[TRANSLATION]
War
Department
Office
of the
Under-Secretary
Paris, 23 May, 1916.
Monsieur,—
I know and value highly the very active part that you and your friends have taken in the propaganda carried on in America, ever since the outbreak of war, in favour of the cause of Right, which France and her Allies are defending. I know, in particular, of your efforts to arrive at a manifestation of the sympathy of your fellow citizens for our gallant soldiers, by effective and practical coöperation in the work of the French Sanitary Service. Therefore I am desirous of expressing to you, with special emphasis, the perfect satisfaction which the Automobile Sanitary Sections of the American Ambulance have given my department since they first entered the service of our armies.
Thanks not only to their excellent material organization, but beyond even that, to the courageous devotion of the picked personnel which your country has sent us to lead them, these Sections are contributing in the most gratifying fashion toward lessening the sufferings of our wounded by shortening the agonizing hours that elapse between the time when the soldier falls on the battlefield and that when he is able to receive, under suitable conditions, the care that his condition demands.
Pray, therefore, Monsieur, accept for yourselves and convey to your friends in America the assurance of my profound gratitude for the work which you have planned and carried on so perfectly, and of which your compatriots continue to ensure the support, both in personnel and in supplies, with no less gallantry than generosity.