The Arizona copper camp., 1918-06-22

military standpoint it is better for
man to be killed than wounded.
If a man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive pension. But if a man
is wounded it takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
two men to carry him to the rear to
the advanced first-aid post. Here he is
attended by doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two r. A. M. c. men. Then he is
put into a motor ambulance manned
| by crew of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes I'M
der an anesthetic, either to have his
wounds cleaned or to be operated on,
he requires the services of about three
to five persons. From this point an
other ambulance ride impresses more
men in his service, and then at the am
| bulance train, another corps of doc
tors r. A. M. G. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where a good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, ETC., are kept
! busy. Another ambulance journey is
next in order-this time to the hospital
| ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
| in Blighty-mOre ambulanceS and per-
! haps a ride for five hours on an Eng
lish Red Cross train with it's crew of
Red Cross workers, and at last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays from two to six months, or long
er, in this hospital. From here he is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks. -
If by wounds he is untitled for fur
| ther service, he is discharged, given
| pension, or committed to a soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
ize that all the ambulances, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used in transporting a wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, it will not appear strange
that from strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than a live one Gf wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after a careful
tour of inspection of the communion
tion trenches, upon "an ideal spot" as
he termed it, for a machine-gun en-
| placement; took his map, made a dot
on it, 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 ssandbags we ar
rived at the 'ideal spot2 and started
digging. The moon was very bright,
4 lbut we did not care as, we were well
ll4out of sight Of the German lines.
h We had gotten about three feet
down. when the fellow next to me, aft
1er a. mighty stroke with Elis pick, let go
5of the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and ,forefnger, at the
same time letting sout the explosion,
Scott sstrafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed, not 'alf I amt" I quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir-
| ing look, at the same instant reaching
formy gas bag. soon found out what
was ailing him.. One whiff 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 shovels and beat it for the
/ weather side of that solitary pick. The
officer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased, holding our
moses, we simply pointed in the direc-
/ tion of the smell. He went over to the
| pick, Immediately clapped his hand
| over his nose, made an "about turn"
! and came back. Just then our cap
/ tain came along and investigated, but
| after about 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,
but 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 were captains and also had date
4 at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the decomposed body Of
a 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 well
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-
lieves you temporarily, but soon a
weakening sensation follows, which
/ leaves you limp as a dishrag. Your
4 spirits are at their lowest ebb and you
4 feel sort of hopelessness and a mad
| desire to escape it all, to get to the
open fields and the perfume of the flow
ers in Dlighty. There is a sharp,
| prickling sensation in the nostrils,