Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-04-01


1 jolting Of the ambulance over the
rough road had loosened up the band
| ages on his foot, and had started To
bleeding again. This blood ran down
the side of the stretcher and started
| dripping. i was lying on my back, too.
weak to move, and the dripping Of this
! blood got me In my unbandaged right
eye. ] closed my eye and pretty soon
could not open the lid; the blood had
CONCEALED and closed it, as If it were
| glued down. :
An English girl dressed in khaki was
driving the ambulance, while beside,
| her on the seat was corporal of the
r. A. NJ. c., They kept up running
conversation about Blighty which all
most wrecked my nerves; pretty
soon from the stretcher above me, the
! freshman became aware of the fact
that the bandage from his foot had be-
come loose; it must have pained him.
horribly, because he yelled in a. loud
! voice: 81
| IF you don't stop this bloody DEATH
wagon and fix this d. bandage on
my foot, will get out and walk"
The girl on the seat turned around
and in a sympathetic voice asked
Poor fellow, are you very badly
wounded?"
| The Irishman, at this question, let
out howl of indignation and an
| swered, Gam 1 very badly wounded.
what bloody cheek no, I'm not wound
ed, I've only been kicked by canary
! bird"
The ambulance Immediately stopped,l
| and the corporal came to the rear and
| fixed him up, and also washed out my
right eye. l was too weak TO thank
| him, but it was a great relief. Them
/ must have become unconscious, ben
| cause when regained my senses, the
ambulance was at standstill, and nay
stretcher was being removed from 1t, n
1t was night, lanterns were flashing
here and there, and could see stretchsl
er-bearers hurrying to and fro. Them
| was carried into a hospital train. -
The inside of this train looked like
heaven to me, just pure white, and we
met cur first Red Cross nurses; wei
| thought they were angels. And they
| were.
Nice little soft hunks and clean.i
white sheets. ~
A Red Cross nurse sat beside me-
during the whole ride which lasted
three hours. She was holding my
wrist; thought had made hit, and
tried to tell her how L got wounded,
but she would put her finger to her lips
and say. Yes, know, but you mustn't
talk now, try TO go to sleep, it'll do you
good, Doctors orders" Later on II
learned that she was taking my pulse
every few minutes, as was very weak
from the loss of blood and they ex-I
pected me to snuff 1t, but didn't.
From the train we went into ambu-i
lances for short ride to the hospital
ship Panama. Another palace and more
angels. l don't remember the trip
across the channel. Il
opened my eyes; was being cares
ried on stretcher through lanes or
people, Some cheering, some waving
flags, and others crying. The flags werse
Union Jacks, / was In Southampton
Blghty at last. My stretcher wass
strewn with flowers, cigarettes, and
chocolates. Tears started to run down.
my cheek from my good eye. like al
BOBBY was crying. Can you beat it7--s.
Then into another hospital train, al
dve-hour ride to Paignton, another ana
bulance ride, and then i was carried
into Munsey ward of the American
Women's War hospital and put into q
real bed.
This real bed was too much for my
unstrung nerves and tainted.
When / came to, pretty Red Cross
nurse was bending over me, bathing
my forehead with cold water, then she
left and the ward orderly placed a
screen around my bed, and gave me q
much-needed bath and clean paJamas.
Then the screen was removed and n
bowl of steaming soup was given me.
1t tasted delicious.
Before finishing my soup the nurse
came back to ask me my name and
number. She put this information down
in little book and then asked:
Nucic w you NuAHc AiUih 4 "R-.
swered: as @&
"From the big town behind the
Statue of Liberty !" upon hearing this
she started jumping up and down,
clapping her hands, and calling out TO
three nurses across the ward:
Come here, ,girls-at last We have
got real live Yankee with us"
They came over and besieged ma
with questions, until the doctor ar
rived. Upon learning that was an
American he almost crushed my hand
in his grip of welcome. They also
were Americans. and were glad to sea
me.
The doctor very tenderly removed
my bandages and told me. after view.
ing my wounds, that he would have 70
take me to the operating theater inns
mediately. Personally Isdidn't care.
what was done with me-