Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-12-18
SGT. H.G. SWENSON
STILL IN BELGIUM
Gives an Interesting Description of
Duties as Member of Field
Hospital Co.
AT PRESENT TAKING
CARE OF THE SICK
Saw Many Pitiful Sights i'm the
Surgical Tent Where They
Operated on the Injured
Soldiers
Somewhere in Belgium. =
Nov. 10. 1918


Nov. TO- 1918
Dear Folks:
All your interesting letters of Oc-
tober II received, and thank you very
much. 1t is, indeed, very nice to get
mail, and not only get it, but get it
often. You see good mail helps to
keep up the spirit of soldier.
Am sorry to learn of all the deaths
in DEBORAH of late. 1t is as | have
said, no one knows when his time is
up, and it behooves one to be pre-
pared
You asked me to tell you something
about our duties. There isn't great
deal to be said only this The Field
Hospital operates in the zone of adj
vance at distance of 8 to miles,
depending on the circumstances They
are supposed to be near "a good road,
or in other words, easily reached by
ambulances, fairly we'll concealed and
near some good water source. The
ambulance companies operate closer up
to the line than we, and then there is
the regimental aid which is right with
the men in the trenches. The ambu-
lance companies evacuate the wounded
to us, where the most seriously are
operated upon, and then dressings are
changed, if necessary, on the other ones.
thai, r.-I
cacao to drink and possibly something
more to eat
Patients are not Kept at the Field
Hospital any longer than necessary,
but are evacuated to the evacuation
hospital and from there to the base
hospital and then again to the. general
hospital The field hospital pitches
tents, or if possible, they use old build
ings. We used tents when we were
in action, and | must say that at night
one could easily see us from an aero
plane, as we had to have lights all
night long. During most of the time
we were in action | had to see to the
water, and also had charge of the
kitchen, and we surely had all we
wanted to do Some of the men act
ing as nurses didn't get much sleep
They just kept on working night and
day. Occasionally would go into the
surgical tent and watch them operate,
and sometimes | would help along
with some things. surely did see
some pitiful sights. One man | can
remember WE'LL + helped hold his leg
when they cut it off just below the
knee 1t was shot almost way off, and
the man was 50 far gone that they
didn't give him any ether. 1t didn't
seem to hurt him much although he
was rational He even asked if it'll
was cut off and about where it was
off | could see that he was not going
to live as he was already falling away
before he was off the table Later on
in the night | saw him and then he
had stopped breathing, but you could
feel the pulse. In the morning he was
a corpse. have seen several boys
put in one grave.
AT present we are taking care of the
sick, and we are located in town in
a large building. We have been feed
ing casuals for breakfast in the morn
ings. We had over 341 casuals besides
our company and the patients. Guess
| have said enough for this time.
might say, though. that where we were
the hospital we heard the
shells flying through the air. There
were some guns close by us, too,
believe. They sure make some noise.
am well and enjoying myself
surely have been fortunate in being
we'll all the time.
received five letters today and sew
eral copies of the Public Opinion" ,,
and was kept quite busy reading this
afternoon.
With love, and lots of it to you all.
HAROLD.
Address:
Sgt H. G. Swenson,
36lst Field Hospital Co.,