Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-03-08

| His.N III anu rifle Tfc.
we dropped down on our bellies il
the SHALLOW trench. bullets knockint
up the ground and SWAPPING in the air
Then shrapnel butted in. The muSi,
was hot and Tommy danced.
! The covering PARTY WAS having !;
rough time Of it: they had no cover
Just mad To take their medicine.
Word WAS PASSED down the line Il
beat II for our trenches. We needed nc
urging; grabbing our tools and StOop-
Ing low, We legged IL across No Mans
land. The covering party got awa!
70 poor start but beat lis in They
must have had wings because We low.
cred the record.
Pant!ng and out OF breath, we tum.
bled into our front-line trench. | tore
my hands getting through our wire
but, at the time. didn't notice il: my
journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
that we had gotten IL in the nose fni
G3 casualties.
Our artillery put n barragc on Fritz's
front-llne and communication trenches
ana their machine-gun and rifle fire
suddenly ceased.
| Upon the cessation of this fire
stretchcr bearers went out to look fol
learned that u of our men had beer
killed and 81 wounded. Five men were
missing: lost in the darkness. they
must have wandered over into tho
German lines. where they were either
killed or caItllred
| Speaking OF Stretcllrr hearers and
wounded. il is very hard for the aver
age civilian 10 comprehend the enor.
nous cost of taking care of wounded
ana the war in general He or she gets
so accustomed to seeing billions of dol.
Lars in print that the significance OF
the amount is passed over without
| thought
| From an official statement publish.
cd In one Of the London papers. IL is
stated that il costs between six anu
seven thousand pounds (s3O.0O0 t.
$35,O0OJ To Kill or wound Il soldier
This result WAS attained by taking III,
cost of the war 10 date and dividing
ii by tho killed and wounded.
| 1t may sound hcartlcss and inhumar
but II is Il fact. nevertheless. that from
- military standpoint il is better for q
man TO bc killed than wounded.
If Il man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases. excepting for the fact that hi.
people receive II pension. But If 4 man
is wounded il takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
two men To- carry him to the rear I,
| tie advanced iirSt-aid post. Here he Il
attended by Il doctor, perhaps assist.
| cd by two x. \. VI. e. men. Then he l.
put into Il motor ambulance. manned
1 by q crew of two ar three. At the field
| hospital. where hc generally goes un.
dcr an ancSthetic. either To have his
| wounds cleaned or TO bc operated on
he requires the services uf about three
to five persons. From this point an
other ambulance ride imprcSses NOR,
| men in his service. and then ut the
ambulance train, another corps OF
| doctors. Il. \. VI. &. men. Red Gross
nurses and the trains crew. From tn,
train he enters the base hospital OF
Casualty clearing station, where Il
tgood-sized corps of doctors. nurses
etc, are kept busy. Another ambu'
lance journey is next in order-this
time to the hospital ship. He crosse.
the channel, arrives in Blighty-more
| ambulInccs and perhaps Il ride foi
| i've hours on an English Red Cross
I,train with its crew of Red Cros.
workers. and ut last he reaches tn,
hospital. Generally he stays from twC
&c six months. or longer, in this hos.
pi MI. From here he is sent to con-
fya .esccnt, home for six weeks.
k iounds he is untitled for fur
re, he is discharged, given Q
a. IN. y cHhihfittsd % 4 soidfsfs
| home for the rest Of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
| ize that all the ambulanccs, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power
used in transporting Il wounded man
could be used for supplies, ammuni-
| ton and re-cnfurccmcnts for the
| troops at the front. it will not appear
| strange that from Il strictly military
| standpoint, Il dead man Is sometimes
better than Il live one (if woundcd).
Not long after the first digging party
our general decided. after Il careful
| tour of inspection of the communic;I-
| ton trenches, upon IAN ideal spot, n
| he termed it. for a machine gun en-
placement: took his map. made dot
on il, and as he was wont. wrote "dig
| here" and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in the party. my
self included Armed with picks
shovels and empty sandbags we ar.
| rived at the ideal spot and started
digging. The moon was very bright
hut we did not care as we were wei
out of sight OF the German lines.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next To me. att
er Il mighty stroke with his pick, LEI
90 OF the handle. and pinchcd his nos,
with his thumb and forefinEcr, Ut tho
same time letting out the explosion
| "Gott strafc me pink, I'm bloody wei
| gassed. not 'alf | amt" | quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir'
| ing look, at the same instant reaching
/ IN. I,.,,F r fnIln1
| was ailing him. One Whit was enough
ard I lost no time I'm also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The res
| of the digging party dropped theil
| picks and shOvels and beat 1t for Tho
| weather side of that solitary pick. The
| officer came over and inquired why
| the work had suddenly ceased. holdini
our noses we simply pointed in th'
| direction of the smell. He went ovel
/ to the pick. Immediately clapped HI:
| hand over his nose, made an "aDou
turn" and came back. Just then ouI
captain came along and investigated
but after about Il minute said we hat
better carry on with the digging, tina
he did not see why we should nave
stopped as the odor was very :rint
but IL necessary he would allow US GU
gas helmets while digging. He woul'
| stay and sec the thing through. but N
had to report back to brigade head
quarters Immediately. We wished tina
we were captains and also had dat'
at brigade headquarters. With our ga
helmets on we again attacked that hol
and uncovered the decomposed bod!
/ of German: the pick was sticking II
his chest. One Of the men tainted.
was that one. Upon this our lieuten
ant halted proceedings and sent wore
back to headquarters and word cam
back that after we filled in the h0l
we could knock off for the night. Thi
was welcome tidings to us. because
Next day the general changed tn
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 enec
which is hard to describe. II first pro
duces a nauseating feeling. which
especially after eating. causes romit
ing. This relieves you Temporarily
but soon a weakening sensation fol
lows, which leaves you limp as dish
rag Your spirits are at their loves
ebb and you feel a sort Of hopeless
ness and a mad desire to escape it al
to get to the open fields and the per
| fume of the flowers In Blighty. Ther
is a sharp. prickling sensation in tn
nostrils which reminds one of breath