Trench and camp., October 03, 1918, Image 3

About Trench and camp. ([Admiral, Md.) 1917-1919

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
@ m out the melting pot of Amer
admixture of races is belng
} & new American—a soldier
8L who, wearing the khaki and
_ with the dust of the parade
is stepping forth imnto the
upon file of him—to
the world safe for Democraey,
tear the bloody hand of the Hun
m the throat of civilization.
He is -the “non-English-speaking
Soldier’” who, along with his Ameri
-born brothers, has been selected
h the draft to drive the over
! barbarfans back into their lafr.
And the wonder of it all is that
but a scant three months ago it
ed that from this melting pot
; be poured omly a conglomerate
nass of humanity, confused by a bs
of tongues and disfigured by the
: but shapeless mold into which it
been powred.
et now the mold is molding
smoothly, symmetrically. Soldier
soldier is being turmed out fit
fight for Liberty under the Stars
d Stripes, mindful of the traditions
f his race and the land of his na
tivity and conscious of the principles
for which he is fighting.
A Wonder Story
¢ . And it has all been brought about
by what is known in army circles as
;tlo Camp Gordon plan'’—whereby
angs a twentieth century story; a
Btory to make the pulse quickea in
_these days when every mite con
".tributed toward the winning of this
r"mi'" is an occasion for rejoic
ng; a story to gladden and reassure
.the anxious hearts of the foreign
_born within our gates who have seen
= ~ sons taken by Uncle Sam and
. Wwho in agony of soul have been won
. dering what he would do with them.
Above all, the story of a welding
of diverse nationalities into a com
posite American type such as the so
called “melting pot’’ .failed to pour
forth in time of peace.
When the operations of the selec
tive draft law began to turn its
chosen men into the big Army camps,
hundreds and then thousands of for
born males who came within its
, pe were found in the long lines
tted. Italians, Poles, Russians,
Russian Jews, Lithuanians and
Greeks marched side by side with the
pative-born sons of America. Ar
menians, Albanians, Syrians, Csecho-
Slovaks, Jugo-Slavs, Scandinavians,
m and even Turks, answered this
ptory call to the colors. And
r:t more than one in a hundred of
em knew the English language well
ghough to understand the instruc
tions necessary to make them first
class fighting men.
So, naturally, in the imperative
haste of getting an army to France
at the earliest possible date, these
men of stalwart frame, of flashing
éye and sealed lips were pushed
aside, separated from the English
speaking draftees and placed to
gother, a conglomerate mass, in a
gingle section of each camp in what
have since been designated as De-
Yelopment Battalions.
And there, perforce, they were left
to themselves for a while—not by
choice of those in authority, but sim
- ply because they presented a problem
for which the answer could not be
found on the spur of the moment.
They were not neglected; on the con
trary, they were well-housed, well
fed, well taken care of. But they
were not immediately subjected to
the soldier-making process to which
- the American-born draftees were in
troduced.
There were officers who could talk
to some of them in their own tongues
—but the officers were few, the
tongues many and. the mog them
gelves thousands wupon thousands.
What to do with them, how to train
them, how even to make them under
stand the few simple rules that any
body of men living together must ob
serve for the sake of mere cleanliness
and good health—these were only a
few of the salient points of the great
problem faced by the military.
Here, let us say, was an Italian
officer with some five hundred men
under his command; he could make
the Italians understand his orders,
but the remainder of the five hundred
were perhaps of as many as forty-one
different nationalities! And there,
again, was a Polish officer who could
speak with the Poles and the Rus
. glans, but his instructions were worse
than “Greek” to the Italians, the
Syrians and the rest of the men in his
command. And, remember, army of
ficers who speak even one of these
strange European tomgues were s 0
few that they were absolutely lost in
the vast hordes pouring into the
eamps.
Dispiriting Circamstances
So, for week after week, these for
eign-born . draftees drifted along.
