Show HUMAN SIDE OF OUR GREAT ARMI an chaplain Is the man who gets nearest to the boys OVER THE TOP WITH TROOPS t besides ministering to ta the spiritual needs of soldiers the chaplains place Is wherever his men are aroln tile committee on public information washington D C by A UNITED STATES ARMY CHAP LAIN I 1 consider my job tile ilia most interesting i in ill lie army no officer has more rich nil and varied opportunities for service ice than alian a chaplain no off officers leers calendar presents greater contrasts it Is a chaplains duty to oversee the dispositions of ills in mobile otille lock flock as well as their souls minds amusements til orals cio coi correspondence respond once and reading matter ile he laust go from the ilia boxing ring to vie ti ic hospital end from tile the theater to the ho guard house lie Is la in jail than any other ninn man in tile the Fier vict hut but it his hig work Is well veil done it in lot L thero there none too often to suit the lost last january gene general ral pershing sent s cablegram to the lie secretary ot of war asking hint flint the number or of chaplains la 13 the army be increased fur for the war I 1 an average of three per regiment his is cablegram reads leads lit in part na as follows I 1 believe the ilia per 1101 dotinel inel of the army in my tins nos never been equaled iqual cd ed and tile tho conduct tills lias been excellent butto but to overcome entirely tho the conditions found here requires fortitude born of great courage MIG lofty ideas counting myself responsible spon for the welfare of our men in every ro respect it Is my desire to surround them with the best influence poss possible lille in the fulfillment of tills this solemn trust it seems wise to request the nid ild of the churches from home tile the chaplain Is a commissioned boffl om starting with the tha rank of first lieutenant lie ile Is always an ordained clergyman who has lind had practical experience peri per lence ence as a pastor before entering the army tile the different religious bodies are represented in tile the chap lain InIn cies cles in numbers proportionate to the number of adherents of the different denominations in the country at large each Is privileged to conduct religious services in the manner proscribed prescribed by his own church but when that hus has been said I 1 have expressed seed nil all th the e denominationalism that there Is in the army in tills as in ill many other respects the army has haa set net an example to civil lite life for it lias has learned the needlessness and waste of many any sectarian lines in the face of human need chaplain an information bureau some people have the idea that all a chaplain has to do Is conduct regious services at alt other times they think of him as enjoy inga a life of completo complete relaxation the utter mistakenness of tills notion becomes evident after the briefest survey of tho the tasks assigned to a chopla tc for one thing lie ho Is the Inform information atto a bureau for ills his regiment regime fit if it a soldier wants to know a street address a telephone number or a train schedule lie goes to the he chaplains clin office it if lio lie wants right information on oil current topics he calls on oil tho the chaplain and asks him if lie tills has any into magazines or newspapers dealing with the question on oil of tho tile linval chap falus put out periodicals for the he men some soine of these arse magazines are really excellent productions product lons then there lit lc the whole problem of education it if there nio are men in the ilia regiment locking lacking in fix necessary education the chaplain la Is expected to or in the common benelle so that they may improve lin provo theitis themselves elves along those lines make more useful to their country and brighten their own futures tile the chol choplain frequently gives lectures to recruits ou on discipline and tho the relation of moral cleanliness to health and cm efel clency ile he keeps keens a record of nil all tile the men en us as they come into the bervice in eluding clouding their name homo home address n next ext of klu kin education and other bitter items the clin chaplains plains day includes plenty of humorous incidents A fellow chaplain chaphill now ou on duty at one of tile base hospitals tells an atti using story of talking to nil mi italian vita ho had been recently injured the man listened attentively tent ively ilia great brown eyes fixed on oil tho the chaplains face tile tho padro padre did not know that tie injured roan man was an italian and shoko little enlist 1 though a a soldier lit in the ilia united states anny after suggesting a it little prayer tile tho chaplain cha added carelessly it dinkes no great difference between us but what la is your creed religion in his foot tile injured man still looked earnestly car upward and lite chaplain repeated ills his question tho the soldier ought caught only the ilia questioning intonation and unshed flashed