Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1918 — YANKS ARE TRUE SPORTSMEN [ARTICLE]

YANKS ARE TRUE SPORTSMEN

Soldiers Made Better Fighters by Indulging in Baseball, Boxing, Wrestling and Soccer. ‘Our soldiers in France are the finest sportsmen in the world. Their sportsmanship is manifested tn everything they do. What is more, the sports our men are playing overseas such as baseball, football and soccer and boxing and wrestling, are making them better fighters.” This statement was made by Raymond B. Fosdlck, chairman of the war department commission on training camp activities, who returned recently from the American front in France, where he made a two months’ study of the relief and recreational work that is being carried on among the expeditionary forces. “The men play at every opportunity, and it seems that they instinctively turn to athletics for their amusement I have seen soldiers return to their rest billets after a ‘hard go’ in the trenches and immediately begin to play baseball, football and soccer and engage in boxing and wrestling bouts, tired as they were. ’ “Baseball is the most popular of the sports. One day I witnessed a game tn the historic Tuillerles garden in Paris between American soldiers and sailors stationed there. The next day up near the front lines I saw troops who were to make an attack on the following morning playing as long as daylight permitted.”