They grew discontented, restless, re
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“THE CAMP GORDON PLAN”
sentful, sulien. Many of them al-|
ready were trained soldiers who had
served in the armies of their native
lands, and, more to the point, they
had answered the call to the colors
with enthusiasm because they saw im
it a chance to fight not only the bat-|
tles of their adopted country, bat
likewise opportunity to avenge some
of the wrongs perpetrated upoa their
own countrymen in the past by the
unholy Hun, the treacherous Aus
trian and the ‘‘unspeakable Turk.”
They had come into camp ready to
fight, not to lie around and grow dis
contented and lasy as part of a badly
disciplined rabble.
In their main ranks were men w
did not want to fight; men who act
ually did not understand why they
had been put into a military camp;
men who were victims of pacifist and
German propaganda; men who re
fused to be naturalized, refused to
don a uniform; refused to even pick
up a rifie and learn to c:m.
Presently, race beg to quarrel
and bicker with race; old scores from
the pages of history were dug up and
reopened; and even within groups of
men of the same race, factions—
based upon politics or religion or
upon some one of many points of
difference the American mind sim
ply cannot grasp—factions began to
spring up and @&isrupt the scant har
| mony that did exist.
The problem became imminerntly
| terrible. Every effort was being made
| to solve it, and results were being ob
tained here and there, but not on the
big scale necessary. The few of
ficers equipped to handle portions of
the mass worked day and night to
bring some sort of order out of the
chaos. But sheer force of numbers
neutralized their valiant efforts.
Then came to the fore two of
ficers with a plan which they be
lieved would solve the problem, a
plan so simple that now it seems it
should bhave been obvious; but then,
| indeed, a plan which possessed all the
| elements of-novelty and uncertainty.
This plan of theirs was to segre
gate according to their mationalities
| the foreign-speaking soldiers who
could not wunderstand commands,
army orders and regulations in Eng
lish. Instead of Poles, Russians, Ital
fans and a dozen other races being
| jumbled, helter-skelter, into one bat
| talion, they advised, the Poles should
be formed into all-Polish companies
and battalions; and so, too, with the
Italians, the Russians and the other
| races.
Obstacles Numerous
| A simple plan? Indeed yes—look
ing backward! But not quite so
simple as it seems, even now, Its
advantages were many; the obstacles
to its execution all but legion. For
| example, to officer an all-Italian com
pany the officers need be able to
speak only Italian and English. But
where were such officers, trained and
capable, to be found? And, obvious
ly, to find officers competent to com
mand companies and battalions
formed of .every nationali%opresent
was an impossible task, , there
must be some officers who knew not
only one language in addition to Eng
lish, but many, many dialects, and—
more than all else—knew the charac
teristics and idiosyncracies of the
Jugo-Slavs, Czecho-Slovaks, Syrians,
Armenians and other races. Where,
again, could such men be found?
They certainly were not in the old
U. S. Army. >
But the officers were not deterred
by such obstacles. They decided to
go ahead, with the proper authori
zation, and let each day be sufficient
unto itself. ‘
Camp Gordon, an infantry replace
ment camp near Atlanta, Ga., was se
lected for the experiment on a big
scale. There were some four thou
sand non-English-speaking soldiers
there who were all but running
around in circles. Indeed, many of
them were openly indifferent, dis
couraged, discomtented, rebellious.
Not understanding English, many of
them were confined to kitchem and
police duty, working with pick and
shovel, and they were objects of ridi
cule for the English-speaking soldier,
who derived keem pleasure in ecalling
them “Wops’’ and ‘‘Sheenies” and
other terms of good-natured con
tempt. But few of them had been
naturalized.
Many who truly hated the Cemtral
Powers were being held as enemy
aliens solely because, not being un
derstood, they gave the impression-of|-
being such. Others were out-and-out
adherents of Bolshevik principles.
