Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-26
(Lont,nued from Last Issuc)

n y one occasion | asked him Tor
his name, but he said Would
- probably never see him again and
it didn't matter what his name was. l
do not know whether he meant the Ger
mans would starve me out, or just what
was in his mand, for at the time | am
sure he did not figure on dying. The
! first two or three days ! was in the
hospital ] thought surely he would be
up and gone long before | was, but
blood poisoning set in about that time,
and just a few hours before | left for
Coutrai he died.
One of those days, while my wound
was st1ll very troublesome, | was given
an apple: whether it was just to tor
ment me, knowing that | could not eat
it, or whether for some other reason,
I dc not know. But anyway German
flying officer there had several in his
pockets and gave me a nice one. OF
course, there was no chance of my eat
ing il, SO when the officer had gone and
! discovered. this San Francisco fellow
looking at it rather longingly ! picked
it up. intending to toss it over to him.
Bus he shook his head and said, IF
this was San Francisco | would take it,,
but l cannot take II rom you here.
was never able TO understand just
why he refused the apple, for he was
usually sociable and a good fellow to
talk 20. but apparently he could not
forget that I was his enemy. However
that did not stop one of the orderlies
from eating the apple.
Neglect Fatally wounded
One practice about the hospital i'm
pressed me particularly. That was, if a
German soldier did not stand much
chance of recovering sufficiently to take
his place again in the war, the doctors
Gid not exert themselves to see that he
got well. But if a man had a fairly good
chance of recovering and they thought
he might be of some further use, every
thing that medical skill could possibly
do was done for him | don't know
whether this was done under orders or
whether the doctors just followed their
own inclinations in such cases.
My teeth had been badly Jared up
from the shot, and l hoped that 1
might have a chance to have them
fixed when / reached Courtrai, the
prison where | was to be taken. so
/ asked the doctor If il would be pos
sible for me to have this work done
there, but he very CURLY told me that,
although there were several dentists
at Courtrai, they were busy enough fix
ing the teeth of their own men without
bothering about mine He also added
that I would not have to worry about
my teeth that | wouldn't be getting
so much food that they would be put
out of commission by working over
time. l wanted to tell him that from
the way things looked he would not
be wearing his out very soon either.
Condition Improved
My condition improved during the
next two days, and on the fourth day
of my captivity I was we'll enough to
write a brief message to my squad
41o4 1
of war and feeling fine" although, as
a matter of fact. | was never so de-
pressed in my life. l realized. how
ever, that if the message reached my
comrades it would be relayed to my
mother in Momence, ILL.,, and | did not
want to worry her more than was absO-
lutely necessary. 1t was enough for
her to know that ] was a prisoner She
did not have to know that | was
wounded
had hopes taat my message would
be carried over the lines and dropped
by one of the German flying officers.
That is a coIrtsy that is usually prac-
tiCed on both sides. / recalled how
patiently we had waited in our aero
drome for news of our men who had
failed to return. and I could picture my
squadron specializing on my fate.
That is one of the sadest things con-
nected with service in the r. f. c. You
don't care much what happens to you,
but the constant casualties among your
friends are very depressing.
You go out with your flight" and
get into a muss. You get scattered, and
when your formation is broken up you
finally wing your way home alone.
Perhaps you are the first to land.
Soon another machine shows in the
sky, then another. and you patiently
wait for the rest to appear. Within an
hour, perhaps. all have shown up save
one. and you begin to speculate and
wonder what has happened to him.
Has he lost his way? Has he landed
at some other aerodrome?