Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-12-19
BY HOWARD KAHN
A port in France (By Mai

Will carry the happiest boy in the
world. That is the way he charac-
terizes himself. l would call him the
nerviest boy in the world.
His name is Aubrey Mcleod. He
is farmer student at Purdue Uni
versity, a resident of Boston, and he
served in an Indiana battery on the
Mexican border last year.
All Of which has nothing to do
with why he is the happiest and the
nerviest boy in the world.
When histories of the present war
are written, Aubrey McLeods name
will go down as the first American
casualty. The air raid on Base Hos
pital Mo-, which resulted in the
death of Lieut.. Fitzsimmons of the
medical corps and three privates
early in July, injured Mcleod SO seri-
ously that his two legs had to be am
putated six inches above the knees.
This much has been briefly mention
ed in official newspaper dispatches.
But nothing has been said about Nc
Leod himself or his hopes for the fu-
ture
| met a hospital sergeant on a
train bound for this port the other
day. Were taking Aubrey Mcleod
home" he said would you like to
see him %
was not sure. I had seen lot
of French and German "mutil6s" dur
ing four months at the French front,
and the memory of some of them
was still with me. l did not know
whether / wanted to see a pale-faced,
drawn and suffering American. I had
known some of McLeOd's friends on
the Mexican border last summer,
however, and thought some news of
them might cheer him lot
l entered his compartment. Two
soldiers were there. Both were
hearty, red-cheeked, fresh-looking
Americans, neither of whom appeared
to have known what days illness
meant. Where's McLeod?" / asked,
His First Glimpse of Mcleod
my name is Mcleod" replied one
of them smiling.
Then | noticed that the lower part
of his body was covered with rug.
If the American wounded and the
American people accept their misfor
tunes like Aubrey Mcleod has &C
-cepted his, the receipt of the long
casualty lists which are sure to come
will cause no alarm as to American
morale
Looking for a sick MANI" laughed
Mcleod, reading my thoughts.
There's nobody sick around here.
may get little seasick in a few days,
but there won't be anything serious
about it,
Just what happened?"
"a feet of Boche planes. They
dropped six bombs. One of EN- got
me. Now I'm minus two legs"
Mcleod said all this with smile
on his face.
81 had been on guard. Somebody
relieved me, and lay down for some
sleep. l heard q commotion and
jumped to my feet. Two bombs went
off and / knew it was an air raid.
Then third exploded very near to
me. Another man in my unit began
yelling, help me-, and / saw that he
was wounded. Then | looked down
and saw that my right leg was al
most cut in two. l didn't feel
bit Of pain, but 1 began yelling too
just like the other fellow was doing.
| remember the colonel ran in and
looked at me and held me up until
wv luCu came Win d oCI GICASI
Next thing / knew was when /
woke up the following day. l re-
membered about my right leg dang
ling as if ready to drop off. reached
down and found that it was gone,
Then I reached for my left leg. 1t
was gone too"
Please remember that Mcleod was
not telling this with tragedy in his
voice. There were no signs, no self
pity. There was merely an air of sat
sfaction-satisfacti at having
done his duty He did not show the
least indication that he considered
that he had done more.
Tells OF Loss of Both Legs
81 called for my nurse" he con-
tinued, land I remember that l had
a long argument with her before l
sank off to sleep again. l told her
that she had promised they
wouldn't amputate my leg, and here
they had amputated both of them. II
told her that l thought it was not
fair to be lied to like that. But there
was no heart-breaking realization
that I was cripple for life. I was
L