Page:Victory at Sea - William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick.djvu/224

206 operate with the Allies. Commander Babcock was constantly at my elbow during all these consultations, and was all the time independently conducting investigations in the several departments of the Admiralty. The original drafts of all my written and cabled communications to the department reports which form a connected story of our participation in the naval war during this period were prepared by him.

Able as Commander Babcock was, human endurance still had its limitations. A public-spirited American business man in London, Mr. R. E. Gillmor, who had formerly been an officer in the navy, begged to be accepted as, a volunteer ; he brought two of his best stenographers, English girls, and personally paid their salaries for several weeks while they were devoting all their time to the American navy. Subsequently he was enlisted in the naval reserves and performed very valuable services on the staff throughout nearly the entire period of the war until ordered to America, where his technical knowledge was required in connection with certain important appliances with which he was familiar. His experience as a business man in London was of great value to our forces, and his time and energy were devoted to our service with a zeal and loyalty that endeared him to us all.

Soon afterward a number of Rhodes scholars and other young Americans then in Europe, G. B. Stockton, E. H. McCormick, T. B. Kittredge, P. F. Good, R. M. D. Richardson, H. Millard, L. S. Stevens, and J. C. Baillargeon, joined our forces as unpaid volunteers and gave us the benefit of their trained minds and European experience. Two of these, Kittredge and Stockton, both valuable workers, had been serving under Hoover in Belgium. They were all later enrolled as reserves and continued their work throughout the war. Lieutenant Stockton performed the arduous and important duties of chief business manager, or executive officer, of headquarters in a most efficient manner, and throughout the war Kittredge' s previous historical training, European experience, and fine intellectual gifts made his services very valuable in the Intelligence Department.

Mr. Page, the American Ambassador, aided and encouraged us in all possible ways. Immediately after my arrival in London he invited me to call upon him and