The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-04-05

In one Of the London papers, 1t Is
stated that it costs between six and
seven thousand pounds 100000 to $685.
O00) to kill or wound q soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
Of the war to date and dividing 1t by
the killed and wounded.
1t may sound heartless and inhuman,
but it is q fact, nevertheless, that from
a military standpoint it is better for a
man to be killed than wounded.
If a man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive a pension. But If q man
is wounded it takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
two men to carry him to the rear to
the advanced lrst-aid post. Here he Is
| attended by a doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two r. A. NJ. G. men. Then he Is
put into a motor ambulance, manned
by a crew Of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes I'M
der an %anesthetic, either to have his
! wounds cleaned or to be operated on,
he requires the services of about three
to five persons. From this point an
other ambulance ride impresSeS more
men in his service, and then at the am
bulance train, another corps of doc
tors, r. A. M. G. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where a good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, etc., are Kept
busy. Another ambulance journey is
next in order-this time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
in Blighty-more ambulances and per-
haps O ride for five hours on an Eng
lish Red Cross train with its crew Of
Red Cross workers, and at last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays from two to six months, or long
er, in this hospital. From here he Is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks.
If by wounds he Is unified for fur
Their service, he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to a soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
lie that all the ambulances, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used in transporting a wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and requirements for the troops at
the front, it will not appear strange
that from a strictly military stand"
point, q dead man is sometimes better
than q live one (if wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after a careful
tour Of inspection Of the communica-
ton trenches, upon ian ideal spot as
he termed it, for a machine-gun en-
placement; took his map, made a dot
on it, and as he was wont, wrote dig
here" and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in the party, my
self included. Armed with picks,
shovels and empty sandbags we ar
rived at the "ideal spot" and started
digging. The moon was very bright,
but we did not care as we were well
out Of sight Of the German lines. =.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft
err a mighty stroke with his pick, let go
Of the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and foreinger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
scott strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed, not 'alf I amt" I quickly
turned in his direction with an inqpir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag. I soon found out what
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
and I lost no time in also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
Of the digging party dropped their
picks and shovels and beat it for the
weather side Of that solitary pick. The
officer came wei and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased, holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the direc-
ton of the smell. He went over to the
. pick, Immediately clapped his hand
over his nose, made an about turn"
and came back. Just then our cap
tain came along and investigated, but
after about q minute said we had bet
ter carry on with the digging, that he
did not see why we should have
stopped as the odor was very faint,
but if necessary he would allow us Jul
gas helmets while digging. He would
stay and see the thing through, but he
had to report back to brigade head
quarters Immediately. We wished that
we were captains and also had a date
at brigade headquarters. With u gas
helmets IN we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the decomposed body Of
a German; the pick was sticking in his
chest. One Of the men tainted. I was
that one. Upon this our lieutenant
halted proceedings and sent word back
to headquarters and word came back
that after we filed in the hole we could
knock off for the night. This vas well
come tidings to US, because