A few months ago, a letter appeared on the web from a woman who had found a letter from a distant relative serving in France during World War I.  What was unusual was that the stationery was headed “Knights of Columbus,” a Catholic men’s fraternal organization founded in 1882 that had provided the letter paper. Throughout America’s involvement in the war, such simple things made a difference in the lives of thousands of servicemen. It is a little-known story.

The involvement of the Knights of Columbus in improving the lives of young servicemen, regardless of their race, color, or creed, began several years before the First World War. In 1915, 250,000 US National Guardsmen were stationed in camps along the Mexican boarder as a response to incursions by forces loyal to Pancho Villa.  In a grassroots response to the needs of young Catholics, an El Paso Council opened a recreation center that also served as a Chapel in New Mexico and Arizona followed suit.

In May 1917, several weeks after America declared war on Germany, Supreme Knight James Flaherty wrote to US President Woodrow Wilson that the the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, were prepared willing to provide the the recreation and spiritual comfort of the troops by building and staffing centers designed to accommodate 500 to 1000 men for “recreation purposes, reading and writing. The “huts”, as these halls were called, would also serve as places for men to assemble and get up their own entertainments.  To fund the effort knights throughout the country were asked to contribute $2 per member. following approval from the US Secretary of War work got underway.

 By August the number of proposed K C centers had grown from 16 to 48, each measuring 60×100 feet designed to look like a church rather than a barracks with a stage one end draped with a curtain that served as a place for meditation and prayer. Each center was abundantly stocked with what was described as “interesting, clean and instructive” literature.

When Masons and others complained that the War department had discriminating in favor of the knights by allowing them onto military bases, a meeting of 26 fraternal organizations, including the knights convened in Washington DC. By the time the gathering had ended every group had received authorization to do what the knights did. None of them stepped forward, and the knights continued their efforts virtually alone. Meanwhile, the Knights were busy erecting twenty -four centers at various army camps throughout the United States.  

The work in France began quietly. In August 1917, only weeks after the first arrivals of American troops in France, two French-speaking Knights, a priest and a lay leader, were sent to France. Progress was rapid.  Within the next six months, the knights established three centers in near major cities, and began supplying vehicles and drivers to locations near the front.

The Knights offered what no other Catholic organization deemed significant: a place for soldiers to socialize and offered at no charge, candy, cigarettes, postcards, and stationery. Sporting events were also supported. During the first year of operation, the huts distributed nearly 15,000 baseballs, 3000 pairs of boxing gloves, and more than 1500 footballs all bearing the Order’s emblem.  By war’s end, the Knights had sponsored some 5000 games of baseball.

Then and later, the knights received no government support. The entire program, including staffing, transportation, facilities, and services, was funded by the Knights in the United States and by private donations.

These mobile kitchens provided hot coffee, cocoa, and warm food to soldiers.

By 1918, the Order was operating over 150 clubs served by 1000 staff members. To the non-Catholic the KC secretary was “a regular guy who never pushed his religion,” each center was staffed by one or two secretaries, knights of Columbus beyond military service age with comfortable people skills and management ability. But to the Catholics, he was one of their own who provided a Catholic chapel, confession, and Mass.”  Programs were often put on jointly with the YMCA, the Salvation Army, or the Jewish Welfare Board.

At the time of the October 11, 1918, armistice, nearly one hundred KC clubs, staffed by over 400 secretaries, were active. Soldiers departing for America often received a KC gift pack with cigarettes, sweets, handkerchiefs, and shaving material in accord with the motto “Everybody Welcome, Everything Free.” When large numbers of Americans began passing through Britain, the knights opened 9 centers there.  In Nov. 1918, a club was established in Rome, followed by others in Venice, Spoleto and even Constantinople (today’s Istanbul).

The Knights suspended work in France in December 1919, but continued in other places where American troops were stationed, including occupied portions of Germany. Within a short time, thirty-two clubs KC clubs served as hotels for servicemen, providing room baths and showers. Some featured gymnasiums and theaters.   When the US Army’s Expeditionary Force and the allies intervened in the Russian Civil War in the Far East, the knights converted a railroad boxcar into a hut on wheels on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.  The boxcar hut remained in service until January 1920 when the US Army was withdrawn from Siberia.

Though the knight strictly avoided recruiting at it oversees centers, Catholic servicemen were drawn to the knights and often joined the Order after returning home.  Between 1917 and 1923, 400,00 men were added to the rolls as new members.

The barely legible A letter to home written on Knight of Columbus letterhead from France in 1918 was a seemingly of little interest, represented a remarkable effort by American Catholic men to serve soldiers abroad during a difficult time. Knights of Columbus historian Christopher Kauffman writes: “Never before or since,” historian Christopher Kauffman writes, “has an organization of Catholic laity had such an impact upon American society as did the Knights of Columbus in their war and reconstruction work.”