Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1917-08-23
WAS taken from pozieres to Albert

W AS taken from Pozieres to Albert
in Ford ambulance or, as the
Tommies would say, 'tin Lizzie"
The man who drove this vehicle would
make good chauffeur for an adding
machine Apparently he was counting
the bumps in the road. for he didn't
miss one of them. However, the trip
was only Il matter Of seven miles, and
was in fair condition when they lifted
me out and carried me to an operating
table i'll the field dressing station,
| A chaplain came along and ,murmnD-
ed little prayer in my ear. imagine
that would have made man feel, very
| solemn if he had thought there. was 4
chance he was about to pass out, but
knew merely had a leg pretty badly
smashed up and while the chaplain
was praying / was. wondering If they
would have to cnt 1t off. l figured, If
so. this would handicap my dancing.
The first formality in n shrapnel case
is the administration of an anti tetanus
innoculation, and when 1t is done sou.
realize that they are sure trying to.
save your life. The doctor uses a horse.
syringe. and the injection leaves a
lump on your chest as big us a base,
ball, which stays with you for forty
eight hours. After the injection, a
nurse fills out diagnosis blank with
a description of your wounds and
record of your name age, regiment,
resimental number, religions parentage
ST nc fup oh
discover it without asking questions
which would be positively indicate.
After all OF that my wounds We're CIV
en- their first real dressing.
immediately after this was done /
was bundled into another ambulance
and driven to Contay, where the c. G.
s Casualty clearing statiom and rail
head were located. In the ambulance
with me We're three other soldiers, an
artillery officer and two privates of in
fantry. We We're all ticketed off as
shrapnel cases and probable recoveries
which latter detail is remarkable, since
the most Slightly injured of the four
had twelve wounds, and there were
sixty odd shell fragments or shrapnel
balls collectively imbedded in us. The
nurse had told me that | had about
twenty wounds. Afterward her count
proved conservative. More accurate
and later returns showed twenty-five
bullets and shell fragments We're in
my leg. They took these out and pre-
sented them to me. | have been CIV
ing them away for souvenirs.
We were fairly comfortable in tue
ambulance. and especially had great
relief from the fact that the nurse had
strapped my leg in a sling attached to
the top of the vehicle. We smoked
cigarettes and chatted cheerfully. ex-
changing congratulations on having
got "clcan ones'-that is, wounds not
probably fatal The artillery officer
bold me he had been supporting our
battalion that morning With one of the
sacrifice batteries"
sacrifice battery, l might explain.
Is one composed of field pieces which
are emplaced between the front and
support lines aud which In case Of an
attack or counterutt;cll are fired at
point blank range. They call them
saeililSe natteIleS because some or
them are wiped out every day. This
officer said our battalion that morning
had been supported by an entire divi-
sion Of artillery and that on our front
of 400 yards the eighteen Founders
alone, i'll curtain fire which lasted
thirty-two minutes. had discharged
$4,000 rounds of high explosive shells.
was impressed by his statement, of
course, but told him that, while this
was an astonishing lot of ammunition.
it was even more surprising to have
noticed at close range. as did, the
number of Germans they missed. To
ward the end of our trip to Contay we
We're much exhausted and pretty badly