The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1918-06-07
CHAPTER xiv-Continued.

10
If a man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
i people receive a pension. But if man
us wounded 1t takes three men from
q the firing line. the wounded man and
Il two men to carry him to the rear to
shthe advanced first-aid post. Here he is
attended by a doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two X. A. Nj. c. men. Then he is
put into motor ambulance. manned
by crew Of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes I'M
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 II. A. nj. c. men. Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
3 he enters the base hospital or casualty
1 clearing station, where a gOOd-sized
j corps of doctors, nurses, ETC., are kept
busy. Another ambulance journey is
next in Order-this time to the hospital
4 ship. He crosses the channel. arrives
! in Blighty-mOre ambulances and per-
xhapS ride for five hours on an Eng
j lish Red Cross train with its crew of
yRed Cross workers. and at last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
zastays from two to six months, or long
a@rr, I'm this hospital. From here he is
ent to convalescent home for six
weeks.
81 If by wounds he is untitled for fur
#ther service, he is discharged, given n
pension, or committed to q soldiers
home for the rest Of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
fize that all the ambulances. trains and
ships, not to mention the man power
used in transporting n wounded man,
could be used for supplies. ammunition
d and re-enforcements for the troops at
I the front, 1t will not appear strange
3 that from n strictly military stand
point, a dead man Is sometimes better
than n live one Cf wOunded).
Not long after the first digging party.
our general decided. after a careful
tour Of inspection of the communica-
@tion trenches. upon IAN ideal spot" as
she termed it. for a machine-gun en-
took his map. made n dot
Yon ii. and as he was wont, wrote "dig
here" and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in me party, N.Y.
4self included. Armed with picks.
&shovels and empty sandbags we ar
zrived at the Ideal spot" and started
4 digging. The moon was very bright.
/ but we did not care as we were well
tout 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.
"Gott strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gaSsed, not 'alf I amt" quickly
kturned In his direction with an inquir-
Ting look. Mt 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 pinching my
nose The stencil was awful. The rest
4bf the digging party dropped their
picks and shovels and beat 1t 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 hands
over his nose. made an ''about turn"
and came hack. Just then our cap
tain came along ana investigated. hut
inter about 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 If necessary he would allow us our
gns 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 a date
at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the decomposed body Of
a German: the pick was sticking in his
chest. One of the men tainted. was |
that one. Upon this our lieutenant |
halted proceedings and sent word back |
to headquarters and word came back /
that after we filed in the hole we could |
knock Off for the night. This was vel
come tidings to us. because
Next day the general changed the |
dot on his map and another emplace-
ment was completed the following |
night.
The odor from the dug-up, decom-
posed human body has an effect which /
Is hard to describe. 1t first produces
8 nause0ting feeling. which, especially |
after eating. causes vomiting. This re-
lievee you temporarily. but soon q
weakening sensation follows, which
lcnvea Won linn as q dishrag Y0uP /