap, as +the men had just finished moving and were not yet established in their +new quarters. Most of the obstacles to religious observance were common +to all religions. + +A few Jews denied or concealed their religion in the army as elsewhere. +Some few enlisted under assumed names; a number denied their Judaism and +avoided association with Jews, perhaps fearing the anti-Semitism which +they had heard was rife in military circles. Their fear was groundless +and their deception, as a rule, deceived nobody. The American army as it +was organized during the war had no place for prejudice of any kind. +Efficiency was the watchword; the best man was almost invariably +promoted; in all my experience abroad I have never seen a clear case of +anti-Semitism among higher officers and only seldom in the ranks. +Occasionally also I met the type of Jew who admitted his origin but had +no interest in his religion. Such a one--a lieutenant--who was known as +a friend of the enlisted men generally and especially of the Jewish +ones, assisted me greatly in arranging for the services for the fall +holydays, but did not attend those services himself. He represented the +type now fortunately becoming rarer in our colleges, the men who have +too much pride to deny their origin but too little Jewish knowledge to +benefit by it. It is noteworthy that this particular man was stationed +in the S. O. S. and had at that time never been at the front. Most men +turn toward religion under the stress of battle; those who have never +been in battle presented in certain ways a civilian frame of mind. + +Most of the Jews in the army were orthodox in background, rather than +either reform or radical. Perhaps the orthodox did not have the +numerical superiority they seemed to possess; in that case I saw them as +the most interested group, the ones who came most gladly to meet the +chaplain. Not that the other two groups were lacking in this army, which +took in practically all the men of twenty-one to thirty-one years in +America. The dominating group, however, was orthodox in background, +though most of them were not orthodox in conviction. Causes are not far +to seek--they had never studied orthodoxy; they were young men and had +few settled religious convictions; they were in the midst of a modern +world where other doctrines were more attractive. The fact is that their +convictions were usually directed toward Zionism rather than toward one +or another form of Judaism itself. Again, they were without reasons for +their interest. Zionism appealed to them simply as a bold, manly, Jewish +ideal; they did not enter into questions either of practicability or of +desirability. In other words, they were young men, not especially +thoughtful, who were interested in Jewish questions only as one of many +phases of their lives. They had their own trend, but were glad to accept +leadership of a certain type, adapted to their own lives and problems. + +All these Jewish soldiers welcomed a Jewish chaplain. The Catholics and +Protestants had chaplains, and all Jews except the negligible few who +denied their faith were very glad to be represented also, 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 religions. Most of the Jewish soldiers had personal +reasons also to greet a chaplain. In many of the occasions, small and +great, when a Jewish soldier desired advice, aid or friendship, he +preferred a Jewish chaplain to any other person. As a chaplain he had +the influence to take up a case anywhere and the information as to +procedure, while only a Jew can feel and respond to the special +circumstances of the Jewish men. On the other hand, not all Jewish +soldiers were eager to welcome the Jewish Welfare Board although they +all liked it after it had arrived and made good. Some were afraid of any +distinction in these semi-military welfare organizations, feeling that +the two already in the field, the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C., were quite +adequate. The Jewish Welfare Board, however, 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 results. As always among Jews, who lay great emphasis on non-Jewish +opinion, one of the chief causes of the popularity among Jews of Jewish +war work was its popularity among Christians. When a Jewish boy found +his building overcrowded by non-Jews, when he had to come early to get a +seat at the picture show among all the Baptists and Catholics, when he +saw Christian boys writing to their parents on J. W. B. stationery, he +thought more of himself and his own organization. This same fact refuted +the argument against segregation; men of all faiths used the J. W. B. +huts, just as they did those of the other welfare organizations. They +were one more facility for men of every religion, even though organized +by Jews and conducted from a Jewish point of view. + +In their religious services, as in most other things, the Jewish boys +liked practices which reminded them of home. Just as many of them +enjoyed a Yiddish story at an occasional literary evening, so they all +appreciated the traditional Seder at Passover more than all the shows +and entertainments which were provided at the Passover leave. They +preferred to have many of the prayers in Hebrew, even though I seldom +had a Jewish congregation in the army in which more than one third of +the men understood the Hebrew prayers. They liked the home-like and +familiar tone of the Jewish service on both Sabbaths and festivals. They +preferred to wear their caps at service and to carry out the traditional +custom in all minor matters. + +But at the same time they had no objection to changes in traditional +practice. The abbreviated prayerbook of the Jewish Welfare Board was +much appreciated, even though one or two of the boys would state proudly +that they had also a special festival prayerbook. The short service was +practical and the boys therefore preferred it to the longer one of the +synagogue. They understood that, with the large number of non-Jews at +our services and the usual majority of Jews who could not read Hebrew, +it was necessary to read part of the prayers in English. They liked an +English sermon, too, although the chaplain skilled in army methods +always gave a very informal talk, far from the formal sermon of the +synagogue. And when interested they asked questions, often interrupting +the even flow of the sermon but assisting the rabbi and congregation to +an understanding of the problem at issue. + +One of the chief characteristics of an army congregation was its +constant desire to participate in the service. The soldiers liked +responsive readings; they preferred sermons with the open forum method; +they were ready to volunteer to usher, to announce the service +throughout the unit, or for any job from moving chairs to chanting the +service. At the Passover services at Le Mans, we had all the volunteers +necessary among the crowd for everything from "K. P." (kitchen police) +to assist in preparing the dinner to an excellent reader for the +prophetic portion. The services meant more to the soldiers as they +became their own. + +Another characteristic of services in the army was the large number of +non-Jews attending them. I have come to a Y. M. C. A. on a Sunday +morning directly after the Protestant chaplain, when most of his +congregation joined me, and my group in consequence was nine-tenths +non-Jewish. At first this factor was a source of embarrassment to many +of the Jewish men. They came to me beforehand to whisper that a few +non-Jews were present, but I took it as a matter of course, having +learned my lesson with my first service in France. 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 own. When Jewish services often have from ten to eighty per cent. +of non-Jews in attendance, the Jewish soldiers are doubly glad to have a +partially English service and a sermon. They want the Christians to +respect their religion as they do their own, an end usually very easy of +attainment. And while a few Jews would have preferred to drop the +special Jewish characteristics of our service, I have never heard a +critical word from a Christian about our wearing our hats, our Hebrew +prayers, and the rest. Often, in fact, I have had to answer respectful +questions, giving the sort of information which broadens both sides and +makes for general tolerance. + +At the front, even the most thoughtless desired some sort of a personal +religion. In the midst of the constant danger to life and limb, seeing +their comrades about them dead and wounded, with life reduced to the +minimum of necessities and the few elemental problems, men were forced +to think of the realities of life and death. With these eternal +questions forced upon them, the great majority must always turn to +religion. The men _prayed_ at the front. They wanted safety and they +felt the need of God. 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 lives. 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 Lane. The impressions +of the conflict had not yet worn off. The men were, in a way, uplifted +by their terrific experiences. And the words they spoke there of their +fallen comrades were infinitely touching. 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 custom. + +But with all this deep yearning for personal religion, the men adopted +fatalism as their prevalent philosophy. For one thing, it seemed to +answer the immediate facts the best. When five men are together in a +shell hole and a bursting shell kills three of them and leaves the two +unharmed, all our theories seem worthless. When one man, volunteering +for a dangerous duty, comes back only slightly gassed, while another +left at headquarters is killed at his dinner by long distance fire, men +wonder. And when they must face conditions like this day after day, +never knowing their own fate from minute to minute, only sure that they +are certain to be killed if they stay at the front long enough, they +become fatalists sooner or later. As the soldiers used to say, "If my +number isn't on that shell, it won't get me." I argued against fatalism +many times with the soldiers, 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 menace, and +I fear that--with proper philosophic qualifications--for the time being, +I was as much of a fatalist as the rest. + +At the rear the personal need for religion was less in evidence. The +men who had gone through the fire were not untouched by the flame, and +gave some evidence of it from time to time. The men who had not been at +the front, who comprised the majority in back areas, had no touch of +that feeling. They all shared in the yearning for home and the things of +home and for Judaism as the religion of home, for the traditional +service of the festivals, for the friendship, ministrations and +assistance of the chaplain. Judaism meant more to them in a strange +land, amid an alien people, living the hard and unlovely life of the +common soldier, than it ever did at home when the schul was just around +the corner and the careless youth had seldom entered it. The lonely +soldier longed for Judaism as the religion of home just as under fire he +longed for comfort from the living God. And the military approval of all +religions on the same plane, the recognition by the non-Jewish +authorities of his festivals and his services, 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 religion. Thus Judaism as an +institution, as the religion of home, had a great place in the heart of +the soldier in France. + +Some of the men, especially at the first, felt that they were being +neglected by the Jews of America, that our effort was not commensurate +with that which the Christian denominations were making to care for the +soldiers of their faiths. We must admit sadly that they had some +justification for such a view. Our representatives arrived in France +late though not at all too late for splendid results. American Jewry was +almost criminally slow in caring for our hundred thousand boys in +service abroad. A few of the soldiers carried this complaint even to +the point of bitterness and estrangement from Judaism. Here and there I +met an enlisted man who challenged Jewry as negligent. Usually these +were not our most loyal or interested Jews, but they were Jews and +should not have been neglected. 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 up. Most of the men, however, were eager to forgive as in a +family quarrel as soon as our welfare workers arrived in France and +showed immediate accomplishment. + +Our Jewish boys came back from overseas with certain new knowledge of +life and new valuation of their religion. Beginning merely as average +young men in their twenties, they acquired the need and appreciation of +their ancestral faith, though not in a conventional sense. They are not +to-day reform Jews in the sense of adherents of a reform theology; +neither are they orthodox in the sense of complete and consistent +observance. They have felt the reality of certain truths in Judaism, the +comfort it brings to the dying and the mourner, the touch of home when +one celebrates the festivals in a foreign land, the real value of Jewish +friends, a Jewish minister, a Jewish club to take the place of the home +they missed over there. That is, Judaism means more to them both as a +longing and an institution. + +But not all the things which we customarily associate with Judaism have +this appeal to them. Some seem to them matters of complete +indifference, and the usual emphasis on the wrong thing makes them feel +that the synagogue at home is out of sympathy with their new-found +yearning. If we give them what we consider good for them, they will take +nothing. If we give them what they want--the religion of God, of home, +of service--and with all three terms defined as they have seen and felt +them, then they will prove the great constructive force in the synagogue +of to-morrow. The Jewish soldier had religion; if he was at the front, +he has had the personal desire for God; in any case he has felt the +longing for the religion of home. He was often proud of his fellow Jews, +sometimes of his Judaism. He did heroic acts gladly, feeling the added +impetus to do them because he must not disgrace the name of Jew. +_Kiddush ha Shem_, sanctification of the name of God, was the impelling +motive of many a wearer of the D. S. C., though he may never have heard +the term. 