The Lexington intelligencer., 1918-07-12
LETTER FROM
PENDLETON HALL
Relating His Experience During
A Hun Raid On Hospitals.

n nun tdlu Ott AAVcplsa1o.
June IL, 1918.
Dearest Mother and Dad:-
Again it has been some time
since / have written you but viii
make up for it in this letter.
] am feeling fine now. You see
] had the measles and just got
back. They send all contagious
cases to one hospital, so when I
broke out they packed me up and
shipped me away, ! was only
there three weeks and outside of
the first day / felt top hole all
the time. We have had a real ep-
edemic of measles among the
fellows but it seems checked
now. ! was almost the last one.
/ suppose you have seen the
accounts Of the bombing of hos
pitals by the Germans. The pa
pers from England were full
anyway and even mentioned
places and figures but / can't
do that. However, | can tell of
the raid as had the fortune or
misfortune to go thru it, as the
hospital to which / was sent was
one of those bombed. / never
went thru such an experience in
my life. 1t was deliberate and
no excuse can be found for it's
doing. It was planned and carri-
ed out by group of fends and
murderers. / had been in the hos
pital a week and had been allow
ed to get up and around. ] had
just come in from outside and
crawled in, ] wasn't quite a.
sleep when heavy explosion in
the distance awoke we with a
start. Bombs, some one said. Al
bout that time four more in rap
id succession followed closely by
the anti-aircraft guns. Now we
could hear the planes, (when
once you hear the sound of Je-
ny's planes you never forget it,
it is a deep throbbing note that
seems as diabolical as the work
the plane does. It seems to say
'where's-your-hom home" over and
over.) From the sound we knew
there was a squadron at least.
Bombs were now coming down
by fours and ives, nearer and
nearer. Soon they were so close
we could see the trail left by the
fuse of the falling bomb, see the
explosion and feel the rock of
the hut. AS yet none of them had
come within a quarter of a mile
Of US but had hit other hospit-
ais in the group. However, now
we could distinguish the sound
Of one plane above the noise Of
the explosions and the other
planes. Down some one cried.
Hes coming our way" There
were three terrific crashes. Our
hut rocked but we were not hit.
We were all ordered then to stay
where we were stretched on the
floor. Shrapnel from the anti
aircraft guns was peppering the
roof and with the roar of the
planes, the terrific explosions
and the guns it was deafening.
For the second time we heard
the sound Of one plane coming
over us. Then we heard the
whistle Of a bomb coming down
close at hand A blindino Aosb
a terrific detonation and then fol-
lowed three more Of them in
quick succession, each a little.
nearer. First the whistle, the
flash and then the earthquake.
The last was so close we thought
we we're hit by the fifth bomb.
but it never fell, they carry only
four heavy bombs. Fragments
from the last, however, riddled
our hut but as we were all in one
end and on the floor no one was
hurt. The bomb lit only fifty
yards away causing a terrible
loss Of life and wrecked two huts.
The first two Of the four lit on
hard grond and ruined th;nro