-- “Our Army at the Front” by Heywood Broun 1919

On Nov. 2, 1918, nine days before the end of the Great War, Nellie Geissenhainer of Zelienople, received a letter from her son Paul’s commanding officer. The letter would solve a mystery that had been plaguing Nellie for two months.

In August 1917, 23-year-old Paul Geissenhainer had enlisted in Pittsburgh and soon afterward his mother, Nellie, had started to receive letters telling of training camp antics at Camp Hancock Georgia and his early days on the frontlines in France.

But after August 1918 the letters stopped coming. What had happened to her son?

Searching for an answer she would turn to the organizations that were charged with serving the spiritual, physical, and psychological needs of the troops. Through communication channels the YMCA and Red Cross had established overseas she would eventually get her answer.

The letter Nellie received was not on the YMCA stationary she had so often seen arrive in her mailbox with its red triangle emblazoned on the outside. It was instead an official letter from the U.S. military. The letters usually provided hope and reassurance that her loved one was safe but this letter would be different.

The Great War was fought in Asia, Africa, Russia, and Europe from 1914-1918. The nations of Europe and their allies were fighting the German, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires.

The early years of the war had shown the world that the modern industries and technologies of the 20th century only led to unprecedented carnage on the battlefields. By 1917, the Allies were locked in a stalemate with the Germans in France and Belgium, along what was called the Western Front.

The soldiers were fighting in and out of trenches across barren wastelands referred to as “no man’s land.” The once lush farmland and forests of France were made into moonscapes after millions of shells were dropped repeatedly.

It was into this war, what had become the most destructive war in history, that America reluctantly entered in 1917.

Not only would involvement be against the American tradition of staying out of European affairs but Americans were aware from the propaganda in movies and newspapers of the vast devastation from this modern industrialized war. They did not want their sons and husbands being machine gunned, blown up by artillery, or gassed.

Yet during the winter of 1917 — after renewed German submarine warfare sank five United States merchant ships and the Germans offered American territory to Mexico through the notorious Zimmerman Telegram — President Woodrow Wilson felt he had no recourse except to ask for a declaration of war.

Wilson hoped that if America became involved we could turn the tide of the war in favor of the Allies and help shape the peace. Once war was declared by Congress on April 6, 1917, Americans such as Paul Geissenhainer and many of our established social organizations such as the YMCA immediately answered the call to help the American military make this the ‘war to end all wars’.

It was into this fray that America’s volunteer organizations stepped up and filled a huge gap that the American military rapidly trying to train and deploy the troops was not in a position to manage.

These organizations included the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Association, the American Library Association, and the YMCA and YWCA, who according to primary accounts were responsible for meeting 90% of the “welfare” needs of the troops overseas.

While these organizations were civilian they did operate under the general supervision of the War and Navy departments: Commissions on training Camp Activities.

President Wilson stated “I do not believe it an exaggeration to say that no army ever before assembled has had more conscientious and painstaking thought given to the protection and stimulation of its mental, moral, and physical manhood. Every endeavor has been made to surround the men, both here and abroad, with the kind of environment which a democracy owes to those who fight in its behalf….”

The YMCA utilized more than $300,000 (which would be approximately $6 million today) contributed by the American people to answer Wilson’s call.

The Young Men’s Christian Association was founded on the eve of the Civil War and became a support for the America military in both the Civil War and the Spanish American War.

Already aware of the vital need to support the American soldier’s “welfare” as soon as war was declared in 1917 the YMCA immediately established facilities to work with the training camps and send resources and personnel to France. The speed and scale with which these organizations set up their operations overseas was remarkable.

By the time the American Expeditionary Force was arriving in France the “Doughboys” were being greeted by coffee, a doughnut, and a postcard to send home.

According to “Our Army at the Front” by Heywood Broun published in 1919 “the ‘Y’ huts — the combination shop, theater, chapel, and reading rooms, coffee-stall and soda fountain, baseball-locker and cigarette shop, post-office and library are run by the YMCA from coast to battle-line — are packed by soldiers every hour of the day and evening.“

Before the second day of the First Divisions landing there was a circus banner across the foot of the main street stating “This is the way to the Y.M.C.A. Get your money changed, and write home.”

