Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-03-15
Eyes Gouged Out
ndLegs Cut Off
American Soldiers
(From the New York World

"ofuiciS were JOlu to Il
World reporter by patients ir Army
Hospital No. 1, Columbia Oval. the
Bronx, in tour of the institution.
which was made by special permis-
sion OF Col. ID. +. Duval, command.
ing medical officer, yesterday.
lightweight war-whacked soldiers.
back from the muddy inferno of
France, arc finding their way back 10
health under American skies. They
are the first of the Pcrshing expedil
tionary force to go through the iron
mill Of war.
Eyes Gouged Out.
How the Germans cid in" twelve
Americans las. October was told nv
Albert Is. Sykes, attached to Di-
vision Sanitary Corps. lie is suffer-
ing from paralysis caused by an au-
tomobile accident in the confusion of
an air raid. lie said
Twelve infantrymen went out on
a night patrol. They failed to re-
turn. When their bodies were not Wis
lbie on no mans land next day every
one concluded that they had bean tax
en- prisoner.
They had been taken prisoner nj;
right. And they came back to us the
next night. When dawn came. fol-
lowing the night after their disap-
pearance, they were lying out in
front of our trenches.
Every man had his eyes gougcd
out. Their bodies were terribly mu-
tilated. In several cases the hands
and gelgs were gone.
About this time was assimncd to
a dressing station just behind the
lines. One night chap simp' rid
died with bomb fragments came thru
our hands. He had been bombed by a
German officer i'm an American uni
form in his own trench.
"The Germans came over the top
at night, perhaps intending to minglc
with the men. This soldier saw the
imposter come over. When he ac-
costed him, the German let fly with Il
bomb. wish you could have seen the
American afterward-you would new
er have believed that he got well in
spite of it.
"As for that German, he never got
back to his own lines. What the rest
of our men did to him was shame.
He was shortly one of the deadest
Germans that this war has produced"
Ships Escaped U-Boats.
Private Sykes thought he could de
scribe trench life until he tried it.
Then he gave it up, declaring that
off l told you how badly it really is
you'd think was stringing you"
But he admitted that the Americans
didn't seem to mind it at all.
Many of the ships in which the
wounded were brought home were
fired on by German submarines. This
brought luck to Walter NJ. Jones of
Glen Cove, l.. l., of the old Goth, how
ever, according to his fellow patient,
Sergt. William II. Zimmerman, who
is learning to get about without the
eyes he lost in motortruck smash
behind the lines. He said:
Zones was suffering from real
shell-shock. He lost the power of his
speech and hearing. And he stayed
deaf and dumb until our transport
left the other side. He was on the
same ship as myself.
"A German submarine started to
strafng us. Jones was few feet
away from one of the ships guns.
When it suddenly went off he found
himself with tongue and ears as fine
rs ever. That's the luck of war"
Jones was shocked by German 65-
centimetre shell which fell fifteen
feet away. When he revived, he was
in field hospital with five shrap-
mel bullets in his right leg. He thinks
that the two Licutenants, Allen and
Riley, who were with him were kill
cd outright.
Army hospital No. /, most modern
of military hospitals, has now about
GAO patients, according to Col. Du-
val. of the 258 men who arrived
from France, approximately ITO have
been sent to other hospitals. Sixty
more after brief stay at the insti-
tuition, were granted a permanent dis
chargee for physical disability.
"a moderate number of men arc
suffering from mental disorders"
Col. Duval said. "Only one case of
actual shell shock has been encoun
tered. AT present the number of ac-
tual bullet wound cases in the hos
pital is reduced to the following: Two
blined, one with loss of arm, one with
loss of leg above the knee and one
case.
"The men are extraordinarily
cheerful. There is never word of
That is probably what
helps them get we'll so fast"
The laxity of medical boards in
other contingents to warshrdlululu
the National Guard and
other contingents to war strength has
resulted in many men unfit for SER
vice reaching the trenches, it was
learned. These soldiers appeared to
be in the best of health until they
reached the actual scene of action.