OUR first forces in France were volunteers, part of the old regular
Army, though many of the enlistments were recent. The motives leading
men to join such an army are varied and in many cases humorous or
pathetic. A Y. M. C. A. secretary in France, who had won the confidence
of the men with whom he was associated, wondered why each man had come.
So he arranged that they should hand in cards telling why they had
enlisted. Mr. Arthur Gleason presents some of the answers in the New
York _Tribune_ as “the first real word from the soldier himself of why
he has offered himself.” These replies came from two battalions of an
infantry regiment, which, for military reasons can not be identified.
Mr. Gleason puts them in several groups. One is the sturdily patriotic.
Thus, one soldier says:
“My reason in 1907 was that I liked the service and wanted to try for
something new and bright for my country.”
Others say: “Because my country needs me”; “to catch Villa”; “I wanted
to get the Kaiser’s goat”; “for the benefit of the American Army”;
“so patriotic and didn’t know what it was”; “Mexican trouble, 1917”;
“I felt like my country needed me, and I wanted to do something for
it, and that was the only way I was able to do anything for my dear
country, the good old U. S. A.”; “I never did anything worth while on
the outside, so I dedicated myself to my country that I might be of
some use to some one”; “a couple of Germans”; “to serve God and my
country.”
Another class of answers deal with what is in the blood of youth—the
desire to taste adventure, to see the world, and see France. Here are a
few in this group:
“To do my duty and see the world”; “to see the world, ha! ha!”;
“because I thought I would like that kind of a life, and didn’t know
what kind of a life I would have to lead in this hole”; “got tired of
staying at home”; “I was seeking adventure and change of environments”;
“to kill time and fight”; “to see France”; “I was discouraged with the
civilian life and wanted to get some excitement”; “to have a chance to
ride on the train; I never had ridden”; “they said I was not game and
I was, and because I wished to”; “because I wouldn’t stay in one place
any length of time, I thought if I joined the Army for three or seven
years I would be ready to settle down. I think that is as good a thing
as any boy could do”; “to see the world”; “I had tried everything else,
so I thought I would try the Army.”
Another group of answers deal with the individual human problem of
hunger and loneliness. These that follow illustrate this:
“To fight, and for what money was in it”; “three good square meals and
a bath”; “because I was disgusted with myself and thought it would make
a man out of me”; “I was too lazy to do anything else”; “I was stewed”;
“to get some clothes, a place to sleep and something to eat”; “because
I was hungry”; “because I was nuts with the dobey heat” (dobey is a
Mexican slang word brought up by the boys from the border); “because I
had to keep from starving;” “in view of the fact that I was so delicate
and a physical wreck I joined the Army, hoping to get lots of fresh air
and exercise, which I have sure gotton, and am ready to go home at any
time”; “I was in jail and they came and got me. Hard luck!”; “because I
did not have no home”; “I got hungry”; “pork and beans were high at the
time”; “three square meals a day and a flop.”
The voice of State rights speaks in the replies of two men from the
South:
“To represent the State of Kentucky.”
“In answer to a call from my State, Mississippi, and to see something
of the world, and I have seen some of the world, too.”
Then, too, there are a number that refuse to be classified; each has
its own note of suffering or audacity of humor:
“To catch the Kaiser”; “because the girls like a soldier”; “because
my girl turned her back on me, that’s all”; “I thought I was striking
something soft, but ...”; “the dear ones at home”; “I was crazy”; “two
reasons: because girls like soldiers and I saw a sign ‘500,000 men
wanted to police up France’”; “for my health and anything else that is
in it” (a consumptive soldier); “to show that my blood was made of the
American’s blood”; “to learn self-control”; “it was a mistake; I didn’t
know any better”; “for my adopted country”; “I got drunk on Saturday,
the Fourth of July, 1913, and I left home on the freight-train and
joined the Army, and woke up the next morning getting two sheets in
the wind, and I haven’t got drunk since that; made a man out of me”;
“to keep from working, but I got balled”; “I have not seen anything
yet but rain”; “because I didn’t know what I was doing”; “to kill a
couple of Germans for the wrong done Poland”; “to keep from wearing my
knuckles out on the neighbors’ back doors”; “adventure and experience;
also, to do my little bit for my country, the good old U. S. A., and
the Stars and Stripes, the flag of freedom”; “to fight for my country
and the flag, for the U. S. is a free land, and we will get the Kaiser,
damn him. Oh, the U. S. A.!” (Picture of a flag.)
One man makes out a complete category of his reasons: (_a_) “To see
excitement”; (_b_) “to help win this war and end the Kaiser’s idea of
world ruler”; (_c_) “help free the German people from Kaiserism.”
And, finally, there is one that needs no comment, and with this we will
end:
“Because mother was dead and I had no home.”