Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-03-16
SYNOPSIS.

CHAPTER I--Fired by the news of the
sinking of the Lusitania by q German
submarine Arthur Guy Enpey, an Amer.
can. leaves his office in Jersey CITY enc tllu
British army.
| CHAPTER II-After a period Of ,i to-
Ing. Empey volunteers for Where he D' first
: .'somee5%offfes ~
CHAPTER III-Empsy attends his
first church services at the front
while German Fokker circles over
the congregation
CHAPTER 1v-Empey's COMM e, Egres
into the front-lne trenches and is under
fire for the first time.
/ CHAPTER " .1.npey learns to adopt
| the motto ~ .ne British Tommy, IF you
| arc orr 20 get 1t, you'll get 1t, so never
4 ~ ny"
CHAPTER vI-Bacl1 in rest billets, EN-
| pey gets hts first experience as mess
CHAPTER v1I-Empey learns how the
| British soldiers are fed.
| CHAPTER vIII-Back in the front-line
| trench EGnpey sees his first friend of the
! trenches "go West"
| CHAPTER IX-Empey makes his first
| visit to a dugout in Suicide Ditch.''
! CHAPTER X-Empey learns what con-
! stitutes q days work" In the front-nne
| trench.
| CHAPTER xI-Empey goes "over the
| top for the first time in charge on the
| German trenches and is wounded py =
| Ddycnet thrnrt.
| CHAPTER XII-Empey joins the sui
eide club as the bombing squad Is called.
Continued from yesterday
| Upon the cessation of this fire.
| stretcher bearers went out to look for
killed and wounded. Next day we
learned that 81 of our men had been
killed and 81 wounded. Five men were
missing; lost in the darkness, they
must have wandered over into the Ger
| man lines, where they were either
killed or captured
| Speaking of stretcher bearers and
wounded, it is very hard for the aver
| age civilian to comprehend the enor-
nous cost of taking care of wounded
and the war in general. He or she gets
so accustomed to seeing billions of dol
| lars in print that the significance of
| the amount is passed over without
| thought.
| From an official statement published
in one of the London papers, it is
stated that 1t costs between six and
seven thousand pounds (S30000 to $780,
000) to kill or wound soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
of the war to date and dividing it by
the killed and wounded.
! 1t may sound heartless and inhuman,
but 1t is fact. nevertheless, that from
military standpoint 1t is better for
man to be killed than wounded.
| If man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive pension. But If a 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 first-aid post. Here he is
! attended by doctor, perhaps assist
| ed by two r. A. M. C.men. Then he is
lput into a motor ambulance, manned
by 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
buance train, another corps of doc
tors, r.. A. NJ. c. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, etc, are kept
busy. Another ambulance journey Is
next in order--thls time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
| In Blighty-more ambulances and per-
haps 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 convalescent home for six
weeks.
! If by wounds he is united for fur
Their service, he is discharged, given
| pension. or committed to soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
ize that all the ambulances. trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used in transporting wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops ut
the front. 1t will not appear strange
that from strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than live one (lf wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after a careful
! tour of inspection of the communica-
ton trenches, upon ''an ideal spot" as
he termed it, for a machine-gun en-
placement; took his map. made 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 "ideaI 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
II. all 49, ~.