History of the American Field Service in France "FRIENDS OF FRANCE" 1914-1917 TOLD BY ITS MEMBERS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

THE American Field Service, as a group of youths serving the French Army in the Great War, is a thing of the past. And this is its history. The reader must not assume, however, that the American Field Service no longer exists, or that there will never be occasion for record of its further accomplishment. Although the members when they enlisted in 1915, 1916, and 1917, only pledged themselves to the French Army for a limited period, it is within the truth to state that, whether or not they realized it at the time, they enlisted for life in the service of France.

Even before this record has gone to the press, and while the United States is still nominally at war, the peace plans of the Field Service are well under way ---plans for the perpetuation under its auspices of fraternal relations among French and American youth for generations to come. A series of American Field Service fellowships for American students in French Universities has already been established, and projects have been formulated which it is hoped will ultimately result in securing a permanent endowment for a Field Service fellowship in memory of each and every one of the one hundred and twenty-six Field Service men who gave their lives during the war --- either a fellowship for an American student in a French university, or a fellowship for a French student in an American university. These fellowships not only will furnish fitting memorials of the Field Service men whose lives were sacrificed to the Allied Cause, but will give living and enduring impulse to the advancement of understanding and friendship between France and the United States, which was ever the fundamental Field Service aim.

The section histories, diaries, letters, and sketches comprising these volumes, are entirely the contributions of men who were part of the American Field Service. Many of these were collected at the Paris headquarters during the early days, but it was not until the Service ceased to exist as a volunteer organization that any effort was made to compile them with a view to producing a complete record comprising all the activities of the Service. While the volume published under the name of Friends of France, in 1916, contained numerous accounts of the work of the early days ---many of them being here reprinted --- that volume was of necessity more or less provisional and incomplete. The aim of these volumes is to fill in the gaps and finish the story, to give the final record of all the sections, new as well as old, and of the work of the many hundreds of younger volunteers as well as of the pioneers of 1915 and 1916.

As in Friends of France the stories of the several sections have been composed in the main of excerpts from articles, diaries, and home letters of different members, a method of composition necessarily involving some duplication and incoherence. It is believed, however, that this is compensated for by the veracity of the first-hand material so presented, and that whatever the history may have lost in smoothness and unity is offset by a gain in sincerity, animation, and originality.

Among those to whom thanks are due for successively assisting in the compilation of this work are Dr. Raymond Weeks, of the Paris staff, Mr. Frank J. Taylor, of Section Ten, Mr. Theodore Stanton and Captain Arthur J. Putnam and Mr. Robert A. Donaldson, of Section Seventy. The final selection and revision of the material has been mainly the work of Lieutenant James W. D. Seymour, of Section Seventeen.

Grateful appreciation is owing to the French artists André Fraye, Charles Huard, and Bernard Naudin, and to the following men of the Field Service, Waldo Peirce, S.S.U. 3, C. Le Roy Baldridge, T.M.U., F. L. Sexton, S.S.U. 14, George W. Hall, S.S.U. 70, and Harry de Maine, who contributed the many drawings which decorate and brighten these pages.

To those men of the Service who have contributed articles, poems, and photographs, and to many parents and friends who have aided by forwarding material from home letters and diaries, thanks are also due.

THE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE
April, 1920

  PREFATORY NOTE

  INTRODUCTION

 The Field Service (A. Piatt Andrew)
 Some of the Early Problems (A. Piatt Andrew)
 The Effort in America (Henry D. Sleeper)
 The Growth of the Service (Stephen Galatti)

 SECTION ONE

 Henry Sydnor Harrison
 Joshua G. B. Campbell
 Tracy J. Putnam
 Robert W. Imbrie
 Roy H. Stockwell
 John H. McFadden, Jr.
 W. Yorke Stevenson
 Edward A. G. Wylie

 SECTION TWO

 James R. McConnell
 Leslie Buswell
 Carlyle H. Holt
 Henry Sheahan
 Frank H. Gailor,
 Edward N. Seccombe
 John R. Fisher
 William H. C. Walker
 John E. Boit
 Henry D. M. Sherrerd
 Harmon B. Craig
 Ewen MacIntyre
 Edward N. Seccombe

 SECTION THREE

On the Western Front

 Preston Lockwood
 Tracy J. Putnam
 Waldo Peirce
 Luke C. Doyle
 Stephen Galatti
 Walter K. Rainsford
 Alwyn Inness-Brown
 William M. Barber
 Walter K. Rainsford
 Charles R. Codman, Jr.
 Edward I. Tinkham

