Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-07-17

L
r. Hastings, M. D., formerly of Bar
ton, now stationed in England:
Brighton, England,
Kitchener War Hospital,
June 9Th, 1918.
Dear John:
Your letter came to hand yester-
day and as it was the first l had had
from anyone l was sure glad to get
it. 1 have filled out the paper you
sent to the best of my ability and am
returning it to you hoping it may es-
cape the gentle submarine, which by
the way, is operating in American
waters, see. Over here, as far as I
can judge, we are slightly on our
backs and trusting to the old U. S. to
give the Hun finisher. l see good
many of the boys here-fying corps
men, most of them-and they sure
look good to me. After / sent you
the card, 1 embarked on the Scandi-
navian with 125 flying officers and
about 1000 men. We sailed with six
other transports under one U. S, war;
ship and an English one and were
all armed. l was principal medical
hospitals had to open three others as
we had an epidemic of influenza, not
to mention seasickness and other
complaints. When we landed had
three pneumonias and stab wound
to carry off. All the others walked,
so that wasn't bad. We all, by or
ders wore life preservers after the
first day out, and in my jaunts to the
different hospitals | dragged mine af-
ter me by the strings and invariably
left it behind me at each place. 1t
surely was q nuisance. We had boat
drill every day and l was in
,,l &C 4l,D hoe ;4,l
and was supposed to see that
all the patients got out of the
hospitals and | can tell you that if
anything had happened my rescue
would have been matter of luck for
the hospitals or two Of them were in
the bowels of the ship and | would
have done the Casabianca. Luck for
sure. Every morning | got up (when
called) at 7.30, had bath, breakfast,
(Which was rotten), at 8. Morning
sick parade at 8. Morning sick par
ade in the army means that every
man who feels sick at roll call reports
to his sergeant.
morning, then I visited the hospitals
and went up to see the officers in the
cabins and then to dinner. In the af-
ternoon read and made med. calls,
played bridge and at visited hospi-
tails again. After supper played cards,
made calls and sometimes played
bridge, so l was as busy as dog
with the itch. We had good trip
and when near England the warships
went away and the destroyers met US.
How they could go! We were going
to land at Liverpool when suddenly
we turned and went up to Glasgow.
h1a
so we beat it.
Near the entrance to the Clyde riv-
er we passed through a fleet trawling
for mines and up in the air hung two
big balloons and winging around US
were sea planes, all on the lookout for
Fritz and his subs. The last night we
slept in our clothes and for two or
three nights before it was hard to get
any sleep. Made us think of that lit
tie prayer
Now | lay me down to sleep,
Al rolled up in little heap,
If | should die" etc, etc.
Going up the Clyde was fine, a
beautiful day. Hills on both sides,
country houses on the shores and
people waving and cheering.
The number of big iron ships build
ing on the Clyde was beyond count
ing, so close together that couldn't
see how they worked on both ships at
the same time and on all of them
women in mems clothes cheering us
We passed Harry LADDERS castle,
Dunoon l think it was called, on the
way up. Finally we reached Glas-
gov and to our disgust had to stay
on board all night and in the morning
marched from the boat to the train,
about 300 yards, so that's all 1 saw of
Glasgow. The train was the usual
compact train and no diner and we
had to telephone ahead for a basket
lunch for dinner and supper, arriving
at London at 8. We stayed there
three days and then went to Resboro
which is the medical training corps
camp-part of the Shorncliffe camp
and had a strenuous month of train
ing. I can now take out a company
and drill it, besides having practice
in wearing gas masks and going
through what's called the Gas Cham
ber, a room full of the gas they use
in the trenches, to see If we could
apply and wear the masks properly.
saw Canterbury and Dover and was
inside a submarine and saw the Vim
dictive loading up with cement for
her second try at Ostend, which was
partly successful.
We took examinations and then
had six days leave and went to Lon
don, putting up at the Regent Palace
hotel, and then reported to our pres
ent place, Kitchener War hospital,
where l am in charge of Ward F, OF
80 beds.
The hospital is an active Imperial
hospital, treating cases as they come
fresh from France. They leave one
day and the next are here. During
the heavy fighting we get conveys
twice week of 200 to 800 at a crack
so the beds are full all the time.
The cases are medical in my ward,
pneumonia, pleurisy, eye, nose and
Il.