AMERICANS AT THE FRONT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 274, 11 May 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

AMERICANS AT THE FRONT.

After hav'ng taken part in the occupation of the German possessions in the Pacific and been returned suffering from malaria, Lieut. George Clune, of Waveriey (New South AYales), who has just returned from France, was refused for active service with the A.I.F. in Australia, and again in Canada. Nothing daunted by these rebuffs, he tried the United States, and in New York was promptly accepted as a driver in the American Ambulance Corps. The lieutenant is a nephew of Senior Chaplain Archbishop Clune, of Perth, and one of his brothers is Jack Clune, the boxer; while another brother, Frank, was wounded in Gallipoli, and has retifrnjcd to Australia. "I was not very fond of Americans beforo I went there," said the lieutenant, "but what I sav of their unobtrusivo work right from the beginning of the war soon turned my indifference into admiration. I found that they were doing great work, and spending thousands of pounds to help the Allies' cause, and after I had been accepted as a driver in the American Ambulance Corps there was no prouder Australian on earth. I was sent first of all to Paris, and attached to the headquarters staff of the American Ambulance Corps, and won my promotion to commissioned rank for work on the field. I cannot say enough for the section I was with; thjir work was wonderful, more especially at Verdun. Thanks were showered on us by the French army, and one of us was awarded the croix-de-guerre as a mark of appreciation for untiring work under tire. There aro a great number of Americans —quite 600—in tho American Ambulance Corps-, and every man is doing tho work voluntarily. Moreover, they pay their own passages to and from America, and provide their own uniforms and equipment. All tho French provide is rations and, when available, lodgings. There are over 400 cars in our corps alone, and 160 at Salonica, and in Franco tho Americans maintain two haspitals —one at Neuilly-sur-Soine and tho other at Juilly-sur-Marne, tho former having 600 beds and the latter 400. Both these hospitals are run entirely by voluntary subscriptions from Americans, and aro staffed by voluntary workers. "A railway station in Paris," continued tho lieutenant, "has been converted by tho Americans into a receiving depot for all French wounded, under American supervision. Hospital trains havo been run from tho base to this depot bv voluntary American workers practically every month since the war started. This good Tvork has passed unnoticed by tho Allies and tho world at large. From what I have heard I can confidently r:ay that the French Governmentwould have been had put to without this freely-given American ad. The Government has highly appreciated it, and has shown is thanks by making the original promoters members of the Legion of Honour, several ol them being sons of noted American millionaires, who have resigned their pleasant lifj n tho States for the stern realities of the front.

"Another matter that tho public should bo made acquainted with is that some of America's finest surgeons, doetors, and chemists have voluntarily given up s'x months' practice at homo and gone to France to help in the good cause free of all charge to the French Government. So remarkable has been tho work of the American surgeons in tho hospitals at tho front that it is stated that all books on surgery will have to be remodelled on tho linos cf experience derived during tho war. "There is another matter 1 would like to touch on, and thai is the wonderful work of the Morgan-Harjes corps of Oil ambulance cars in the field. This corps is linn need by Mr Pierpont Morgan and his French partner, Mr Harjos, and these cars have done groat work in the field. Again, over 60 American airmen are in the French Aviation Corps, but these are not voluntary workers, they are paid men, and it is probable that they will bo attached to tho American army at the front within a little while. ••I misht add," concluded Lieut. Chine, "that during the time I was at the front the American Ambulance Corps were removing 5000 cases a week from tho front to the base hospitals, and up till s'x r.iontln atio had carried over 7.j(),000 ea«es in their cars to the Parisian hospitals.' 1