In the Orient

 Charles Baird, Jr.
 Lovering Hill
 Robert W. Imbrie
 Lovering Hill
 Donald C. Armour
 J. Marquand Walker
 John Munroe
 Lovering Hill
 J. Marquand Walker
 Robert W. Imbrie
 Charles Baird, Jr.
 Charles Amsden
 John N. d'Este

 SECTION FOUR

 George Rockwell, Jr.
 Richard C. Ware
 Wade Ford Bigelow,
 Leon H. Buckler
 Charles H. Hunkins
 Hugh J. Kelleher

 SECTION EIGHT

 William B. Seabrook
 Malbone H. Birckhead
 Grenville T. Keogh
 Charles L. Watkins
 Austin B. Mason
 Harry L. Dunn

 SECTION NINE

 George R. Cogswell
 Carleton Burr
 William C. Sanger, Jr.
 Harvey C. Evans

 THE VOSGES DETACHMENT

 Joseph R. Greenwood

VOLUME II

 SECTION TEN

 Hamilton Lillie
 William D. Swan, Jr.
 James W. Harle, Jr.
 Henry M. Suckley
 Frank J. Taylor
 Burnet C. Wohlford
 William J. Losh

 SECTION TWELVE

 Croom W. Walker, Jr.
 Julien H. Bryan
 Ralph N. Barrett

 SECTION THIRTEEN

 Benjamin F. Butler, Jr.
 John M. Grierson
 Frank X. Laflamme

 SECTION FOURTEEN

 Joseph H. Eastman
 William J. Losh
 Franklin B. Skeele

 SECTION FIFTEEN

 Clitus Jones
 Keith Vosburg
 Jerome Preston
 Jerome Preston

 SECTION SIXTEEN

 Franklin D. W. Glazier
 Alpheus E. Shaw
 James H. Lewis
 Marshal G. Penfield

 SECTION SEVENTEEN

 James W. D. Seymour
 James W. D. Seymour
 Basil K. Neftel
 Carleton F. Wright

 SECTION EIGHTEEN

 Ernest R. Schoen
 Ernest R. Schoen
 Robert A. Donaldson

 SECTION NINETEEN

 Paul A. Rie
 Charles C. Jatho
 Frank G. Royce
 John D. Loughlin
 Edward P. Shaw

 SECTION TWENTY-SIX

 Charles E. Bayly, Jr.
 Gilbert N. Ross
 Joseph Lévêque
 Ellis D. Slater

 SECTION TWENTY-SEVEN

 Howard R. Coan
 Howard R. Coan
 Coleman G. Clark

 SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT

 Frederic R. Colie
 John B. Hurlbut
 Stanley Hill
 Converse Hill

 SECTION SIXTY-FOUR

 Richard W. Westwood

 SECTION SIXTY-FIVE

 Louis G. Caldwell
 Raymond W. Gauger
 Paul A. Redmond

 SECTION TWENTY-NINE

 John T. Walker, Jr.
 Richard O. Battles

 SECTION SIXTY-SIX

 Stanley B. Jones
 William G. Rice, Jr.
 Perley R. Hamilton
 Walter D. Carr

 SECTION SIXTY-SEVEN

 Kenneth M. Reed
 Norman C. Nourse

 SECTION SIXTY-EIGHT

 Sidney C. Doolittle
 Sidney C. Doolittle

 SECTION SIXTY-NINE

 Henry B. Rigby
 Robert R. Ball

 SECTION THIRTY

 Albert E. MacDougall
 Albert E. MacDougall
 J. Oliver Beebe

 SECTION SEVENTY

 Robert A. Donaldson
 Robert A. Donaldson
 Arthur J. Putnam

 SECTION THIRTY-ONE

 Kent D. Hagler
 C. C. Battershell
 Gordon F. L. Rogers

 SECTION SEVENTY-ONE

 Philip Shepley
 Edward A. Weeks, Jr.

 SECTION THIRTY-TWO

 Gurnee H. Barrett
 John S. Clapp

 SECTION THIRTY-THREE

 Robert Rieser
 Richard C. Paine

 SECTION SEVENTY-TWO

 John H. Woolverton

 FIELD SERVICE HAUNTS AND FRIENDS

TWENTY-ONE RUE RAYNOUARD

 Raymond W. Gauger
 Raymond Weeks
 Stephen Galatti
 Joseph R. Greenwood
 David Darrah
 James W. D. Seymour

TRAINING AND SUPPLY CENTRES

 John R. Fisher
 John R. Fisher & H. Burt Herrick
 Robert A. Donaldson
 Stephen Galatti

TWO LOYAL FRIENDS OF THE FIELD SERVICE

 Arthur J. Putnam
 Preston Lockwood

FRENCH OFFICERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SERVICE

 Stephen Galatti.

