Over the Seas for Uncle Sam Part 1

Over the Seas for Uncle Sam.

by Elaine Sterne.

THE WHEREFORE OF MY LITTLE BOOK

We have learned some things in war times that we did not know in days of peace. We have made the amazing discovery that our own fathers and brothers and husbands and lovers are potential heroes. We knew they were brave and strong and eager to defend us if need be. We knew that they went to work in the morning and returned at night just so that we might live in comfort; but we never dreamed that the day would come when we would see them marching off to war--a war that would take them far from their own sh.o.r.es. We never dreamed that, like the knights of old, they would ride away on a quest as holy as that of the Crusaders.

As for army and navy life--it had always been a sealed book to us, a realm into which one was born, a heritage that pa.s.sed from father to son. We heard of life at the army post. We saw a uniform now and then, but not until our own men donned khaki and blue did we of the outside world learn of the traditions of the army and of the navy, which dated back to the days of our nation's birth.

We did not know that each regiment had its own glorious story of achievement--a story which all raw recruits were eager to live up to--a story of undaunted fighting in the very face of death that won for it its sobriquet.

Because the army lay at our very door, we came to know it better, to learn its proud lesson more swiftly, but little by little the navy, through the lips of our men, unlocked its traditions, tenderly fostered, which had fired its new sons to go forth and fight to the finish rather than yield an inch.

As a first lieutenant in the Girls' National Honor Guard, I was appointed in May, 1917, for active duty in hospital relief work. It was then that I came to know Miss Mary duBose, Chief Nurse of the United States Naval Hospital, whose co-operation at every turn has helped this little volume to come into being.

The boys of the navy are her children. She watches over them with the brooding tenderness of a mother. Praise of their achievements she receives with flas.h.i.+ng pride. With her entire heart and soul she is wrapped up in her work. Through her s.h.i.+nes the spirit of the service--the tireless devotion to duty.

I had never before been inside a naval hospital. I had a vague idea that it would be a great machine, rather overcrowded, to be sure, in war times, but running on oiled hinges--completely soulless.

I found instead a huge building, which, in spite of its size, breathed a warm hominess. Its halls and wards are spotless. Through the great windows the sun pours in on the patients, as cheery a lot of boys as you would care to see.

There are always great cl.u.s.ters of flowers in the wards--bright spots of color--there are always games spread out on the beds. There is always the rise of young voices--laughter--calls. And moving among the patients are the nurses--little white-clad figures with the red cross above their heart. Some of them appear frail and flower-like, some of them very young, but all impress one with their quiet strength and efficiency.

I have spoken to a great many of them. They are enthusiastic and eager.

They praise highly the splendid work done abroad by their sisters, but they are serious about the work to be done here as well. Their tasks are carried on with no flaunting of banners, but they are in active service just the same, nursing our boys to health every hour of the day--giving sons back to their mothers--husbands to their wives.

It is a corps to be proud of and a great volume of credit should be laid at the feet of Mrs. Leneh Higbee, the national head of the Naval Nurse Corps. It was Mrs. Higbee who built up the Corps--who has given her life's work to keeping up the standard of that organization--of making it a corps whose personnel and professional standing in efficiency cannot be surpa.s.sed in the world to-day.

As my visits to the hospital became more frequent, I began, bit by bit, to gather a story here and there, from the men who lay ill--stories of unconscious heroism--deeds they had performed as part of a day's work on the high seas.

They did not want praise for what they had done. They are an independent lot--our sailors--proud of their branch of service. "No drafted men in the navy," they tell you with a straightening of their shoulders.

And from the officers I learned of that deeper love--that wors.h.i.+p of the sea--of the vessel placed in their hands to command. From them I heard for the first time of the value of a discipline iron-bound--rigid--a discipline that brooks no argument. There were stories of men who had hoped and dreamed all their lives of a certain cruise, only to find themselves transferred to the other end of the world. Did they utter a word of complaint? Not they! "Orders are orders"--that was enough for them!

