Emmetsburg Democrat Emmetsburg, Palo Alto, Iowa Wednesday, July 30, 1919 HANDLED SERUM IN ARMY IN FRANCE Ray McNally, Who Returned Home Sunday Morning Ray McNally arrived home from France Saturday evening. He was mustered out at Camp Mitchell, New York. He came to Chicago over the New York Central. He enoyed a couple of days taking in the sights of the great eastern metropolis. His coming was a surprise to his father and the others of the family. He is looking exceptionally well but is quiet [sic] badly tanned. He was evidently out in the warm sun a great deal while he was in France. Sunday he put on his civilian clothes. He is glad to be one of our people again. Mr. McNally was in the medical department of the army. Our government has still large supply depots not far from Paris. Mr. McNally was, however, in the French metropolis only once while over there. He tried to get permission to visit England and Ireland, but his request was denied. While the French are not enemies of the Americans, they are not so friendly as they were when our boys first went across. A bad riot occurred in Brest several weeks ago. A Frenchman tore down the American flag. Trouble followed and six or seven French soldiers were killed. After that the Americans were denied certain liberties they had previously enjoyed. The young French men are jealous of the American soldiers, many of whom are popular with the French young ladies. The Americans spend their money freely and the French do not believe in this. Of course this is not true of Mr. McNally and many other young Americans. There has been a great improvement in the condition of Brest. When Ray first went over he had to tramp for days through the mud and at night he often slept in the mud. The city is now better drained and cleaned and there is not so much cause for complaint. Criticism evidently did the war department some good. Considering the high price of food, the French are not so unreasonable in their charges for meals. Mr. McNally became quiet [sic] fond of French bread but he does not care much for some of the food that is placed on the tables in restaurants in that country. The slums of New York are cleaner than the small French cities and the villages. Sanitary conditions in France are very poor. The well to do classes have, of course, better environments but a large number of the men who were prosperous were killed during the war. It requires considerable formality for our boys to secure permission to mingle with the better classes. We need not say that the men in khaki did not care to humble themselves in order to secure the recognition of any class of foreigners. Mr. McNally had a great deal to do in looking after the various kinds of serum that were used in the army. It proved very effectual in preventing diseases. A special kind of serum was injected into the bodies of soldiers as soon as they were wounded in order to prevent them from taking lock jaw. Our reporter was surprised to learn that there several thousand American prisoners in France. They are required to work regularly and it will probably be a long time before some of them are released. Quite a number of officers sold food to the French people without permission and pocketed the proceeds. Others are serving time for minor offenses. The sentences range from thirty days to a year and a few will have to spend the remainder of their lives in federal penitentiaries. Cathy Joynt Labath Palo Alto Co, IA USGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~iapaloal/paloalto.htm