Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-05-31

seemed to brock loosc IN the form OF
ua,H.se-guu Il rife fire.
Popped down on our bellies In
the swallow trench. bullets knocking
up the ground and swapping In the mir.
Then shrapncl huttcd I'm The music
was hot and Tommy danced
The covering party was having
rough time Of il; they had no cover;
just had To take their medicine.
Word was passed down the line to
beat IL for our trenches. We needed no
urging; grabbing our tools aud stoop-
ing low, we legged It across No Mans
Land. The covering party got away
To a poor start but beat us in. They
must have had wings because we low
cred the record.
Painting and out Of breath. we tum-
hled into our front-line trench. | tore
my hands getting through our wire,
but ut the time, didn't notice It; my
journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
that we had gotten IL in the nose for
63 casualties.
Our artillery put n 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 81 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. Il 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 10 seeing billions of dol
lars In print that the significance of
the amount Is passed over without
thought.
From an official statement published
in one of the London papers, IL Is
! stated that II costs between six and
seven thousand pounds (S3O.000 to $780,
| 0O0) tn kill or wound soldier This
result was attained by taking the cost
of the war to date and dividing II by
the killed and wounded
II may sound hcartless and inhuman,
but 10 is fact nevertheless. that from
a military standpoint IL is better for n
| man to be killed than wounded.
If man is killed he is buried, and
| the responsibility of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
/ people receive pension. But If man
| is wounded II tnkcs three men from
| the firing line, the wounded man. and
two men 10 carry him to the rear TO
the advanced frst-ad post. Here he is
| attended hy doctor. perhaps assist
| ed by two r. a. NJ c. men. Then he is
! put into motor ambulance, manned
! 10y a crew Of two or three. At tho field
hospital whore he generally goes I'M
| der an anesthetic, either To have his
wounds cleaned or To be operated on,
! he requires the services of about three
10 five persons, From this point an
other ambulai e ride impr, es more
men in his service and Zen at the am
bulance train, another corps Of doc
tors, Il. \. NJ. G. men. Rcd Cross nurses
! and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
! clearing station. whore good-Sizod
corps OF doctors, nurses etc, are kept
! busy. Another ambulance journey is
next I'm OrdCr-this time To the hospital
ship. lie crosses the channel, arrives
/ I'm Blighty--more ambulanceS and per-
hapS ride for five hours on AN Eng
fish Rcd Cross train with its crew Of
| Red Cross workers, ana mt last he
reaches the hospital. Generally ne
stays from two 20 six months or long
or, in this hospital. From here he is
sent 10 Il convalescent home for SIS
| weeks.
If by wounds he is untitled for fur
! ther service he IS discharged. given a
pension, or committed to Il soldiers
home for the rest Of his llfc-and sin
| the expense piles up, When you rcal-
| lie that ull the ambulances. trains and
ships. not to mention the man power
used in transporting wounded man
could hc used for supplies, ammunition
and re-eufOrcomentS for the troops at
! the front II will not appear strange
| tluA iIbHl NIIl'llN IlIIdlN NIdllU-
/ point, n dead man is sometimes better
! than live one or woundcd).
Not long after the first digging party
our general decided, after careful
tour Of inspection Of the commuulca-
ton trenches, upon san ideal spot" MS
he termed II, for a machine-gun em-
placement; took his map, made Il dot
on 1t, and as he was wont, wrote dig
here and the next night we dug.
There were twenty I'm the party, my
self included. Armed with picks,
shovels and empty Standings we ar
rived Mt 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
or n mighty stroke with his pick, let GO
of the handle and pinchod his nose
with his thumb and forphnger, al the
same time letting out the explosion
"Gott strafe me pink I'm bloody we'll
gaSscd, not 'alf | amt ! quickly