The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-08-28

III went to a front post where fightin
n was very fierce, and were stopped b
VI Colonel, who told them it was i'm
/. possible to proceed. At this moment
u the Colonel was struck and seriousl
: injured by a piece Of shell. They car
d ried him Immediately to a surgica
: station; on their return they wer
F.. stopped at bridge of military police
9 who said it was fatal to go further
4 but taking advantage of moment!
inattention on the part of the guards
! they went on in spite of this warning
and succeeded in carrying grea
number of the wounded from this
! area"
Not long after the first ambulance
moved, American Red Cross canteens
sprang up at favorable sites just be-
, 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, equip
jped and directed by B. Harvey Car
roll, American consul in Venice. Gu.
OF long experience in Red Cross re-,
lief in that beseiged city, Mr.. Carroll
twas able within twenty-four hours to
gather and ship through the tecming
zone of operations enough coffee, Gig
arettes and chocolate to supply sta
tons where the daily average of men
served was sometimes as high as
10, 900. Each post was directed by two
American Red Cross men for that
purpose.
Early in the offensive, a death oc-
;cured in the American Red Cross
forces. Lieutenant Edward M. Nc.
Key of New York City, who had taken
the first American canteen to the Ital-
ian front last winter and who had
lately moved to a site on the Pave
front too hazardous to be entrusted to
younger men, was instantly killed by
ia shell on the morning Of June II.
Lieutenant 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 beside 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
others and equally busy Red Cross
rest-houses at the railway stations in
the rear. At these functions, tired
columns of men on their way for a
short time repose encountered fresh
troops marching toward the battle.
At one important junction, where the
troops of three allied armies emerged
and separated for their various sec
tors, an American Red Cross canteen
had been hastily perched under a
spreading tree opposite the station
entrance, looking for all the world
like a youngsters 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 cau!drons ,
we're transported to the station plat
,orm and cups of hot coffee held to
he lips Of men too seriously hurt to :
move. Otherwise, the daily and night
y vista there, as elsewhere, was one
ong succession of dust-covered COL =
INNS, brown faces and hungry
mouths.
On the shoulders of the officials at
in Rome rested, chiefly T
he problem of transportation Sup II
lies that had been stored at some ,t
istance from the lines had TO be [
loved to the front, and the vacancies 2
lied from below. Already northern
tally had been covered with net 2
York of stores at strategic points, and f
communications marked
ut. When the attack came, within
hree hours after the early news !.
cached Rome, the emergency mechan
I'M was at work. By railroad, by au
occasionally by boat and