 THE CAMION SECTIONS

 THE STORY OF THE RÉSERVE MALLET

 The Camion Caravan (poem) - George Amick
 A Tribute of French General Headquarters to the Camion Service - Commandant Doumenc
 Origin of the Service - A. Piatt Andrew
 The Réserve Mallet - Frank O. Robinson
 The Training-Camps of Chavigny Farm and Dommiers - Frederick W. Kurth

 CAMION DIARIES

 Donald F. Bigelow
 David Darrah

 CAMION SIDELIGHTS

 Paul F. Cadman
 Malcolm Cowley
 Walter P. Hall
 Arthur C. Watson
 Malcolm Cowley
 Jack Wright
 Malcolm Cowley
 Malcolm Cowley
 Alden B. Sherry
 Greayer Clover
 Elmer M. Johnson
 Richard D. Sias
 Richard V. Banks
 Frederick W. Kurth

 SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE CAMION SERVICE UNDER THE U.S. ARMY

 Camion (poem) Elisha Whittlesey

 INTRODUCTION

 SKETCHES

 The Ambulancier and his Car - Robert W. Imbrie
 Notes from Pont-à-Mousson - J. Halcott Glover
 A Funeral - James R. McConnell
 Hartmannsweilerkopf - Waldo Peirce
 Hartmann's, 1915 - John W. Clark
 First Impressions in Section Four - Richard C. Ware
 Barracks Life - Richard C. Ware
 Kelley's Death in Section Four - Roswell S. Sanders
 Permissions and Transitions - Richard C. Ware
 The First Night Drive - C. Claflin Davis
 The Great Road - Emery Pottle
 Verdun - 1916 - Robert W. Imbrie
 The Music of the "Sambre-et-Meuse" - ColemanT. Clark
 The Brancardiers - Philip D. Orcutt
 Les Tirailleurs d'Afrique - Robert W. Imbrie
 Into Albania - Robert W. Imbrie
 A Night at a Balkan Ambulance Poste - Harry W. Frantz
 Sketches of Section Life - Clarence J. Griffin
 American Troops in Paris - Roger P. Stone
 The Fourth of July, 1917 - Edward D. Kneass
 War Thoughts - R. B., S.S. U. 12
 Fragments from Four Sectors - Henry G. Crosby
 Serving with the French - Frederick W. Kurth
 "Ce n'est pas nous - C'est les Poilus " Lansing Warren

 POEMS

 Un Blessé à Montauville - Emery Pottle
 The Death Fires - Sidney C. Doolittle
 The Boys Who Never Grew Up - Charles L. Watkins
 Sings the Shell of a Seventy-Five - Ewen MacIntyre
 A Sermon for Young Soldiers - Jefferson B. Fletcher
 Legions of Light - Paul M. Fulcher
 La Belle France - Russell D. Greene
 To France - W. C. Sanger, Jr.
 Trenches - Hardwicke Nevin
 Ostel, 1917 - Malcolm Cowley
 Song - P. M. F.
 A Summer Convoi - Arthur U. Crosby
 Convoy - Robert A. Donaldson
 A Military Graveyard - Sherman L. Conklin
 Tedium - R. A. D.
 Poilus - M. C.
 We Had Great Argument - M. C.
 The Heroes - Philip Wood
 Malmaison - Forrest B. Wing
 War Ruins - R. A. D.
 Song of the Casualty List - Lansing Warren
 Fog at Dawn - R. A. D.
 The Ghosts of Verdun - S.S. U. 13
 The Song of the Ambulance - G. Hinman Barrett
 Poste de Secours - R. A. D.
 His Long Repos - S.S. U. 13
 Dawn - S. L. C
 The Poilus - R. A. D.
 Their Meed - S.S. U. 13
 Sonnet of a War-Sick Man - Frederick W. Kurth
 Road to the Hospital - R. A. D.
 The Last Poems - S. L. C.
 To S. L. C. - J. B. Calvo
 In Memoriam - M. S. Goldman
 Chavigny - F. W. K.
 For France To-Day - R. A. D.
 Overcoats of Blue - R. A. D.
 The Roads - J. W. D. Seymour
 Tribute - R. A. D.
 A Night in Winter - W. C. S., Jr.
 Envoi - R. A. D.
 River Marne - David Darrah
 The Children of To-Morrow - W. C. S., Jr.
 Spirit of France - W. C. S., Jr.
 Sonnet to Some Poppies - J. B. C.
 Night on the Front - J. B. C.
 One Year - R. A. D.
 A Dying Soldier's Prayer - J. B. C.
 Song - J. B. C.
 American Negro and Senegalese - P. M. F.
 Monument Enough - Raymond W. Gauger
 Mirage - R. W. G.
 Ballad of French Service - M. C.
 "Under Cover of Darkness" - F. W. K.
 Night Road - R. A. D.
 Epic Years - R. A. D.
 Dawn - W. C. S., Jr.
 The Enemy Retreats - W. C. S., Jr.
 To an Infirmière - D. D.
 On Passing the Reims Cathedral at Twilight D. D.
 Le Paix - D. D.
 Sunset Light - W. C. S., Jr.
 In After Years - W. C. S., Jr.
 Fathers Slain to Sons Unborn - P. M. F.
 The Tide has Turned - W. C. S., Jr.

