Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-30
First u. S. Officer
Wounded by Shell

Continued from Page One
was operated upon in an effort to save nv
life by an army surgeon, a gradulte of
the University of Pennsylvania Medical
School. who had served in the General and
University Hospitals in Philadelphia. De-
spite every care, however, the young pris-
oner died from his wounds. Before his
death and while he still under the
influence of an anesthetic l saw the pris-
oner He was only a boy, of slight build,
Weighing not more than 100 pounds
budding mustache failed to conceal the
evidences of extreme youth.
The two Sammees who captured this first
prisoner were Polsh-Americans, born In
small towns of the United States, one In
New York and the other in Pennsylvania.
They enlisted in the army five months ago.
The exploit of the two men is the envy OF
all their comr rldes In arms,
UNLIKE A BATTLEFIELD
It must be said in truth that the Amer
ican mothers, wives and sweethearts
tertaining visions of their boys fighting
and dying under terrific shell fire have
made the wrong estimate of conditions,
Notwithstanding the wounding of one OFF,
Ger the life here is like that on a peaceful
Ohio farm, with the rain beating down in
torrents, flooded creeks and vast fields
soggy with ponds.
About all that is needed to complete
the picture is to supply the few flashes out
of the guns on the hills by fireworks, the
flashes being accompanied by occasional
sharp bangs, as though some one was bang
ing the old barn door. Despite such dis
agreeable weather the position of the dough-
boys is not the worst in the world, by any
means, and even from weather standpoint
is not to be compared with the conditions
faced by the British and French troops
many times during the war.
TRENCHES DE LUXE
Whereas our Allies are many times
forced to spend many nights In cold rain
while i'll protected, the brand-new positions
of the Americans are what might be de-
scribed as trenches de luxe"
Every inch of the first, second and third
line trenches are provided with duckboards
keeping the mems feet as dry as possible
under existing circumstances.
The ordinary communication trenches,
however, are Allied with water, but II is
possible even there to avoid much exposure
by the use of duckboards
The dugouts are roomy, warm and COM
Portable. The men are well. provided with
food. which is brought up nightly after
having been cooked in the reserve lines.
Our party of correspondents motored a
great distance to examine the camps, ar
riving at noon at the villages in the rear,
where the Americans were billeted before
they entered the trenches.
We passed the lines of the khaki-coloret
American supply wagons which were sand.
wiched along the road In with the blue
French caminos.
While awaiting our escort to- the trenches,
American motorcycle courlers went slip
ping and sliding by in the thick mud, and
occasionally an American officer galloped
by on horseback
We arrived finally at a village immedi-
ately behind the right American sector,
from where we could plainly hear the BOOM
Ing Of the guns.
AT THE AMERICAN HOSPITAL
The American ambulances were drawn
up before the American field hospital, In
which the surgeons were discussing the
case Of the first German prisoner.
Our party then swung of toward the
battlefront taking advantage of the heavy
rain and thick mist and proceeding much
farther than automobiles are able to go.
We halted at a small village, where a
met us, where we left our automobiles
and started for the front.
The route led first to the American ar
tillery positions through fields knee high
In water which in many places forced small
rivulets up over the brow OF the hill where
the guns were pounding away.
On we went, along a narrow railroad
used as a transport line TO high point
from where the French officer pointed ou
the German positions on hills barely Wis
ible In the misty distance
The courteous French officer guided us
70 the duEout OF an American major. who
u ln command OF the battalion at this sec
tor Here one Of the many little incidents
attending this war occurred