New Britain herald., 1918-09-27
SOLDIERS IN need
OF NURSES At once
Continued from First Page)

| nurses to take care Of them. With
my own eyes T saw the Red Cross
ambulance seven or eight times last
night carrying the sick soldiers up to
the receiving hospital and at 1 0 o'clock
this morning the same thing was re-
peated.
''While in the hospital 7 saw two
doctors going back and forth from
| one hospital to another. They mage q
visit in the morning and another in the
| afternoon. I do aot blame the nurses or
the doctors for the conditions, for they
are doing everything in their power
! to take care of the soldiers who are Ill
with Spanish Influenza but are short
| Of help. The men are lying in the
regular army cots. Some Of the men
| have their heads to the windows and
the others their feet to the windows,
| so that they will not inhale each,
others breaths. The windows in the
! hospital were all wide open and the
rain was blowing onto some of the SOL
diers. The window near the cot where
my son was lying was open and his
| blankets We're wet from rain. 7 shut
| the window to prevent the rain blow
| ing on my son. n
During my visit I had a talk with
| one Of the nurses. She said that they
| were short of nurses and were doing
| the best they could. On reaching the
| station at Aver Mass, there were Is
| boxes containing the bodies of the
| dead soldiers when L left there at
| 1858 p. M. today.
"The reason that the bodies of the
| xryIo iol l,ax $50 oDo
| shipped home is because there is a
shortage Of caslets and they are wait
| ing for some to come. I was much
| surprised to read the article in the
! local papers issued by the war bureau
| denying the shortage of nurses at the
camp. The man who wrote that did
| not know what he was talking about
| 1 approve the action taken by Mayor
| Quigley in telegraphing to Major-G Cen
eral Mccain asking him if he wanted
| New Britain to send doctors and
| nurses
| Conditions at Camp "Horriblc."
The remains of Private Whitney
Pierce, who died at Camp Devens of
influenza, were expected to arrive In
this city late today and the funeral
will be held tomorrow afternoon at
| 2:30 from the Peoples church. Rev.
Lyman Johnson officiating. Inter
! ment will be in Fairvew cemetery
and military escorts will be provided
| by the Home Guard and the G. A. r.
| Ernest G. Pierce, father of Private
Pierce, informed the Herald today
| that when he arrived at Camp DeVens
| the day he received word of the i'll
! ness of his son, he found conditions
there horrible. They were HORRIBLE
he said. land you cannot express it
| too strongly. In the ward where my
| boy lay sick, there were 80 other lads
and these hundred sick soldiers had
| only one nurse to attend them. T met
! a doctor and asked him about my
| boy and he could not recall whether
| or not he had seen him. The nurse
| whom | brought with me to minister
| to Whitney carried her own equip
| ment along, and it is a good thing
| she did, because we found that there
| was only one hypOdermic needle for
| use in that ward; we found certain
sick-room appliances in dilapidated
| condition; we saw men just taken sick
! placed on beds where someone had
just died, without any attempt being
made to change the bed linen"
Tears flowed down Mr. Pierces
| cheeks as he continued: II did not
| imagine such conditions could exist
| III our IWentlCtn century ClVlIZatlOn.
| If [ had not seen them with my own
| eyes, / would not believe it. When we
| arrived at the cantonment the private
| nurse from New Britain was told to
| do what she thought best. The
| authorities there were completely
| swamped and admitted that the stu
alton had gotten beyond them.
| There are now about bookcases of
| influenza at Camp Devens, and ac-
| commodations for only 1900, accord
| ing to information supplied me at
| headquarters. 1t is simply horrible"
| Mr.. Pierce had a conference yesterday
| with Governor Holcomb which lasted
an hour and a half. He said the
| Governor promised to see what could
| be done to better conditions.
| Soldiers Body Arrives.
The body of Private Wallace Jak-
imonius who died at Camp Devens
this week a victim of Spanish in
fluenza, arrived here this afternoon
| with military escort from the camp
! under Corporal stephen A Lynch.
| Private Jakimonius was connected
with the 38th depot brigade at the
| camp, and the first news received by
| his parents regarding his sickness
was the official notice of his death
| received a few days ago. He will be
| given a military funeral tomorrow
| morning with services at st. An
drew's Lithuanian church at $50.
The bodies of Corporal Fred Dali
| ton, Whitney Pierce and Earl Wells
are expected on the 9:45 train to-
| night