Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-10-15
THRILLS OF WAR
AMBULANCE WORK
Driver Tells Of Grim Job
Rushing Wounded to
Base Hospitals
THE DOOR MARKED MORT"
Race With Death Through
Gloomy Night Lost Despite
Speed in Transit

hgRN1A AAA
The life Of an American ambulance
driver on the battle front--the fun OF II
and the tragedy--and Incidents like carry
Ing a wounded prisoner German captain.
OF Cleveland, Ohio. U. S. A., are described
IN a lettsr received from Frank A. Lewis,
Of Philadelphia, writing from somewhere
IN France"
Explaining that the two days "oft duty"
mean harder toll In preparation than the
two days ION duty" Lewis fancies taking
the reader with him on the run" After
a forced sleep among the rats and bumps
Of their little dirt abri, they are rudely
awakened by their chief. swallow cup
Of iuke-warm coffee and are on, four cars
Of them, for the posts.
Passing spare time on arrival at M
by tossing the ball, they next eat, accord
ing 10 Lewis. who is amazed by the ''pollu
mess fest" at which 'unshaven wonders
whistle a bowlful Of soup through their
whiskers" and vie with the bean balan-
GERS" Eating" is the fundamental OF
the poiiu's character" he writes. 1T is
at once his main pastime and his
He lives breathes sleeps and fights for
the privilege Of experiencing his next
meal. and. paradoKlcal as II is. he eats
only twice day. at IL a. m. and $3.50
D. m"
GUNS BARK AT ENEMY PLANE
The day passed without incident. save
for circumspeot visit TO an unexploded
German shell inbedded in a tree and the
hostile swooping OF German airpiane, at
which the French guns bark angrily.
AT about p. m.." the letter reads, the
French start q barrage. Soon the whining
OF the speeding explosives becomes a con-
tinuous hum. The reverberations are inces-
SAINT Ernie is a little nervous and you
take advantage of that tendency by creep
ing up behind him and dropping a stone
en- his steel helmet. He starts and turns
pale. while the rest Of us comfort our shiv-
ering bodies In spasns of mirth. Tho same
Joke was played on you three days ago
by a humorous artillery lieutenant, and
Ernis's reaction not only ticlSles you beyond
words, but restores in part your self
respect"
After nearly two hours Of waiting they
are sent to Au R, two kiiometers dis
tant, where at midnight the first two
couches arrive to be carried to the hos
pital
The medicin-chef points out that the
Bous-lieutenant with blood oozing through
the bandage on his neck is tres grave,'"
Lewis relates. I'VE must drive 'douce-
ment mails 81 vite qu1l est possible We
wind up and proceed at n crawl The night
Is black; no moon Is out. Tho road is un-
surfaced and pockmarted with shell holes.
The cumbersome voiture Jerks, half stalls
and picks up with jump as we try to case
by the long lines Of artillery carts and pack
trains which are feeling their way in the
opposite direction Every bump brings
forth a cry Of pain from within. %, Ia la
Ia Voulez-vous me tirerT groans the leu
tenant, whose neck is broken. You and
talk as much as possible about other things.
We try to forget that we're racing with
death.
AGONY OF THE WOUNDED
by the time We are within a kilometer
OF B both men. are giving vocal vent
To their feafinRq tka rof xulf bn
leg yells only when we strike a particularly
bad bump, but the poor lieutenant, whom
we also are beginning to wish dead, is
screaming in a waking nightmare of pain;
ne no longer speaks coherently or begs us
70 Kill him he simply raves in utter un-
bearabe, insane agony. We no longer
swap idle chatter 1 can see your knuckles
whiten on the wheel even while my own
jaw msucles begin to ache from the uncon-
scious tension.
the long. steep grade that leads TO the hos
pital. You have TO shift into first and the
banging OF the motor counteracts against
the commotion from within. A few minutes
OF this and we turn into the big courtyard
You forget about the drain gutter and the
front wheels hop a couple Of inches in the
air We hold our breaths in uncomfortable
expectation-but only the short wall of the
poilu reaches our ears
Z. we don't stick around to watch the
ava we Ne seen HlKntH such ag
this before besides we want 70 sleep we'll.
They lug the poilu through a door marked
couches the other stretcher with its now
shrouded burden, goes through another
door-over the sill are the four letters:
Back they 90 to sleep, but are kent at
work until a. m, when they snatch six
hourS sleep. Mess is forgotten for duty
and In the evening duty again calls them
away trom their meal. In spite Of the fact
mat Il IL chocolate-contraband day. they
buy chocolate for their meal
BoCHB BOMBS EXPLODE
We are the first car up to c. this
night" the letter continues C IL a
night post; that is. the road is partly IN
view or the Germans, especially the
saucieses observation baIloons) AS we pro- |
eeed along the open stretch we expect at
any moment to hear machine-gun bullet
dig through the air near our ears but nary
sound. II Is still fairly light and we make |
the run at full lurch. They have a gassed'
couche already TO turn over TO us He
froths and gaaps for aid and we know he's
suffering a great deal-but we can drive
fast with him, for there are no broken
bones to Jar. AS we run through the valley
the shooting becomes more intense. few
OF the Boche 'obus' bombs explode where
we can easily see them. Our consignment
signals a desire for great rapidity and we
gladly comply. At about we are called
again. this time 10 take charge OF what is
left OF captured Boche captain. He speaks
very intelligent English, in which tongue
he expresses some surprise at seeing US
We're delighted 70 know that he was resi-
dent OF Cleveland, o., during the Ave years
Immediately preceding the war You ask
him II he doesn't begin 10 wish he'd stuck
around TO take out naturalization papers
lie doesn't thoroughly commit himself; but
We learn on the way 10 B. thai he's been
on more agreeable parties than the pres
ent"