Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-05-09

the corps Of doctors and nurses. @
CHAPTER xlv-continued.
10
II 0 man Is killed he 10 buried. and
the responsibility Of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
receive q pension. But II 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 frst-aid post. Here he is
attended by a doctor. perhaps assist
ed by two r. A. NJ. G. men. Then he is
rut Into q motor ambulance, manned
by q 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 I'VE persons. From this point an
other ambulance ride impresses more
men In his service, and then ut the am
bulance train, another corps Of doc
tors, r. A. NJ. G. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where q 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 q ride for five hours on an Eng.
fish 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.
II BY wounds he IL united for fur
1her service, he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to q 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 q wounded man,
could be used for supplies. ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, It will not appear strange
that from a strictly military stand
point, a dead man Is sometimes better
than a live n III wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after q careful
tour Of inspection Of the communica-
tion 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 "die
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 Tdeal spot" and started
digging. The moon was very bright
hut 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. att
er a mighty stroke with his pick. let g
OF the handle, and plnched his nose
with his thumb and forennger. at thi
same time. letting out the explosion
"Gott strafe me pink. I'm bloody vel
enssed, not 'alf I amt" ] quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir
ing look, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag. I soon found out wha'
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
ana I lost no time In also pinching m!
nose. The stencil was awful. The res
Of the digging party dropped thei
picks and shovels and beat It tor tn
weather side Of that solitary pick. tn
ofncer came over and inquired why tn
work had suddenly ceased. holding on
noses, W. simply pointed IN the difet
ton Of the smell. he went over to tn
pick. Immediately clapped bis han
over. his nose, made an "about turn
and came back. Just then our cal
tain came along and investigated, Dt
after about 4 minute said we had be
ter carry on with the digging. that .
dd not rec why We should hav
stopped % the odor was very fsin
but II necessary hs would allow % o.
sas helmets while digsing. Re won
stay and see the thing through, but !
had to report back to brigade nea'
quarters immediately. We wished tn
We were captains and also had Q %
at brigade headquarters. with our 9
helmets on We again attacked tnat M
and uncovered the decomposed Dody
. German ; the pick was sticking 10 .
chest. One Of the men tainted. ~
that one. Upon this our lleutena
halted proceedings and sent word pa
30 headquartsrs and word came Do
that after W filled Ia the hole We cou
knock Of Tor the night. This was "
come tidihgs b %, bscause-
Next day TIE general changed {
Got On his map and another empla'
Aasnt was completed TIE foalowi
aiSht. .