 HUMOROUS SKETCHES

 Rules for Convoys from Section Eight - C. L. Watkins
 All about Staff Cars - L. Warren
 The American Ambulance Man - L. W.
 On Buvettes - L. W.
 Section Ravitaillement - P. A. Rie
 In a Hospital - R. Scholle
 Letters from the Rear - P. M. Fulcher
 A Letter to the Statue of Liberty - L. W.
 The Ambulancier's Primer - S. C. Doolittle
 A Revised Ford Manual - S. Garden
 The Essence Gatherer - S. L. Conklin
 A Lost Art - S. C. D.
 "Bull" - L. W.
 When the Réserve goes " en Perm" - F. W. Kurth
 Translations of French Road Signs - L. W.
 A Letter from "Lance" to the Kaiser - L. W.
 Aix-and-Pains, or Over the Top with M. P. - L. W.
 Our Country as she Sounds - L. W.
 Private Stormfield's Visit to Heaven - L. W.
 Polyglotitis - L. W.
 Système D - W. E. Bruns
 Journaux du Front --- Soixante-Neuf - F. Kneeland

 LIGHTER VERSE

 Hunk o' Tin - C. C. Battershell
 We Wish It Would - L. Warren
 Northward Ho! - R. A. Donaldson
 Camouflage All! - L. W.
 "Système D" - R. A. D.
 It's Hades - S. L. Conklin
 Nix on the Heroic Stuff - S. C. Doolittle
 Fatalism - S. L. C.
 Permission! - L. W.
 C'est Ça - L. W.
 Around our Stove - L. W.
 Imitative America - R. A. D.
 The Slacker - B. C. Wohlford
 En Repos - R. M. Young
 Verse That Ought Not to be Free - W. E. Powers
 War's Annoyances - R. A. D.
 A Duffer's Duffle - L. W.
 To Helen! - L. W.
 En Repos - R. A. D.
 Twenty Years from now - R. A. D.
 In that Little Old Buvette - D. W. S.
 Rumors - An Optimist
 I Changed my Mind - L. W.
 Old F. S. Coat - R. A. D.
 Non-Com Nonsense - P. A. Rie
 Field Service Days - B. C. W.
 On Finding my Civilian Clothes in my Suitcase at the "Cinéma " - L. W.

 END OF THE WAR SKETCHES AND VERSES

 Some Ambulance Roads - Walter J. Gores
 When the Armistice Came - W. J. G.
 "The Day" at Luxembourg - Frederick W. Kurth
 Le Dernier jour - David Darrah
 The End - S.S. U. 19
 November 11, 1918, in Paris - N. H. Reynolds
 Armistice Morning in Paris - R. N.
 After the Armistice - Robert A. Donaldson
 Immortal Battle-fields - William C. Sanger, Jr.
 Hail! - G. Hinman, Barrett
 The Poilu - D. D.
 The Glorious Dead - F. W. K.
 Peace - F. W. K.
 "Souvenons-Nous - R. A. D.
 Afterthoughts
 Armistice Day - John B. Whitton
 On the Rhine - R. A. D.
 The Guns are Stilled - W. C. S., Jr.
 The Page is Turned - R. A. D.

 A. ROLL OF HONOR

 B. DECORATIONS

 C. COLLEGES REPRESENTED

 D. FIELD SERVICE MEN AS OFFICERS

 E. FRENCH ORGANIZATIONS SERVED

 F. SCHEDULE OF EACH SECTION'S ASSIGNMENT

 G. ROSTER OF VOLUNTEERS

 H. VOLUNTEERS ARRIVING IN FRANCE DURING MILITARIZATION

 I. THE AMERICAN STAFF

 J. NAMES AND DONORS OF CARS

 K. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE FIELD SERVICE

 L. GLOSSARY OF FRENCH EXPRESSIONS IN THE TEXT

 M. THE FIELD SERVICE AND THE FUTURE

 ILLUSTRATIONS

 Memorial Volume of the American Field Service in France

 Alphabetical list of names.

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Introduction