Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-07-24

4 N
la "BIiehty."
| that shell would hit us and end our
| misery. Personally, was not particu.
| lar. It was nothing but bump, jolt, rat
tie, and bang.
Several times the driver would turn
around and give us "CheerO, mates,
Well soon be there" fine fellows,
| those ambulance drivers, lot Of them
go West, too.
We gradually drew out of the fire
zone and pulled up in front of an i'm
mense dugout. Stretcher-bearers car
ried me down q number of steps and
placed me on white table in a brightly
lighted room.
A sergeant of the Royal Army Med
ical corps removed my bandages and
cut off my tunic. Then the doctor,
with his sleeves rolled up, took charge.
He winked at me and winked back,
and then he asked, "How do you feel,
smashed up bit?"
I answered: Sim all right, but, I'd
give a quid for a drink of Bass"
He nodded to the sergeant, who dis
appeared, and I'll be darned If he
didn't return with glass of ale, I
could only open my mouth about a
quarter Of an inch, but got away with
every drop Of that ale. It tasted Just
like Blighty, and that is heaven to
Tommy.
The doctor said something to an or
derby, the only word I could catch was
"chloroform," then they put some kind
Of an arrangement over my nose and
mouth and it was me for dreamland.
When I opened my eyes was lying
on a stretcher, in low wooden
building. Everywhere I looked / saw
rows of T0mmies on stretchers, some
dead to the world, and the rest with
flags in their mouths.
The main topic Of their conversation
was Blighty. Nearly all had grin on
their faces, except those who didn't
have enough face left to grin with. D
grinned with my right eye, the other
was bandaged.
Stretcher-bearers came in and be-
gan to carry the Tommies outside. You
could hear the chug of the engines in
the waiting ambulances.
I was put into an ambulance with
three others and away we went for an
al oh aap.mi1c rsdo
I was on bottom stretcher. The
lad right across from me was smashed
up something horrible.
Right above me was man from the
Royal Irish rifles, while across from
him was a Scotchman.
We had gone about three miles when
T heard the death-rattle in the throat
Of the man opposite. He had gone to
rest across the Great Divide. l think
at the time envied him.
The man Of the Royal Irish rifles
had had his left foot blown off, the
jolting Of the ambulance over the
rough road had loosened up the band
ages on his foot, and had started it
bleeding again. This blood ran down
the side of the stretcher and started
dripping. was lying on my back, too
weak to move, and the dripping Of this
blood got me in my unbandaged right
eye. I closed my eye and pretty soon
could not open the lid; the blood had
CONCEALED and closed it, as if it were
glued down.
An English girl dressed in khaki was
driving the ambulance, while beside
her on the seat was a corporal Of the
r. A. NJ. c., They kept up running
conversation about Blighty which al
most wrecked my nerves; pretty
soon from the stretcher above me, the
Irishnnn became aware of the fact
that the bandage from his foot had be-
come loose; it must have panied him
horribly, because he yelled in loud
voice:
IF you don't stop this bloody death
wagon and fix this d bandage on
my foot, will get out and walk"
The girl on the seat turned around
and in sympathetic voice asked,
"Poor fellow, are you very badly
wounded?"
The Irishman, at this question, let
out howl Of indignation and an
swered, "Am I very badly wounded,
what bloody cheek no, I'm not wound
ed, I've only been kicked by a canary
bird.H
The ambulance Immediately stopped,
and the corporal came to the rear and
fixed him up, and also washed out my
right eye. l was too weak to thank
him., but it was great relief. Then
I must have become unconscious, be-
cause when I regained my senses, the
ambulance was at Z standstill, and my
stretcher was being removed from it.
1t was night, lanterns were. flashing
here and there, and could see stretch
er-bearers hurrying to and fro. Then
/ was carried into hospital train.
The inside Of this train looked like
heaven to me, just pure white, and we
met our first Red Cross nurses; we
thought they were angels. And they
were.
Nice little soft hunks and clean,
white sheets.