Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-05-01

Journey was too urgent.
When the roll was called we found
| that we had gotten 1t In the nose for
SO casualties.
Our artillery put barrage on Fritz
front-line and communication trenches
and their machine-gun and rife fire
suddenly ceased.
Upon the cessation Of this fire,
stretcher bearers went out to look for
killed and wounded. Next day we
learned that 81 of our men had been
killed and 81 wounded. Five men were
missing; lost In the darkness, they
must have wandered over into the Ger.
man lines, where they were either
killed or captured.
Speaking Of stretcher bearers and
wounded, it Is very hard for the aver.
age civilian to comprehend the enor.
nous cost Of taking care Of wounded
and the war In general. He Or she gets
80 accustomed to seeing billions Of dol.
lars in print that the significance Of
the amount Is passed over without
thought.
From an onlcial statement published
in one Of the London papers, It IL
stated that 1t costs between SIX and
seven thousand pounds $780, 900 to $685..
OOO) to kill or wound q soldier. This
result was attained by taking the cost
of the war to date and dividing it BY
the killed and wounded.
It may sound heartless and inhuman,
but 1t is a fact, nevertheless, that from
a military standpoint 1t is better for q
man to be killed than wounded.
If man Is killed he Is buried, and
the responsibility Of the government
ceases, excepting for the fact that his
people receive a pension. But II man
is wounded 1t takes three men from
| the firing line, the wounded man and
| two men to carry him to the rear to
| the advanced frst-aid post. Here he is
attended by a 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 tho 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 Of 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 a 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
er, in this hospital. From here he is
sent to convalescent home for six
! weeks.
II by wounds he is untitled for fur
ther service, he is discharged, given a
! pension, or committed to soldiers
home for the rest of his life-and still
the expense piles up. When you real
lie that all the ambulances, trains and
ships, not to mention the man power,
used in transporting wounded man,
could be used for supplies, ammunition
and e-enforcements for the troops at
! the front, 1t will not appear strange
! that from strictly military stand
point, dead man is sometimes better
than live one (if wounded).
Not long after the first digging party,
our general decided, after careful
! tour Of inspection of the communica-
ton trenches, upon IAN ideal spot" as
he termed 1t, for a machine-gun en-
placement; took his map, made dot
on it, and as he was wont, wrote "dig
here" and the next night we dug.
There were twenty in the party, my
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
i er a mighty stroke with his pick, let go
Of the handle, and pinched his nose
! with his thumb and forefinger, at the
same time letting out the explosion,
Scott strafe me pink, I'm bloody well
gassed, not 'alf I amt" ! quickly
turned in his direction with an inquir-
| ing look, 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 my
1 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 our