Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1918-12-12

the steel deck, but was able to crawl
on to the turret door. Just as I was,
about to enter the gun was fred. That
particular charge happened to be de-
fective. The shell sriit and caused a
back fire and the cordite. fire and gas
came through the breech, which the
explosion had opened.
It must have been piece Of cordite
which did 1t, but whatever it was, It
hit me in the right eye and blinded It..
The ball Of the eye was saved by the
French surgeons and looks normal, but
1t pains me greatly sometimes and
they tell me 1t will always be sight
less.
j was unconscious Immediately from
the blow and from the quantity Of gas
which must have swallowed. This
gas did me a great deal Of damage
and gives me dizzy spells often to this
day. do not know what happened
during the rest Of the engagement, as
I did not regain consciousness until
three days later at sea. But heard
Ii. the hospital that the French super.
|'drea1naught Jeanne dare and the
light cruiser Normandy were in 1t as
well as ourselves, though not at the
time ! was wounded, and that We had
all been pre..y well battered. The
Cassard lost 96 men in the engage.
ment and had 48 wounded. Some Of
our turrets were twisted into all man
ner Of shapes and part Of our bow
was carried away. One Of our lieu
tenants was killed In the engagement.
I was told that both the VERT and
the Kaiserhche Marine were sunk in
this engagement I have seen pictures
Of sailors from the VERT who were
prisoners at interment camps.
When We arrived at Brest the
wounded were taken from the ship In
stretchers and after we had been rest
ed for about fifteen minutes on the
dock put into ambulances and rushed
to the hospital. On the way those who
could leaned out Of the ambulance and
had great time with the people along
the streets. many Of whom they knew,
for the Cassard was Brest ship. And
Of course the women and children
yelled, give la France!" and were
glad to see the boys again, even
though they were badly done up.
Some Of our men were, bandaged
oil over the face and head and it was
funny when they had to tell their
names to old friends Of theirs, who
did not recognize them. AS soon as
one Of the Brest people recognized a
friend of he would 60 to get cigarettes
and other things for him and some Of
them almost beat us to the hospital
I do not know, Of course, Just what
the surgeons did to me, but hearu
that they had my eyeball out on my
cheek for almost two hours. At any
rate they saved 1t. The thigh wounds
were not dangerous in themselves and
IL 1t had not been fol. the rough treat
ment they get later on they would be
quite healed by this time. am sure.
I really think I got a little extra at
tention in the hospital in many ways,
for the French were at all times anx-
ious to show their friendiiness to
America. Every time my meals were
served there was a little American
flag on the platter and always large
American flag draped over the bed.
had everything wanted given to me
at once and when was aDle to, all
the cigarettes I could smoke, which
were not many.
While was still In bed In the hos
pital I received the Crolx do Guerre.
which had won At the EDardanelles.