“Friendship,
kindness, and sympathy —these are made of stuff that no war can crush.”

“In March, 1918, these desecrated lands were just springing to life
again. The sun was breaking through the clouds of winter and, gardens again
dotted the landscape. Villages and towns were showing increasing signs of life
and activity; then came the blow. The clouds gathered together once again. And
in the misty morning of the 21^st of March began a week of horror and
devastation — a single seven days in which all the work of
nearly 12-month was wiped out. The Germans swept across the plains of Picardy
once again and the French and British armies and the terror-stricken civilians
along with the American war workers were swept before them in a mad rush.

Yet all was not lost.
One field worker, a stout-hearted little lady in uniform, sat in the seat of a swaying motor truck and as the thing rolled and tossed
over a road of unspeakable roughness wrote in her red-bound diary, this:

“The best of all remains — friendship, kindness, and sympathy — these are made of the stuff that no war can crush. We face more than half a year’s work torn
to pieces. But I do believe that our commitment is even stronger now.”

With the Doughboy in
France: A Few Chapters of an American Effort – Photo: Spring 1918, Picardie France, an American volunteer at
work (in uniform), checking on French civilians
living in the area destroyed in the German Spring Offensive. This lady is a member
of Ann Morgan’s American Committee
for Devastated France, which worked in coordination with the American Red Cross.
Their incredible reconstruction and
civilian relief work during and after
WW1 is featured in this online exhibition here, and in France here.