Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-11-05
SEES WAR HORRORS
sfrsfchsr Bearer Gives impress
s;ons Of Life at Front
n Nearly Overcome by siSfrt Of Firsf
Operation TIL Given Slap by sur
aecn-czra Nat Tell Men
Truth.

vfI,ers.Cnrrsrers.- had Just lett
the hospital and had reached the sra
ZION. We were exchanging giances ot
| 10Y and shaking hands, saying Fafls'
/ We are griug 10 see Paris again the
/ train was waiting On a siding we
ctfnb bed into IL. the hospital aitsH-
dants placed US in our seats
There heard cGnFeraaIion mat
struck me more than has any dthef
| since the beginning CT the war Oae
I OF the soldiers in our carriage, dcunt-
| less in a confidential mood TIA. day
began to relate the Impressions o. us
life az a military HOSPITAL attended,
1t was in the early days Of the war.
| r Fad received . commission an
I stretchey bearer in a hospital al VICE.
The first wounded arrived; long tralns
| were filed with them. they had IAN
On the straw OF the cars Throughout
| the latarmiaahEe Journey across
France IN slow military trains, which
were constantly delayed. Many died
Oh tha way, others were landed mere
and there Ia heaps. How feVerisatY
We had to work there was not a nIn
ute to be lost.
T remember the terrible slap the
head surgeon gave HE the first day ne
entered the operating room. when !
was ordered to hold sounded sot-
f-~ 49,
The odor, the cruel sight Of the opera
ton, caused ne to turn az white az
death. and I was about to faint That
blow brought ne quickly to my
senses. have seen worse sights
since.
we spent some terrible moments
of anguish there. We had 40 anti
tetanas serum; we had written and
teleraphed everywhere for 1t, but the
hospitals which had 1t kept It tea[
ousIy and 1t was impossible to obtain
any.
7 recall one Of The finest men |
have ever known, charming COM
rade, who was wounded In the foot
His wound was not serious: at the
end Of two weeks I: had healed Then
one night he felt q stiffness Ia his
neck; his mind began to wander, his
muscles to contract He was done
for. All We could do was to relieve
his suffering.
Whenever a patient had an attack
Of this nature we dared not tell him
| what 1t was. He vas sent to spe-
ciaI hospital; 1t wasn't hospital. 1t
was . morgue. He went there to die.
Finally, one day we heard that
serum could be procured at fantas-
tic price in Italy. The doctor immedi-
ately reauisitioned the swiftest auto
mobiles he could find in Nice. The
next day we had serum and tetanus
disappeared.
The recollection OF this period Is
no: more terrible than that of the
days / spent in Arras az stretcher
bearer during the fierce combats Of
Notre Dame de Lorette. was there
a month gathering the dead and
wounded: witnessing the most terri
BILE mutilations: my ears filed with
the groans of men. The work was
hard; we had to carry the men away
on our backs. for the approaches were
too narrow to permit Of the use of
stretchers. More than one died on
my back.
II am old: I'm forty-six. was taken
from the trenches. and l am now one
OF the conductors OF this train OF
wounded.
DAY before yesterday we had a
wounded soldier whose head was q
mass OF bandages, with little hole
in the place Of his mouth. Another
hospital attendant and | were curious
enough to raise his bandage. His tag
indicated that his nose and the lower
part of his face had been torn away
by the splinter of a shell. BY luck
he had not lost his sight. His wounds
had been cleaned and disinfected; q
piece of skin had been removed from
his back and applied to his face; In
this round hole was made through
| which he was fed, and another
through which he breathed. Liquid
food was given him by means OF a
rubber tube.
And those poor unfortunates whose
limbs have been amputated! saw
one whose two arms and a leg had
been cut Off. He had received more
than 200 shell splinters; the greater
part were small, like pinheads."
As we listened to this man, sad and
serious. a fine tall Moroccan, who was
wounded. got up from bis seat. His
eyes were filled with tears and he
started to talk with fierce energy:
why French take care bochs
wounded? After war they 60 home
have many children: begin war again
with children, and war no good.
French stupid. Boches. kill all, all
bad men. When no more boches. no
more war. That good"