Many were discontented because of
their enforced isolation from spirit
ual and religious stimulus, believing
that services at-the Knights of Colum
bus huts were mnot Catholic because
théy were not Polish or Italian. Still
others were real yellow dogs of the
pacifist ' breed. And a large number
TRENCH AND.CAMR
were physically unfit for active duty
and were cluttering up hospital fa
cilities when they ml&l have been
transferred elsewhere or discharged
Into such a problem one officer
safled in two-fisted fashion, with co
‘operation from Washington. And he
conceived the amasing idea of hand
ling this “army neglected and ig
{mud" not em masse, but individ
ually! He did it, too. One by one
'the men were called before him and
lqm. In severai days he act
ually talked separately to 97¢ men!
And spoke to them im either their
own respective languages or i a
combination of dialects—at all events
he made them understand; and he,
in turn, understeod them! Thou
sands of complaints were noted, clas
sifled and either explained or ad
justed. BEach man was classified as
to his nationality, loyalty, intellect,
citizenship and fitness for military
service. ©
An Illustration
A little pen-picture of what oc
curred (in various diverse forms)
during this gigantic process of indi
vidual examination: ;
The Lieutenant, tall, fair-haired,
boyish, duslte his close-cropped mus
tache, slender, alert of eye and mien,
is seated at a bemnch in one corner of
s meas-hall. Ranged down the sides
of the room are the men im lime—
some of them plainly fearful of what
new ordeal they are to face, othmi
sullenly belligerent, most of them
stupidly resigned to whatever may‘
come.
It is the turn of a young Russian,
let us say, at the head of the lne, to
step before the Lieutenant. He
makes no effort to salute in even im
perfect fashion; he just stands and
stares at his feet, at the floor, at the
walls—anywhere except into the
;urching steel-blue eyes of the of
cer.
‘“Your name?" says the Lieutenant.
He gives it—sullenly. He has re
fused to drill, to put on a uniform,
to sign his naturalization papers. He
is a pacifist.
“You do not believe in fighting—
in force? You are not willing to be
a soldier?” asks the Lieutenant.
He does not. Never—never should
physical force be used.- He canmnot
bear even the thought of killing a
men. |
“Ah! Never? You have a sister
—yes? And she is still in Russia—
yes? Suppose, my peaceful friend,
you saw @ German soldier rush upon
her to assault her—what would you
do? Would you use force—would
you try to kill him evem if you died
yourself in the attempt?”
The Russian—magnificent of body,
steady of eye—breathes hard and,
despite his apparent effort to the
contrary, ha“lgs his head. No! He
wotld not force; he would not
kill the German brute.
‘“What—would—you—do?" Slow
ly, word by word, with an interval
between each of them, in a veice cold
as steel, the Lieutenant makes his
inquiry, |
The man shifts his weight from
one foot to the other. He fumbles
with his hat, he tugs at his collar.
Then he answers. He—he would try
to reason with the Hun beast! He
would endeavor to persuade him that
he was doing a foul deed!
‘“So!’”’ The Lieutenant has sprung
to his feet, his eyes are ablaze with
wrath and disgust, his arm is out
stretched, accusing finger levelled in
scorn at the miserable creature be
fore him. “So! You would!' Then
you are nothing but a coward! A
cowardly dog! You are afraid to
fight! You are pretending all this
just because you are afraid to face
German bullets! Afraid to do your
part in uenging the wrongs German
soldiers have dome to your native
land—to other men’'s sisters there!
You dare not risk your own skin!
You are not a man! You are just a
coward! That is all that’s the matter
with you!” :
The Russian now is transformed.
He, too, is alive with wrath. His
eyes also are ablaze with anger. “I
am not! lam not a coward!” he
shouts. *“I want to fight! I would
kill a man who treated my sister—
but—but—!"" And he breaks off,
the tears streaming down his cheeks.
“But what—my friend?"” asks the
Lieutenant guietly. ‘‘Tell met Tell
me where you got this idea of being
a pacifist? Who has been preaching
it to you? Tell me what is troubling
you. I want to Be your friend, to
help you—but you must be a good
soldier, you must obey my orders—
you must be a man! Tell me!”
And the man does. He really
wants to fight. He was a soldier be
fore he came to this country. He
hates the Humn. But he is worried
about his wife and child whom he has
left at home—in New York, maybe.
