Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-05-03
THE AMBULANCE DRIVER.
(By Captain A. p. Corcorna1

lowing disclosures arent Il man whom
lie pretended not to like:
You know that fellow Joined the
Ambulance Corps to avoid going to
the front"
Which remarks decided mt u write
the presen, article about the ambu
lance driver as | knew him.
| First of ALL shall tell YOU whnt
his duties are and then what h, NO.
tnally does. There is n vast difference
between the letter and the spirit of
his orders. For his duty is merely to
Z drive II car containing casualties, MS
swiftly and as carefully as the roads
Will let him, from the line back to
the Casualty Clearing Station. lie
/ mustn't handage the wounded, or give
them relief or help: for such kind
ness would entail delay, and delay Of
I ten means death
The headquarters of the different
corps is always Casualty Clearing
station which is II few miles baci
from the trenches. Here they are or.
gan zcd in what is known as sections
| To each section there are twenty ears
ana to each car two men They work
IN re els, ten cars always hcny in
action nj positions chosen rarcfull,
ana with il us much precision rs thos,
of the men on the front
Say No. car is stationed al th,
{. G. ). Then No. 10 takes It's place
ut the en- dof the communication
trench, and between these two arc
ranged the other eight nj about equal
distances apart. Suppose No. 10 has
been loaded. II starts for home, pass
ing tho others on the way. lmmcdi-
atciy they move up one position, and
No. 10 having discharged its burden
rcmals in readiness at the C. c. S.
Driving Over Shell Holes in
the Dark. -.
Very simple in outline, us you see,
is the duty Of these drivers. Now for
what they actually have to do.
Will not dwell on the fact that the
roads they ride on are constantly en-
posed to sholl fro, fancy the cas-
ualties from this danger are fairly
well known. And will merely men
ton, in passing, that these roads are
roads only in name. In fact, hey arc
often IN closely pitted with yawninr
shell cratcrs ms genuine Swiss
cheese is with holes.
Try to imagine driving over such
surfaces i'll he dark. The main at
'ncNs, oil course, come very often nj
night, and this automobilcist carrics
no naring headlights. The marvel is
| that mare of these men are not kill
cd m accidents: but ,,A You NAV i'm,
nEire, they are "somc drivers" before
they are accepted. and "somc" mnchi-
nicinns, too. Still, even skilc does
not save them always. There nrc
some holes from which only genius
will cXtricate them. Sunch was dis
played by young yankee" named
Edwards who spent two years on the
line.
lie was carrying load of wounded
along II nasty road, when his clutch
chose to give out. Needless TO say
eh was not prepared for such nm
emergency, and there was no use
looking for aid. On the front every
man is out for himself. No doubt
u garage man will question this, but
1T is nevertheless true. He patched
up that clutch by means of three
horse shoes The car ran for six hours.
But then, ingenuity is common
place among Yankees. Here is case
where it won official recognition in
France:
An attack had been decided for n
ccrtniir' morning. Consequently the
drivers had to arrive promptly ON
their posts. Three of them were bow
ling over the road to the trenches
when they found themselves blocked
by battery of French scvcnty-fves
which was standing right in Their
path. They slowed up to see what was
the matter, and found the poilus all
dead Mt their posts, half their horses
killed, and the other half unconscious.
a Hun gas shell had caught them en-
route.
The Americans were still consider
ing what to do, when up drove four
more of their cars, in one of which
was the chief of the section He at
once ordered them to take another
road. They had started to obey when
up came another French battery, com
pletely blocking them from the rear.
Needless to say, that battery had no
intention Of retreating. 1t was much
too important that they arrive mt
their place.
But what were the ambulance men
to do? 1t didn't take them long to
decide?
First they unhitchcd the dead an
imals and dragged them off the road
no easy or quick job. There was
no time to do n like service for the
comatosc animals; so. digging their
pocket knives into the beasts TANKS,
they got them to move out of the
way. That done, they proceeded to
hitch the battery to their own cars;
and so, moving slowly, bu rs it hap
pencd, safely, along the road, they got
themselves and the guns into place.
And the French Government gave
each one Of them Croix dc Gucrre,
six of them in all being decorated.