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 it, +and for whom those world-shaking events have become a part of their very +being. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PREACHING TO SOLDIERS + + +Preaching to soldiers, as I soon learned, was a very different thing +from addressing a civilian congregation. The very appearance of the +group and place was odd to a minister from civil life--young men in +olive drab, sitting on the rough benches of a welfare hut or grouped +about in a comfortable circle on the grass of a French pasture. The +group was homogeneous to an extent elsewhere impossible, as all were +men, all were young, and all were engaged in the same work and had the +same interests. The congregation and the preaching became specialized; +the work became narrower but more directly applicable to the individual +than in civil life. The soldiers had unusual experiences and interests +as their common background; their needs were different from those of any +group of civilians, in or out of a church or synagogue. They were +soldiers and had to be understood and approached as such. + +The circumstances of our services were never twice the same. I have led +groups in worship in huts of the Y. M. C. A., K. of C., and J. W. B.; in +chateaux, army offices, and barns; yes, and out of doors in the rain. I +have come to a Y. M. C. A. and found it full, taking my group for an +announced service to the stage and lowering the curtain for privacy. +Once, in a great brick building used by the "Y," I found the place +occupied by a miscellaneous crowd of a thousand men, reading, writing, +playing checkers, lined up at the canteen for candy and cigarettes. My +services had been announced and my fifty men were present, some of them +after a five-mile walk. The secretary in charge and I walked about to +find a vacant spot and finally found one, the prize ring. So I called +for attention, announced my service, and held it in the prize ring, with +my men seated on benches in the ring itself. The non-Jews near by +stopped their reading or writing to listen to the little sermon, so that +my actual audience was considerably larger than my group of worshipers. + +I remember one week-day evening when I came to a J. W. B. hut in a camp +near Le Mans for an announced service only to find the place packed to +the doors. On inquiry, for such a crowd was unprecedented in this +particular camp, I found that a minstrel show had been unexpectedly +obtained and was to run later in the evening. So, while the actors were +making up behind the curtain, I held forth in front, and when the show +was announced as ready, a couple of Irish soldiers and a Swede pushed to +one side and made a little room for me in the front row. + +This very informality and friendliness of spirit meant, first of all, +that one could not "preach" to soldiers in any case. They were +intolerant of preaching. They did not want to be preached to. They +wanted "straight goods, right from the shoulder." They wanted deeds more +than words, or at least words which were simple and direct, of the +force of deeds. One who knew soldiers had to _talk_ to them, not preach. +The more informal, the more direct, the more effective. A good sermon +would often miss fire completely before an audience of soldiers when a +good talk would wake them up and stir them. Informality, simplicity, +knowledge of the soldier and his needs were the best qualities with +which to approach the enlisted man, especially when he was or had been +in the actual fighting and thus acquired a new sense of perspective. The +strongest hatred of the fighting man was directed toward sham of +whatever type, and he exerted that prejudice without any fine sense of +discrimination against anything that seemed to him pretentious or +hollow. The danger of pretense or dishonesty in the trench or on a +patrol seemed to have entered into the whole mentality of the soldier. +He distrusted the brilliant orator, who found more difficulty in winning +him over than did the simpler and more direct type of speaker. He was +certain to prick the bubble of a poseur at once, and was more than +suspicious of anything which even hinted at pose or pretense. + +For one thing, the material had to be concrete, the sort of thing the +soldier knew. Jew and non-Jew were very nearly the same in the army, +with certain minor differences of background. And hardly ever did one +have an audience composed overwhelmingly of Jews; there was always a +large admixture of others in any army audience, even when a Jewish +service had been announced. Now, as to background and memories, our army +was too mixed to rely on them for much material. When the chaplain +spoke of home, the soldier might think of a tenement home or a +ranch-house or a mountaineer's cottage. Certainly, only a few would ever +have the same picture as the chaplain. When he spoke of foreigners, he +might be addressing a group composed largely of Poles, Italians and +Irish, who entertained very different ideas of what a foreigner might +be, but would all consider our old Southern population, white and black, +as foreign. + +The only common ground of all soldiers was the army. The men knew work, +discipline, war. They did not regard these things as an officer would, +and a wise preacher found out their attitude in detail whenever he +could. But this was concrete material, common to them all. They all +hated to be under authority, but had nevertheless learned the lesson of +discipline for practical purposes. They were fascinated by fighting, but +feared it and preferred it, on the whole, to the tedium of peace. They +found a greater monotony in army drill than in any other one thing in +the world. They were brave when occasion arose. They had seen their +friends drop dead at their side and had mourned and buried them. They +had seen comrades promoted, now by favoritism, now by ability, and held +a mixed feeling of ambition and of dislike for responsibility and the +drudgery of thinking for themselves. They had problems of conduct, +problems of morale, problems of vision, and they welcomed any discussion +of their own problems in their own language, while despising infinitely +the man who made a mistake in military terminology or showed lack of +knowledge of the army. Their knowledge and their interest was narrow +but keen, and one was compelled to meet the soldier on his own ground to +interest or influence him. + +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 vocabulary. Here again the +soldier proved a unique audience. With all his quickness to grasp an +idea, his lightning sense of humor, his immediate sense of reality and +recognition of fact, he had in many cases the vocabulary of a +ten-year-old child. Many of our soldiers were from the mine, the farm, +the sweatshop. Many of them learned English from the daily papers; many +from their semi-literate companions. A few hundred very simple English +words and plenty of army slang were the chief reliance of the preacher, +and other expressions had to be defined as one went along. 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 sympathy. + +Of course, the average soldier, Jew or non-Jew, had no homiletic +background; he was not a frequent listener to sermons in civil life. In +many cases the men admitted that they had never been in a church in +their lives. Many of the Jewish boys had not been to a synagogue for +years, and when they had gone many of them had attended an orthodox +service where they had not understood a single word of the Hebrew +service. Therefore the language of the Bible meant literally nothing to +them without paraphrasing, except where it came very close to modern +speech. Therefore also the cant phrases of the pulpit or of the public +speaker generally had no meaning whatever to their minds, favorable or +the reverse. They left the soldiers completely untouched. Thus the best +civilian sermon may have been meaningless to a group of soldiers, while +a direct talk, even a sort of conversation with the audience, was of +real benefit to them. For there was no formality about an army audience. +If one made the mildest joke, the boys laughed out. If one "paused for a +reply," the reply was apt to come in loud and unmistakable tones. In a +talk to a group about to return home, for example, I remarked, "I +suppose you'll all reenlist in the National Guard when you get mustered +out," only to be greeted by an immediate chorus of groans. If the +soldiers were interested, they interrupted with questions; if +uninterested, they frankly got up and left the room. They gave more than +the cold decorum of a church; they gave a living response; they talked +with and thought with the preacher. But the type of decorum one found in +a church or temple was utterly beyond them. Their response was better, +but different in its very activity. + +Certainly, there were different audiences even among soldiers. I know of +one preacher who traveled about France with a great speech on courage +which fell utterly flat on a certain occasion. He had made the mistake +of speaking on courage to a group of men from the Service of Supply, +whose chief contribution to the war had been carrying cases of canned +salmon and repairing roads. A certain chaplain had a battalion of recent +immigrants mustered for a service before going into battle, only to be +privately cursed afterward in the five languages spoken by the boys he +had addressed. For he had made those boys give up their short period of +rest to talk to them of home and mother, to make them think of the dear +ones they were trying to forget, to put before them the one thought that +was most likely to unnerve them for the terrible task ahead! + +It was just as great a mistake to preach about sacrifice after a battle. +In battle sacrifice was the most common thing; ordinary men rose to +heights of heroism to save their "buddies" or to assist in the advance. +The high courage of self-sacrifice became familiar. Preaching +self-sacrifice to these men was useless--for Christian as well as Jew. +They had seen stretcher bearers shot down while carrying their precious +burdens to the rear. They had seen officers killed while getting their +men under shelter. They had seen the gas guard, as a part of his daily +duty, risk the most horrible of deaths in order to give the alarm for +his comrades. Such men responded to an appeal on the divine in man, on +the brotherhood of all those heroes about them, on Americanism, on a +hundred congenial themes; they did not see the cogency of an appeal to +sacrifice. + +The profound friendships and violent dislikes of the soldier have been +often noticed. His fidelity to his "buddy," to any popular officer, to +his company and regiment, stand out as part of his vigorous, boyish +outlook. On the other hand, a swiftly acquired prejudice would go with +him forever in the face of many facts and much argument to the +contrary. The relative standing of the Y. M. C. A. and the Salvation +Army among the men is a case in point. The Young Men's Christian +Association was by far the largest war work organization which worked +among the mass of the soldiers, as the Red Cross confined its activities +largely to hospitals and related fields. It was a wide-spread +organization, covering practically every unit and almost every type of +activity, religious, athletic, entertainment, canteen. But the soldier, +while using the Y. M. C. A., disliked it. The Salvation Army, a very +small organization in both amount and scope of work, which I never saw +in action because I did not happen to be in the limited sector it +covered, was, however, popular if only by hearsay in every part of the +great army. Now, the soldier had very real grievances against the "Y." +It charged him more for its tobacco than did the quartermaster's store; +it gave away very little, while other organizations, not burdened with +the canteen, gave away a great deal; it had a certain proportion of +misfits, men who did not belong in any military work, who considered +themselves better than the common soldier and did not share his trials +or his viewpoint. + +These facts were all explained later; some of them were inevitable. 