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5 1 The Abnormal Communities Corporal Elmer W. Sherwood had been in France for almost six months. His unit, the 150th Field Artillery Regiment, formally of the Indiana National Guard, was a part of the artillery brigade that served under the 42nd “Rainbow ” Division. His unit, being trained by the French, was near the front to learn the ways of mortal combat on the western front. Like most of his Hoosier comrades, he was hungry and out of cigarettes, and Sherwood decided to find a source for food and tobacco. After a two-mile walk, he found a YMCA hut where he got a meager, but hot, meal and found the smokes he needed. In his diary, for March 3, 1918, he wrote,“The Y.M.C.A. [representative] said he didn’t like the language the Huns were using but he was sticking to his post, tho shells were landing in his backyard.”1 Sherwood knew, as did so many of General John J. Pershing’s Doughboys, that the army provided little hot food and no small comforts like cigarettes or a candy bar. To a soldier like Sherwood , such things as a hot meal or tobacco were important to the morale that all combat troops had to maintain. The United States Army’s attention to morale issues had been a problem for as long as there was an army. The old observation that war was a few moments of sheer terror and days of mind-numbing boredom was quite true. Up to World War I, little attention was paid to the morale of the soldier in the ranks. The men played cards, rolled dice, and had ball games if balls were available. When left for long periods in camp, soldiers tended to look for something to drink, and when they got into towns, too many were inclined “to take a ride” on local prostitutes. Commanders were inclined to try to ban alcoholic beverages , and venereal disease was viewed with great dismay as cases increased. The twin vices of strong drink and prostitution became a continual area of 6 American Girls, Beer, and Glenn Miller concern for all army commanders, but until the entry of America into the Great War, little was done to offer alternative diversions for the troops. When President Abraham Lincoln issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers in the spring of 1861, the situation changed as far as the public perception of soldiers, because those were hometown regiments, filled with men who were well known. The first camps took on an atmosphere of a weekend in the woods. Some regiments even hired cooks from their hometowns to prepare meals, and rations were plentiful. Regiments were attired in colorful uniforms, such as the gray of New York regiments, red shirts for some, and recreations of Revolutionary garb. War was snapping banners, stirring bands, and little drill, as it would all be over in six months, with the Union restored. Then they met the equally untrained and garishly uniformed Confederates along a meandering creek in northern Virginia called Bull Run. In June 1861, the United States Sanitary Commission was created to supply kitchens in the ever-growing Union camps, distribute supplies to the always filled hospitals, and provide rests for disabled soldiers. Collaborating with the Sanitary Commission was the United States Christian Commission, which was formed in 1861 to provide spiritual comfort for the troops. This commission began with the efforts of the YMCA National Committee, and it had the duty of working with Protestant army chaplains who would preach in the camps and follow their regiments into battle. Later in the war, the Ladies Auxiliary was formed to raise funds to support the growing spiritual needs of soldiers. In a time when faith was a vital part of American life, the Christian Commission performed an important, morale-raising role. It also provided an opportunity for those back home to contribute or actually work for the well-being of the troops. It would come as no surprise that the YMCA would be in the forefront of providing for the troops in both world wars in the next century. The volunteers in both armies, and later the conscripts, looked for those small comforts that made life in the camps and on the march better. By 1861 most regiments, Union and Confederate, had added a civilian merchant called a sutler. The idea, as far as soldier morale was concerned, started out as a good one, but as the...

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