PA01 THUS,
The Marines would die for
Old Baptist "Doc" He
almost died for them
ALBANY AILY DEMOCRAT. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER . 118.
illPw Sill f
Why you should give twice as
much as you ever gave before I
The need is for a sum 70?o renter than uny gift ever asked
for r.ince the world begun. The Government has fixed this sum
ut $170,500,000.
FJy giving to these seven organizations all ct once, the coct
und t.T.irt of six additional campaigns is saved.
Unls Americans do give twice as much as ever before,
our soldiers and sailors may not enjoy during 1919 their
3600 Recreation Buildings
1000 Miles of Movie Film
103 Leading Stage Stars
2000 Athletic Directors
2500 Libraries supplying 5,CCO,000 booto
E3 Hostess Houses
15,000 Eig-brother "secretaries"
Millions of dollars of home comforts
When you give double, you make sure that every fighter
has the cheer and comforts of those seven organizations every
step of the w.iy from homo to the front und back again. You
provide him with a church, a theatre, a cheerful home, a store,
a school, n club and tin athletic fluid - and a knowledge that the
folks back homo nro with him, hc;irt r.nd soul!
You have loaned your money to suf ply their physical needs.
Now give to maintain tho Morale that u winning the war 1
By Ser(it ALEXANDER WOOLLCOTT
of "The Stars and Stripes," A. E. F.
YOU would turn your pockets inside out for the United
War Work Campaign if you knew dear old "Doc" of the
Marines, a white-haired, slow-speaking padre, who is Y.
secretary with the leathernecks and so beloved by them that
it's past telling. He was a preacher in Arizona had been, I
think, a missionary with the lepers when the war came, and
he went from his pulpit to the Y.
They have always loved him, the Marines. I think it was
because he had the genius for meeting all mankind brother-to-brother.
And because he would not spare himself
any hardship that the boys had to undergo.
If they hiked, he would not ride. If they had to march
half-way across France as fast as their legs would carry them,
Doc marched, too, and what is more, carried the full pack,
lest any boy should ever say old Doc did not know what a
real hike meant.
Of course, their devotion became a cult on the Marne when
it was he who took the hind end of a litter and went out
through a very rain of shells to bring in and save the wounded
colonel. And they did save him. Can't you picture it the
two of them creeping over the treacherous ground, with the
private turning now and then and hissing back to poor old
bulky Doc not to "stick up so far" in the air?
That little expedition dropped Doc unconscious with
gas and shrapnel, and when he came to he found that
quite mysteriously, all his Y ensignia had been cut away and
Marine emblems sewed on in their place.
Doc holds services now and then. I know of one a young
Jew organized. It was held in a deserted church which a
volunteer squad had spent three hours in cleaning for the
occasion three hours routing the dust and cobwebs and litter
of fallen plaster and broken glass. Then the congregation
trooped in and the service began with the distribution of
rosaries fished from Doc's capacious pockets for the Catholic
boys, some of whom had lost theirs in the fight
o
They have a way of looping their rosary through their left
shoulder strap and wearing it into battle as the knights of old
wore their lady's colors into the jousts. It is an inspiring ;
thing to see a whole company thus beautifully uniformed, but '.
sometimes they come back with the beads torn away.
Well, Doc distributed his own supply and I - doubt if a
passerby at that moment would have suspected him of being
a Baptist clergyman. Doc and indeed most of the padres of
the front have to rake their memories to tell what denomina-.
tion was theirs before they took this great communion. j
And Baptist Doc is only one of thousands who are serving your boys in the
great religion of Fatherhood, whose creed and faith are Service. Keep
them on the job next year! Pershing needs a thousand like them every month.
UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN
" " Vm7c L 777" ' JJJ
VOj WAR CAVP L.Cv'
7j COMMUNITY SERVICE J T
-1 AMERICAN LIFRAR-.- fl
fJ j I ASSOCIATION I V V JT
LVAT10NARMY NjJ'
THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BT
L. L. 8wn
L. M. Carl
J. K. Wtathtrford
J. R. Wyatt '
L. G. Lcwdling
G. W. Wright
W. S. Rlalcy
WUUrd L. Marks W. K. BilyM
II. II. Hewitt
C E. So
Victor OIliTtr
Dan Johiuton
Harry G. Hoy
C. C. Bryant
Gala 8. Hill