The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-04-18
OVER THE TOP.
CONTINUED from page 8, column 81
must have wandered over into the Ger
man lines, where they were either
killed or captured.

must nave wandered over lnLO the Ger-
imam lines, where they were either
killed or captured.
Speaking of stretcher bearers and
wounded, it is very hard for the aver
rage civilian to comprehend the enor-
nous cost of taking care Of wounded
and the war in general. he or she gets
$50 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 it costs between six and
seven thousand pounds (SS0,0O0 to $685.
'OOO) to kill or wound a soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
Of the war to date and dividing it by
the killed and wounded.
It may sound heartless and inhuman,
but tits fact, nevertheless, that from
a military standpoint it is better for a
man to be killed than wounded.
IF q man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility Of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive q pension. But if 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 f1rst-aid post. Here he is
attended by doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two R. A. M. c. men. Then he is
put into a motor ambulance, manned
by crew of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes un-
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 fmpresses more
men in his service, and then at the am
bulance 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-this time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel. arrives
In Blighty-more ambulanceS and per-
haps a 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 ne
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 untitled for fur
ther 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 ih transporting wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and e-enforcements for the troops at
the front, 1t will not appear strange
that from a strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than 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 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
er mighty stroke with his pick, let go
Of the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and forefnger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
sGott strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed, not 'alf I amt" quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag. soon found out what
was ailing him. One whiff 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 over 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 our
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