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Almost as soon as the American Ambulance Hospital was organized, it was realized that a transportation service would be necessary. Its beginnings were small: in the battle of the Marne there were only a half-dozen hastily built cars in the service. At present, in addition to the Paris squad of ambulances, which serves to carry wounded from the freight station of La Chapelle to all the hospitals in the Paris district, there are four other units at work. One squad is attached to Hospital "B," at Juilly, about 40 kilometers east of Paris. The other three units are stationed at Dunkirk, Pont-a-Mousson, and on the Alsace border, the total number of cars employed in these places being about 75. Each section is attached to the French army, is fed and lodged by it, and is subject to its discipline. The army furnishes gasoline and tires, but the drivers act as their own mechanics in the matter of routine repairs.
No Actual Field Work.
The work of the motor ambulances is not actually on the battlefield, as is often supposed. The army's own stretcher-bearers do the hazardous work of collecting the wounded; they are given what treatment is imperative by the surgeons at the first-line stations, and are taken to the second-line stations in horse-ambulances. It is here that the work of the motor-ambulances begins, and it ends at the big clearing hospitals, established at varying distances to the rear.
Several of the Harvard men who have been in the ambulance service have left it to take an active part in the struggle. Among these are O. D. Filley '06, now a lieutenant in the British air service, who was recently decorated for brilliant conduct in action; D. P. Starr '08 and W. G. Oakman, Jr., '08, who are said to be driving armored motors in the Dardanelles; E. C. Cowdin, 2d, '08, Norman Prince '08, and Frazier Curtis '98, in the French aviation service. R. T. W. Moss '95 entered the Ambulance service in January, 1915, but in March he resigned to go to Serbia, which he felt needed help more than any other of the belligerent countries.
A. P. Andrew Ph.D. '00, formerly Assistant Professor of Political Economy at Harvard, drove an ambulance for several months in the north of France before he was appointed inspector-general of the American Ambulance Service of Paris, in which capacity he maintains the co-ordination between the field sections and the central administration in Paris, R. H. Post '91 is adjutant of the staff, and P. A. Carroll '02 served on it for some months. J. S. Cochrane '00 was in charge of a squad stationed at St. Pol until his resignation in the spring, and C. T. Lovering '02 succeeded Filley in command of a section that served in the north and then at Hospital "B" in Juilly. E. V. Salisbury '08 is in command of the section at Pont-a-Mousson.
First Section in Alsace.
The first section to be sent to the front was formed under the command of R. Lawrence '02, and is now at work in the recaptured territory of Alsace. Lawrence's assistants in this section were D. D. L. McGrow '03, and Lovering Hill '10, the latter succeeding to the command after Lawrence and McGrew left for America. R. W. Stebbins '08 had temporary charge of one of the Dunkirk squads, and P. H. Wood '16 of the Paris squad.
A roster follows of the Harvard men who have been, or who are now serving, in the American Ambulance of Paris, complete so far as the available sources of information go: F. H. All G.S., C. L. Appleton '08, A. P. Andrew Ph.D. '00, G. C. Broome L.'86, A. G. Carey '14, D. Carb '09, J. S. Cochrane '00, C. R. Codman, 2d, '15, J. R. Childs '15, E. C. Cowdin, 2d, '08. C. R. Cross '03, E. J. Curley '04, L. H. Delabarre '16, J. S. Farlow '02, S. P. Fay '07, O. D. Filley '06, H. D. Hale, Jr., '15, L. Hemenway '15, A. I. Henderson '13, C. Higginson '17, L. Hill '10, C. H. Holt '12, A. R. Jennings G.S., P. B. Kurtz '16, R. Lawrence '02, D. W. Lewis '15, W. Lovell '07, C. T. Lovering '02, J. O. Lyman '06, D. D. L. McGrew '03, J. Melcher '17, J. M. Mellen '17, H. H. Metealf '17, R. T. W. Moss '95, '15, D. Rice '11, L. Rumsey '08, R. W. Stebbins '00, H. M. Suckley '10, M. F. Talbot '16, P. B. Watson, Jr., '15, W. B. Webster, Jr., '11, H. B. Willis '12, E. C. Wilson '17, C. P. Winsor '17, P. H. Wood '16
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