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 been. The +canteen had been undertaken by the Y. M. C. A. at the request of the +army authorities, who desired to be relieved of the tremendous burden, +and its prices were determined by cost plus transportation, which latter +item was not included by the quartermaster's stores. The tremendous rush +of the last six months of the war made the task too great for any of +the organizations in the field, including sometimes even the +quartermaster's corps. But after the prejudice had been conceived it +could not be shaken. It persisted in spite of excuses, in spite of +remedies for some of the evils, in spite of the excellent work which the +Y. M. C. A. did in the leave areas. I have mentioned its activities in +Nice, Monte Carlo, and Grenoble, how it provided the enlisted man with +free entertainment,--excursions, dances and shows, during his entire +period on leave. This striking contribution to the morale and the +pleasure of the forces was almost overlooked in the general criticism. +On the other hand, nobody ever heard the enthusiastic doughboy mention a +mistake made by the more limited forces of the Salvation Army, which +therefore received more than adequate commendation for its really +effective work. + +A similar violent contrast existed in the soldier's attitude toward the +British and colonial soldiers, especially the Australians. The doughboy +liked the "Ausies"; he despised the "Tommie." The usual phrase was: "Oh, +well, the 'Tommies' are all right to hold the line, but it takes the +'Ausies' to make a push." This was strictly untrue, according to the +terrific fighting we ourselves witnessed on the British front. It was +simply that the Australians were all volunteers, young and dashing, like +the pioneers of the western plains, the precursors of our own men. They +were independent, lawless and aggressive. The British whom we knew were +the survivors of four years of warfare, veterans of many a campaign in +the field and siege in the hospital, or older men, the last draft of the +manhood of Great Britain. No wonder our boys liked the "Ausies" and +refused to see any good whatever in that very different species of men, +the "Tommies." + +So the soldier was an exacting but a grateful audience. He emphasized +deeds rather than words, and therefore he was much easier of approach +for his own chaplain, who was under the same regulations as he, who went +with him to the front and tended the wounded and the dead under fire, +than for the most eloquent or the most illustrious of civilian +preachers. He conceived violent likings and equally violent prejudices, +always based upon some sort of reason but usually carried beyond a +reasonable degree. He had to be approached on his own ground, with +material from his own experience, with language which he could +understand. And when that was done, he was the most thankful audience in +the world. He thought with the speaker, responded to him, aided him. As +an audience he was either the most friendly and helpful in the world or +the most disappointing. But that depended on the speaker and the +audience being in harmony, knowing and liking each other. A man who knew +and loved the soldier could work with him and help him in achieving +great results, for the American soldier, though the most terrible enemy, +was also the best friend in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MORALE AND MORALS + + +No thorough scientific study of the problem of morale has ever been +made, in either military or civilian life. Every one is familiar with +many of its manifestations, but very few have gone into their causes +except incidentally to the practical needs of the moment. That was the +case in the A. E. F., where both chaplains and line officers were deeply +concerned in the morale of our troops, at first as fighting forces and +after the armistice as citizens and representatives of America abroad. +We tried this and that expedient, some good and some bad. Often we +neglected the very act which was most essential. Often we did nothing +whatever until it was too late. Unit commanders, chaplains, and even G. +H. Q. were alike forced to employ empirical, trial-and-error methods +instead of a fundamental, scientific approach. 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 psychology, and that this same +ignorance is universal in civil life as well. 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 army. +This brief chapter is by no means intended to take the place of such a +scientific study; it may serve as material for one, and in addition may +provide certain facts of importance in themselves. + +Morale in the army represented two distinct problems, the front line and +the rear. The former demanded high tension, the necessity of unified and +instantaneous action. The latter demanded steadiness in daily duties, +training, drill and study, the same qualities needed by the worker in +civil life but under unusual circumstances. And between the two there +was a gap, because the let-down from the one type of morale might +result, not in the other type, but in no morale at all. The good soldier +in camp might be a very poor soldier at the front, where different +qualities were required; the man who would win his decoration at the +front for reckless bravery was often the worst soldier in camp, judging +by the number of punishments for the infraction of minor rules of +discipline. There is the case, for example, of the former gunman who won +his D. S. C. for the very qualities which had formerly sent him to +prison. Even the best of soldiers, at both front and rear, had to +withstand a serious mental shock when he passed from one of these +situations to the other, and especially when he retired into a rest area +after a hard spell in the trenches. + +In the American army front-line morale was by far the easier type to +maintain. In some other armies, I was told, the opposite was the case, +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 +soldier. His is the dash, the courage, the spirit of "Let's go!"; he is +more likely to lack the sense of subordination, of instant obedience to +orders, which constitutes the first essential of a good soldier in the +rear. The object of morale at the front is action--instant, unified, +aggressive, with every nerve and muscle strained to the utmost toward +the one end. The means of this type of morale is confidence. The good +soldier thinks that he belongs to the best company in the best division +in any army in the world; that his officers are the ablest, his comrades +the most loyal, his own soldierly qualities at least on a par with the +best. Each division was firmly convinced that its own battles won the +war, while the others merely helped. None of them would give the French +and British credit for more than adequate assistance, ignoring +completely their years of struggle before we even entered the conflict. +But this sort of self-centered confidence was the characteristic of the +good soldier, the man who would follow his captain in any attack, +however desperate, who never looked whether his comrades were coming but +went ahead in calm certainty that they would be even with him. One hint +of wavering or doubt would break up this high steadiness of spirit, but +as long as it held the men who possessed it would fight on in the face +of seemingly insuperable difficulties. + +I have mentioned the situation of the 27th Division from October 17th to +21st, 1918, how they entered the attack with depleted numbers, tired in +body and mind, after insufficient rest and with no fresh replacements. +Day after day their dearest wish was that their relief might come and +they might enjoy the often promised rest. They had seen their comrades +killed and wounded until a regiment had only the normal number of men +to equip a company. Yet day after day the orders came for an advance, +and every day those tired boys advanced. They did what we all considered +impossible because they had the morale of good fighting men. They bore +the ever-present danger of bursting shells and the sniper's bullet with +boyish daring and constant success. They labored harder than any worker +in civilian life, sleeping in the rain, marching, carrying their heavy +rifles and packs made mercifully light for the occasion, digging in the +clinging clay of the Somme valley. This, too, they did not gladly, often +not willingly, but because it was part of the game, and they were good +sportsmen and would see it through. + +The peril to morale at the front was nerves. Although it may be hard to +conceive, the dashing, aggressive soldiers might fall before this +danger. Aggravated cases, true neuroses, we called "shell shock," +slighter ones, "nerves," but the two were the same. The constant noise, +exertion, hard work, loss of sleep, undernourishment, produced a +peculiar mental state. Above all, the high nervous tension which was +necessary for men to persist in these conditions had its dangers, too. +By reason of it the wounded were able to bear more than their ordinary +share of suffering, so that we saw constant examples of stoicism at the +front. But when the excitement and tension wore off its effect was lost, +and in base hospitals the soldiers were no better patients than young +men in civilian life. When overburdened nerves gave way, the soldier was +completely lost. A chaplain has told me of a long night spent with a +patrol in front of the lines, not talking with the men but instead +trying to hold the top sergeant to his post. The sergeant was a fine +soldier, with a splendid record all through the Meuse-Argonne campaign, +but that night, in the long vigil, his nerves had given way and the big, +stolid soldier was trembling with fear. Only constant persuasion and the +threat of force held him to his duty, 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-com. in command failed +them. + +The soldier had a mixed feeling toward battle. The shock of conflict is +exciting and exerts a sort of fascination. But the excitement was short +while the danger was omnipresent and the work could never be escaped. +The soldier regarded war as a sort of deadly game, where the contest +called forth every energy and the stakes were life itself. But battle +contains another factor--a compound of work and discomfort. War is nine +parts sordid labor to one of glorious action. It was mixed with cooties, +mud, sleeping in the rain, marching all night and lying down under +artillery fire. It included digging, and the soldier found no more +romance in digging in at the front than in digging a ditch at home, +except that under fire he dug considerably faster. War involved carrying +a pack, and that became speedily the pet hatred of the enlisted man. As +the prisoner dreads the cell in which he is confined, so the infantryman +feels toward his pack clinging with its eighty-odd pounds as he trudges +along the weary roads. War is a glorious memory now, but it was neither +glorious nor pleasant to live through. + +When the troops retired for rest and training, the problem of morale +became reversed at once. Now it became a matter of discipline and drill. +Instead of danger and discomfort, our trials were work and monotony. A +high type of morale in the rear meant that the men were not absent +without leave, that they worked hard at their drill and became automatic +in its motions, that they obeyed every rule of discipline, large and +small. Saluting, for example, was very important at the rear; we never +once thought of it at the front. This regime was not always easy, though +at first we could hold out the object of winning the war, as in the +pamphlet on sex education, "Fit to Fight." After the war was over that +object no longer remained. But the hard work remained, the kitchen +police, the cleaning up of quarters, the carrying of the pack, the +incessant drill. "Squads east and west," when the fighting was at an end +and there was no direct use for maneuvers, seemed to the soldiers simply +made work. In fact, 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 mischief. + +The peril of this situation was obvious. It was that the tedium might +grow too great and the men yield to the temptations of drink, gambling +and vice. These would result in disorder, insubordination, time lost +from duty, venereal disease,--any number of possible evils. They would +demoralize a unit at the rear as readily as nerves would demoralize it +at the front. Sexual vice and sexual disease, while statistically not so +great in the army as among the same age groups in civil life, was still +serious. The different social system of France put temptation directly +in the way; prostitution was open and licensed, and the women of the +streets quick to accost the wealthy foreigners, whose dollar a day was +so much greater than the pay of the French soldier. At the same time, +the French girls of good family did not meet strange soldiers, dance +with them, talk to them, as was done in the States. 