What will become of them? He
hasn‘t heard from them. How will
thz live? Will they starve while
he is at war? n:nhhnlmdr
taim of his co ] ult‘m:tn :.l:l
thing called m and Co! X
tious objector—and they have told
him that it will be the means of get
ting him out of the army so he can
return to his wife and child.
Allotment Explained
Then the Lieutenant smiles—an
couragingly, confidently—and takes
him by the elbow. 5
| “Listen, my friend,” he says.
‘rhat is because you do not know.
| Haven‘t you heard yet that—" Aand
| quickly, but in detail, he explains
| how Uncle Sam will care for his wife
tand child while he is at war—how a
'pntothhmthlypaywmude
| ducted and an equal amount added
| by the Government, and then the
| whole sent to the good wife. He
tells him all about the allowance and
allotment plan, and about Govern
ment insurance and the various other
| ways by which the wife and child
will be helped along by civiliaa or-
Result—another good soldier for
Uncle Sam, satisfied, relieved of his
| worry, eager to serve.
“Next!” cries the Lieutenant.
| And so it goes.
| The above is but ome instance.
| They are legion, as are the issues in
| volved.
| Here a man is unruly because he
| doesn’t want to drill and pretends to
| be suffering with rheumatism. All
right; then he stands at attention in
the sun for tro hours—and he is
|soon cured. If real, his complaint
| is given careful treatment and he is
| not asked to drill amtil fit to do so.
| There another is unwilling sblely
| because he does mot understand wly
| he is to be made & soldier—actually
| does not know why we are at war.
The officer explains it all to him, how
he was fairly selected in the-draft,
| how he will be well treated by Uncle
| Sam, how he now has an opportunity
| to prove himself worthy of his an
cestors, to avenge the wrongs per
| petrated upon them in the past, to
| play the part of an honored citizen
of the new land of his atloption. And
| the man goes out a better man than
| when he came in—and a willing sol
; dier of the United States.
In general, most of the objections
| to service are due to a lack of knowl
| edge of the English language. Sev
enty-five per cent of the men, though
| in camps since last fall, had up to a
| short while ago, neither learned Eng
| lish nor the rudiments of being a sol
| dler. But their troubles and com
plaints dissolve almost as the pro
verbial morning mists once they have
'| an opportunity to talk with an officer
: who can explain broad American prin
; ciples and answer their questions.
| This classification at Camp Gordon
'| resulted in the formation of three
| groups, as follows:
| 1. Development Battalion, com-
L posed of all physically fit men.
‘ 2. Labor Battalion, comprising the
really disloyal and enemy aliens.
t 3. Non-Combatant Service, com
‘ posed of the physically unfit for over
seas service, but proficient in some
| trade. . o
/ Straightway the physically fit were
'| assigned to what was known as the
'| Second ' Development Battalion and
| two companies were formed, one com
| posed of Slavs (the majority of them
| Poles) and the other a company of
pure-blooded Italians; and each com
| pany averaged, including men and
officers, 268 in persomnnel. Three of
ficers were secured of Polish extrac
; tion and one of Russian for the Slav
| company, and two officers of Italian
extraction for the Italian company,
80 that the men might be instructed
in their native tongues. One officer
of Greek extraction was also obtained
to handle the Greeks.
Enthusiasm Supplants Discontent
. The first week was devoted to lec
| turing on discipline and the Articles
of War and to preliminary military
training. Straightway fifty per cent
{of the discontent disappeared and
real enihusiasm was evident.
| And presently, too, amother factor
became apparent, a most desirable
tactor. For example, said one of the
soldiers in the Slav company to omne
of the soldiers from the Italian com
pany: “You Italians arem’t real sol
diers. We are!”
The Italian’s eyes narrowed to gim
let points. “Sapristi! Is that so.
goll you just watch us drill! You
avs can’t even mareh!”
And that started the ball rolling.
Each company tried to outdrill the
other.
Result—both companies developed
{ faster than the average American
company of recruits would develop
normally—and the infection spread
throughout all the foreign-speaking
soldiers in camp!
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