Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1917-08-24

II WAS taken from Pozicres to ALDER
in Ford ambulance or, AZ tn
Tommies would say, ''tin Lizzie.
The man who drove this vehicle woul
make a good chauffeur for an addin
the bumps In the road. for be didn'
miss one OF them. However. the tril
was only matter of seven miles, an,
/ was In fair condition when they liftes
mo out and carried me to an operating
table In the field dressing station.
A chaplain came along aud murmur
ed a little prayer In my ear. ! imagine
that would have made man feel very
solemn II be had thought there was q
chance he was about 10 pass out. but
! knew merely had n leg pretty badly
smashed up. and while the chaplain
was praying ! was wondering II they
would have 10 cut IT of. | figured. II
so. this would handicap my dancing.
The first formality In sbrapnel case
Is the administration OF an anti-tetanus
innoculnt ton. and when It Is done you
realize that they are sure trying to
save your life. The doctor uses horse
syringe. aud the injection leaves a
lump on your chest as big AS base
ball. which stays with you for forty
eight hours. After the injection a
nurse fills out "A diagnosis blank with
description of your wounds and
record OF your name. age regiment,
regimental number, religion, parentage
and previous history as far as she can
discover II without asking questions
which would be positively indelicate.
After all OF that my wounds were Civ
en- their first real dressing.
Immediately after this was done ]
was bundled into another ambulance
and driven to Contay, where the G. c.
3. casualty clearing station and rail
head were located. In the ambulance
with me were three other soldiers, an
artillery officer and two privates of In
fantry. We were all ticketed of 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 lmbedded 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 were In
my leg They took these out and pre-
scented them TO me. | have been Civ
ing them away for souvenirs
We were fairly comfortable In the
ambulance. and | especially had great
relief from the fact that the nurse had
my leg In a sling attached to
the top OF the vehicle We smoked
cigarettes and chatted cheerfully, ex-
changing congratulations on having |
got "clean ones"-that Is, wounds not |
probably fatal The artillery officer |
told me ne had been supporting our
battalion that morning with one of the |
sacrifice batteries"
A sacrifice battery, | might explain, |
Is one composed of field pieces which |
IRE emplaccd between the front and |
support lines and which In case, of an
attack or counterattack are fired at |
point blank range. They call them
sacrifice batteries because some of
hem are wiped out every day. This
,fflcer said our battalion that morning
lad been supported by an entire divi-
ZION of artillery and that on our front
IF 400 yards the eighteen Founders
llone. In a curtain fire which lasted
hirty-two minutes, had discharged
5000 rounds Of high explosive shells.
| was impressed by his statement. of
course. but ! told him that, while this
vas an astonishing lot of ammunition.
( was even more surprising to have
lotlced ut close range. as | did. the
lumber OF Germans they missed. To
ward the end OF our trip to Contay we
we're much exhausted and pretty badly
haken up. We were beginning also
o realize we were by no means out of
he woods surgically. Our wounds had
m extensive and serious operation
We arrived ut Contay silent aud pretty
'adly depressed. For twenty-four
Iours In the Contay casualty clearing
tation they did little except feed us
nd take our temperatures hourly.
hen we We're put into a hospital train
or Rouen.
Germans Bomb Hospital Train.
Right here would like to tell lit
e story about hospital train leaving
'ontay for Rouen-uot the one we
Tere on. but one which had left few
avs before. The train. when 1t was
lst ready to depart with a full quota
wounded men. was attacked by
erman aeropianes from which bombs
'ere dropped upon Il. There is moth
* apparently that makes the Ger
lans so fearless and ferocious as the
ed Cross emblem. on the top OF each
the ears In this train there was
ed Cross big enough 10 be seen from
lies In the air. The German aviators
.ceptcd them merely as excellent tar
ITS Their bombs quickly knocked