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 +home. Courteous in showing the stranger his way or telling him the time +of day, 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 soldiers. At home the soldier had been +lionized from the time of his enlistment until his leaving for overseas. +He had been entertained, fed, provided with dances, shows and automobile +rides. The daughters of rich and cultivated families tended canteen or +danced with the soldiers. But in France the daughter of a good family +went out only with a man she knew, and then strictly chaperoned. Even +when she knew a man personally, a respectable girl would hardly think of +walking down the street with him. + +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 generally. I remember an argument with one of the boys +who had just stated that all French girls were careless in their morals. +When pinned down to particulars, he admitted that he had met exactly +three French girls beside those who had accosted him on the street. Two +had been sisters, at whose home a friend of his had been billeted, and +when he and his friend had wanted to take them to an army vaudeville +their mother had gone along. The third was the daughter of my landlady +at Montfort, a fine rounded peasant type. On this scanty basis he had +formed his typical opinions. + +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 entirely. Unfortunately, this was never +accomplished. Lectures, severe penalties for disease "incurred not in +line of duty," and liberal provision for "early treatment" all together +did not work the miracle. The prophylactic stations for so-called "early +treatment" directly after exposure were patronized by a number of men, +but never by a very large proportion of the number who were certainly +exposed. The venereal hospitals where sufferers underwent both treatment +and punishment had their full quota from every division which remained +long in back areas, and most divisions left behind as many as two +hundred and fifty men for further treatment after the thorough +inspections preceding their departure for home. + +Drink was a less serious, though more prevalent danger. The law had +prevented men in uniform from drinking in the United States; in France +it forbade only their use of spirituous liquors, and even those were +often available. So there was a good deal of beer and wine drinking, and +some of cognac. The last was apt to result in drunkenness and disorder, +but our military authorities had always the power to declare certain +cafes, which had violated regulations, "out of bounds" for Americans, +and as a last resort the French police would close such a place +altogether. Gambling was the most prevalent vice of all, and one which +was never, to my knowledge, controlled anywhere. It lacked gravity in so +far as the soldiers had very little to gamble, and could incur no great +losses. But it was always an easy resort to break the monotony of army +life in training or rest areas, and always a menace to the type of +manhood which we wanted to see among our American fighting men. + +The reliance on penalties as the chief mode of controlling young +Americans was fundamentally unsound both in theory and practice. The +warnings against sexual vice lost half their effectiveness because they +were usually given by company officers, who emphasized the danger of +disease and the military penalties rather than the appeal of loyalty or +self-respect. Medical officers and chaplains were certainly better +equipped for such special work, although probably no human being and no +appeal can solve the entire problem. + +All these facts came slowly to the fore within the few months following +the armistice, and we were able to observe them very clearly in the 27th +Division while in the Montfort area. While we wintered there, from +November 1918 to February 1919, the morale of our troops, which had +never weakened at the front even under the most terrible conditions, +went down steadily during those three weary months. For one thing, we +were constantly expecting orders to leave for home and constantly +disappointed. We were inspected and reinspected, drilled and drilled +again. Warned not to begin an elaborate program of athletics, education +or amusement, we worked from week to week and never instituted one-third +of the work which we had planned and ready. Meanwhile there was the cafe +and the danger of vice and drink, so the men were kept drilling through +the winter rains to keep them busy during the day and make them tired at +night. This attempt was neither humane nor possible and had only the +worst effects. + +The failure with our division brought the possibility of a constructive +program before the higher command of the army, which inaugurated one +just about the time our division left the area. Large schools were +started in each permanent division in the district, giving both common +school and technical branches, with the army university at Beaune as the +head of the educational structure. Such a school was established in the +Forwarding Camp, near Le Mans, where I saw it in busy operation. +Athletic meets were arranged in each division, with larger ones at Le +Mans and other central points for the best men in the separate units. +More welfare huts of different agencies were established, with more +canteen supplies from the States and more women workers for canteen +service and dances. Each division devoted more attention to its "shows," +usually a musical comedy troupe, with very clever female impersonators +to make up for the lack of chorus girls. Some of these shows had tours +arranged by the Y. M. C. A. or other agency, and a few of them even had +gala performances in Paris. Regular religious services and other +appointments with the chaplains were instituted and advertised, although +we had always done this for ourselves in our own units. Leave areas +were designated in the most beautiful sections of France, as well as +permission for a few furloughs in Italy and England. The _Stars and +Stripes_, always a valuable organ as the soldiers' newspaper, became the +constant instrument of propaganda to upbuild morale. Finally, the army +took over official control of education, entertainment and athletics +from the civilian agencies, designated a Welfare Officer to control them +all, and asked the agencies formerly in control to cooeperate with the +newly appointed officials. All these were steps in the right direction, +although at times such work was partially nullified by the choice of the +wrong man as Welfare Officer. This was a position which only a +professional educator could fill at all; even an expert could hardly +influence actively a hundred thousand minds at once. Hardly any +professional soldier, business man or engineer could have the breadth of +view and technical knowledge to approach them. Of course, when army +regulations prescribed a major for a particular position and only a +lieutenant was available with the proper training, an untrained major +was appointed and the lieutenant left in command of a platoon. +Promotions were naturally few after the armistice, and the table of +organization had to be complied with at all costs. + +The _Stars and Stripes_ demands a few words in itself, both because of +its excellent articles and cartoons and for its unique position as "the +soldiers' newspaper." It was a well-written weekly publication, which +could command the services of many of the best of the younger writers +and cartoonists in America. The knowledge that the _Stars and_ +_Stripes_ was semi-official, being published under military censorship, +made its news material very influential on morale. Men believed anything +they read there about the work of the various divisions, special +distinctions, or the date of the homeward troop movement. But that very +factor made the articles it published more or less suspected by the men. +They knew they were propaganda, written for the benefit of morale, and +they therefore read them, but derived much less effect from them than +would otherwise have been the case. Still the writers, themselves +soldiers, expressed the soldiers' view often enough and clearly enough +to lend some value even to the suspected material from General +Headquarters. + +After all, amusements, education and athletics were only palliatives in +a confessedly irksome situation. 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 +overworked. The essentials of morale were the elements which approached +the soldiers' welfare most nearly--food, pay, mail and daily military +routine. Army food was notoriously bad, army cooks famous for lack of +skill. Part of this, like other complaints, lay in the chronic grumbling +of the soldiers. Obviously, they did not receive the kind of meals that +"mother used to make" or the product of a famous hotel. The food itself +was usually of excellent quality but coarse, the menus well balanced but +monotonous. This last was the chief grievance and one that was largely +justified. Most of our food had to be brought overseas in cans, and it +took a skillful cook to disguise "corned willie," "monkeymeat" or +"goldfish" day in and day out. Yet corned beef, stew and salmon, to use +their civilian names, were staples in the army diet. It became a +question among us officers whether we preferred to drink good coffee, +ruined by army cooks, or the excellently prepared chicory of the usual +French restaurant. I, for one, preferred the British ration as superior +in variety to that we received after we came into the American area, +although it was normally not as large in amount as the ration of the +American soldier. + +Pay and mail were notoriously unreliable in the A. E. F. Pay was regular +for officers, of course, who could swear to their own pay vouchers, but +not always for enlisted men, who required a service record to have their +names put on the pay roll. When a man is a patient in nine hospitals +within four months, we cannot expect his mail to follow him, nor his +service record to stay at hand. These grievances were later remedied, +the mail through the Main Post Office, the pay question by means of pay +books and supplementary service records. Still, 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 months, or to find a man who had been +shifted so often from one unit to another that his pay was six months in +arrears. When we remember the little money at hand for any purpose +whatever, when we bear in mind the loneliness of these boys so far from +home, loved ones, even from common sights and familiar speech, we can +imagine what a deprivation such troubles brought, and how deeply they +effected morale. Of course, as I have mentioned before, the soldier +never made allowances either for the difficulty of the task or the +comparative success with which it was accomplished. The soldier merely +suffered and complained. + +I shall never forget the incessant complaints about that very necessary +institution, the censorship of letters home. The last hope of the +soldier was for glory in the eyes of the people at home. At least he +would be a hero to them. But here the censor lifted his terrible shears. +Stories of heroism, true or false, could not be told. 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 +details. For many of the soldiers this was more than annoying; it was +serious. They were often not educated, had written perhaps three or four +letters in their lives, and could hardly face the task of writing a +second letter if the first was condemned. In any case no American wanted +to submit his personal letters for his wife or sweetheart to a superior +officer for approval. 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 port, and censorship became another +grievance to the enlisted man. + +Finally, the greatest factor in morale, good or bad, was that intangible +but very real entity, military discipline. The American boy hates to be +under authority; to ask for leave to speak to his captain; to request +permission to go for a few hours' leave after his day's duties are over; +to address an officer in the third person: "Is the captain feeling well +this morning, sir?" Most American officers were human enough, with +little of the class feeling of the British army. For that reason the +soldier rarely hated his own officers, and often was heard to boast of +"my lieutenant" or "my captain." The soldier merely hated authority in +general, as represented largely by the necessity to salute any unknown +officer whom he might meet. He never understood the lectures about the +manliness of saluting or its military necessity; he knew only that it +was the sign of authority, to which he was subjected. + +Perhaps that is the root of the whole matter of morale. A good soldier +at the rear was the man who sank his personality and became a unit in +the squad. If too strongly defined an individual, he was a marked man; +he became company clerk or kitchen police, according to his previous +education. The good soldier was the one who acted automatically on +receipt of orders, who saluted, said "Yes, sir," turned on his heel and +seemed at once to be very busy. Even if he had been an executive or a +lawyer in civil life, the constant drill made an automaton of the +enlisted man; he sank back into the mind of the crowd, adopted the usual +opinions in the usual words, and lost for the time being his +personality. Drill made for automatic physical reactions to a certain +set of commands and the temporary cessation of thought. In close-order +drill Tom Smith submerged his personality and became "Number Three in +the rear rank." He learned to swing about at the proper moment, +following the man ahead of him, to respond instantly to the word of +command without hesitating for its meaning, to stand and march and +salute and obey. That was good for the rear, but at the front we needed +Tom Smith again, and he might forget his place in the line, rush forward +on his own initiative and become a hero. The finest acts were those of +individuals acting without orders, the private forming a stretcher party +of volunteers to go out for the wounded, the corporal reforming the +platoon when all the sergeants were disabled and leading them forward. +Then in the long period after the war Tom Smith had to be lost, for +Number Three in the rear ranks was needed again. + +The soldier lived in utter ignorance, not only of general events in the +world and the army, but even of the things which would affect himself +most closely. The enlisted man never knew a day in advance when he would +be transferred to a different post or a different duty, when he would be +promoted or degraded in rank, when he was to attack the enemy or retire +for a rest. Even the things he saw became