Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-07-26

OF course. : was only iourt''i'
when 1 enlisted as a stretch"r bearer
i'm the British Royal army hi'dica'
CORDS in October. 1915. Mayhe kid
like. me wouldn't get rs much out oi
h.inp i'm the war IA an older FELLOW
wouId-Iut mayiIr he'd get more. JUST
because. he had NOR" To get! As near
as could figure IL out. everybody over
there was getting some thmGs 'heS
never could have found anywhere eisc'
| know | did.
| guess the biggest thing | got was
well. 1 don't know just what TO caii
il. II isn't exactly any on" thing. l'S
n mixture of hcng sorry Tor soihc-
body else and not being sorry ioi
yourself.
over there in the trenches all Tn"
Tomrnt-s used to call me the Yankee
Kid. | live in Louisville. Kentucky
and OF course I'm no yankee GOWN
here" sut to Tommy Atkins ever!
American is Il Yankee. And l sure
am an
Well, | guess was like most other
boys. | never had worked very hard
IA. being sorry for anybody or any
thing. But l. learned il all fast enough
when | wis carrying sthc wounded In
France. Gee. hut those fellows would
lust make you feel like crying. MOI
because they groancd and made a
fuss. but just hccaus" they dluht.
They'd smile and crack jokes as long
M they had any breath left in them.
remember one big Scotty whose
feet had been shot off in the fighting
down on the Sommc. He was lying
on Il strctcher when | saw him, walt
ing to he carried in. And while ne
was waiting ne kept making us all
laugh at the things he'd say about
those missing feet of his. At first l
thought he was of his head. Ana
when he said with his queer Scotch
accent, that he'd mislcd his twa
feet back in the wood. | asked him II
no wanted me to 20 and hunt for
them.
".ust leave 'cm be-" he said. "lf
they Gamma COON by themselves, w"1l
ma gang after them"
Those Scottics are great ole. fight
er. tell YOU. There was Il big ser
gcant who had his leg shattered. IL
was pretty bad-.thc bones sticking
out and everythinG-hut instead oi
making a fuss about himself. hr got
n piece OF chocolate out of his tunic
and insisted on our having II! And
when We asked him Ii We couldn't do
something for him. he said:
mo. no. lads! | can wait"
There's one story I've told before,
but | guess it will bear repeating, for
| think il was one Of the finest things
| ever saw. joined the infantry aft
or I'd been in France 4 few months
and was In the lighting at MametZ.
Some fighting. believe me. One day
was with a Scotchman and an Irish
man when a shell hurst right on the
parapet OF the trench where we were.
| was half buried when II car"d in
the side of the trench. Luckily. II
was the lower half of me that was
caught. 80 | wasn't really hurt.
couldn't move. hut | could see what
happened.
The Irishman's arm was blown of
and the Scotchmans leg was gone at
the knee. | thought both of them
would die before help could reach
them---and | shut my eyes, because
that's one thing | never could get used
to: seeing those poor fellows go west.
Then | heard the lrishman's voice and
| looked To see what he was doing.
He was fumhling in the special
pocket where all British soldiers car
ry their first aid packages He was
bleeding terribly and II must have
been all he could do to get the packet
out with his left hand. But hc man
aged II somehow and then ne pressed
the bandaGc to the Scotty's knee to
stop the flow OF blood.
But II wouldn't stay in place with
out hcing held and l guess he must
have felt himself going and have
he dropped down and laid his head
on the handagc to keep It in place.
And thcn-wcll. when they came and
dug me out. he was dead. But they
saved the Scotty.
You just don't know what men can
do. IL you haven't been with soldiers.
You don't know what you can go
through yourself. until you put on n
uniform and live with fighting men.
There's something about II I can't
had n bad smash while I was training
Mt Salisbury Plain. / was fourteen
weeks in the hospital with a broken
arm and injured knee. They fixed me
up without an anesthetic, because |
didn't want to take one: and I know
that II II had happened to me before
joined the army. I'd have sQuealed
like n good one. But YOU can't play
the baby act IL you're a soldier. So
gritted my teeth and kept my mouth
shut.
That little experience of mine in
England helped me to know that II
isn't much fun to be knocked to
pieces. They carried me on a stretch
er that time and they were mighty
careful and tried to make me as COM
Portable as they could. So. YOU can
Just believe. when had a poor chap
on a stretcher over in France. I did
the same for him. But then. every
body did that. We'd so down on our
knees many a time. when We had to
cross shell holes. so as to keen a