El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-10-06


" saw the liberalization Of all
4 American ambulance service in
/ France. The American government
/ has formally taken charge Of the
work heretofore done by the Ameri-
can Field Service under A. Piatt An
drews and the work done by the
American Ambulance Corps under the
| leadership OF Richard Norton.
The American Field Service has en-
listed about 500 men and is well ad-
vertised in America. but the American
an bulance Corps. which comprises
about 600 men, carefully avoided pub
! licity and is not 50 well known in
America The men in each division
Of the service have done splendid
yolunt eer work and without pav-ex-
ceptng the five cents a day allowed
by the French government to the
Eoilus-yet the men who have done
this service for nearly three years of
the war were the only organized
Americans who were doing Americas
bit at the battle front in the great
conflict They carried our flag to
glory while We were making money.
and the mastering out OF these volun-
ieers marks the close OF brave chap
ter in American history
Three Years In Service.
Because the service Of the Ameri-
can Ambulance Corps is less known
than is that Of its sister service. some
record should be made here Of what
the American Ambulance Corps has
done during Its three fighting wears
Of life It means nothing TO say that
Its records show that the cOrps has
carried from the firing zone to base
or TO field hospitals 1881 wounded.
as wei as medicines and dressings
|E n 70
dress these wounded. Figures mean
SO little
II Is necessary to understand how
these wounded are gathered FOR one
TO realize how fine and coura geous
the service Is To tell this story Of
the transfer OF the wounded from the
field one must first present some &C
count Of the battlefields in which
these American boys worked. Rough
~ speaking they covered a country
from Arras TO Nerdun-a hiIly. wood
ed country in which the French and
the Germans fought in but few plains
II has been fight mainly for this
hill or that woods and in spite OF the
fact that first line trenches frequent
", perhaps generally. lie in the open.
the concealed artillery in woods or on
hills offered points Of equal danger
with the trenches Infantry. artillery
ton TO their numbers even than the
airmen. and the youth Of the smbu-
lance corps were daily associates OF
these three classes Of soldiers
How the Corps Operates.
The Ambulance Corps receives its
wounded from the stretcher bearers
and doctors usually on the hill OF in
the woods where the artillery was
planted These first posts Of succor /
were as far forward as ambulances
could be driven-always over shelIed
roads sometimes over roads in plain
view of the enemy guns. The wound
ed are borne by stretCher bearers TO
dugOuts in side hills OF woods. where
a wounded man is quickly and rough
" bound up These first aid posts
generally are from quarter Of a
nile to three-quarters OF a mile from
the trenches. but always among the
guns and ammunition which. more
than the trenches. the Germans are
TRYING 10 destroy by shell fire.
For days at a time there may be no
trench firing, but always the Ger
mans heavyE -uns are hunting for the
french or British artillery always
the boys bringing in the wounded are
IN danger. In a recent activity at
VerdUn, for instance. in one day 500
men were killed or wounded in one
small sector in the woods back Of the
trenches and no casualty came out OF
the trenches and every man in the
mbulance Corps was under fire every
hour ne was on duty. One section Of
the corps had - ambulances. Twenty |
showed shell-fire scars in |
that Nerdun activity. and shelI-fire Is /
the smallest Of the dangers the boys
face
The Fear Of Gas.
Gas Is the terror Of the men OF the I
Corps. for the enemy Z
always Is shelling the woods
and hills behind the lines with gas.
A man afOot may use q gas mask and
save himself, but driving a car over
rough roads At night with m TfrIrs I
whatever in the car. makes a gas /
mask almost an impossible piece Of I
baggage for a driver. Yet no man in /
the American Ambulance Corps ever /
has died from gas poison. Indeed. so I
well have these boys been trained. !