Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-07-15
DR.. r. C. Crumpton Writes From Base
Hospital in France to Captain
J. r. White in This
City.
THE HOSPITAL HAS 200 BEDS
Is Moving InstitutiOn.-Tells Of
Taking Care Of Wounded
American Boys.


in receipt of letter from Lieutenant
R. C. Crumpton, now in France. 1t
was written from mobile hospital No!
1, June "a and, in part, follows.
I've been thinking about you all day
long and it's brought with it feeling
! Of intense guilt Have cotton two let
tiers from you recently and they were
mighty good ones, too. Haven't writ
ten anyone for few weeks, but am
due to write you letter more than
anyone else. I'm sure that in changing
from place to place lose a lot Of
mail and 1 believe lot Of mail that l
send over goes astray, too.
We are not in the big city now-we
are east and slightly south, but almost
due east. Was there about week and
we had the pleasure of hearing from
Big Bertha and also Of being bombed
but we did not think much of it. Dur
ing the last raid we didn't even get
out of our tents but dropped off to
sleep shortly and let the bombs do
what they would. None fell near us.
though I'm quite sure we would have
taken more of an interest if one had
gotten anywhere near us.
Care For Americans.
We are now running an automobile
hospital and have capacity of 200
beds. The French land this was
bought from them) have only 100 bed
capacity and take five or six days to
put this thing up and we got ours up
in thirty-six hours and received 81
wounded American boys just a few
hours before we were ready. But We
cared for them. The nurses didn't get
here until ten hours later, so jumped
in and sterilized gowns, ETC., How we
did offer thanks and praise to the good
Red Cross women at home for their
dressings and supplies. dumped Il
big armful of their packages in the
sterilizer and by the time they were
sterilized l had sorted some more
packages all nicely labeled by our
good women-the grandest women on
dRrth-and soon we were ready to
operate. Then they needed anesthetics
one after another. My, how some Of
these boys are mutilated. We have
handled in ten days about $50 cases
and we have had only six deaths and
there are all kinds of wounds here.
Some cases look absolutely hopeless.
A little work on them, good bed to
rest in, good nourishing food anu they
come out like flower.
AWonderful Lot.
They are wonderful lot and very
stole in their suffering. We try to
make them as comfortable AS VIC know
how and they hate to leave us. We
evacuate every day or so, sometimes
waiting four days, to the base hospitals
in the rear. We, of course, keep the
boys who are in desperate condition.
Ran across two pneumonia cases
which complicated their wounds. Got
them the first day and I'm sure they
got 1t from lying on the ground a
long time after being wounded They
were pretty sick boys but we were abb.
to save them and today their lungs are
entirely clear and we sent them back.
In some places where they ar:
wounded they can't be brought in I'M
til dark, as their removal would enable
the Huns to detect the presence of
ether men. but they don't complain.
When they go to the base hospitals
they travel on the Red Cross trains
which are more beautifully equipped
and manned than you can imagine.
Uncle Sam spares no expense in car
ing for his boys
Huns TreacherOus.
These boys tell us some tales abou;
German soldiers in American uniforms
and after allowing these men their
lives, when they pass on over the Ger
man trenches these same Germans will
turn their machine guns on them from
the rear. They even have American
helmets. One boy came upon one Of
them after the Americans had passed
over and this chap was busily using his
machine gun on our men. The German
saw he was trapped and threw up his
hands and yelled "Kamerad This
boy said "Kamerad > 'and the Ameri-
can lad gave him the bayonet. We all
said he did the right thing. The Huns
don't like cold steel very well and they
do run when they see the bayonet
coming.
may be put in one Of the laborator-
les SOON Don't care where or what it