Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-04-03
MARSHALL TELLS
Of EXPERIENCES
American Ambulance Driver
Has Narrowing Story OF
Terrible Conflict
(From Saturdays Daily.)

iant European struggle, ever heard IN
0ttumwa, was told Friday evening at
he First Methodist Episcopal church
~ Verne Marshall, managing editor OF
he Cedar Rapids Gazette.
For six months Mr.. Marshall drove
IN American ambulance in France and
he graphic word pictures of his exper
ences left an impression upon the
minds of 500 men and women VINO
heard him which will eve be erased
TO use his own words his talk was
series of narratives, more or less dis
connected, rather than a lecture. HIS
Easy natura! way Of talking and his
choice Of descriptive language helped
him in a large measure to carry his
audience with him.
Goes In a Hurry.
One day in February. 1916 MI. Mar
shall was eating lunch with Bob Toms.
a friend from Marion. Toms was to
sail in a few days for France to drive
IN American ambulance and the meal
q a farewell affair.
Before they had finished it young
Marshall had decided not to say good
bye to his friend but to 60 with him.
in q week he had secured his passports.
passed his examination for work with
the ambulance corps and was ready to
sail on the Lafayette from New York.
Eight days later they landed at Bor-
deaux and proceeded by train to Paris.
Although the young Iowans asked to
drive ambulances between the hospi-
ais in the city for a month or six
weeks. in order that they might i'm
prove their French, rather learn 1t for
Marshall said he did not know a word
Of the language, they were sent i'm
mediately to the front.
Far From Front.
That Is, they went as near the front
as the ambulances were allowed to go
for stationing.
Then they were several miles from
the first trenches and only at night did
they advance to pick up their wounded
and dying and carry them back to the
base hospitals.
Driving along shell ridden roads
without a light for fear the German
artillery forces would e the car, was
an experience never to be forgotten by
this young 1owan.
One day, soon after he arrived at the
front, Marshall went scouting into an
old stone quarry. He drove his car In
to the place. down between two hills.
and stopped outside an ambulance sta
ton built in a dugout.
His First Shell. |
AS he stood in front, out in the road
wa In broad daylight he heard his
Hrst shell bursting and says he will
never forget 1t.
The best description he could find to
bring it home to his hearers was that
Of a gnat or a bee buzzing about the
ear. This multiplied by two or three
million would give some idea of the
sound. AS it increased and seemed to
rush nearer and nearer Marshall says
he was spellbound. He could not
move. It seemed to him that the shell
was going to strike him squarely be-
tween the eyes; he could see nothing
but he could feel it rush on and on,
straight toward him. Then 1T burst.
Away over the hill he saw it and the
defamation where he stood was awful.
It was then that he felt a violent tug
king at his coat tail. 1t did no let up
but he kept his feet for several yards
as he was yanked in the reverse direc-
ton. When he finally landed on his
shoulders in the bottom OF the field
base hospital dugout he saw that he
was In the company Of French officers.
They warned him, in a perfect con-
~glomeration Of French. that it was a !
very dangerous thing to stand 0 u in a
roadway in broad daylight and let the
enemy fire shells in that direction.
Marshall, in his imperfect French,
akreed with them and the rest of the
afternoon was spent in the dugout.
Later, after dark, there was work
~ che ambulance driver and he was
busy carrying the wounded back to his
field hospital.
Driving Difficulties.
After about three months Marshall
was transferred to the Verdun section.
The Americans were stationed
twelve miles from the firing lines and
even there the constant booming of the
big guns, the cracking of the small
shells and the bursting Of the larger
ones was terrible.
It was one of the first nights in that
vicinity that brought the young Iowan
some of his worst experiences with ;
driving.
The call came to 60 to hill POT and
bring back a load of wounded. The
route lay through one village to an
other. first turning to the right and
then the left, down hill and up
All of this over an unknown road,
no lights burning and a F%renchman
who had never been over the route be-
fore, as a guide.
They were driving along, feeling
their way up a hill when they saw a
shell burst several yards ahead of
them. When they reached the spot
they found a hole ten feet in diameter
and six feet deep. |
Again they took the wrong road and
went six miles out of their way. The
nearer they approached the lines the !
more terrific was the shell firing. The (
pieces fell in every direction and all
about the car.
Twisting and turning. jerking and
humping. in holes and out of them, the
plucky Iowan and his silent French
guide made their way to the hill hos
pital.
They were the first out of twenty
machines to reach there that night.
Hunting for Mementos.
Often, when they were not actively