our colonel and the colonel of our companion
brigade on a motor trip to the coast, and we passed some thousands of
them hard at work getting fit, and training with almost fervid
enthusiasm. It used to be a joke of mine that on one occasion my horse
shied because an Australian private saluted me. No one could make a
friendly jest of like kind against the American soldiers. When first
they arrived in France no troops were more punctilious in practising
the outward and visible evidences of discipline. Fit, with the perfect
fitness of the man from 23 to 28, not a weed amongst them,
intelligent-looking, splendidly eager to learn, they were much akin in
physique and general qualities to our own immortal "First Hundred
Thousand." I came across colonels and majors of the New York and
Illinois Divisions getting experience in the line with our brigadiers
and colonels. I have seen U.S. Army N.C.O.'s out in the field receiving
instruction from picked N.C.O.'s of our army in the art of shouting
orders. Their officers and men undertook this training with a certain
shy solemnity that I myself thought very attractive. I am doing no
lip-service to a "wish is father to the thought" sentiment when I say
that a manly modesty in respect to military achievements characterised
all the fighting American soldiers that I met.

They were not long in tumbling into the humours of life at the front. I
remember an episode told with much enjoyment by a major of the regular
U.S. Army, who spent a liaison fortnight with our Division.

There is a word that appears at least once a day on orders sent out
from the "Q" or administrative branch of the British Army. It is the
word "Return": "Return of Personnel," "Casualty Returns," "Ammunition
Returns," &c., all to do with the compilation of reports. The American
Division to which the major belonged had been included among the units
of a British Corps. When, in course of time, the Division was
transferred elsewhere Corps Q branch wired, "Return wanted of all tents
and trench shelters in your possession." Next day the American Division
received a second message: "Re my 0546/8023, hasten return of tents and
trench shelters."

The day following the Corps people were startled by the steady arrival
of scores of tents and trench shelters. The wires hummed furiously, and
the Corps staff captain shouted his hardest, explaining over a
long-distance telephone that "Hasten return" did not mean "Send back as
quickly a