"During rest time at the front, Salvationists hold meetings behind their guns and at their trenches. These 'unofficial chaplains' have won many souls for Christ. During the coldest weather of this winter some took off their greatcoats for their mates to kneel upon, and there, within sound of the enemy's fire, they pleaded with their comrades to turn from sin and seek the Saviour. One night twenty-two men responded to this invitation.
"The authorities in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have appointed Salvation Army officers as regular chaplains to the troops and conferred military rank upon them. These officers are serving with the Expeditionary Forces in Egypt and elsewhere.
"In this country and at the base on the continent special facilities have been granted to us for visiting the wounded in hospitals and also the prisoners of war. Services are conducted in the German language, and literature of that tongue is distributed amongst the German prisoners by Salvation Army officers who have been engaged in our work in the Fatherland.
"It is an interesting fact that sufficient men to form an entire battalion were recruited from our social institutions. Without exception, these men came to us in a state of complete physical unfitness. Drink and exposure, and in many cases other vices, had robbed them of all the spring and confidence so necessary in the soldier. After several months of good food, steady occupation, and the message of cheer which our homes bring to their inmates, these men, so recently the country's waste, marched out to serve their King and country. Two of the number from one Home formerly held commissions in the regular Army, but lost them through intemperance. Both were Reinstated. One clever fellow, speaking several languages, was attached to the Intelligence Department.
"To our home-loving nation one of the saddest circumstances of the war is the depopulation of Belgium. General Booth with his officers was among the first to come forward with offers of help when the destitute and stricken people poured into our country. Three of our homes in London were at once thrown open to receive them, and at port towns, such as Folkestone and Cardiff, where the refugees arrived in such numbers that they could not be distributed, accommodation was provided for thousands in buildings adapted by the Salvation Army officers. The refugees sheltered in one of our London homes despatched a message in French to His Majesty the King at Buckingham Palace, expressing profound thanks for the kindly reception they had been given in England, and for the way the 'Armée du Salut' was caring for them.