The YMCA Hut, Euston Station NW1. At the begining of the First World War, Euston Station witnessed the movement of large number of of young men on their way to the Front. Within a few months of the beginning of hostilities a temporary hut was sited here by the YMCA. It was one of many that were built in this country - and in France - and that have seen further service as village halls and scout huts. The Euston hut was an experiment - it provided sleeping accommodation for troops and seamen - in the early days for as many as 420 men on a single night. It also provided a place where they could get a hot drink and food - and where they could find ‘a touch of home’. The significance of the huts to soldiers is revealed in the various moving contributions to Young Men's Christian Association (1916) (see, also, Yapp 1927).
This
concern with home and hearth is reflected in the title that was given to the
1500 huts built in France by the American YMCAs for the French armies - Foyers
du Soldat. They provided a ‘center of warmth and refuge’, a place that soldiers
could name as their own. ‘To read, to write, to smoke, to talk, away from the
insistent reminders of conflict - that was the real thing’ (Harris et al 1922:
349). Much of the success of the huts lay in the fact that things were not
organized around the men - considerable efforts were made to create an
atmosphere where people could simply be. This was greatly helped by the
commitment and skills of the workers - who were mostly women. By the end of the
war some 40,000 of them had undertaken war work in the huts.
References
Harris, F., Kent, F. Houston, and Newlin, W. J. (1922) Service with Fighting Men. An account of the American Young Men's Christian Associations in the World War (2 volumes), New York: Association Press.
Yapp, A. (1927) In the Service of Youth, London: Nisbet and Co.
Young Men's Christian Association (1916) Told in the Huts. The YMCA Gift Book. Contributed by soldiers and war workers, London: Jarrold and Sons.
© Mark K. Smith. First published August 7, 1997.
