The Snowflake herald., 1918-01-11

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TWO of the Nursing Sisters Were the
Coolest individuals Present.
faced an extensive and serious opera
ton. We arrived at COntay silent and
pretty badly depressed For twenty
four hours in the COntay casualty
clearing station they did little except
feed us and take our temperatures
hourly. Then we were put into hos
pital train for Rouen.
Germans Bomb Hospital Train.
Right here l would like to tell lit
tie story about a hospital train leav-
ing Contay for Rouen-not the one we
were on, but one which had left few
days before. The train, when it was
just ready to depart with a full quota
of wounded men, was attacked by
German aerOplanes from which bombs
were dropped upon it. There is moth
ing apparently that makes the Ger
mans so fearless and ferocious as the
Red Cross emblem. On the top of each
Of the cars in this train there was
Red Cross big enough to be seen from
miles in the air. The German aviators
accepted them merely as excellent tar
gets. Their bombs quickly knocked
three or four cars from the rails and
killed several of the helplessly wound
ed men. The rest of the patients, weak
and nervous from recent shock and in
jury, some of them half dellriOus and
nearly all of them absolutely helpless
and in pain, were thrown into near
panic.
Two of the nursing sisters in charge
of the train were the coolest individ
uals present. They walked calmly up
and down it's length, urging the pa
tients to remain quiet, directing the
male attendants how to remove the
wounded men safely from the wrecked
cars and paying no attention whatever
to the bombs which were still eXplod-
ing near the train. l did not have the
privilege of witnessing this scene my
self, but know that have accurately
described it, for the details were told
in an official report when the king
decorated the two sisters with the Roy
al Red Cross for valor in the face of
the enemy.
The trip from Contay to Rouen was
a nightmare-twenty-six hours travel
ing $50 miles on q train which was
forever stopping and starting, it's jerky
and uncertain progress meaning to us
just hours and hours of suffering. l
do not know whether this part of the
system for the removal of wounded
has been improved now. Then, it's in
cOnvenienceS and imperfectiOns must
have been inevitable, for in every way
afterward the most thoughtful end
tender care was shown us. In the long
rows of hutS which compose the Brit
ish general hospital at Rouen we
found ourselves in what seemed like
paradise.
In the hut which constituted the
special ward for leg wounds l was
lifted from the Stretcher on which /
had Travelled all the way from POzieres
into a comfortable bed with fresh,
clean sheets, and instantly found N.Y.
self surrounded with quiet, trained,
efficient care. 1 forgot the pain of my
wounds and the dread of the coming
operation when tray of delicious food
was placed beside my bed and a nurse
prepared me for the enjoyment of it
by bathing my face and hands with
scented wafer
On the following morning nv leg
was X-rayed and photographed. / told
the SUI geon l thought the bu5iness of
operating could very well be put off
until 1 had had about three more
square meals, but he couldn't see it
that way. In the afternoon | got my
first sickening dose of ether, and they
took the first lot of iron out of me. l
suppose these were just the surface
deposits, for they only got five or six
pieces. However, they continued -sys-
tematically. 1 had five more opera
tions, and every time l came out of
the ether the row of bullets and shell
scraps at the foot of my bed was
little longer. After the number had
reached twenty-five they told me that
perhaps there were a few more in
there, but they thought they'd better
let them stay.
My wounds had become septic, and