Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1918-07-12
CHAPTER xIv-contInued.

l
10
II a man Is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility Of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive pension. But IL man
Is wounded 1t takes three men from
the firing line. the wounded man and
two men to carry him to the rear to
the advanced frst-aid post. Here he Is
attended by doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two r. A. NJ. G. men. Then he is
put into motor ambulance, manned
by a crew of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes IN
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 impresses more
men In his service, and then at the am
bulance train, another corps of doc
tors, r. A. NJ. G. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew: From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
| clearing station, where q go0d-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
fish Red Cross train with its crew Of
Red Cross workers. and at last he
| reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays from two to six months, or long
er, In this hospital. From here he is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks.
If by wounds he Is untitled for fur
Their service. he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to q soldiers
home for the rest Of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
lie that all the ambulances, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used in transporting a wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, 1t will not appear strange
that from a strictly military stand
point, a dead man Is sometimes better
than a live one fif wounded).
Not long after the first digging party.
our general decided. after careful
tour of inspection Of the communica-
ton trenches, upon IAN ideal spot" as
he termed 1t, for machine-gun en-
placement; took his map, made a dot
on 1t, 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 forefinger. at the
same time letting out the explosion,
Scott strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed, not 'alf I amt" I 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 Whit was enough
and / lost no time in also plnching 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 a 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 II necessary he would allow us oul
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 date
at brigade headquarters. With our gns
!. helmets on we again attacked that hd1t
and uncovered the decomposed body Of
German; the pick was sticking In his
chest. One of the men tainted. wal
that one. Upon this our lieutenant
. halted proceedings and sent word bacl
Q to headquarters and word came bacl
Q that after we filled In the hole we coult
knock of for the night This was vel
come tidings to US. beAuse-
!. Next day the general changed thu
U dot on his map and another emplace
I ment was completed the following
hight,