Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-03-21

hUOuL lWO uOuFS, when suddenly neil
seemed to break loose in the form of
machine-gun and rife fire.
We dropped down on our bellies in
the shallow trench, bullets knocking
up the ground and swapping in the air.
Then shrapnel butted in. The music
was hot and Tommy danced
The covering party was having a
rough time of it; they had no cover;
just had to take their medicine.
Word was passed down the line to
beat 1T for our trenches. We needed no
urging; grabbing our tools and stoop-
ing low, we legged it across No Mans
Land. The covering party got away
to poor start but beat us in. They
must have had wings because we low
! cred the record.
Painting and out of breath, we tum-
bled into our front-line trench. 1 tore
my hands getting through our wire,
but at the time, didn't notice 1t; my
Journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
THAT we had gotten it in the nose for
63 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 p 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, it 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
I'm one of the London papers, it is
stated that it costs between six and
seven thousand pounds 100000 to $780,
OO0) 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 1T Is a fact, nevertheless, that from
Il military standpoint it is better for a
man to be killed than wounded.
If man is killed he is buried, and
fu nf -
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive u pension. But III u man
is wounded 1t 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. NJ. G. men, Then he is
put into q motor ambulance, manned
by crew of two or three. AT the field
hospital where he generally goes UNI
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 ut the am
bulance train, another corps of doc
tors, II. A. M. C. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where q good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, etc, are kept
busy. Another ambulance journey is
next in ordcr-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
fish 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 convalescent home for six
], weeks.
J If by wounds he is untitled for fur
Their service, he is discharged, given n
pension, or committed to 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 wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, 1t will not appear strange
that from strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than q live one Gf wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided after a careful
four of inspection of the comnkunica-
,tion trenches, upon ian ideal spot" as
he termed it, for machtne-gu en-
| placement; took his map, made 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 well
out Of sight of the German lines.
We had gotten about three feet
down, when the fellow next to me, aft.
err mighty stroke with his pick, let 60
of the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and forefinger, at the
same time letting out the explosion
"GOtt SfrafQ mo mink Pm I,aon11v VOL