YMCA Army Workers (1898)

This photograph shows fourteen men who served in the YMCA during the Spanish American War of 1898. They were also enrolled at the International YMCA Training School, now Springfield College. The men pictured, along with their class years, are [top row, left to right] Arthur Shoemaker (1899), Frederick J. Hutchins (1900), George H. Hunter (1900), Solone Di Campello (1900), [2nd row] John F. Simons (1900), John Sherrill (1899), Mahlon G. Baily (Bailey) (1900), Thomas M. Brainard (1900), Fred Young (1900), [3rd row] Thomas J. Browne (1898), Charles A. Boardman (1899), Merrell W. Crawford (1900), William F. Mertens (1900),and [bottom row] Sherwood B. Doolittle (1899). At the onset of the Spanish American War, the YMCA sent more than five hundred volunteers to various stations in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. YMCA supplies, such as medicine and office materials, often reached the soldiers before the army’s own supplies. The YMCA’s volunteer efforts were so highly regarded that the U.S. government established a permanent Army and Navy Committee to give national direction to the work of the YMCA. The YMCA has since been a service organization in the principal posts and ports of the United States. This organization is now known as the Armed Services YMCA and is operated by the Department of Defense. A lantern slide duplicate exists - http://cdm16122.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15370coll2/id/363