distorted. A doughboy remarked +to me just before the battle of the Selle River, "We're held up by a +little stream twenty feet wide, with Jerry on top of the railroad +embankment on the other side. If we can just get across that river and +up that embankment, we'll end the war right there." Of course, our +success three days later did not end the war; it was only part of a +tremendous program which the private soldier did not envisage at all. +The attack on the Selle River was but one of a half-dozen actions +carried on simultaneously in Flanders, on the Scheld, at Rheims, in the +Argonne and on the Meuse. Our attack was made easier because of these +others, and they in turn were successful because of ours. The three +hundred miles of battle-line were all one, and only the broadest +possible view could give any idea at all of the truth. + +The officer, especially when on the staff, saw things in relation, but +the soldier had to work in the dark. He never did understand the rules +of the great game he was playing. Tactics were nothing to him. He knew +only what it meant to march with a heavy pack all night, to rest in the +damp cold of dawn when he was too weary to rest at all, to advance under +fire and to dig in again and yet again. Much as he might later on revel +in the raw heroism of it all, this arduous labor, blindfolded, left him +a prey to doubt and rumor at the time. Rumors were one of the few foes +of morale which persisted at both front and rear, because they were the +product of ignorance and in both places ignorance persisted. No man can +be quite steady in his duty when his mind is distracted by the countless +rumors of army life. So far as we had information to dispense, we were +building up morale, even when the facts were not reassuring. Rumors +about going home, being the most desirable, were the greatest menace of +all. Men would come back from the hospital with half-healed wounds +because the rumor said we were going home at once, and they wanted to go +along. Men would take unofficial leave to see Paris before they died, +just because the latest rumor had it that we were not to leave for +another month. Every such disappointment or lapse of duty made the next +rumor more dangerous and wider spread. + +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 home, when it took an immediate upward bound. During the +downward trend of the curve, the men grew to hate the army. The definite +elements which they naturally resented were emphasized and exaggerated, +although that was hardly necessary. At the same time, they felt immense +pride in their own achievements, and a thorough contempt for +"joy-riders," as they termed the civilian travelers through France, the +official investigators or representatives of civilian organizations, who +witnessed the trenches as if on a sight-seeing party. This pride in +their actual accomplishments, combined with resentment at the military +subversion of ordinary civilian standards of life and manhood, was +characteristic of the best minds in the ranks. + +The military system is of necessity heteronomous, while democracy must +be autonomous. The very virtues of self-reliance, independence, +responsibility, which we most emphasize in civil life, were the ones +most actively discouraged among enlisted men. At the same time, the +moral influences put upon them were those of compulsion and restraint. +The regime for officers was radically different; it demanded +responsibility and removed much of the restraint. Hence the tendency of +the army system was to produce officers with adequate mental processes +and soldiers with automatic obedience to any kind of orders. The result, +not difficult to foresee, was that the officers had far better minds but +far poorer morals than the enlisted men. The officer was responsible for +himself; the enlisted man had a number of superiors responsible for +him. As a consequence the officer used his mind, the soldier stopped +using his. On the other hand, the officer often abused his larger +liberty, so that some of the officers of the A. E. F. 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 fought. + +The conspicuous difference was not the result of differences in the men +themselves, for we had no castes in the American army. Officers and men +came from the same stock and from every group. It was the direct +consequence of the different type of discipline and control to which +they were subjected. The best officers and the best men surmounted it; +the worst yielded; the average were affected more or less. + +Obviously, morale was a loose general term for many actual conditions. +It meant one thing at the front, another thing at the rear. It included +morals, although sometimes a high state of morale could exist together +with many lapses from the moral code. 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 intended. A study of morale gave insight +into many related factors, including that of morality. The young man, as +we saw him in the army, had a morality of his own, related closely to +sport and business, but to neither law nor religion. It is a moral +standard--we cannot possibly mistake that--the young man is not in his +own mind immoral. But it is a standard which makes much of friendship, +loyalty, fair play, something of honesty, nothing of the special code +which we usually call "morality." It allowed much laxity in sexual +relations; it laid no stress at all on obedience to military +regulations; it had hardly such a word as "duty." Religion to the +soldier meant habit, or sentiment, or fear, or longing; it did not mean +a code of morals. The attempt to build up a moral standard on a basis of +duty to one's country or to one's self was largely inadequate. Courage +the soldier recognized, and sincerity and self-sacrifice; he did not +know much of duty. This fact was both the cause and the result of +military discipline, which made duty an external matter of obedience to +a million trivial and arbitrary rules, rather than to a few definite and +outstanding principles. The young man has a morality of his own in civil +life; he had a slightly different, but related morality in the army. It +was not the conventional morality of society, which rests upon the +historical standards of the middle-aged. It was a type of morality which +we must learn to recognize and understand for both his benefit and that +of society as a whole. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE MORAL GAIN AND LOSS OF THE SOLDIER + + +The military system, as I have tried to bring out in the last chapter, +had a definite and profound influence on the life and thought of the +individual soldier. It was so radically different from civilian life +that this influence became all the more striking through contrast. The +young man has certain moral standards and habits in civil life, some of +which became intensified, while others altered in the army. The millions +of young men who went through the military regime during the war have +brought this influence back into civilian life with them, even though it +is attenuated by environment and although they have largely returned to +their former, pre-military habits. War and danger brought out certain +characteristics and occasioned others. These new reactions of character +were not, as the pacifists would have it, all bad; neither were they all +good, as was generally proclaimed in patriotic fashion while the war was +going on. Some influences were good and some were bad, while almost +every man in the service would necessarily respond to both kinds. 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 months. It may be worth while to develop +some of these at a little length, not scientifically nor +psychologically, but simply and directly as they strike the soldier +himself. + +We saw at the front, as the experience of other armies had indicated, +that the average man has in him the stuff of which heroes are made. Not +merely the farmer or backwoodsman, but the men who followed prosaic city +occupations, were ready to sacrifice themselves for their comrades and +their country. The barber and the shipping clerk were as frequent +winners of the D. S. C. as any others in our huge heterogeneous army. +Heroism was evoked by the need, by the fact that it was the expected +response, the response of thousands of others. The crowd mind produced +heroism out of the most unexpected material. War created some of the +heroism which we saw; it merely evoked some which was already latent, +ready for the call. The stretcher-bearer, exposing himself to the +severest fire to carry his precious burden to safety; the battalion +runner, bearing his message through the barrage and then coming back +again to bring the answer; the machine gunner, carrying his heavy weapon +on his back to an advanced position where he could establish it +effectively; the infantryman, advancing against machine-gun fire, or +digging in under attack from heavy artillery or aeroplanes; the +engineer, digging away debris or laying bridges in plain sight of the +enemy, with his rifle laid near by to use in case of an attack--I might +enumerate hundreds of such duties in which courage, loyalty, and +endurance were exhibited by men who performed exceptional acts of +bravery and devotion, volunteering for difficult service or carrying on +in the face of overwhelming odds. All soldiers were afraid, 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 +danger. + +We felt that travel, with its attendant contact with other customs, +language and people, would broaden our soldiers mentally and tend to +break down the provincialism which has been often noticed in America, as +well as in many other countries. Only a small minority of our men were +equipped, either in knowledge or in attitude, to take advantage of the +opportunities offered. Museums meant comparatively little to them, +mediaeval cathedrals not much more, Roman walls or ruins nothing at all. +Scenery did not mean as much as some of us thought it should, forgetting +that scenery looks entirely different to a man who rides past it and +another who walks through it. Altogether, knowledge of France, England +and Germany made, on the whole, not for a greater appreciation of +foreign lands, but instead for a great appreciation of America. + +The fact is that the boys grew homesick. Most of them were only boys in +years, and practically all of them were reduced to the boyish level of +thought by the general irresponsibility, thoughtlessness, and dependency +of army life. They were like boys in a military school, very often, +rather than men engaged in the grim business of modern war. To these +boys absence from home brought a higher appreciation of home. This was +often a true evaluation, in the face of previous neglect and +underestimation; sometimes it may have been a sentimentalizing of a home +that had never really meant very much. But in the danger, the monotony, +and the distance, the soldiers grew to higher appreciation of their own +homes and their home-land as well. + +Their complaints were often ridiculous enough. They objected to the +backwardness, the lack of sanitation, the absence of bathing facilities +in the French villages. These were true enough, as far as they went, +although I know personally that they can be matched in many details even +in prosperous and enlightened America. They objected to the French +climate, with the damp cold of its winters, not caring to remember that +certain parts of our own Pacific coast suffer from a rainy season, too. +This complaint becomes still more valueless when we remember how the +boys grumbled about the heat of the Texas border, in fact, how soldiers +not in action will always find a source of complaint in the weather, +whatever kind of weather it may be. As General O'Ryan remarked in his +famous definition of a soldier, "A soldier is a man who always wants to +be somewhere else than where he is." This restlessness accounts for some +of the complaints which we are apt to take a bit too seriously. A more +real complaint was the language difficulty. Soldier French was a +wonderful thing, consisting of the names of all ordinary things to eat +and drink, together with a few common expressions, such as "toute de +suite" (always pronounced "toot sweet"), and "combien." This prevented +easy communication, even with such French people as were encountered. +Few of the soldiers had any opportunity to use even their little French +on respectable, middle-class French families, especially not on young +men or girls. All these grievances, real and fancied, put the soldier +out of ease in France and made him appreciate America so much the +better. The sacrifices they were making for America, the service they +were rendering her, united with the home-sickness of a stranger in a +strange land to increase the devotion and respect of Americans for +America. + +I need not refer especially to the rather mixed gain in religious +attitude, as I have already devoted a chapter to that subject. I must, +however, repeat one point I mentioned there, the meanings of physical +sacrifice as these men saw it and practised it in the army. It was the +outcome of their courage, their dash, their enthusiasm, that when the +time of stress came ordinary men offered their lives for their friends +and their country. The soldier at the front equaled or exceeded the +forgetfulness of self of the fireman or the life-saver in time of peace. +This lesson of self-forgetfulness, of self-sacrifice, was one of the +great impressions made by the war upon the best men it influenced, and +one which