Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-03-08

attended ny u doctor, perhaps assist
ed hy two II, A, NJ, q, men, Then he Is
put into n motor ambulance manned
by a crew Of two or three, Al the field
hospital, whore he generally goes I'M
der nm Nnoslhotlc, either 10 have his
wounds clcuued or 10 be- operated on,
he requires the services Of about three
to five persons, From This point an
other ambulance ride lmpresscs more
men In his service, ana then NJ the ann
hul0nce train, another corps Of doe
tors, X, A, NJ, q, men, Red Cross nurses
ana the trains crew, From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing slOtlOn, whore a goOd-slZcd
corps Of doctors, nurses, etc. are kept
busy, Another ambulance journey is
next In order-lhis time to the hospital
ship, lie crosses the channel, arrives
In Bllghty-mOre ambulanCCs ana per-
haps Il ride for five hours ON nm Eng
llsh Red Cross train with It's crew Of
Red Cross workers and mt last no
reaches the hospital Generally he
stays from two To six months, or long
or, IN this hospital, From here he IL
sent 10 a conyOlcsccnt home for six
weeks.
If by wounds he IL untitled for fur
Their service, he Is discharged, given n
pension, or committed 10 soldiers
home for the rest Of his llfe-0nd stlll
the expense piles up. When you real.
lie that all the Nmbulances, trains and
ships, not TO mention the man power,
used In transporting a wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and rc-cnforcements for the troops Mt
the front It will not appear strange
that from strictly military stand
point, dead man Is sometimes better
than live one or wounded).
Not long after the first digging party
our general decided, after n careful
tour Of inspection Of the communlca-
ton trenches, upon ian ideal spot" as
he termed It, for machlne-gun em-
placement took his map made dot
here and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in the party, my
self included. Armed with picks,
shovcls and empty sandbags we ar
rived at the "ldcal spot and started
digging. The moon was very bright
but we did not care as we were well
out Of sight Of the German lines.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft
or n mighty stroke with his pick, let 60
Of the handle, and plnched his nose
with his thumb and forchnger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
"Gott strafc me pink, I'm bloody we'll
gasScd not 'ulf | ain't' | quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag, | soon found out what
was aiing him. one Whit was enough
and lost no time in also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
of the digging party dropped their
picks and ShovclS and beat II for the
weather side of that solitary pick. The
officer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased, holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the direc-
tlon Of the smell, He went over to the
pick, Immediately cIappcd his hand
over his nose, made an "about turn"
and came back. Just then our cap
tain came along and investigated, but
after about "A minute said we had bet
ter carry on with the digging, that he
did not see why we should have
stopped as the odor was very faint,
hut if necessary he would allow us our
gas helmets while digging. He would
stay and see the thing through, but he
had to report back to brigade head
quarters Immediately. We wished that
we We're captains and also had a date
at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the deCompoSed body Of
German; the pick was sticking in his
chest One Of the men tainted. | was
that one. Upon this our lieutenant
halted proceedings and sent word back
to headquarters and word came back
that after we filled in the hole we could
knock off for the night. This was wei
come tidingS TO us, because
Next day the general changed the
dot on his map and another emplaCe-
ment was completed the following
night.
The odOr from the dug-up, decom-
posed human body has an effect which
is hard to describe. 1t first produces
nauseating feeling, which, especially
after eating causes vomiting. This re-
leves you temporarily but soon
weakening sensation follows, which
leaves you limp as a dishrag. Your
spirits are at their lowest ebb and you
feel a sort Of hOpelessness and mad
desire to escape it all, to get to the
open fields and the perfume of the flow
ers in eighty. There 10 sharp,
prickling sensation in the nOstrils,
which reminds one of breathing coal
gas through radiator in the floor, and
you want to sneeze, but cannot. This
was the effect on me, surmOunted by
vague horror of the awfulness of the
thing and an eyer-rpcurring reflection