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Show U. S. Engineers Do Wonderful Work In the War Zone Much has been written regarding the wonderful work of the American Engineers In France both afthe bases of the United States Army and along the many connecting lines which hook up the front lines with the sources of supply. There is, however, another isido to their activity which is just as remarkable and praiseworthy especially espe-cially sinco It is gratuitous and done after ordinary working hours. It is tho preparing of fields or enclosures for the soldier athletics and without which it would be impossiblo to play r many of the games and contests. i Stories of the helpful work of thi engineers In this direction aro con-stantly con-stantly boing sent back across tho seas along the following lines. Recently Re-cently a Y. M. C. A. athletic director with an engineer regiment in tho cen; ter of France felt discouraged regard ing outlook for sports. There was no field fit for baseball, football or even basketball. To relieve his mind he told his trouble to a sergeant. "If its a baseball field you want" quoth tho' sergeant, "we'll have it." i A rocky, uneven and generally des-! olato pasturo was selected as tho only possible placo upon which a ball park could be builL The physical director, thought possibly after a year's workj something might be made of it. That was before he knew tho engineers well. It took just three days to "skin" of the field, level It, roll It and put it In condition for play, even to tho building build-ing of a fine wire netting backstop and marking out the foul lines with flags. Tho job was done by the men after they had put in a hard day at their regular tasks. Practically tho whole regiment assisted at one time or another. ! With the baseball field In operation it was decided to promote boxing. The drawback was that there was no placa to stage bouts except the floor of the" hut, and the men who wanted to read or write or listen to the music machine ma-chine wouldn't stand for that. Asaln the sergeant was consulted. In three days he had put up, near the hut, as good a ring as ever staged a championship cham-pionship bouL It has a well-constructed platform, ropes arranged in the proper manner, padded floor and a time-keeper's gong. They didn't saj; whero they got the boards and nobody seemed to care becauso the officers who might have been fussy were too busy crowding into ringside seats for the oponing performance. These are but two isolated incidents of what the engineers do when their help Is needed need-ed to keep the sport spirit alive. nn |