And because those of us who send our men to sea are burning to know the tales they have to tell, I have made this little collection--the men's own stories, told in the ward to other round-eyed youths who gathered about the bed to hear, full of eager questions, prompting when the story moved too slowly.

What you read here are their stories--stories of whole-souled youths, with the sparkle of life in their eyes, with the love of adventure in their hearts. Jack Tar is an American clear through to his backbone!

ELAINE STERNE.

New York, May 15, 1918.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jack is his own "chambermaid."]

JACK TAR

We're not long on recitation, We're just rough and ready gobs, But we rate ten gadgets higher Than some smug civilian sn.o.bs.

When we're out on well-earned sh.o.r.e leave Drummin' up a little cheer, Oh, we meet sleek city dandies Who object to sailors here.

They are togged in pretty s.h.i.+rts Like a lady on parade, And they wouldn't touch a sailor With a hoe or with a spade.

We may not be ornamental In the tinselled dancing halls, When the nation needs defenders We are there when duty calls.

Though we can't hob-n.o.b with laggards Who sleep in sheltered bed And we can't enjoy peace pleasures, We can join the hero dead.

CHIEF GUNNER BLAKE SPEAKS:

SUNK BY SUBMARINE

SOMEWHERE along in January, 1915, I s.h.i.+pped on the U. S. S. _Utah_.

Always had a hankering after the sea, and then, to tell the truth, civilian jobs were pretty hard to land in 1915--you bet they were!

Once you're in the Navy you stay for a while. I liked it from the start.

I got to know a thing or two about the guns, went to gunnery school; that's how I came to be made chief gunner's mate, I guess, and told to report for armed guard duty on May 29, 1917.

I drew an old tub. I suppose it had been used to carry a cargo of salt fish from Maine to Newfoundland, and here it was, painted fresh, and ready to cross the old Atlantic, which was fairly bristling with mines and lurking sea-devils.

We put to sea June 19th, and we reached the War Zone on July 3rd. I know what I'm doing, writing War Zone with capitals. You don't have to be told when you get there. You feel it in the air--it's like a wire vibrating; everyone's on edge, keyed up to G pitch.

It was my job to see that all lights were doused and all ports closed as soon as it got dark. I wasn't particular about the way I enforced orders just so I got them obeyed--and I saw to it that every man who carried a match was parted from it and that all pocket lights were put in a neat little pile--officers excepted, of course. They kept theirs.

Every hour I made a round of the s.h.i.+p, watching out sharp for a light.

Important! Say, just suppose Fritz's sea-baby were lying off a few miles or so without the faintest idea that a merchantman, chuck-full of munitions, was a stone's throw away. Think how that German crew would feel if across the darkness they saw the flare of a match. Well, it would be apt to be lights out for us all that time--that's what.

The watch was doubled--four on and four off--a watch of good sixteen hours at a clip, with a life preserver on every minute of the time--that is, you were supposed to. On the transports the rule is carried out to the letter. Catch a man without a life belt and he can be pretty sure he'll be up for court-martial when he gets back to port.

But with us it was different. We kept them close by; some of the men slept in them. I had mine over my feet ready to s.n.a.t.c.h up in case of trouble.

It was July 3rd, remember, and we were feeling pretty good. My bunky was McCaffrey--Mac for short--a little red-headed, freckled Irishman from Wisconsin, the best that comes west of the Mississippi. We had it all fixed up to fire a gun off on the Fourth.

"Sure, it's a fine opinion Fritz'll have of us if he's thinkin' we're scared to let him know it's our big day back home," he argued.

I thought it was a great idea--I told him I'd stand by if he'd share the blame. Of course we knew darned well we'd never really pull it off, but it was good fun planning the whole thing just the same.

The sea was calm that night, for a wonder--just a gentle swell. We were on watch at eight, all on good lookout. Orders were to stand by, and the guns were primed, ready to shoot red h.e.l.l into anything short of an ally.

I wish we could have had a close-up of us. Faces grim, tense from excitement, joking a bit under our breaths, wis.h.i.+ng to Moses we could have a smoke, betting we'd get through without sighting anything better than our own reflection in the water.