Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-26

By night time, June ,, my tempera- ture, which was taken regularly twice a day was very high l was feeling very i'll and not taking much interest in life.
 The next morning when the doctor removed the dressing he discovered that had gas poisoning in the wound He. called in the surgeon and they held q consultation and decided to amputate 2 my arm. I wasn't keen on this, and told them so. They said would prob ;Ibly die If ! didn't have the operation was so d1ss7Isted at being a prisoner of war that didn't care what happen ed to me. They held g. long conversa- ton and finally decided to wait a day or so to see how the wound progressed. Thank goodness, they did If had not been i1 such good health when was wounded I would probably have cashed in.
 That day a man came in with a sign board for the head of my bed. felt like a convict when I saw my number 372s. Under the word 'fKrankheit" was ''Zerbrechung compl links UnterarmS, Maschinegewehrasc Complicated fracture of left forearm, shot from machine gun)- I suppose this was put there to remind me that did not have hydrOpflObia or any other disease. At the bottom was chalked a large II, and a list of the articles included in Diet II. There were two kinds Of diet, and the only difference between them, so far as I could make out, was the number.
 Good Boots Disappear
 Watkins emptied all the yaiuables from the pockets of my uniform and carefully removed the badges. He did the same for Wells and carried our clothes off to be washed. Every pris- oner on entering the hospital had his clothes taken from him and sent to the laundry Hospital clothes were issued when he was able to get up, and on leaving for camp his clothes, which iod in a bundle and knDt in racks in the basement were again given to him. He very seldom get his original uniform complete, as the boches had a great liking for book boots, and often helped themselves. The Russians Suf- fered particularly in this respect.
 I have seen Russians in rags lined up in the courtyard waiting to be taken away to camp. Some of them were without socks and had nothing on their feet but the hospital slippers They were often without a tunic, to say nothing of a great coat.
 I actually saw one man with his feet in bandages lined up with the rest. Some fool doctor had discharged him from the hospital and he was waiting to hop away with the others probably 10 be put to work as soon as he arrived. After a great deal of fuss he was Brtuck off the list and left behind. This was a marvellous feat for the German system. Once a thing is down in black and white it is almost unalterable without the kaiser's consent.
 Thinking of Home.
 My first three weeks in the hospital passed by uneventfully. Most of the lime I was very sick and didn't take much interest in what was going on around me. I lay thinking of home and wondering when I would get my first letters.
 There were three nuns in the hos pital, who were the only women on the staff with the exception of those work ing in the kitchen. Two of them as sisted in the operating room and the other did all the X-ray work. One named SchweSter (siSter) Edelberta was very nice to us. She made a point of visiting our room almost every day. Two or three times she brought flow CTS from the chapel which she placed in water on the lockers beside our beds She often spoke of her brothers One of them was in a German Regi- Fnent of Guards and had been at the front since the beginning of the war; the other had lost part Of his hand and was at home. She went regularly to the chapel three times a day and prayed for the safety of her brother at the front and for the end of the war.
 On the occasion of these visits the conversation was weird and wonderful to hear Our German was becoming undoubtedly more fluent, but our vo