touched in its way even the most thoughtless and careless of +all the soldiers who had their hour at the front. + +This brought out the group solidarity of the American army in stronger +relief. The fine thing about morale at the front, as I have outlined it, +was the mutual confidence which it called out in every breast. The pride +in his own company, his regiment, his division, in the American army as +a whole, which held a man to his duty under fire and impelled him to +resist the almost overwhelming influence of a sudden attack of panic, +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 +war. Pride in one's division meant also pride in one's state; pride in +the United States Army meant pride in the United States. Self-sacrifice, +devotion, heroism,--all these were profound lessons for any man, young +or old, a lesson which American democracy can profitably utilize in the +daily humdrum of American life. + +It was surprising how constantly our expectations were disappointed by +the actual facts of the men in the service. Most books and articles +since the war and all of those before the war were written on a +theoretical basis, and every one approached the facts with a theoretical +view. But the theory was proved wrong in so many instances that I am +making the present study entirely empirical, leaving theory out +altogether as more of a pitfall than an advantage. For one thing, I had +expected war to exert a directly brutalizing influence on the soldier. +This was never evident at all except in the actual stress of battle when +killing was a daily necessity, and human life, although the most +valuable asset of the contending forces, was still held cheaply enough +to be used up at a terrific rate. Men could not stop there to pity every +corpse; they had to save their own lives and at the same time to win the +war. But the effect wore off quickly; probably it left no result at all +except on men with a previous tendency to brutality or crime. I remember +the thrill of horror which went through Le Mans and the entire A. E. F. +in April 1919, when a railroad accident occurred near our post and a +group of soldiers and sailors on furlough were injured, some of them +fatally. We forgot all about the fact that these men had risked death in +entering the service, that the few of them in this accident were the +smallest fraction of a day's toll at the front if the war had continued. +We melted in sympathy, and the French population of Le Mans did the +same. + +The men were not brutalized, contrary to expectation. Human life was +held cheaply under exceptional circumstances and evidently the men felt +that they were exceptional. But the men did become accustomed to the use +of firearms, and those already brutalized were given the knowledge and +the means for crimes of violence. The carelessness with which men used +and flung about all kinds of deadly weapons shocked those of us with a +sense of responsibility; it was part of their boyish heedlessness in the +midst of the fierce game they were playing. They threw their discarded +rifles in a heap by the first-aid post when they went back to hospital; +they even played catch with hand-grenades, sometimes with most serious +results. Once I met a pair of Australians out hunting rabbits with their +high-powered rifles, in a place where hundreds of men were passing +hourly by the much-traveled road. When I remonstrated with them, they +only replied, "Oh, well, we haven't anything else to do. And we know how +to shoot without hurting anybody." + +But with all these real character acquisitions on the part of the men in +the service, and with the lack of that brutalizing which many theorists +had feared, at the same time certain moral losses were occasioned by the +military system. I shall not enter into the question of sexual morality +here, partly because I have discussed it in the previous chapter, and +partly because it was not distinctly the product of the army. The sexual +standards of the young men in the army were much the same as those of +young men everywhere, with some modifications through discipline. But to +the man who has served in any army at any time, the outstanding moral +weakness of the soldier is his entire disregard of the rights of +property. The sense of property, so strong in civilian life, which is +implanted so carefully into the little child, seems lost in the first +month of a man's army life. One brigade headquarters I knew in France +was established in a fine chateau, with large grounds surrounded by a +high wooden fence. At the same time, the men of the nearest unit were +living in barns and attics, with no light or heat of any kind in their +quarters. The result was that the fence disappeared, little by little. +Nobody ever saw the culprits, but I had reliable information that the +men billeted in that village had all the heat they needed. When we left +the area, about half the fence was gone, and I have little doubt it +vanished entirely during the occupancy of the next division. + +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 dark. Of course, lamps were scarce, having to be +shipped from the States, and the thief undoubtedly drove an army car +like ours. 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 lights. I tried to make him return them, but +for once he proved insubordinate. It was only another army car; the +other fellow had probably got them the same way; he could not identify +the car, anyway. Then came the finishing stroke when we tried the +lights and found them burned out! The other driver had left them in as a +blind. My driver felt a sense of personal injury, as though he had been +directly cheated in a legitimate business deal. And practically any +soldier would have agreed with him. + +The men "found" whatever they needed if it was not issued to them +properly, because property had no meaning to them in the army. They +owned nothing whatever; even their clothes, food and lodging belonged to +Uncle Sam. When their clothes wore out, they were replaced; when the +company's weekly supply of food was eaten up, more was forthcoming. +Rifles fallen into disrepair were exchanged for good ones; shoes were +sent to the salvage depot to be repaired and then issued to another man. +Equipment lost at the front or in the hospital was reissued without +question. Therefore the enlisted man felt a community sense of ownership +rather than a personal one. At the same time, he was constantly in need +of one thing or another. He needed fire wood, as in the incident of the +fence, or automobile supplies, as with my driver. The legend even goes +that the Australians, famous in their ability to care for their own +units, have been known to take an entire field kitchen, with the food +still cooking, from a British unit and make a successful escape. 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 quarters. "What are you doing with +that?" I asked him. "Oh, I think we can use it," was his unembarrassed +answer. + +The soldier learned to disregard law, just as he learned to disregard +property. Discipline meant obedience to constant minute surveillance. It +meant getting up at reveille, rolling his blankets in just such a way, +reporting at roll call, lining up for mess, working at whatever menial +tasks he might be detailed to do by the sergeant, asking for a pass when +he wanted to go to the nearest city, submitting his mail to censorship, +getting a day off for sickness only after lining up for "sick call," and +finally going to bed at night as soon as the bugle sounded "taps." These +men were not trained soldiers, accustomed to such a system; they were +healthy American boys in whom this constant subjection to external +control meant the immediate seeds of revolt. Autonomy meant then the +evasion of the law. A man could assert his individuality only in such +ways as going absent without leave, wearing a serge uniform (not +regulation for private soldiers), or gambling away his last month's +scanty pay. Add to this his constant contact with officers, who, if they +had to bear a heavy burden of responsibility and were forced to pay for +all the things the enlisted man received for nothing, still were not +subject to many of the restrictions which he found most galling. The +test of manly independence came to be simply "getting away with it." If +a man was caught in an infraction of the rules he had to take his +punishment; if he was not detected or not convicted he was a successful +soldier. This applied, for example, to a trip to Paris, the golden +dream of every American soldier. For a long time this was strictly +forbidden, although later three-day leaves to Paris were allowed to a +certain number of men. Yet thousands of Americans saw the lovely and +forbidden city unofficially. They got leave to Versailles, and rode into +Paris daily by street car. They took the wrong train, ostensibly by +accident, and had to change trains at Paris, dropping out of sight for a +day or two meanwhile. They borrowed the travel orders of other men and +used them over, risking detection. Neither the extreme harshness of the +Paris military police nor the menace of their own angry captains could +keep them from the enticing adventure. It was their boyishness, combined +with their lack of respect for the law itself, that led them into such +devious modes of disobedience. "If you know how, you can get away with +murder," was the usual apology--further excuse was not needed. + +Among officers a similar tendency showed itself in a different way. The +officer was not limited in the most petty ways which irritated the men, +although he also could not take a trip to Paris without proper travel +orders and could not absent himself from duty without special +permission. But the officer likewise grew to disregard the law +essentially, even while he obeyed it most carefully in its minutiae. An +officer was bound by his signature on written documents. A request +coming from the sergeant had to be endorsed by the lieutenant, with his +reasons if he did not favor granting it. It would then pass on to the +captain, the major, the colonel, and if necessary also the brigadier and +the major general. Having passed through military channels for its +consideration, it came back again by the same route until it reached the +originator. This system made at once for diffusion of responsibility, +or, to use the familiar army term, "passing the buck." The first man who +approved the request had no responsibility, as it was approved likewise +by his superiors; the later endorsers had none, as they had signed it on +his recommendation, assuming his knowledge of the facts. Nobody could be +held responsible and every one was careful to evade responsibility +wherever he could. Naturally, this made for endless delays, for +complications interminable when a previous order had to be rescinded for +any reasons whatever, for evasion in case of difficulty or doubt. It +meant fundamentally the disregard of law, expressed by the soldier in +disobedience and by the officer in evasion. + +The military regime likewise tended to break down habits of regular +industry. 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 rear. It was a reversion to +the life of the savage, busy by spells at hunting or war, with rest and +languor between. The entire exhaustion, physical and mental, after a +"spell in the trenches" demanded complete relaxation afterward, while +there was always a little necessary work in the way of drill, +reequipment and inspection. After the war was over, the drill went on in +still larger doses but without the incentive of returning to the +trenches again afterward. This alternation of work and rest together +with the general rebellion against routine, broke down the habit of +consistent work which is built up with such effort and such inducements +in civil life. 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 +buy. But the soldiers, so boyish in their life and their feelings, had +few such inducements given them. 