"What the British admired most in our men," said Captain Alan Gregg '11, M.D. '16, to a CRIMSON reporter in a recent interview, "was their seriousness, and at the same time their keenness in picking up everything."
Captain Gregg has returned from service with the Harvard Medical Unit in France, where he came in contact with all types of English, Scotch and Canadian soldiers.
"As a whole," he continued, "the sentiment of England toward the American troops was only one of whole-souled praise. They overestimated, if anything, the German influence in America and entirely excused our slowness in entering the war on that ground; indeed they were surprised that we got in as well as we did. The pet joke of the Canadians was that they had to kill the Boche to keep the Americans from murdering him."
Captain Gregg has been serving with the Harvard Surgical Unit since November, 1917. He left the Massachusetts General Hospital in October of that year and was with the Unit in Base Hospital No. 22, at the time of the great German drive in the spring of 1918, when, as he said, "the Unit worked all day and all night for months." In August, 1918, he was sent to Casualty Clearing Stations, 10, 8, and 46, where he served with the Canadian troops at Remy, Arras, Turquoing, and Doullens.
"The part England has played in this war," Dr. Gregg went on, "will probably never be appreciated by those in America who are accustomed to giving publicity to everything they are proud of. The same silent pride the English soldier takes in his accomplishments also applies to his sacrifices.
"England thinks that America has made a great earnest sacrifice and that now the two countries must stand together. The British would be amazed if we did not follow them up. Britain has not always been able to find her ideal leader but at this time she has found salvation in the man who is qualified to lead, more by circumstances than by the devotion of the intellectual classes. And to this choice the British expect to find a parallel in America's future conduct, for the circumstances are no less urgent and the end is far greater."
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