a brilliant smile oil beet ees in my foot I 1 lio lie said bald in MI explanatory tone and immediately pulled back the covers of tile the bed displaying it a much bandaged until limb tile chop chaplain lala must be a good mixer tills this Is especially necessary casary because lie Is much concerned with the recreational lire of ilia men he must bo be en it pablo of participating actively in manly sports and of organizing such games as will appeal to ilia tastes testis of all tho fhe men inen tile the social life of the regiment Is ono one of tits his responsibilities tile tho movies the boxing watches matches ilia volleyball games and the wrestling bouts bouta tire nil within ills province lie iio writes jot letters ton tom for men who are sick or wounded in ili rase lease of difficulty or death it Is tile chaplain who must impart the message to the loved ones onea who gave the lie man into service because lie ho has access to every one tile the chaplain becomes involved in ili many delicate problems of conduct I 1 once received a rather pathetic note from tile lie mother of one of tho ilia men asking whether liar boy was still nt at tho the post I 1 happened to know that he was in the guardhouse I 1 went to seo see the boy and asked him why lie he had not written home the whole story came out immediately during tits hla christmas furlough the soldier had married a girl whom ills mother did not approve of and in a n lit fit of temper hla big mother hart hall said she wished never to see or hear from him again before the ahe conversation was over the chaplain had persuaded tile tho boy to write thus tho the difficulty was smoothed over nce a difficulty smoothed over Is a chaplains I 1 a ills duty du ty done go over the top so far I 1 have said nothing about the work ot of the chaplains in the field which for the present war means chiefly over there my own experience line has not yet extended thither but I 1 can answer briefly some of the questions that flint people ask alie query Is often put to me s do chaplains go into the he front line trenches the answer Is yes of course frequently they go over the top with the he men A chaplains place Is wherever mciever tits ills men ore are anti and when they are in danger he Is too A chaplain who to Is not willing it if necessary to lose ills his life iffe in ili the performance forina for mance nce of his duties la Is anlo to ills hla trust and does not deserve lila ills commission av As a matter of fact many have be been little killed tile tho mortality among chaplains chaplain on tho the western front has been as high as one a day which Is a high percentage when the small total number lumber or of chaplains Is considered the chaplain hapl aln has this additional test of nerve that lie ho la Is obliged to ro po unarmed by tile the terms of tile geneva convention chaplains tire not permitted to carry arms of course in return for this the person of the chap lain la Is supposed to be sacrosanct dot but everyone knows tillit to 0 o tile win him tile tho safeguards of the ti leneva convention tire nrc ns as obsolete us its ilia lio sermon on tile mount Is to them A brother to the wounded rid e d the hospital Is one of ill tho a p principal ra cIpal floleila for the endeavors As one chaplain chopla ill puts it in ili tile the hospital they cant get away front from nio me but bilut there la Is n more powerful element in tile chaplains success nui rong tho the sick boys As aa soon us no they feel help less les athey they rench out involuntarily for a friendly hand anti and it Is rare for a wall lit in a hospital not to bet glad to see sec the chaplain the most impressive I 1 have heard was given to tile by a wend ot of mine who Is it chatila tri iio he had become greatly interested la in one of the men who was seriously ill III and not expected to live every time tho the chap inin amo came to see BOO him the fellow would ask hlin him to say just ono one little prayer wont you toward tho the end they thou thouR glit lit that lint lie ho would bo be delirious but he was not tho the clui plain came and tho the soldier whispered Ms lite customary request for a prayer tile tho chaplain prayed when ho he had finished lie ho asked to did you understand lae then grnya aprily yes tile tho dying mau man whispered 1 I understood I 1 con understand anything about god it its 9 wonderful those elioso were his last words words the army hns learned that men may worship god in different ways but they all need tho the biame kind of 0 broth ering coln so go the ilia army chaplain looks after nil all his boys alike whether they have lave a faith or whether they have none iio ho knows better than tiny other officer that undo sums boys boya tiro are not but men inen because lie comes so close ill n touch with the human side or oc the briny lio lie Is in it position to stimulate that morale without willell which men anro powerless power losa to win vill 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