Evening star., 1917-09-16
STORY Of AIR RAID
ON j. S. HOSPITAL
Official Report Shows Heroism
of American Staff Under
German Bombs.
HOW FITZslM0NS DIED

The first complete detailed account of
the German air attack on American Base
Hospital, No. 5, in France, on the night
of Tuesday, September 4, has reached
this country in report from Maj. Gray
son NJ P. Murphy, head of the Red
Cross commission in France.
1t was in this attack that Lieut.. Will
| liam T. Fitzsimons Of Kansas City, the
| first American officer to give his life in
the war, was killed. Three other officers,
six privates, a woman nurse and twenty
two patients from the British lines were
| wounded.
Red Cross Official Tells Story.
An American Red Cross inspector re-
turning to Paris from the scene. told
the story as follows:
The airplane attack occurred at IL
o'clock at night. Just at that time. for
tunately, no convoy of wounded was
| being received. or the list of casualties
would have been far greater, as one of
the bombs fell into the center of the
large reception tent to which the
wounded are first borne for examina-
tion. Ten seconds sufflced for the drop
ping of the bombs from the fast-fying
plane, and within less than a minute
afterward the surgeons Of the hospital
were at the task of collecting and at
tending those who had been struck
down. And for twenty-four hours they
were at work in the operating room,
one surgeon relieving another when the
latter from simple exhaustion could
work no longer And the very next
day, just as if nothing had happened.
these same surgeons were called upon
to receive and care for 200 wounded
sent in from the trenches of the Brit
ish expeditionary force.
Unmistakable as Hospital.
"The hospital, which is on the French
coast. has 1.s00 beds under canvas IN a
quadrangle 500 feet square: Is in a dis
trict in which there are many similar
institutions and is unmistakable as
hospital At the time the German
aviator few over 1t most of the sur
gical stafr were engaged in making
rounds of the wards, Lieut.. Fitzsimons.
however. was standing at the door-flap
of his tent. There had been a brief
airplaue in the neighborhood. because
quarter of a minute before the sound
of exploding bombs was heard from a
point perhaps 200 yards from the hos
.pital. This warning sufficed to cause
all lights in the tents to be extinguished
Immediately. and those who had been
under fire before threw themselves face
down upon the ground. Then came five
explosions in rapid succession in the
hospital itself.
Body Torn to shreds.
The first two were direitly in front
ably never knew what happened to him.
as his body was torn to shreds. The
next two fell a hundred feet beyond in
five-marquee ward in which there
were many patients. and the last
struck the reception tent. Overhead
there was no sound. The German avi-
ator flew too high to be heard, but he
left his identity behind him, not only
in the bombs he dropped. bat in the
derisive handful of pfennigs he scat
tered upon the hospital as he whirled
away. number of these were found
when light came
Lieut.. Mcclure. who was in a tent
adjoining that of Lieut.. Fitzsimons
was struck by three bomb fragments,
but was not seriously wounded. His
escape was narrow. as there were more
than a hundred holes cut in his tent
and Lieut.. Whidden in the chest. while
in their tents in the officers section
of the quadrangle. The private SOL
diers injured were on duty as orderlies
in the reception tent, and the bomb
fell almost upon them. So severely was
Private Aubrey s. Mcleod injured that
ii was necessary to amputate both his
legs that night.
Although the exploding bombs Gre
ated horror in the hospital. there was
rot the smallest sign of panic. and the
work of discovering the wounded and
collecting them was Immediately be-
gun. This was made cruelty difficult by
the dark ess, but every one sprang to
1t with will. Many of the injured had
been blown from their cots, some even
outside their tents, where they were
found tangled up IN the tent ropes
Worked Despite Wounds.
.The American nurse, although
In faca nv fraUmept ~