The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1918-12-05

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and that the bearer who picked up one
end Of my stretcher, had eyes like dead
fish floating on water; also, that there
were some civvies standing around the
entrance as we We're being carried in.
The first thing they do in the hos.
'pital is to take off your old dirty band.
ages and slide your stretcher under o
big electric magnet. A doctor comes
in and places his hand over your
wound. and they let down the magnet
over his hand and turn on the juice.
II the shell fragment or bullet in you.
is more than seven centimeters deep,
you cannot feel the pain. The first
doctor reports to the chief how deep
your wound is, and where it Is stu
,ated, and then a nurse comes up to
you, where you lie, with your clothes
still on, and asks you to take the
! pressure"
Then they lift you on four-wheeled
cart, and roll you to the operating the
alter. They take off your clothes there.
I remember I liked to look at the
nurses and surgeons; they looked so
good in their clean white clothes.
Then they stick hollow needles into
you, which hurt a-good deal, and you
take the pressure. After a while, they
begin cutting away the bruised and
maybe rotten flesh, removing the old
cloth, pieces Of dirt, and so forth, and
iscraping away the splinters Of bone.
You think for sure you are going to
bleed to death. The blood rushes
through you like lightning, and If you
get a sight of yourself. you can feel
yourself turning pale. Then they hurry.
you to your bed, and cover you over
with blankets and hot-water bottles.
They raise your bed on chairs, so the
blood will run up toward your head,
and after while. your eyes open and
the doctor says, "Oui, oui, IL viyra,"
meaning that you still had some time
to spend before finally going west.
The treatment we got in the hospital
was great. We received cigarettes, to-
bacco. matches, magazines, and clean
clothes. The men do not talk about
their wounds much, and everybody
tries to be happy and show 1t. The
food was fine, and there was lots of it.
l do not think there were any doc
tors In the world better than ours, and
they were always trying to make
things easy for us. They did not rip
the dressings off your wounds like
some Of the butchers do in some Of our
dispensaries that know of, but took
them off carefully. Everything was
very clean and sanitary, and some OF
the hospitals had sun parlors, which
were well used, you can be sure.
Some Of the men made toys and
fancy articles. such as button hooks
and paper knives. They made the
handles from empty shell cases, or
shrapnel, or pieces Of Zeppelins, or
anything else picked up along the
front.
When they are getting well, the men
learn harness making. mechanical
driving, telegraphy, gardening, poul-
try raising, typewriting, bookkeeping
and the men teach the nurses how to
make canes out OF shelf cases, and
rings of aluminium, and slippers and
gloves out of blankets.
The nurses certainly work hard.
They always have more to do than
they ought to, but they never complain,
and are always cheerful and ready to
play games when they have the time,
or read to some poilu. Aid their work
is pretty dirty too: / would not like
to have to do it. They say there were
lots Of French society ladies working
as nurses, but you never heard much
about society, or any talk about Lord
Helpus, or Count Whosis, or pink teas
or anything like that from these
nurses.
A few shells landed near our hos
pftal, while / was there, but no patient
was hit. They knocked shrine of Our
Lady to splinters, though, and bowled
over big crucifix. The kitchen was
near by, and it was just the chefs luck
that he had walked over to our ward
to see pal Of his, when shell landed
plumb in the center Of the kitchen,
and all you could see all over the bar
racks was stew.
That was regular eatless day for
us, until they rugged up bogies and got
some more dixies, and mixed up some
cornmeal for us. The chef made mp
for it the next day, though. The chef
was great little guy. He was a
"blesse" himself and / guess his stom-
ach sympathized with ours.
There was q Frenchman In the bed
next to me who had the whole side Of
his face torn off. He told me he had
been next to a bomber. who had just
lit a fuse and did not think it was
burning fast enough, so he blew on 1t.
It burned fast enough after that, and
there he was.
There was Belgian in o.e OF the
other wards. whom got to know pretty
well, and he would often come over
and visit me. He asked many ques-
lions about Dixmude. for he had had
relatives there, though he had lost
rack Of them. He often tried to de-
cribe the house they had lived in, so
that might tell him whether 1t was
till standing or not, but / could not
remember the place he spoke of. Dur
ing our talks. he told me about many
..trocities. Some Of the things he told
me had heard before, and some OF
them I heard Of afterward. Here are
some things that he either saw or
heard of from victims:
He said that when the Germans On.