Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-05-17
CHAPTER XIV-Continued.

10
IF man is killed he Is buried, and
the responsibility Of the government
people receive pension. But if a 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 doctor, perhaps assist
ed by two r. A. M. G. men. Then he is
put into motor ambulance, manned
by crew of two or three. At the field
hospital, where he generally goes un-
der an anesthetic, either to have his
wounds cleaned or to be operated on,
he requires 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 am
bulance train, another corps of doc
tors, R. A. NJ. G. men, Red Cross nurses
and the trains crew. From the train
he enters the base hospital or casualty
clearing station, where a good-sized
corps of doctors, nurses, ETC., are kept
busy. Another ambulance Journey is
next in order-this time to the hospital
ship. He crosses the channel, arrives
in Blighty-mOre ambulances and per-
haps ride for five hours on an Eng
fish Red Cross train with it's crew of
Red Cross workers, and at last he
reaches the hospital. Generally he
stays fr,m two to six months, or long
er, in this hospital. From here he is
sent to convalescent home for six
weeks.
If b, wounds he is unified for fur
ther service, he is discharged, given a
pension, or committed to soldiers
home tor 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 wounded man.
coul6 be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enforcements for the troops at
the front, it will not appear strange
that from strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than a live one Cf wounded).
Nat long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after a careful
tour Of inspection Of the communica-
ton trenches, upon IAN ideal spot" as
he termed it, for a machine-gun en-
placement; took his map, made dot
on 1t, and as he was wont, wrote "dig
here" and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in the party, N.Y.
self included. Armed with picks.
shovels and empty sandbags we ar.
rived at the fdeal 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
er mighty stroke with his pick, let 20
Of the handle, ind pinched his nose
with his thumb and forefnger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
"Gott strafe me pink, I'm bloody we'll
gassed, not 'alf amt" I quickly
turne-; in his direction with an inuuir-
Ing ''sok, at the same instant reaching
for my gas bag. soon found out what
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
and lost no time in also pinching nv
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
OF the digging party dropped their
picks and shovels and beat it for the
weather side Of that solitary pick. The
officer came over and inquired why the
work had suddenly ceased. holding orr
noses. we simply pointed in the direc-
ton Of the smell. He went over 20 the
pick, Immediately clapped his hand
over his nose, made an "about turn''
and came back. Just then our can
tain came along and investigated but
AFTER about a minute said we had het-
ter carry on with the digging. that he
did not see why we should have
stopped as the odor was very faint
nut 8 necessary he would allow us our
gas helmets while digging. He would
stay ana see the thing through, but he
mad to report back to brigade head
quarters Immediately. We wished thai
we were captains and also had date
at brigade headquarters. With our gas
helmets on we again attacked that hole
and uncovered the decomposed body of
German; the pick was sticking in his
chest. One Of the men tainted, was
mat one. Upon this our lieutenant
matted proceedings and sent word back
TO headquarters and word came back
mat after we filled in the hole we could
Knock OFF for the night. This was well
come tidings to us, because
Next day the general changed the
aot on his map and another emplace-
tnent was completed the following
night.