American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-12-13
STORIES FROM THE BAT
TIE FRONT.
HOSPITAL BEST PLACE TO
HEAR TALE or BATTLl
Nurses and Doctors, Streicher Bear
ers and Orderiles Get Real Stories
OF Fighting from Sufferers Tight
eRed Lips.

UHItiiIntU III TIC nun VI bttiitf
gasped IN last words where the
trenches cross. mumbled In half~de-
iirlum from stretchers being borne TO
the first aid duRout. whispered TO the
surgeon holding the knife IN the shell
shaken dressing stations, spoken and
confded on the motor ambulances and
trains and talked " conversatlonally
AZ the base hospitals. the PERSONAL
living history OF America at war Is
being told every day by the dough-
boys who have gone into the mill Of
death.
II "a the words Of the wounded
lighting man. spoken while he Is still
under the spell Of battle. that give tho
measure OF the spirit OF the American
army In France. u rs these words
which preserve the glory Of individual
herolsm and Wholesale bravery And
added 70 the spoken word Is the forti-
fude Of wounded men-the little
things they do and do not do. which
carry more conviction OF the unbreak-
able spirit o. the new armies than all
the oratory yet unlooscd on pleasant
ly-lighted platforms.
Every stretcher bearer can tell YOU
a story Of heroism with uncounted
details SO can every surgeon who
has gone ove the top with the dough
boys. So can the medical officers and
nurses and orderlies In the base hos
pitfalls where wounded men come to
beds and operating tables marveling
M the things they have seen and
heard. And about these men there is
growing a vast. many-chaptered ira
dition that Is being preserved wher-
ever American soldiers meet. and Is
being transmitted back home In let
tiers.
When the Gothas Game.
In a certain American hospital.
whose officers. nurses and men land
cd IA France In May last year. they
have many OF these stories TO TELL
stories that they tell you at the same
time they tell OF the night when
Cothas flying under a harvest moon
deliberately dropped five bombs down
on wards whose metal roofs shone like
mirrors In the moonlight. three Of the
bombs rending the frail woodwork
that sheltered scores OF wounded men
helpless on cots. two OF the bombs
killing Ave Of the hospital men and
wounding 20 others.
They tell you OF the d~oughboy from
a middle west town who came down
n the hospital with the healing stump
OF a leg and could not be comforted
The first day he lay there gloomlly
looking out into the steady drizzle OF
the rain. and they thought he must be
thinking Of home. He wasn't. He re-
vived hopefully.
Fix me up In a hurry. docl" he
said 10 the ward surgeon. II don't
care how YOU do n. Get me an arti-
fetal leg-a plain peg will do II It's
quicker. ! want to go back up 10 the
old bunch They're the best gang In
the world, and I'm damned sure
theren be work up there for me TO do
lin the mess. the headquarters. my
where. They cant count me out while
I gof n good pin"
They remember him. just as they
remember the other doughboy who
had stopped a piece OF shrapnel at
close range. When he came in, he
had been fixed up at the casualty
clearing station. Tho had
taken dozens OF big stitches In Il line
down the inner side OF his leg-the
mart Of his leg where the in-seam OF
his pants would come was stitched
Ike the cover OF a baseball. They
found out his spirit first when he
rolled on the stretcher. trying 10 re-
ioet the aid Of the men who had car
ricd him in.
Then there was the case during the
push mp Amiens way--the doughboy
with the wound In the thigh, This
doughhoy. taking the anesthetic did
nj go clear under" before the sur
geon started in. SO the operation OF
sewing up his wound was delayed UNI
~ he Was completely under the In
huence OF the gas"
Counting the stitches.
All through the operation OF sew
ing the patient did not stir. But al
most on the last stitch he wriggled on
the table and began TO speak.
"rhat was a pretty tough go. lieu.
tenant. " he said. Il felt every stitch
YOU made. There we're i've Of them
And on the fourth one YOU missed II
a little the first time and took two
labs"
Always it's the same story-wound-
cd doughhoys trying TO make light Of
wounds. Always the tightened lips
maybe they hide gritting teeth-bui
never a word OF complaint II Is he
spirit hat requires watchfulness. too
lest a doughboy weary OF lying on a
sfretcher with a fractured leg bound
In spllnts should swing on the side OF
the stretcher and go hopping around
on one leg holding onto his splints
with his hands. That's what one OF
them did
Going hack 10 hospital traditions
and that night the Gothas came over
under the harvest moo There are
~ least two nurses IN that hospital
whose names will always he remem.
bered with that raid. Incidentally
both are wearing medals.
, became Place OF Horror.
The arrival OF the Boche was JUS
~ the crucial moment IN the fight fol
life OF q pneumonia patient. Tit
= alert sounded but the nurse in th'
v pneumonia patients ward did no
-.... f... Al. A.laFI. uNua.A4.- Nur.