The Snowflake herald., 1918-01-04


to the rear a0ith ta0enty t10o pieces of
SbrapneI in one leg and has meeting
G0ith the king in London hospital
7 WAS taken from Pozieres to Albert
in a flivver ambulance or, as the
TOmmieS would say, "tin Lizzie"
The man who drove this vehicle would
make a good chauffeur for an adding
machine. Apparently he was counting
the bumps in the road, for he didn't
miss one of them. However, the trip
was only a matter of seven miles, and
was in fair condition when they lift
ed me out and carried me to an oper-
(ating table in the field dressing station.
A chaplain came along and MUIR
INJURED a little prayer in my ear.
imagine that would have made a man
feel very solemn if he had thought
there was a chance he was about to
pass out, but l knew 1 merely had
leg pretty badly smashed up, and while
the chaplain was praying / was won
dering if they would have to cut it
off. figured, if so, this would handi-
cap my dancing.
The first formality in a shrapnel
case is the administration of an anti
tetanuS innoculation, and when it is
done you realize that they are sure try
ing to save your life. The doctor uses
n horse syringe, and the injection
leaves lump on your chest as big as
a baseball, which stays with you for
fOrty-eight hours. After the injection
nurse fills out a diagnosis blank
with a description of your wounds and
q record of your name, age, regiment,
regimental number, religion, parent
age and previous history as far as she
can discover it without asking ques-
tiOns which would be positively indeli-
cate. After all of that my wounds
were given their first real dressing.
Immediately after this was done 1
was bundled into another ambulance
and driven to COntay, where the @. G.
S. Casualty clearing station) and rail
head were located. In the ambulance
with me were three other soldiers, an
artillery officer and two privates of
infantry. We were all ticketed off as
shrapnel cases and probable recover
les, which latter detail is remarkable,
since the most slightly injured of the
four had twelve wounds, and there
were sixty odd shell fragments or
shrapnel balls collectively imbedded
in us. The nurse had told me that
had about twenty wounds. Afterward
her count proved conservative. More
accurate and later returns showed
twenty-five bullets and shell fragments
were in my leg. They took these out
and presented them to me. l have
been giving them away for souvenirs.
We were fairly comfortable in the
ambulance, and 1 especially had great
relief from the fact that the nurse
had strapped my leg in a sling at
tached to the top of the vehicle. We
smoked cigarettes and ehatted cheer
fully, exchanging congratulations on
having got "clean Ones'-that is,
wounds not probably fatal. The ar
tillery officer told me he had been sup
porting our battalion that morning
with one of the sacrifice batteries"
sacrifice battery, 1 might explain,
is one composed of field pieces which
are emplaced between the front and
support lines and which in case of an
attack or counterattack are fired at
point blank range. They call them
sacrifice batteries because some Of
them are wiped out every day. This
officer said our battalion that morning
had been supported by an entire divi-
sion Of artillery and that on our front
Of 400 yards the eighteen Founders
alone, in a curtain fire which lasted
thirty-twO minutes, had discharged
$4,000 rounds of high explosive shells.
was impressed by his statement, Of
course, but l told him that, while this
was an astonishing lot of ammunition,
it was even more surprising to have
noticed at close range, as l did, the
number of Germans they missed To-
ward the end of our trip to Contay we
were much exhausted and pretty badly
shaken up. We were beginning also
to realize we were by no means out
of the woods surgically. Our wounds
H1I H. ooI0 OfI ITcy