The YMCA built over 1,500 canteens in Europe each equipped with reading and writing, and recreational facilities for the soldiers. They also had 4,000 “huts” or tents serving the front lines.

They operated 44 factories for the production of cookies and chocolate, set up entertainment for the troops with over 1,400 performers sent overseas (a precursor to the USO of WWII). They also provided over 3,000 movie or theatrical shows a week and set up over 300 athletic events for the troops.

The Over-There Theatre League attracted many actors and actresses who volunteered to go to France and perform for three month tours. In addition, 35,000 volunteers and 26,000 paid staff were involved in the war effort; 286 were wounded and six men and two women were killed in action on the Western Front. A member of the quartermasters’’ corps said, “How do these ‘Y’ fellows do it—I can’t turn without falling over a shack.”

The organization had tasked itself with providing for the welfare of the troops and yet it also bridged a need in facilitating correspondence across the Atlantic.

Many families back home received their first communications from their loved ones on a YMCA postcard simply stating “I have arrived safely overseas.” Considering the dangers of German submarines sinking American troop transport ships during the Atlantic crossing this postcard was met with relief.

Because they filled such a significant need that the military was not equipped for the government quickly responded to all requisition requests of the YMCA and they were not required to follow the rationing expectations of non-military organizations. Therefore, the stationary and services they provided helped to facilitate communication and provide comfort to soldiers and their families through the uncertainty of war.

In the early fall of 1918, Paul Geissehainer was swept up in was the Meuse Argonne offensive on the Western Front.

A Franco-American offensive that put over 1 million American troops into battle. By August 1918, Paul’s letters home had ceased and his family was informed that Paul was missing and considered AWOL.

Through the records left behind it is known that his mother, Nellie, spent two months desperately trying to determine her son’s fate. She likely utilized the services of the YMCA and Red Cross to get her inquiries to Paul’s commanding officers.

On Nov. 2, 1918 a reply was sent to Nellie Geissenhainer from France. Colonel Shannon of the 111th Infantry wrote “Replying to your letter of October 25, 1918, I regret to advise you that your son Paul L. Geissenhainer, Company H, 111th infantry was killed September 7th 1918 near Fismette by machine gun fire.

“At the time of his death he was in a small dugout … he rose up to remove his canteen from his belt when a machine gun sniper shot him in the forehead killing him instantly.”

Paul Geissenhainer had survived one of the most significant encounters during the Meuse Argonne offensive at Fismette. It was one of the bloodiest engagements participated in by the “Iron Division” of Pennsylvania.

The town was lost and recaptured five times against a German unit that fought with flamethrowers and desperation. It was during a lull after the month-long battle that Paul was killed.

The communication networks established by the YMCA and Red Cross allowed Nellie Geissenhainer to finally learn the fate of her son and clear his name. Col. Shannon had also noted in his letter, “His company commander and the balance of the company praise him highly and state that his services were honest and faithful. So far as official records of his regiment are concerned he is cleared… he served his country and gave his life to the cause of liberty.”

After World War I the military officially incorporated many of the services that organizations such as the YMCA had provided. The example set by the YMCA had paved the way for a paradigm shift in how the military served the needs of their troops.

But the world would always remember how the American organizations stepped up to fill the needs of the soldiers and families during one of the most devastating wars in history.

According to former President William Howard Taft in his 1922 publication “Service with Fighting Men: An Account of the Work of the American Young Men’s Christian Associations in the World War,” “The American Young Men’s Christian Association in its welfare work served between four and five millions of American soldiers and sailors, at home and overseas…

“It conducted nine-tenths of the welfare work among American forces in Europe … It may be questioned whether in all time a human society has ever brought its helpful ministry to such a vast number of men and over such wide areas, under varying conditions, and in so short a time.”

Deborah Kruger is an assistant professor of history at Butler County Community College.