AN ARMY PARSON" IN FRANCE 



WE print a most interesting letter received from 

 Lieut. Howard Y. Williams, the Chaplain of 

 Tenth Engineers, under date of June 10th : 

 "In the British army he is the 'padre,' but in our 

 American regiment he is the 'parson,' at least that has 

 become my cognomen in the Tenth Engineers, one of the 

 finest groups of men ever assembled. One evening in 

 September last we steamed out of New York harbor with 

 not a soldier to be seen on deck, and very few onlookers 

 aware that one of the first contingents was on its way 

 to France. If our departure was a secret, not so our 

 arrival in Europe. As we wended our way up the Clyde 

 channel, between two endless rows of ships in all stages 

 of construction, we were given as the first American 

 troops to land in Glasgow, such a prolonged reception 

 as we shall never forget. It seemed as though the ship- 

 yards had declared a half holiday for the river banks 

 were crowded with the men and women workers who 



cheered and cheered. The shout would go out, 'Are you 

 down-hearted?' and like A raging torrent came back the 

 answer of Americans, 'Hell, No !' Some women of Glas- 

 gow had cleaned the barracks for our reception, but the 

 R. T. O. had trains waiting and in a few hours we 

 marched to the depot amid shouting thousands. Though 

 on our return to America no one should greet us, we 

 would not be greatly disappointed, for all that we ever 

 shall deserve we received from those Scotch High- 

 landers. 



"These pioneers of American troops in France it has 

 been my privilege to serve as a chaplain. For nine 

 months now they have been working in the forests be- 

 hind the fighting lines, getting out barb-wire stakes, 

 trench poles, duck-boards, mine timbers, signal corps 

 poles, and lumber of all kinds for dug-outs, barracks, 

 and warehouses. Day and night the men labor sending 

 up their products to the front, often to the tune of the 



Underwood and Underwood British Official Photograph 



ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THE WORK OF OUR FORESTER-SOLDIERS IS SO NECESSARY 



In this most remarkable flashlight photograph, taker, in a British trench, we see a working party starting out over the top at night. The soldiers 

 are carrying wooden trench mats to an outpost across No Man's Land. In the upper right hand corner a German flare can be seen bursting, 

 while down in the trench troops with bayonets set are on the alert to cover the men who are going over. 



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