The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1918-12-06

CHAPTER xXIlI--contlnued.

SEVrNr t|U
20
1t certainly was hard, when the next
day came, to give up your whole ration
and go without that day. But / never
ray a man hedge, or ever speak Of Ii.
And we did not have any food pirates
among us either: we were not captains
OF industry by any means.
There were times when some OF us
could not eat certain Of our rations.
For instance, many and many a time
/ was as hungry as anybody could be,
and / wanted to eat my bread, but It
seemed as If / could not get it into
my mouth. Then / would trade IL with
someone else for his shadow SOUP or
his barley coffee.
We were dying every day In Bran
denburg and after each death the
senior men OF that barracks would de-
tail twelve Of their number to go out
for half an hour and dig the grave,
while others made little crosses, on
which they wrote or carved the mans
name. when he was captured, and his
regiment or ship. In the middle Of
the cross were always the letters,
X. /. P.-Itest in Peace.
One time we were ordered to report
to the German doctors for a serum
treatment Of some kind-to receive an
injection, in other words. There was
no choice about it this time, as we
were simply herded together to the
hospital barracks. Now, / knew what
these things were like and how brutal
the German doctors were in giving an
injection, SO / wanted to be the very
first man and not have to witness the
other men getting theirs.
So l pushed up to the head of the
line, with the crew of III. M. S. Nomad,
who had been captured i'm the Jutland
battle, and by the time we got to the
hospital was the very first man In line.
But the sentry threw me back and
there were several men ahead Of me.
Each of them barred his chest and the
doctors slashed them across the breast
with n very thin knife, so you a see
that 1t was very painful. When Ii
came to my turn they slashed me three
times In the shape of a triangle just to
one side Of the breast. And that was
all there vas to it-no injection, moth
ing on the knife that / could see.
Now, l do not know what the Idea
was. Every man of us was dizzy for
the rest of the day and could not do
anything but lay around the barracks.
And hardly any Of us bled q drop.
though the gashes were deep. I do not
think we had my blood In us to run,
and that Is the truth of it. 1t was
Just another German trick that no one
could explain.
One day a war correspondent named
Bennett, from a Chicago paper, came
20 the camp and went through all the
barracks. When he came to our bar
racks I told him ! was an American
and asked for the news. Instead Of
answering he began to ask all sorts
Of questions. Finally, after I had told
him I had been in the French service,
1 asked him If he could help me In any
way. He answered that I had only my
self to blame and that it served me
right IL / had been in one of the allied
armies.
! did not like his looks much and he
seemed ~unfriendly, but when he began
smoking a cigarette Ii almost drove me
crazy and l could not help asking for
one. He refused me and said / should
have stayed In my own country, where
I could have had plenty Of cigarettes.
After a while he threw away a ciga-
rette stub and not only / but three or
four others who were near made a dive
for 4. A man named Kelley got it
q crazy man who went around trying
to eat wood and cloth ind anything
he could find.
When my three weeks were up and
I had not heard from MI. Gerard / was
Just about ready to go down to the
lake and pick out a vacant spot and