The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-06-20
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LAOilhE GUNNER jERNNG n FRANCE

boys in the trenches would see the
emblem of the land Of the free and
the home of the brave" beside them,
doing its bit in this great war of civil
lization.
My wounds were very painful, and
several times at night j would dream
that myriads of khaki-clothed figures
would pass my bed and each would
stop, bend over me. and whisper. 'The
best of luck. mate"
Soaked with perspiration I would
awake with cry, and the night nurse
would come over and hold my hand.
This awakening got TO be a habit with
me until that particular nurse was
transferred 10 another ward.
In three weeks time. owing TO the
careful treatment received, was able
to sit up and get my bearings. Our
ward contained seventy-fve patients,
90 per cent Of which were surgical
cases At the head Of each bed hung
a temperature chart and diagnosis
sheet, Across this sheet would be
written sc $. W. or IS. w. the for
mer meaning gun shot wound and the
latter shell wound. The IS. w" pre-
dominated. especially aslong the Royal
Field artillery and Royal engineers.
About forty different regiments were
represented. and many arguments en-
sued as 10 the respective fighting abil-
ity OF each regiment. The rivalry was
wonderful. A Jock arguing with an
Irishman. then strong Cockney ac-
cent would butt in in favor of Lon
don regiment. Before long n Welsh
man, followed by a member OF a York
shire regiment, and. perhaps a Cana
dian fnfrude themselves and the argu-
ment WAKES loud and furious. The
patients In the beds start bowling for
them TO settle their dispute outside
and the ward is In an uproar. The
head sister comes along and with a
wave of the hand completely routs the
doughty warriors and again silence
reigns supreme
"Wednesday and Sunday of each week
were visiting days and were looked
forward to by the men, b,,lause they
meant parcels containing fruit. sweets
or fags. When patient had u regular
visitor, he WAS generally kept well
supplied with these delicacies- Great
jealousy is shown among the men as
to their visitors and many word wars
ensue after the visitors leave.
When a man is sent to GONZALES
cent home. he generally turns over his
steady visitor TO the man in the next
bed.
Most visitors have autograph albums
and bore Tommy TO death by asking
him 10 write the particulars of his
wounding In same. Several Tommies
try to duck this unpleasant job 10y tell
Ing the visitors that they cannot write.
but this never phases the owner OF thu
album !. he or she. Ssnerally she. offers
20 write 1t for Them and Tommy Is
stung into telling his experiences.
The questions asked Tommy by visi-
to a military man.
Some kindly looking old lady will
stop at your bed and In a sympathetic
voice address you: "You poor boy,
wounded by those terrible Germans.
You must he suffering frightful pain.
A bullet, did you say? Well. tell me,
have always wanted to know, did II
hurt worse going In or coming outT
Tommy generally replies that he did
not stop TO figure Ii out when he was
hit.
One very nice-looklng. overenthusi-
astic Young thing. stopped at my bed
and asked. "what wounded you In the
facet"
In a polite but bored tone 1 an
swered. "A rife bullet
With a look of disdain she passed
to the next bed first calculating. "Oh !.
Only bullet? / thought II WIS a
shell" Why she should think shell
wound was more of a distinction beats
me. l don't see a whole lot of differ
ence myself.
The American Women's War hospI-
tai was q heaven for wounded men.
They were allowed every privilege pos
sible conducive with the rules and mill
fary discipline. The only fault was
that the mems passes were restricted.
To get \ pass required an act of par
Lament. Tommy tried many tricks to
get out. but the commandment. an old
Boer war officer, was wise to them all.
a.d II took new and clever ruse to
make him afsix his signature to the
coveted slip of paper.
As soon as 1t would get dark many a
patient climbed over the wall and went
ION his own.' regardless Of many signs
staring him in the face, "out OF bounds
Tor patients.s' Generally the nurses
were looking the other way when one
of these night raids started. ! hope
this Information will get none OF them
Into trouble. but cannot resist the
temptation to let the commandnut