The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-08-10
RED CROSS men WORK
II HOURS With IA HOURS
SLEEP, WRITES MARVEL

closed and the Rhodes have waited
seven weeks to get in, and the embas-
sy has just informed them that 1t will
be open for a couple of hours soon,
so they are going down and wait. His
business won't take very long, but
there is no telling when they will get
out of the country when they once
! get in. Meanwhile yours truly is plan
ming food, ordering meals, etc. I was
so amused at the clipping from Ameri-
ca about the 81 pounds of sugar ra-
ton. We have one pound month
and none extra for canning If l do
say it myself, the fellows here, at
least they arn't starving. Il wish l
! had an American cook book. One
doesn't link up ginger bread and war
! in France.
Wounded Show Courage.
Monday night two fellows were here
for dinner. | invited them in to meet
| the men in the house They are first
unit fellows and most interesting. Had
| just come from the hispital at Chalous
and were en- their way south for a
vacation. We arranged hike togeth-
er for Tuesday with Walter Wildman.
We rode on the train to Sceaux Rob
inson, walked to Malabry, from there
to Versailles, all around the gardens
and then rode home. l know it was
the hottest day this summer, but we
all had a mighty good time. l think
Bob has been there and thee has prob
ably heard what he wrote. The Mu-
scum and palace are colored, the
fountains are not going and the flow
er gardens are planted in vegetables.
The statues are all sanbagged, but it
is still worth the trip, because one can
see what it once was. Then beau
tiful terrace and grove are still there.
One of the American trains that
came in was in command Of Major
Role, a surgeon from Chicago. l
reported to him to inquire what spe-
cial cars needed to be taken off first.
| First we take off any cases which may
| have died enroute, then the conta-
! gious diseases, the most serious sur
gical, the officers and all the rest OF
| the men as we can find them. Sit is
sickening when one gets into car
/! where a man has been dead for sew
+! eral hours. He probably had been
wounded and then most likely gan
creme had set in. These cars have
, good ventilating systems, but they are
not adequate for that.
The hospital trains usually bring in
about 600 cases. OF course the Amer
lean trains are the best They carry
Is cars with SO men to a car. One
surgeon .(major or captain) in COM
mand with one or two lieutenants,
two orderlies for each car, and a
kitchen force make up the personnel.
There are no women nurses. | have
never seen any spirit finer than that
of the doctors and those orderlies.
They handle their men with a patience
and tenderness that is touching, and
then it is such a pathetic sight to see
these fine big fellows painfully wound
ed but if able to hobble at all helping
another whom he thinks is worse OFF
than himself.
Trains Garry Wounded.
Inside the American cars the hunks
are arranged in tiers along the side
of the cars, like Pullmans. except that
the berths are narrower and the aisles
wider. The entrances are double door
In the center. The beds have springs
and very comfortable mattresses COW
cred with sheets. There is always a
blanket to throw over the men. The
cars are painted green outside, white
inside and have plenty of sunlight and
air from the windows.
There are usually six stretcher bear
ers to a car. two men carrying a
stretcher. They hold the st-etcher
level with the bed and the orderlies
help the patient to move on to it. Then
the stretcher is carried out and placed
on the station platform. If there are
enough Frenchmen on duty they carry
the patient into the big waiting room
and leave him there.
The French have some very good
ambulance trains but the only ones /
have seen are just ordinary freight
cars. These are whitewashed and are
pretty clean on the inside, They do
not have beds but use the stretchers
for the men to lie upon. They are
hung in three tiers on movable iron
frames, which can be taken out of the
car if necessary. The only advantage
of this is that the patient does not
have to be taken off the stretcher from
the time he leaves the field until he
arrives at the hospital. OF course he
does not ride as comfortably on the
train. The French freight cars are so
small that they have only room for
three tiers or nine men with two on
the floor. They usually have blankets,
a table and old stove and a smoky oil
lamp. 1t is not the most CHEEKY place
in the world by any means. 1t takes
five men to take a stretcher out of
car. They set it on the platform and
two other men carry it into the wait
ing room.
Many Cared For.
Another relief station was formerly
a large freight station. 1t is a long
one-story brick building with big
double doors opening into the big
covered platform which runs along on
each side. When the trains are brought !
in they are split and half the cars
placed on one side and half on the i
other. The immense big waiting room
has supports for 600 stretchers so that |
they are held up to about the height of
cot. At one end of the room are
the benches for the sitting cases Next |
to this room is smaller one for Off
GERS? Can thee imagine those rooms
being filled and emptied six times in |
one night? On the other side Of the
building are the doctors offices, a
canteen and kitchen, emergency OPP