The Washington herald., 1918-02-21
"OVER THE TOP"
By ARTHUR GUY EMPEY
Copyrighted by Guy Empey
lUR GUY EMPEY
Copyrighted by Arthur Guy Empey.

| cause 1t would afford US cover in case
We were discovered and fired on.
The digging had been in progress
about two hours, when suddenly, hell
seemed to break loose in the form of
machine gun and rifle fire.
We dropped on our bellies in the
shallow trench. bullets knocking up
the ground and swapping in the air.
Then the 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 it for our trenches. We needed
no urging; grabbing our tools and
STOPPING 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 lowered 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 it; my
journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
that we had gotten it in the nose for
siXty-three casualties.
Our artillery put a barrage on
Fritz's 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 fo-
killed and wounded. Next day we
learned that twenty-one of our men
had been killed and thirty-seven
wounded. Five men were missing;
lost in the darkness they must have
, wandered over into the German lines,
where they were either killed or cap
tured.
Speaking of stretcher-bearers and
wounded. it is very hard for the Nv
erage 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 dollars in print that the signiii-
canoe 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 thousands pounds $4,000 to
5000 to kill or wound a soldier.
This result was attained by taking
the cost of the war TO date and di-
vidinG it by the killed and wounded.
1t may sound heartless and inhu-
man, but it is a fact, nevertheless.
that from a military standpoint it is
better for a man to be killed than
wounded.
II man is killed he is buried, and
the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that
his people receive a pension. But if
man Is wounded it 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 a doctor, perhaps
assisted by two r. A. NJ. C. men.
Then he is put into a motor ambu-
lance, manned by a crew of two or
three. At the field hospital, wherc
he generally goes under an anaes-
thetic, either to have his wounds
cleaned or to be operated on, he re-
quires 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
ambulance train another corps of doc
tors, r. A. NJ. C. men, Red Cross
nurses, and the trains crew. From
the train he enters the base hospital
or casualty clearing station, where
good-sized corps of doctors. nurses,
ETC., are kept busy. Another ambu-
lance journey is next In order-thIs
time to the hospital ship. He crosses
the Channel, arrives in Blighty-more
ambulances and perhaps a ride jor
five hours on an English Red Cross
train with its crew of Red Cross
workers, and at last he reaches the
hospital Generally he stays from
two to six months, or longer. in this
hospital. From here he Is sent 70
convalescent home for six weeks.
II by wounds he is unfitted for fur
ther service, he is discharged. given
pension, or committed to a 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 a wound
ed man. could be used for supplies,
ammunition, and reinforcements for
the troops at the front, it will not