Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-05-16
/ @iH7 BY
IARTHuIS GUY EhEY|


my hands getting through our wire,
but, at the time, didn't notice it; my
journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
that we had gotten it in the nose for
SO casualties.
Our artillery put barrage on Fritz
front-line and communication trenches
and their machine-gun and rifle fire
suddenly ceased.
Upon the cessation of this fire,
stretcher bearers went out to look for
killed and wounded. Next day we
learned that 81 Of our men had been
killed and 81 wounded. Five men were
missing; lost in the darkness, they
must have wandered over into the Ger
man lines, where they were either
killed or captured.
Speaking Of stretcher bearers and
wounded, 1t Is very hard for the aver
age civilian to comprehend the enor-
nous cost Of taking care of wounded
and 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 published
in one of the London papers, it is
stated that it costs between six and
seven thousand pounds 100000 to $685.
000) to kill or wound soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
of the war to date and dividing it by
the killed and wounded.
1t may sound heartless and inhuman
but it is fact, nevertheless, that from
military standpoint it is better for
man to be killed than wounded.
If man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive pension. But If man
d ----@SS = takes three men from
the firing line, the wounded man and
two mea 20 eerry htne e sss.s rwr GO
tas assv===>@ 80 60 80 EsSe nc &
a4ssa@az - seeette1== Sszasass esssss-
"a ag ssfa Q - r. :. - Aea - @
r@ - = 49, -. =asHe9
By Ss- - -@ s-s. nj the zeiG
hospital, where ne generally goes u.s.
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. @. 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 ir order-this time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
in Blighty--more ambulances and per-
haps 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
Their service, he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to a soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
IAAO OAPChoO pAlNO ups w yOu 1CdI-
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 a strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than a live one (if wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after a careful
tour of inspection of the communica-
ton trenches, upon ''an ideal spot" as
he termed 1t, 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 sandbags we ar
rived at the ideal spot" and started
digging. The moon was very bright.
but we did not care as we were we'll
out of sight of the German lines.
i We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft
er mighty stroke with his pick, let go
of the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and forefnger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
Scott strafe me pink, Tn bloody we'll
gassed, not 'alf amt" quickly
turned in his direction with an fnquir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
| for my gas bag. soon found out what
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
! and lost no time in also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
| or the digging party dropped their
picks and shove,s and heat it for the
! weather side OF that solitary pick. The
J on1cer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased, holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the direc-