Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-04

bLSAN Ran FORD
AMBULANCE IN WAR
'oung Auditor With Oil
Company Here Was on
( Firing Line.
DESCRIBES WOUNDED
Ianv Suffered From Ger
) man Gas; Operated
4 With Anaesthetic.
(By ]. A. MIX EENER.)

he motive actuatng several hundred
nung Americans who are today serV-
ng in the American Ambulance corps
IN the battlcfields of Europe accord
ng to Robert Leslie Howard of Phila-
,0phia who has been in Tulsa for
he past four months in his capacity
a auditor of the Pure Oil company
whose subsidiary is the Quaker Oil
sas Co
MIR. Howard himself did his Bit,
Is he calls it. as volunteer ambu-
ance driver and mechanician at
ached to the American Ambulance
,orps in Belgium and France for SIX
months. A slight built bright-look-
ng Young man. not a great many
tears out of the Trinity college. MI.
Howard when interviewed asked that
mis- name be kept out of the papers
# possible. as he does not desire any
undue notoriety for doing his duty
10 humanity, as he calls it.
eff my story will do anything to
arouse the American people. and es-
peciallv the people of Tulsa, to the
Terrible suffering and dire need of
he people of the combatant countries
60, ahead and use it, he said. but
don't play me up. was JUST one
small Yog in the big machine H.
pie that is doing so much to relieve
suffering among the soldiers engaged
In the great world war.
No Thought of Europe.
'T don't believe the people Of
Tulsa realize just what is going on
tver in Europe every day of the year.
! don't notice any of the wealthy
people of Tulsa contributing to the
relief of the hundreds of thousands
of homeless. destitute and crippled
men. women and children. I believe
a
been too busy making money to give
a thought to the suffering in Europe
Y suppose il has never been brought
home to them, but if they had seen
the things | have seen at first hand
they would give freely to the various
! organizations that are trying to cope
with the terrible situation in Europe
land Asia"
Mr. Howard with number OF
iother young college men. offered his
fservices to the American Ambulance
corps something over a year ago. and
lone year ago last January arrived a.
8Havre. France. to engage in the dan.
fgerous work of retrieving wounded
Belgian. Efenchs and English soldiers
from the trenches somewhere II
France.
These men were not paid o cen
for their services. hut volunteered II
sorder to benefit humanity. For si'
months Mr.. Howard drove Fore
motor ambulance across the san'
dunes of Belgium ir that little corne
Z of his country that is all that Is lei
of King Albert's once prosperous
ltiNedom. and across the western cor
ner of desolated France. carrying
wounded Tommies, Gclges Boches
4 Tnccs. Canucks and Americans from
the shell-shattered trenches to bas
y hospitals miles in the read, althouSl
q sometimes not far enough to be on
of range of the big German guns.
At the battle of Ypres, up to tha
4 time the greatest battle in the great
est war in the worlds history, Howar'
4 and his associates worked night AM
Z day. many times under a witherin
fire and in deadly canger of the Ger
mar chlorine gas, driving their ambu
lances right up to the adVanc
trenches and taking the wounde
back to the hospital.
No Quarter Given.
81 never saw any prisoners cap
; .,lEed in that battle" said Nj
II toward. "and think the prisoner
3 were very few. When it came t
hand fighting. no quarter was aske
and none was given. 1t was col
steel against cold steel. but the Gel
mans finally advanced their lines b
the use for the first time of thei
deadly gas attack. 1t was complet
surprise and the English hac to Civ
way
III saw men lyirg on the groun
with their faces green from the ga
ard the only relief was to give thei
air Many Of them who only got
little gas literally coughed their lunt
ont and died. got just sligl
touch of it. but not enough to both'
any"
"The thing that impressed me mo-
was the wonderful way those me
y tHok their suffering. You never hear
n murmur from anyone, and the mo
horribly wounded bore their sufferif
without a groan. I saw one ma
" who had his leg broken in 16 plac'
from a piece of shrapnel and
never made a sound. We had
board on top Of two barrels to III
as an operating table during tn
fight. and man after man was ope
ated on without any anaesthetic. Me-
ical supplies are very short and
once made trip to Paris to get
gallon Of chlorOform when we khe
was there.
II was In Dunkirk when the Ge
mans started the bombardment
that town with their 42-centimet
guns, placed 23 miles away TT
people at first thought the fire W
coming from German WarShlpS OH u
coast, but aviators later locat
them way back of the German lin
N and silenced them for awhile wi
N bombs. but later they resumed t
n fire. One big shell landed in o
hospital containing three hundr
wounded men and killed sixty
them
Mr.. Howard showed mass
twisted wire which he had picked
I'm this hospital after the bombar
ment, and explained it had once be
safety pins The heat from the l
Aa-centimeter shell fused the pins In
3ust mass of twisted wire.
Churches Lcvclcd.
Churches, he said. were supposed
he immune from fun fire under I
Hague tribunal agreement. and to
used as place of refuge. but all pl
Yious agreements were only "piet
of paper. and he showed pictures
church after church destroyed by
firn
Many American SOLDIERS OF ft
tune. he said. are with the Canadi
forces and are making a name !
themselves. 1--WE can always
them" he laughed. "our ambulant
have small American flags on TN
La.