New Britain herald., 1918-08-28
RED CROSS NOTES

of the eyes due to gas.) This medical post became so dangerous during their work thcrC that it had to be aban- doned but they continued 10 carry wounded, gathering them from the road And this task was continued and accomplished by them day and night during the entire offensive
 On the night of the 17th two uf i the new volunteers who had just joined the section distinguished themselves. [ Walter J. Feder of Cincinnati, Ohio. and Robert C. Cory of Newark, N. Is. went to front post where fighting was very fierce, and were stopped by a colonel. who told them it was i'm possible to proceed. As this very mo- ment the colonel was struck and SC r1ously injured by a piece of shell. They carried him immediately to surgical station; on their return they were stopped at a bridge by military police, who said it was fatal to go further; but taking advantage of a moments inattentiOn on the part of the guards, they went on in spite of this warning, and succeeded in carrying a great number of wounded from this area.
 Not long after the first ambulance moved American Red Cross Canteens
 
 hind the lines. Ten canteens had been in operation under the department of military affairs for months: seven more were added immediately The emergency group were placed, equipped and directed by B. Harvey Carroll American consul in Venice. Out of a long experience in Red Cross relief in that besieged city, MT. Carroll was able within A hours to gather and ship through the teeming zone of oper- atiOns enough coffee, cigarettes and chocolate to supply stations where tho daily average of men served was some times as high as 5000. Each post was directed by two American Red Cross mon for that purpose.
 Early in the offensive a death oc- cured in the American Red Cross forces Lieut.. Edward M Mickey of New York city, who had taken the first American canteen to the Italian front last winter and who had lately moved to a site on the Piave front too hazardous to be entrusted to younger men, was instantly killed by shell on the morning of June 17. Lieuten- ant Mickey was buried the next day. his grave marked by a. plain wooden cross, inscribed with his name and rank, like the rows of Italian dead be- side him. A small American flag has been placed beside the cross. and throughout the battle his Italian friends kept fresh flowers on the grave.
 Besides these canteens in the very center of the busiest fire, there were other and equally busy Red Cross rest houses at the railway stations in the rear. At these functions tired columns of men on their way to a short time
 
 marching toward the battle. At one important junction, where the troops of three allied armies emerged and separated for their various sectors an American Red Cross Canteen had been hastily perched under a spreading tree OpOsitc the station entrance look ing for all the world like a young ster's lemonade stand on a circus day. Here an American woman volunteer worked day and night
 The most difficult moments of that job were the times of passage of hos pital trains. when steaming cauldrOns were transported to the station plat form and cups of hot coffee held to the lips of men too seriously hurt to move. Otherwise, the daily and night Iv vista there, as elsewhere, was one long succession of dust col umns, brown faces and hungry mouths.
 On the shoulders of the officials at headuuarters in Rome rested, chiefly, the problem of transportation. Sup plies that had been stored at some distance from the lines had to he moved to the front and the vacancies filled from below. Already northern Italy had been covered with a net work of stores at strategic points. and comm munications marked out When the attack came, within three hours after the carly news reached Rome, the emergency meCha- riern was at work By railroad, by autom obilC occasionally hy boat and frequently as the handhaggage of Red Cross officers hurrying to the front, moved forward, A procession of laden camions started from cen ters in northern Italy,
 Thus every department of the Red Cross worked as a unit during these days of excessive stress. each Ameri- can working in harmony with his Italian comrades toward the victory which was Uppermost in the hearts of all.