Evening journal., 1915-03-27
ny PHIL RAIDER.
Itlen Ion the Unlted press.


Copyright. 1915. by the United Press
LONDON. March Being wounded
IN our trenches was gruesome bust
ness. If wounded man dropped
hack TO safety he was extra lucky,
Tor everything that was done for him
during the first few hours only test
ed his waning strength and was like
y TO make his condition worse.
OFTEN man would not know ne
was wounded for some time One chap
came limping up the trench one day
complaining that he had been shot in
the leg. He could hardly put his
right foot to the ground We ripped
open his tTouser leg and could find
no bullet mark. Then we discovered
that he had been shot through the
forearm and that the wound was
hours old
To be hit feels like being punched.
so many soldiers have told me. when
q man sank In our trenches the fell
lows who were not busy usually gath
cred around him while someone ran
two miles through the trenches TO get
a Red Cross man. Within half an hour
the Red Cross man would come. II
the wound was not bad the man would
remain in the trenches. after the doe
tor had soaked II in iodine. which
burns like fire. II the wound was
serious the doctor would do the best
he could in the way of dressing Il
and then one of us, or perhaps two
would be detailed to take the unlucky
man back to safety. He had TO be
carried through two miles OF trench
es. II was impossible 10 use a
stretcher owing TO the sharp turnings
and II you carried a man ON your
back, you had to be careful at many
I places TO keep his head down below
the trench walls as we'll as your own
One of our fellows who had beer
wounded in the leg and was beinf
carried on the back of a comrade wa.
shot through the head and killed on,
day at one of the many dangerous
turnings in our trench system
After this two mile trench iourne,
was ended the man had to be carrie,
along a pathway down a 200-foot cliff
Here he was safe from bullets ol
shells. but a warm, clean hospital bee
was still millions of miles distant
Here he would be taken into a peas
ants house where the first aid mel
were on duty. There would be moth
ing but straw for him to lie upon. Thl
first aid men would dash cold waite
onto his face, wash his wounds an,
bind them as best they could Thel
the wounded man would lie on tn
straw until nightfall for Il was neces
sary TO carry him through frin
zone TO get him back to the infrmaIy
which was another little house In
town a mile distant He wOul
either be wheeled along the towpat
of the canal on a stretcher made q
two baby carriages. which were con
nocted by a board. or "Charon" woul
carry him in an old boat. Charon wa
, an old French peasant with long. whit
Whiskers His boat was iioored wit
) straw and because he carried only th
most gravely wounded men who ofte
] died during the mile journey down III
g canal. we used to call him "Charon
e and we named the canal the Styx.
At the infrmary there were re-
v surgeons. but they were pressed vii
y work and they were forced. of nece
sity. 10 perform their operation
hastily, in an imprOvised operatio
( room.
II the wounded man we're still aliV
by this time, he would be put into
e Red Cross wagon or automobile @
some other sort of "A vehicle and car
! ried thirty miles tO a large tow
: (Which | cannot for obvious reason
b namc,) and here he would be put o
tine next Red Cross train and starto
for Paris. His bed in the trai
might be a seat in a third, second q
! first class coach. or. If he was luck,
; IL might be a sheeted bed IN a regula
Red Cross car.
; At last his train will pull int
s Paris or into some other distant cit
s of France. where there are big hos
s ptals. Scores Of ambulancos wi
5 be waiting i'm the railroad yards. TIL
ambulance attendants will be runnin
around. each seeking out the wound
ed who are TO be assigned 10 th
hospital which he represents. To thel
he is only a number. or perhaps
chalk mark on the door OF the ca
They will put him on a stretche
place him in a huge motor ambu
ance, perhaps with one or two othe
, men who have been injured on disiar
battle fields, and the car will rae
through the streets of the city TO th
hospital, which once seemed to th
sufferers so many miles away an
where warm, white beds, gentl
nurses, flowers and no responsibilit