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 occupation. + +Exceptions existed, of course, to every generalization in this chapter, +as they do to any generalization of any kind. But the exceptions +speedily lifted themselves out of the ranks by promotion, and were +therefore covered by the different influences on the officers and the +higher ranks of non-commissioned officers. And I feel that even these +exceptional men who retained their respect for law and property, their +habits of regular industry, did so only in comparison with the general +break-down, that even they felt a certain loosening of the standards +which they had possessed in civilian life. + +Army life developed a new series of moral values and moral reactions. It +brought out virtues which were latent or non-existent in civil life; it +reduced others to impotence. It produced love of country, of home, and +of God; it brought forth courage, loyalty, self-sacrifice, the extreme +of heroism, in such numbers and such variety that they seemed +commonplace. It did not brutalize any who were not very ready for such a +process. But at the same time, it destroyed the citizen's respect for +law and order, his respect for property, his habit of hard and +persistent work. It made him, for the time being, a lazy hero; a +jovial, careless, and lovable lawbreaker. It brought out exactly the +qualities which are least necessary in civil life, and injured those +most necessary; it took the student, the workingman, the farmer, and +made of him the doughboy. Army life was opposed directly to the whole +tenor of democracy, the regime where men control themselves, where they +work through ambition and desire for success, and where they strive to +accumulate property of their own, at the same time respecting the law +and the property of others. Army life meant a break in the lives of +millions of young Americans, an interruption of the steady development +of their characters and habits, a reversal of their tendencies and a +postponement of their ambitions. + +I feel that it is a great evidence of the essential soundness of +American manhood that these millions have returned to civil life, in +most cases to their former circles and their former occupations, with so +little difficulty. Society helped them at the moment by the splendid +reception home, by the plaudits, the speeches, and the parades. It +helped them also to obtain positions and then left them to find +themselves. Fortunately, after a brief transition most of them did find +themselves, and the ex-soldiers to-day are back in every type of work as +before. The former captain may sell you a suit; the holder of a D. S. C. +may wait on you at the restaurant. They have overcome the restlessness, +the carelessness, the thrill; they are civilians again. But here and +there the seeds fell on different soil; here and there a former soldier +has not found himself again. We see him most often among the wounded +and gassed, who cannot fit into industry so easily, and whose sufferings +have often affected their mentality and always their point of view. +America has wasted criminally precious years of these young ruined +lives, in not bringing to them instantly the full care and service of a +grateful nation. On the other hand, industry has made little effort to +absorb our soldiers; I have seen men with trades selling fruit from +push-carts because there was no other work at hand. I have seen a +jobless boy, honestly trying to make a little money by selling trinkets +in the street and driven away by a patriotic store-keeper, 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 him. The soldier who cannot +return to civil life is a rare exception, but he is an exception caused +in an unstable youth by our military or our industrial system. Our +nation, which profited by that army, must remember for good every +weakest individual whose sweat and blood poured forth to make that army +great. + + + + +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 philosophy, that men would +need a new philosophy of life after the war, just as they did after the +Renaissance or the epoch-making discoveries of Darwin. This opinion, +natural enough at the time, was certainly exaggerated. The war did not +shatter all ideals; it did not create any new ones except the wave of +spiritualism at present so wide-spread. But it did shift emphases, +exposed the hollowness of many easy beliefs, and implanted new ideas in +minds which otherwise might not have been ready for them. The soldier +really presents the typical reaction to the war, while the civilian +shows a milder type of influence and a smaller degree of change. The +revaluation of values which is really demanded to-day is nothing so +fundamental as we thought at the time. It is chiefly psychological, that +we shall understand what is in the mind of the soldier, and by that +means reach an understanding of the effect of the war on society as a +whole. The world contains in diluted form those same influences which +show so distinctly on these young men. The problem of evil is neither +greater nor less than it was before the war; the problem of life and +death is no different; the problem of conduct has not changed. But +certain phases of each of these problems have come very strongly to the +attention of the world; some of them have been branded into the +consciousness of the soldier. Just as the soldier has a viewpoint toward +American ideals, which America would do well to heed in working out her +programs for the era after the war, so the Jewish soldier has his own +viewpoint toward Judaism, 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 ahead. + +It is hard to call the soldier a progressive in religion when he had so +few theories about the matter. But he was certainly not a +traditionalist. Religious ideas and practices had to satisfy his +immediate needs or they had no meaning to him at all. This covered all +cant words, all ready-made formulas, whether as ancient as the Talmud or +as comparatively recent as reform Judaism. The answer of a twelfth +century Jew of Spain or a nineteenth century Jew of Germany were on an +equality to him; if either solved the problems of a young American at +war it was acceptable. The soldier was willing to accept old answers to +new questions if they were cogent; on the other hand, he was quite as +willing to consider a new and revolutionary theory. He possessed that +rare attribute, the open mind; on the narrow but keen basis of his own +mental experience he grasped and estimated soundly the new ideas and the +old. + +The soldier enjoyed ceremonies that reminded him of home and childhood, +but he regarded them largely as pleasant memories. However deep a +meaning the symbols might possess, the soldier had not the background to +grasp it. The symbols did not stand for enough to solve the problems of +his immediate life. In the same way, theological concepts, however +liberal, meant nothing to him practically. 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 it. +As it was, liberalism in theology meant exactly nothing to them. They +were not interested in theological problems; they did not care what +one's opinion might be about the literal inspiration of the Bible or +about the coming of the Messiah. The liberalism which expressed itself +constantly among the soldiers, and which they brought back with them +into civil life, was different from all this. Granting your liberalism +or your conservatism in regard to beliefs and ceremonies, the soldier +wanted to know your attitude toward other human beings. The liberalism +he wanted was social and humanitarian. On this plane he had his being. +This was the type of problem which interested him and which he could +understand. The soldier felt too often that the churches and synagogues +were dominated by capital, by a narrow social class which discriminated +against him. Among Jewish soldiers, many felt that the religious ideas +they might accept were expressed in rich reform temples, where they +themselves would not be acceptable or would not feel at home. On the +other hand, they did not feel at home in the little orthodox synagogues +where their fathers offered up their daily prayers. They did not +understand the Hebrew ritual uttered there, nor the devotional attitude +which was there expressed. + +But all this is not reaching directly the synagogue itself. The young +men, the former soldiers, are not the trustees of our temples and +synagogues; they are not a majority of our members; they are not often +to be found in the pews, where we might see their response to a +particular service or a particular sermon. If we are not very careful, +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 old. We must call to the +young men in the voice of youth, with the viewpoint and on the plane +which they understand and on which they may respond. That means that we +must be willing to accept new conclusions to new problems if these +conclusions seem to fit the new times. That means also that we must have +an aggressive attitude toward social and economic problems. This alone +can make liberalism religious and make religion concrete, applicable to +the needs of the latest era, the era after the world war. Without it, +religion will remain moribund, liberalism irreligious. Religious bodies +must give an equal hearing to both the conservative and the radical, +must show a definite platform of religious and moral work on which the +two can unite. That was done during the war. All groups in American +Jewry, orthodox, conservative and reform, were associated in the Jewish +Welfare Board and still work together on the Joint Distribution +Committee for the relief of Jewish war sufferers. All groups in American +life, Jew and non-Jew alike, met and worked together in the United War +Work campaign, to care for the soldiers in our emergency. But the young +men, no longer soldiers, need us as badly now, while we, the churches +and the synagogues, need them more than ever, with their new experience +and their new-found manhood. What they need and what we need, too, is +that we learn to cooperate on a common platform of action for their +benefit now. If we want them, if we want to be at one with them, we must +have a social program, a liberal attitude to life and especially to its +most immediate economic problems, a willingness to sink differences of +opinion that we may meet for practical effort and genuine progress. + +The boys in the service became largely socialized through the +tremendous, constant work of the welfare agencies. They felt the value +of the Y. M. C. A. or other welfare hut, not only for the +entertainments, dances and canteen, but just as much as a center for the +soldier community, a place to write, to read, to play games, to meet +their friends. Since their return they have turned to such institutions +as the Y. M. C. A., the Y. M. H. A. and the rest, to find the club life, +the community spirit, which they had in the welfare hut in camp or city +at home and abroad. This need of the young men for a social center and a +social life is a common need of all America. Every village needs a +social center to further its growth into a finer culture and a more +united citizenship. 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 channels. 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 one, growing out of the similar needs of the same young men +in war and peace. The furtherance of social centers for Jewish +communities, for other groups of citizens who possess a common heritage +or common background, and for a whole town where the town is not too +large, 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 +community. The return of the soldier may assist us more than we expect +in socializing the Jewish community. The social spirit we once showed in +his behalf, the social education we gave him while in the service, will +return to benefit us all if we convert the two into Jewish social life. +Such a socializing will cut across congregational or sectional lines, +across lines of birth and wealth, and unite the Jewish community in +America, just as the same process will eventually, if carried far +enough, weld together all the divergent social forces of America itself. + +The need for personal religion at the front was a temporary need, or +rather a temporary expression of a universal human yearning. It is now +almost forgotten by the boys themselves, certainly by the church and the +synagogue. Beside the liberal and the social demands of the day, there +exists this mystical longing to be sure of God, to know for a certainty +that He will protect His dear ones. This universal and eternal need was +felt for the time by our men in immediate danger, in thankfulness, in +mourning. Having discovered it once, they still feel it when the +occasion comes. Here, however, there seems little likelihood of their +contribution being accepted. The union of the social and mystical +elements, even at different times and for different occasions, seems +more than any human institution can accomplish. If the soldier, in tune +with the urge of the age, demands a social and a liberal response from +the synagogue, he may get it in a large number of cases. The mystical +element he will not ask for, and his inarticulate mood, now hardly +evident, will certainly evoke no response. + +One thing certainly the young men feel, which American Judaism is +accepting from them. While the young Jew is wholly sympathetic to +Zionism, he hardly ever feels that Zionism is the center or the +conclusion of the Jewish problem. Zionism, as a movement, has brought to +fruition much of the latent love of the young Jew for his people and his +religion. But the Jewish soldier, or the same boy as a civilian, is not +interested chiefly in solving the economic or the cultural problems of +Palestine. He responds also to the similar problems among the Jews of +America. Zionism is not enough for him; he must have Judaism as well. He +and all of us are compelled to confront the spiritual and moral problems +of the new world after the war. + +The young man does not know, and the synagogue does not always show him, +that the very things he demands most urgently are inherent in Judaism, +especially in those great prophets whose words still ring forth with a +youthful fervor. The unfaltering search for new truth, the recognition +of the poor and the weak, the unity of all groups in the community, the +triumphant search for God and finding of God--all these the young Jew +wants and the prophets have given us. This aspect of the problem, then, +becomes one of leadership, 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 heritage. The antiquity +of the prophetic summons is no disadvantage to the young men if it +answers their personal need. It is of the greatest advantage to the +synagogue in responding to the call of the great days after the war. +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 time. It needs but the skill and the courage to apply them +again, as in prophetic times, to the western world in the twentieth +century. + +War gave the world a new angle of vision on life and death, on good and +bad. The