Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-05-08
CHAPTER XIV-Continued.

10
ia man is killed he IS buried, and
fbe responsibility of the government
,sasps. excepting for the fact that his
reopIe receive a pension. But if man
"a 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 assist
cd by two r. A. NJ G. men. Then he is
mt into a motor ambulance, manned
nv crew of two or three. At the field
hospital. where 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
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. @. 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 q ride for five hours on an Eng
lish 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 long
or, in this hospital. From here he is
sent to a convalescent home for six
weeks.
If by wounds he is untitled for fur
Their 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 wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and re-enfOrcements for the troops at
the front, it will not appear strange
that from a strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than live one Cf wounded).
Not 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 a dot
on it, and as he was wont, wrote 'dig
here and the next night we dug.
There were tw in the party, N.Y.
self included. Armed with picks,
ShovelS and empty sandbags we ar
rived at 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
er mighty stroke with his pick, let go
OF the handle, and pinched his nose
with his thumb and fOrefnger, at the
same time letting cut the explosion,
Gott Strafe me pink, I'm bloc ly well
gaSSed, not 'alf I amt" I quickly
turned In his direction with an inquir-
ing look, at the same instant reaching
Tor my gas bag. l soon found out what
was ailing him. One Whit was enough
and l lost no time in also pinching my
nose. The stencil was awful. The rest
OF the digging party dropped their
picks and ShOvels and beat 1t for the
weather side of that solitary pick. The
oIncer came over and inquired why the
WORK had suddenly ceased, holding our
noses, we simply pointed in the direc-
uon Of the smell. He went over to the
pick Immediately clapped his hand
over his nose. made an "about turn"
ana came back. Just then our cap
'alh came along and Investigated. but
al'er about a minute said we had bet
Yer carry on with the digging, that he
uIu not see why we should have
Stopped as the odor was very faint,
out II necessary he would allow US our
saS helmets while digging. He would
cay and see the thing through, but he
-''u TO report back to brigade head
qu"IIerS Immediately. We wished that
We were captains and also had date
brigade headquarters. With our gas
1ellIe1S on we again attacked that hole
anu uncovered the decomposed body of
GERMAN; the pick was sticking in his
.HeS| One Of the men tainted was
Ia. 10 one. Upon this our lieutenant
eSi,eu proceedings and sent word back
headquarters and word came back
' slaI after we filed in the hole we could
LUCK on for the night. This was well
NO,Ie udings to US, because
l.. NeA' day the general changed the
wi On MS map and another enplace-
I'm was completed the following