

E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Christian Boissonnas, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)



Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
      file which includes the original illustrations.
      See 46261-h.htm or 46261-h.zip:
      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46261/46261-h/46261-h.htm)
      or
      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46261/46261-h.zip)


Transcriber's note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

      Characters enclosed by curly brackets is superscript
      (examples: N{o} or 15{eme}).





[Illustration: _La France Guerriere_]


[Illustration]


FRIENDS OF FRANCE

The Field Service of the American Ambulance described by its members.







Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company,
The Riverside Press--Cambridge

Copyright, 1916, by Houghton Mifflin Company
All Rights Reserved




[Illustration]

  TO

  M{R} & M{RS}. ROBERT BACON

  In appreciation
  of all that their effort
  in America
  has accomplished for this
  Service in France




CONTENTS


  INTRODUCTION _A. Piatt Andrew_                                    xvii

  LETTER FROM SECTION LEADERS                                        xix

  I. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SERVICE _Stephen Galatti_                 1

  II. AT THE BACK OF THE FRONT: DUNKIRK AND YPRES
      _Henry Sydnor Harrison_                                          6

  III. THE SECTION IN ALSACE RECONQUISE _Preston Lockwood_            21

  IV. LAST DAYS IN ALSACE _Everett Jackson_                           51

  V. THE SECTION IN LORRAINE _James R. McConnell_                     61
      With an introduction by Theodore Roosevelt

  VI. AN AMERICAN AMBULANCE IN THE VERDUN ATTACK
      _Frank Hoyt Gailor_                                             89

  VII. ONE OF THE SECTIONS AT VERDUN _Henry Sheahan_                 109

  VIII. THE SECTION IN FLANDERS _Joshua G. B. Campbell_              117

  IX. THE BEGINNINGS OF A NEW SECTION _George Rockwell_              131

  X. UN BLESSE A MONTAUVILLE _Emery Pottle_                          136

  XI. CHRISTMAS EVE, 1915 _Waldo Peirce_                             139

  XII. THE INSPECTOR'S LETTER BOX                                    148

      Our ambulances--How the cars reach Paris--_En route_ for the
      front--First impressions--The daily programme--Handling the
      wounded--The wounded--Night duty--Fitting into the
      life--_Paysages de guerre_--Soldier life--July 22 at
      Pont-a-Mousson--Incidents of a driver's life--_Three Croix de
      Guerre_--From day to day--From another diary--Further
      pages--A night trip--An attack--_Poilu_ hardships--Winter in
      Alsace--Weeks of quiet--Night--Morning--Stray thoughts--A
      gallant _blesse_--Perils of a blizzard--Poignant
      impressions--In the hospital--New quarters--The poetry of war.

      Champagne, 1914-1915                                           227

  XIII. FOUR LETTERS FROM VERDUN                                     232

  TRIBUTES AND CITATIONS                                             252

  MEMBERS OF THE FIELD SERVICE                                       337




  THE MEMBERS OF THE FIELD SERVICE

  DESIRE TO EXPRESS SINCERE GRATITUDE

  TO

  M. CHARLES HUARD

  AND TO

  M. BERNARD NAUDIN

  FOR

  THE INTEREST WHICH

  THEIR DISTINGUISHED TALENT

  HAS ADDED TO THIS BOOK




ILLUSTRATIONS


  _La France Guerriere_                                     Frontispiece

  _Dunkirk, May, 1915_                                                 6

  _An American Ambulance in Flanders_                                 10

  _An American Ambulance in Ypres_                                    12

  _Soldiers marching by American Ambulances in a Flemish Town_        14

  _Americans in their Gas-Masks_                                      16

  _The Col de Bussang--the Gate to Alsace Reconquise_                 22

  _Supplies for the Soldiers being carried on Mules over the Vosges
    Mountains_                                                        24

  _At a Valley "Poste" (Mittlach)_                                    24

  _American Drivers in Alsace_                                        28

  _A "Poste de Secours" in the Valley of the Fecht_                   30

  _Sharing Meals at a "Poste"_                                        30

  _La Terre Promise_                                                  36

  _The Harvard Club of Alsace Reconquise_                             42

  _Winter Days in Alsace_                                             54

  _Effect of