Fred Arthur McKenzie

“ William Archer, the famous critic, "France will know that this unassuming soldier of the Legion, Who, not mindful of the antique debt, Came back the generous path of Lafayette, was one whom even she may be proud to have reckoned among her defenders." Little has been written about the Americans in the ranks of the British Army. It is not that the British people have not warmly appreciated the help of the American men, but there has been a desire to do nothing which should seem in any way to run counter to the American official declaration of neutrality. ”

“ Those like myself whose affairs take them irito the Allied lines are constantly surprised to find Americans in the most unlikely places. Their speech be- trays them, whatever declarations they may have made when joining up. "If you take a map of the United States and go up and down the American lines in France, you will find no city, great or small, which has not sent a flying man, a bomber, an artilleryman, a sniper or despatch rider to help to destroy Prussian despotism," wrote Lord Northcliffe, after a visit to the front. ”

“ America is the guardian of her own honour. It is for her statesmen and not for us to decide what the nation shall do. The majority of Americans in the British ranks have naturally enlisted in the Canadian Army. At the beginning of the war a large number of Americans resident in Canada joined the ranks, and many others crossed the frontier for the same purpose. An attempt was made on one occasion to raise an American Legion, and four special American battalions were re- cruited, one being sent to England. ”

“ Among the most active American sol- diers in the Allied ranks are men who began as ambulance workers or relief agents, and who were so roused by the cruelties they witnessed that they took up the sword to fight a foe whom they recognised as the common enemy of all who love justice and freedom. ”

“ A fourth American, Bert Hall,* a Texan cowboy who had also joined the Foreign Legion, was transferred to the air service shortly after Thaw. Air Corps are to modern armies what the King's Guards were in the days of the Stuarts and the Louis—the corps d'élite. In France, the Army airmen rank specially high, and any- one who has witnessed their marvellous work admits that they have earned their place. ”

“ Many of them, the very pick of the nation, have given themselves as volunteers. The great Universi- ties, headed by Harvard, have sent doctors and hospital staffs to nurse the sick and wounded. Groups of rich young men crossed the Atlantic when war broke out, bringing their own automo- biles with them, and formed the nucleus of the splendid ambulance services that have been of incalculable service to France. ”

“ The great fact is that more than 50,000 young Crusaders have crossed the Atlantic to join an Army in which they are fighting not for King or country, but against what they realize to be the curse of the world at this moment—the attempt of the Ger- mans to dominate Europe and then America." The most spectacular and thrilling side of the work of the war is found among the Army flyers. The American squadron of the French Avia- tion Corps owes its existence to three young men —William Thaw, of Pittsburg, Norman Prince, of Boston, and Elliot Cowdin, the Long Island polo player. ”

“ The American'Commission has carried this burden for two years with the aid of contributions from the whole world. Every Country, except America, has its own increasing load, and can no longer give so generously. ”

“ Now the man who sets out to divide the athletic champions and leaders of Toronto into strictly American and Canadian groups will have a very hard task. At any rate, when the battalion was recruited it was found that United States citizens and Canadians had freely joined up together, instinct with the common purpose of striking a blow for the right. Among the American officers, one of the best known was Major Stewart, who, although Mont- real born, had served for twelve years as an officer in the United States Cavalry. ”

“ Very many American women have volunteered to serve personally, as nurses and V.A.D.'s, at the different seats of war or in England. Others have opened their homes to the wounded and the sick. There are Americans in other branches of the French service besides the Flying Corps. At the beginning, most of the American volunteers —forty or fifty in all—went to the Foreign Legion. There was a memorable scene when hundreds of young Englishmen and Americans living in Paris marched in procession through THE LATE ALAN SEEGER. AMERICANS AT THE FRONT 35 the streets to offer themselves to France. ”

“ Dilwyn Starr, of Philadelphia, a Harvard man, took his place in the ranks of the British Expeditionary Force, won his commission, and died on the Somme. Officers in the United States Army like Major Stewart and Captain Wood, on the staff of General Leonard Wood, resigned their commis- sions to-join us, and fell for us. American students from the Latin Quarter, University men galore, sturdy plainsmen and men from the West, have died side by side with the sons of Britain, fighting for justice and liberty. ”

“ General Lebocq, in a Divisional Order, voiced the general sentiment when he wrote of one of the sections that, "composed of volunteers, friends of our country, it has con- stantly attracted favourable notice by the en- thusiasm, the zeal and the courage of all its members, who, regardless of danger, have been employed, without respite, in rescuing our wounded, whose gratitude and affection they have won." ”

“ MAP OF THE REGION OF Showing the Commune of A POSTER DISPLAYED IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS. AMERICANS AT THE FRONT 9 The Americans in the fighting ranks have only been representatives of a vastly greater mass of their countrymen supporting us in their own land. The women of the United States have banded themselves into five thousand groups and circles to raise money or prepare comforts for the Allies, mainly for the destitute in France and Belgium. ”

“ A tablet stands to his memory in Belgrade. Under Austrian rule, Americans have tried hard to bring some relief to the hungry Serbian people, more particularly to the 85,000 Serbian prisoners, whose lot is pitiful beyond words. ”

“ Day for One Child in Will your give $ a day to Feed the Children in this Commune, which will only provide each Child for One Day with as much as you eat in One Meal? YOU can keep them Healthy and Strong If you will keep up this Amount. ”

“ In this Region there are Communes or Towns, and your is asked to help feed the Children in the Commune of It costs Six Cents a Day to supply each Child with one of these Meals. The Belgian People from their own resources provide Three Cents a Day for each Child. Cannot peaceful, happy, well--fed America find the other Three Cents? ”

“ A group of prominent athletes in that city started a fund for machine-guns for the troops. The fund grew, and it was suggested to the athletes that they should not only buy guns, but give themselves. They promptly fell in with the proposal and a battalion was raised in record time, numbering close on ISO cham- pions and 1,200 in all, good hardy sporting men, baseball cracks, football champions, light- weight, welter-weight, middle-weight and heavy- AMERICANS AT THE FRONT 41 weight boxers, lacrosse kings and the like. ”