The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-06-27
WOUNDED Mex
NOT LACK PLUCK
ENGLISH SOLDIERS IN HOSPITALS
SHOW MOST WONDERFUL
COURAGE
INCIDENTS Of THE LIFE OVER THE SEAS
Boys Eager To Volunteer For Any
thing And Never Show Fear At
Any Adventure Offered
By II. c. EVANS
Downright 1879

1ohhbN ~ hN hiuP va
you about this chap and his brother"
said an English surgeon who was con-
Quoting me through a hospital. He
had stopped beside a cot upon which
lay a badly wounded soldier. The lad
smiled and held out his hand. when
he was brought here" continued the
surgeon, we sent his folks at home
the usual letter of information. Here
it is" and he handed me the printed
form letter. 1t read:
1--WE regret to inform you that your
son, Lieutenant , Of the Sec
II , has beer admitted to the
-th hospital at VI, suffering
from gunshot wounds. Severe"
You can imagine the tense silence
in the family circle when the letter
was received, broken perhaps by a
stifed sob from the mother. Mother
like she imagined the worst, and wait
ed the arrival of more serious news.
About the fireside sat another boy,
the eldest, hugging an artificial leg
he had left his own on the Somme in
1916-who tried to reassure the fam
lily. But the mother remembered how
the news came when r" was wounded
and his W letter which followed.
He had written: I'm t%op-whole and
going on splendidly,' when in fact he
lay at deaths door lacerated with a
half dozen wounds.
THE hours dragged YEARLY along.
No n can appreciate the awfulness
of waiting except those who have
waited before. At last the messenger
again made his appearance and hearts
beat high with hope and fear. The
message bore the postmark of our hos
pital and read:
"'Send me some smokes and two
pounds. Ais well.-Percy"
The rascal" continued the father
ly surgeon, pinching the ~grinning
cheek of the lad, that was a month
ago. We're sending him home tomor-
row.
As a rule enlisted men must salute
officers when they meet them, but
there are many exceptions. The re-
suit is that there are many mistakes
and often the lads are reprimanded.
Often and severely had the boys in a
certain camp been called down, and
one morning this notice, typewriter,
was found posted on the ~colonel's
door:
Statutes"
"If a soldier, wheeling a wheelbar-
row and balancing a swill tub on his
head, meets an officer, he will cant
above his right eyebrow, wink his left
ear and invite the officer to a seat in
the wheelbarrow.
IF a soldier with his arm around
a lady's waist in the cleaning en-
counters an officer he will salute with
his d~isengaged arm, and the lady will
tap the officers tunic with her UNI
brella. The officer will firmly grasp
the umbrella and require the soldier
to introduce him to the lady. He will
then order the soldier to double back
to the barracks alone.
IF a soldier, driving an officers car
without notice, encounter the officer
in a narrow country road, he will open
the throttle and run the officer down"
A Catholic boy of the Rainbow di-
vision was severely wounded and ask
ed for a priest. There was no priest
to be found who could speak English.
A Protestant Red Cross nurse fetched
a French priest and translated the
boys confession to the priest and the
priests absolution to the dying boy.
1t was a French hospital and there
were no Protestant religious services,
so Bobby Freeman, a %Scotchman, de-
cided to attend mass. We saw attend
ants wheeling Bobby, a Serb, a Bel
gian and a Frenchman to the church.
Each had lost a leg. 1t vas a fine ex-
ample of the fusion of religions and
n~ationalities.
They coined on, and coined on, and
they coined on a comm on" said a
wounded English lad in the hospital.
1t was the same story told me in the
same simple way by a French soldier.
Said he: 1--WE lick the boches, but,
darn EN-, they come right back"
Continued on Page 5-Column 81