The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1918-05-09
CHAPTER XIV-Continued.

III Il man is Killed he is buried, n
the responsibility Of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive n pension. But IL q man
Is wounded 1t takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
TWO men to carry him to the rear to
the advanced f1rst-aid post. Here he Is
by n doctor, perhaps assist
cd by two II. A. M. G. men. Then he IS
put into q motor ambulance, manned
ny a crew Of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes IN
DER an a%nesthetic, either to have his
wounds cleaned or to be operated on,
he requires the services Of about three
TO five persons. From his point an
other ambulance ride imprcSses more
men in his service, and then at the mn
bulance train. another corps Of doc
tors, II. A. NJ. G. meu. 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 ordcr-thls time to the h0spitni
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
AA"hS dblu DCI-
hnns a ride for five hours on an Eng.
fish Red Cross train with it's crew Of
Red Cross workers, and ut last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays from two to SIX months, or long
cr, In this hospital. From here he Is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks.
If b, wounds he Is untitled for fur
Their service, he Is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to n soldiers
home Tor 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 q wounded man.
could be used for supplies, ammunition
n re-enforcements for the troops at
the 'front.', 1t will 0 aDpca strange
that from a strictly military stand
point. n dead mar is sometimes better
than a live one (if woundcd).
Nit long after the first digging party,
our general decided. after n careful
tour Of inspection Of the communion
ton trenches, uron "an ideal spot" as
he termed 1t, for Il m%nchine-gun en-
placement took his map, made Il dot
on 1t, and as he was wont, wrote "dig
here" and the mex night we dug.
There were twenty in the party, my
self included. Armed with Eicks,
shovcls and empty %snndbags we ar
rived at the ideal spot" and started
digging. The moon was very bright,
but we did not care as we were we'll
out Of sight OF the German lines.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft
or a mighty stroke with his pick, let go
OF the handle, n pinchcd his nose
with his thumb and forefngcr, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
"Gott Strafc me pink, I'm bloody we'll
gaSScd. not 'alf T Amt" I quickly
turns.' in his direction With an inquir-
Ing l:ok, at the same instant reaching
for ms 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 1t for the
weather side Of that solitary pick. The
officer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased. holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the dlrec-
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 Il cap
tain came along and investigated, but
after about n 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 Is necessary he would allow us III
gas helmets while digging. He would
stay and see the thing through. but he
had to report back to brigade head
quarters imnediately. We wished that
we were captains and also had n date
at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on 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 bach
\ that after we filed In the hole we could
knock Off for the night. This was wei
come tidings to US, because
Next day the general changed tn,
dot on his map and another emplace
ment was completed the following
y nlaht