Newspaper Page Text
In War And Peace
{Continued from page 19)
to do social work among the hoys
themselves, in camp hospital and
guard house; to offer the soldiers
all the Jewish social and institu
tional resources of the community.
Special emphasis was given to
hospital services. During the war
period before the armistice, the
hospitals were filled with the sick
only and such confinement was
usually not of long duration. Fol
lowing the war period, f lic wounded
and disabled were returned from
France and many of them were un
fortunately required to remain in
hospitals or convalescent homes for
considerable periods. In order to
cope with this latter problem, a
Hospital Service Division was or
ganized by the Hoard. Over 100,000
wards were visited by the workers
of the Jewish Welfare Board. In
this work the volunteer hospital
committees of the community
branches were of great assistance.
The men and women of the cities
and towns near the hospitals
brought to the sick soldiers com
fort of personal interest and con
tact. During the influenza epidemic
in the fall and winter of 1918 and
1919, the workers left no act undone
to assist those who were stricken.
Overseas the same intensive ser
vices were rendered. A total of 178
workers—men and women—were
stationed at 57 overseas centers.
The story of the human service
« «
rendered overseas can best be at
tested by the thousands of Jewish
boys in the services who were
directly benefited.
With the close of the war emer
gency, new problems had to be
faced. The personal service cases,
in particular, increased in number
and became more diverse in char
acter. These services, during the
war period, consisted in a large
measure in adjusting the recruit
to military life and in looking after
the needs of his family. The prob
lems which now arose were those
incidental to the discharge of the
troops and their preparations to
resume civilian life. The problem
of reemployment, vocational educa
tion, retention or conversion of in
surance and the family business
and legal problems, incidental to the
return to eivilian life, necessitated
the creation almost overnight of
new means and resources to provide
needed service. An indication of
the magnitude of the personal
services rendered may be gleamed
from the fact that within a period
of only one year, from August,
1918, to August, 1919, approxi
mately 800,000 personal service
matters were dealt with; and during
this time special services had to be
rendered to the returning troops
both on trooj) trains at home and on
transports from overseas, as well as
at the various ports of debarkation.
«
On the basis of available evidence,
225,000 Jewish men were in the
services during the war. The num
ber of Jewish casualties was from
13,000 to 14,000, including about
2,800 who made the supreme sacri
fice. Not the least of the services
of the Board was the ascertaining
who, among the dead, were of the
Jewish faith so that the graves of
these men might be properly marked
with the six-point Star of David.
Through the cooperation of the
Board, photographs of each grave
were forwarded to the family of the
soldier.
It is impossible to estimate the
influence and benefits of the Jewish
Welfare Board during the World
War. From a small organization,
with a small staff and a handful
of welfare workers, the organiza
tion grew to a huge welfare agency
with representatives in practically
every camp and naval training
station, with branches in every
large city in the country and with
extended services overseas. The
Jewish Welfare Board, organized
in a moment of national emergency,
became a permanent achievement
of American Jewish life, brought
about by wholehearted devotion
and service to those who were ready
to make the great sacrifice for their
country. Today it marks twenty
years of existence, years fruitful in
an ever expanding field of con
structive Jewish service not onlv
to the veterans of the World War
and their successors in the peace
time military forces, but to the
300,000 or more men, women and
children who are affiliated with
Jewish Community Centers, V. M
H. A.’s and Y. W. H. H.’s in a na
tional movement.
* * *
The peace-time activities of the
Jewish Welfare Board have de
veloped in two directions. The
first was the continuance on a per
manent basis of welfare work to the
Jewish men in the Army and Navy
Services. The major development
has been in the field of activities for
the Jewish community at large.
The Jewish Welfare Board has
continued on a stabilized basis the
emergency activities initiated dur
ing the World War. Following the
War some fifteen hundred Jewish
veterans were unfortunately hos
pitalized, in many cases over ex
tended periods. In addition, ap
proximately four to five thousand
Jewish men continued in the per
manent military forces and the
Citizens’ Military Training Camp.
As a result the Board currently
conducts welfare and religious
activities in 270 army posts, naval
stations and government hospitals
in the Tinted States and outlying
posts. Every year several thou
sands of personal welfare cases, gov
ernment claims of disabled veterans,
their dependents and beneficiaries
are handled by the Army anti Navy
(Please turn to page 25)
VICTOR-MONAGHAN
Company
MILLS IN GREENVILLE, S. C.
SF.LLING AGENTS
J. P. STEVENS & CO
44 Leonard Street, New York. City
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* THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE