The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-09-19
FT|ZS|MMONS WAS
BLOWN TO SHREDS.
First Officer to Fall Never Knew
What Hit Him-Many Others
..,.. Hurt. ~

vi
Washington, Sept. 15.-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. Gen. M. P. Murphy, head of
the Red Cross commission in France.
It was in this attack that Lieut..
William T. Fitzsipmons 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 % patients from
the British lines were wounded. An
American Red Cross inspector re-
turning to Paris from the scene told
the story as follows:
"The airplane attack occurred at
II o'clock at night. Just at that
time fortunately 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 recep-
ton tent to which the wounded are
first borne for examination. Ten
seconds suficed for the dropping of
the bombs from the fast flying plane
and within less than a minute after
wards the surgeons Of the hospital
were at the task of collecting and
attending those who had been struck
down. And for "a 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 up
on to receive and care for. 200
wounded sent in from the trenches
of the British expeditionary force
! The hospital, which is on the French
coast, has 1900 beds under canvas
in quadrangle 800 feet square, is
in a district where there are many
similar institutions and is unmistak-
able as hospital. At the same
time the German aviator flew over it
most of the surgical staff was en-
gagged in making rounds of the ward.
Lieutenant Fitzsimmons, however,
was standing at the door flap of his
tent. '.-.
Had Little Warning. =.
"There had been brief warning
of the presence of a bombing air.,
plane in the neighborhood, because
quarter of minute before the
sound of exploding bombs was heard
from point perhaps 200 yards from
the hospital. This warning suficed
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 explo-
sions in rapid succession in the hos
pital itself. The first two were d.
rectly in front of Lieutenant Fitz-
simmons tent. He probably never
knew what happened to him, as his
body was torn to snreds/ 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. Over
head there was no sound. The Ger
man aviator flew too high to be
heard but he left his identity be-
hind him not only in the bombs he
dropped. but in the derisive handful
of pfennings he scattered upon the
hospital as he whirled away. A num-
Der of these were found when light
came. Lieutenant Mcclure, who
was in a tent adjoining that of
Lieutenant Fitzsimmons, 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.
Lieutenant Smith was struck in the
knee and Lieutenant Whidden in the
chest, while in their tents in the
officers section of the quadrangle.
The private soldiers injured were
on duty as orderlies in the reception
tent and the bomb fell almost upon
them. So severely was Private Au-
brey S. Mcleod injured that it was
necessary to amputate both his legs
that night. Although the exploding
bombs created horror in the hospital,
there was not the smallest sign of
panic and the work of discovering
the wounded and collecting them
was Immediately begun. This was
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