ded and gassed. The bulk of the battle
casualties were in the 93rd Division.

The figures as given do not seem very large, yet it is a fact that the
battle casualties of the American Negro forces engaged in the late war
were not very far short of the entire battle casualties of the
Spanish-American war. In that conflict the United States lost less than
1,000 men in battle.

While battle havoc and ravages from disease were terrible enough, and
brought sadness to many firesides, and while thousands of survivors are
doomed to go through life maimed, suffering or weakened, there is a
brighter side to the picture. Evidences are plentiful that "housekeeping
in khaki" was not unsuccessful.

According to a statement issued by the War Department early in 1919, the
entire overseas army was coming back 18,000 tons heavier and huskier
than when it went abroad. Many of the returning soldiers found that they
literally burst through the clothing which they had left at home.
Compared with the records taken at time of enlistment or induction into
the draft forces, it is shown that the average increase in weight was
twelve pounds to a man.

Improvement of course was due to the healthful physical development
aided by the seemingly ceaseless flow of wholesome food directed into
the training camps and to France. Secretary Baker was very proud of the
result and stated that the late war had been the healthiest in history.
The test he applied was in the number of deaths from disease. The best
previous record, 25 per 1,000 per year was attained by the Germans in
the Franco-Prussian war. Our record in the late war was only eight per
1,000 per year. The Medical Corps did heroic service in keeping germs
away, but cooks, clothing designers and other agencies contributed
largely in the making of bodies too healthy to permit germ lodgments.

The hell of war brought countless soldiers to the realization that no
matter how much they believed they had loved their mothers, they had
never fully appreciated how much she meant to them.

"I know, mother," cried one youth broken on the field, whose mother
found him in a hospital, "that I began to see over there how
thoughtless, indeed, almost brutal, I had always been. Somehow, in
spite of my loving you, I just couldn't talk to you. Why, when I
think how I used to close up like a clam every time you asked me
anything about myself----" He broke off and with fervent humility