deepest impress of this new viewpoint is on those men who were +themselves at the front, who underwent the most extreme phase of it in +their own persons, but some traces have spread throughout the entire +western civilization. America must realize it as Europe does; Judaism +and Christianity alike are entering, for good or bad, a new period. The +world has changed in some respects; we who see the world have changed +far more. In facing the future, with its political, its social, its +moral problems, we need a new fullness of insight into the young men +whose lives have changed and whose souls expanded overnight, even though +they remain in externals the boys they were. We need a new intellectual +content, covering not only the new map of Europe and Asia, but also the +new ideas and ideals which swept the world for a time, as though they +were to be eternal. Above all, we must have complete honesty in facing +the thrilling challenge of the immediate future. We do not need a new +form of Judaism any more than we need a new type of government in +America. We are confronted by the demand to adapt Americanism and +Judaism to the changing demands of a changing era, to find among the +temporary and evanescent elements in both those things which have +permanent usefulness for any demand and any era. We need ideals of the +past, indeed, but only such ideals as have survived the past, as apply +fully to the present, as will aid in building up a future of promise and +achievement for the Jew. Judaism is on trial to-day. If we answer the +need of the young man, he will be the loyal, active Jew for to-day and +to-morrow. If we ignore him, whether through uncertainty, ignorance or +pride, he will not come to us and we shall not be going after him. +Judaism needs the young man; it needs equally his great ideals, social +and mystical as well. The test will result in a finer and more effective +faith only if we respond to it bravely and honestly, in the very spirit +of the soldier himself. + + + + +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 day, that our common +enthusiasm in our common cause had brought Catholics, Protestants and +Jews nearer together on a basis of their ardent Americanism. Especially +we who were at the front felt this in the first flush of our +cooeperation, our mutual interest and our mutual helpfulness. After you +have stood beside a man in the stress of front-line work, have shared a +blanket with him, have seen him suffer like a hero or die like a martyr, +his origin, his family and his faith become less important than the +manhood of the man himself. More than once I have said, talking to +soldier audiences of Jewish or of mixed faith: "After this war no man +can knowingly call the Jew a coward again. If you ever hear such a +statement, you can be sure that our detractor is not an honest bigot, as +may have been the case in the past; he is either ignorant or malicious." + +We knew that and our comrades knew it. The men at the front knew very +little about the whole-hearted participation of every section of our +vast population, Jew and non-Jew together, in the campaigns for +production, Liberty Bonds, the United War Work campaign, and all the +rest. 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 war. +But those who served overseas know the record the Jew made for himself +at the front, his promotions, his decorations, his woundings and his +deaths. They know that differences of religion and race counted not at +all in the American army, that our heroes and our effective, able +soldiers came from all religions and all races. With what high hopes we +entered the war; with what fine fervor we saw it end! We felt that our +efforts had insured something more of liberty for the oppressed of all +the world, for Czech and Armenian, Alsatian and Belgian, Pole and Jew. + +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 form. I am thinking of the many national and +group hatreds and antagonisms which have tormented the world in the last +years, and especially of one of them, that against the Jews. The +oppression of the autocratic regime of the Czar has been carried on by +the free nation of Poland; the pogroms of the Black Hundred have been +revived in the Ukraine, where the slaughter of war was doubled by the +slaughter of peace. Hungary has seen its "white terror," where Jews were +murdered as Bolshevists and Bolshevists as Jews. Austria and Germany +have seen a strengthening of the political anti-Semitism of pre-war +times, here blaming the Jews for beginning the war, and there for ending +it. Finally the movement has been carried over into the freest and most +intelligent of nations, and some apologists for it have appeared even +in England and America. Here the Anti-Semites can work by neither +political nor legal means, 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 citizens. + +I shall not turn aside to deal, even for a moment, with the mass of +accusations against the Jew, trivial or grave as the case may be. They +have been adequately answered by Jew and non-Jew, especially in the +address on "The 'Protocols,' Bolshevism and the Jews," by ten national +organizations of American Jews on December 1, 1920, and the subsequent +protests against anti-Semitism by a distinguished group of non-Jewish +Americans, notably President Woodrow Wilson, former President William +Howard Taft and William Cardinal O'Connell. The only one of these +accusations with which I can properly deal in this place, and one on +which my fellow-soldiers will agree with me in every detail, is the +revival of the ancient slander against the patriotism and courage of the +Jew. We are reading, not for the first time in history, but for almost +the first time in the _English_ language, that the Jews are not patriots +in their respective nations, that they all have a super-national +allegiance to a Jewish international conspiracy, that their real loyalty +is to this other group within and above the state, even to the extent of +treachery or anarchy against their own governments. We feel the +disgrace, the pathos of such a charge just after the war when Jews died +with non-Jews that America might be safe, at a time when Jews even more +than non-Jews are enduring the dread aftermath of war, the famine, the +poverty and the epidemics, in Eastern and Central Europe. It is the +sort of charge which only facts can answer, the kind of facts which are +present in this book, as in every official or personal story of the war +by men who took a personal part in the war. Prejudice is too largely the +product of those who gained by the war but did not personally enter the +ranks. The men who know, the men who fought together and bled together, +have a different story. + +America has, in fact, too much fairness as well as too much humanity, to +listen to any such movement of partisan hatred or bigotry. I quote the +statement of over a hundred distinguished "citizens of Gentile birth and +Christian faith," referred to above: + +"The loyalty and patriotism of our fellow citizens of the Jewish faith +is equal to that of any part of our people, and requires no defense at +our hands. From the foundations of this Republic down to the recent +World War, 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 world. There is not the +slightest justification, therefore, for a campaign of anti-Semitism in +this country." + +In this connection, we can recall the words written by Theodore +Roosevelt, at that time President, in 1905, on the occasion of the 250th +anniversary of the first landing of Jews in what is now the United +States: + +"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 traditions, they are +engaged in generous rivalry with their fellow-citizens of other +denominations in advancing the interests of our common country. This is +true, not only of the descendants of the early settlers and those of +American birth, 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 misery. In a few +years, men and women hitherto utterly unaccustomed to any of the +privileges of citizenship have moved mightily upward toward the standard +of loyal, self-respecting American citizenship; of that citizenship +which not merely insists upon its rights, but also eagerly recognizes +its duty to do its full share in the material, social and moral +advancement of the nation." + +It would be beside the issue to refer to the Jewish participation in +American life during the past, if that also had not been brought up as +an accusation. But the records exist, and the facts are conclusive. In +the American revolution forty-six Jews fought under George Washington, +out of the little Jewish population of about two thousand in the United +States at that time. The leading Jews of New York and Newport left those +cities because they were patriots and would not carry on their business +under British rule. Haim Salomon, the Jewish banker of New York and +later of Philadelphia, was among those who rendered the greatest service +in financing the infant nation. In the Civil War ten thousand Jewish +soldiers of whom we to-day possess the records served in the Union and +Confederate armies. Each generation of immigrants has been most eager to +learn the English language and American ways, to take advantage to the +full of American liberty and opportunity, to make a home for their +families in a free land and to help that land maintain its freedom. The +World War was for the Jews, as for all Americans, simply the +culmination, bringing out most strongly the high lights in American +life. Heroes and slackers, loyal and disloyal, showed themselves in +their true colors during the war. And the Jew, like all Americans, +showed himself in this crisis loyal to America. The Jewish record stands +on a par with the best record of any group of American citizens, of any +church or any race. Jews of Russia, whose only contact with their native +government had fostered hatred and distrust, flocked to the colors in +America. Jews of American birth, like all citizens of American birth, +did their full duty for their country. + +On this point again, my own facts, clear as they are, need not stand +alone. I can quote Major General Robert Alexander, who commanded, in the +77th Division, the largest group of Jews in any unit of the American +Expeditionary Forces: "I found that Hebrew names on the Honor Roll of +the division were fully up to the proportion that they should have been; +in other words, the Hebrew boy paid his full share of the price of +victory. When the time came for recommendations to go in for marks of +distinction which we were able to give, I found there again that the +names of the Hebrews were as fully represented on that list as the +numbers in the division warranted, by long odds." + +To-day the Jewish soldier, no longer a soldier or a hero, but still a +Jew and an American, appeals to the American people. Will they suffer +such a propaganda, he wonders, such an attack on him and on his +brothers who still lie overseas, in their American graves on foreign +soil? Will they tolerate for a moment such a venomous and false attack +on the defenders of their nation, on any group, small or large, of the +boys who rallied to the defense of democracy? In the army overseas we +felt that prejudice was a thing of the past, that only in ignorance or +malice could the old serpent lift its head again. To-day, with all the +newer bitterness, we feel the same. We know that our soldier comrades +are loyal still, that America is still America, that as we have once +defended her we need not now muster our arguments or records to defend +ourselves against her. If the Jew ever needed justification, he surely +needs it no longer to-day. The Jewish soldier has once for all made +anti-Semitism impossible among the men who served America in arms, and +who still in days of quiet continue to serve and save their country. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Diacritics have be made consistent throughout the text. + +Hyphens removed from "Where[-e]ver I went" (page 8), "looked like +side[-]streets" (page 11), "a complete prayer[-]book" (page 18), "an +every[-]day matter" (page 147). + +Hyphens added to "new war-time societies" (page 3), "miles by side-car" +(page 70), "private soldier in war-time" (page 145), "their new-found +manhood" (page 209). + +Unchanged spellings: "Ausies", "B'nai B'rith" but "Brith" elsewhere. + +Page 6: "cemetary" changed to "cemetery" (hospital and cemetary). + +Page 10: "new born" changed to "newborn" (see my newborn son). + +Page 34: "devasted" changed to "devastated" (villages were devastated). + +Page 35: "conspicious" changed to "conspicuous" (village had a +conspicuous). + +Page 36: "experiencd" changed to "experienced" (experienced a queer +sensation). + +Pages 57, 59: "accomodations" changed to "accommodations" (separate +accommodations, living accommodations). + +Page 75: "excellant" changed to "excellent" (excellent cooeperation). + +Page 78: "shown" changed to "shone" (shone directly upon). + +Page 86: "Fredman" changed to "Friedman" (Samuel Friedman). + +Page 90: "if" changed to "of" (in the interests of). + +Page 110: "Cemetarial" changed to "Cemeterial" (Cemeterial Division of +the War). + +Page 117: "Herschovitz" changed to "Herschkovitz" (Herschkovitz was the +only man). + +Page 124: "ocasion" changed to "occasion" (occasion of a further). + +Page 126: "grenades" changed to "grendates" (throwing grenades). + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Jewish Chaplain in France, by Lee J. 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