Water for Soldiers

When the United States declared war on Germany in April, 1917, the Army immediately authorized the construction of 16 cantonments across the country to be used for training new recruits. Camp Devens, the first of these bases to be established, was the point of induction and training of recruits from New England and eastern New York. The Army urged citizens living near Camp Devens and other new cantonments to provide a like-home atmosphere and help maintain morale among the soldiers. Frank and Anna Lawton and their 20-year-old daughter Shirley stepped forward early with an interest in the transformation that their neighborhood was about to experience and a willingness to open their arms and home to the soldiers stationed nearby. Over the years that followed, as new soldiers were trained, injured soldiers were brought back for medical attention, and veteran soldiers awaited discharge after the end of the war, soldiers from Camp Devens were frequently in the towns and interacting with the residents - and personal friendships developed as a result. Water for Soldiers is Shirley Lawton Houde's richly detailed account of the thoughts and experiences of her, her family, and her community as they interacted with the many soldiers during the war years and, as well, of the influences those experiences had on her later in life. Shirley's memoir provides a rare view of a community's involvement in a national war effort at a venue geographically far removed from the conflict itself. Book jacket.