The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-08-07
ARRANGE RECEPTION TO
meet SERGEANT WELLS
Chamber of Commerce to
Stage Gathering Satur-
day Night at Temple.
lis HERO OF YPRES
Docs Empty Sleeve Silent
but Eloquent Reminder Of
Terrors of War.

To meet Sergeant DOC" Wells, the
one EARNED hero of the battle Of Ypres
and a prisoner Of war in Germany, the
chamber of commerce Is arranging q
reception for the men of Missoula in
the lodge rooms Of the E1ks' temple
next Saturday night at 1880. An arm
less sleeve at Sergeant Wells left side
tells Of the horrors Of Ypres. He has
lived through many notable expert
! ences, having been wounded, saved.
imprisoned and freed--each at Tcuton
hand.
Only by understanding the condi-
lions into which our American army Is
soon to so and then preparing to meet
the results of those conditions states
Sergeant Doc" Wells. Can the situ-
alton be handled? 1t is, he believes.
to the Red Cross that we must look
for our solution.
Not until the United States begins
to read her casualty list will she real
ize the thing which has happened to
her Canada did not, until many of
her men were gone never to come back,
and the United States will not.
The Canadian government official
war pictures which Sergeant Wells
accompanies here has many interest
ing features. especially the battle Of
Ypres, the battle of SOmme and the
battle Of Jutlann.
Wells talks about the Yprcs in the
terms of the comrades he knew. He
pictures men, men just before 4
! charge, during a charge. In death and
pleading to be killed. lie will not tell.
unless drawn on, the story Of how, in
the attack on u Ypres salient of five
miles he volunteered to cross a road
considered impossible. to take COM
mand of a detachment that had been
left without an officer; of how he did
cross the road losing all but IS of the
81 brave men who followed him, and
how he lost his arm for the act.
There is something in the face of
Sergeant Wells found only in the faces
OF men who have seen things which
they cannot forget, big. uncomfortable.
crushing things. sudden tautness OF
the lower lip, a narrowing of the eyes.
n tenseness that he cannot control, are
| indications of memories. perhaps too
horrible to ever put into words, per-
haps too elemental for words. At least
| ITOSL OI these iuilSS lie uoeS IOl StiiN
about. He waits for them to pass.
| 1t Is when he talks of the inhuman
! cruelty Of the German soldiers that the
| tenseness comes most noticeably to his
| face. He was himself bayoneted In
| an arm already shot seven times, while
! he lay in No Mans Land" The side
| Of his face was kicked by the boot OF
| a German officer, his cheek Is scared
| where he was struck across the face
| by the hand of another commander.
| OF the period served In n German
prison, and his miraculous escape from
| the living death from which few mel
! have vet come alive, following a Ions
| period of pretended insanity, Wells
tells in detail in his lecture. He ha!
pictures Struggled from the German
| prison.
THE hospital base is the soldier
little heaven" Sergeant Wells said
Not the one above, but the sacret
ground presided over by a Red Cross
nurse. We all hope that by some fluk'
We will be spared for the base nos
pital. 1t is the hope to which WI
| cling"
| Wells is n Canadian by birth. Ill
was formerly connected with n Van
! couver newspaper. He is recognized
| by the Canadian government "hic'
has supplied him largely with the NOV
! ing pictures which he shows. Well
| has lost three brothers and his fathe
| in the war.
Moving pictures Of trench fightini
| charging the enemy trenches and mod
| ern bombardment are included in tn
| Wells films.