The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-04-16
NURSE CARED
FOR WOUNDED
ASAIRPLANES
DROP BOMBS
Miss May MacGregor, Cited for
Bravery, Tells Of War Work
At the Commercial Club.
LIEUT.. LYCAN EXPLAINS
HOW SHIPS PROTECTED
-
Operations Of Mine Sweepers
OutIined-Reading by Miss
Backus Enjoyed.

i How Red Cross nurses cared for
wounded where German she'll fell
thick and where bombs from air.
{. planes repeatedly endangered their
lives, was related at the Commercial
club today by Miss May MacGregor,
X who has Just returned from the bat
tie fields OF France where she won
two citations for bravery while serv-
ing as q Red Cross nurse. Miss Mac
: Gregor was the guest Of the club at
the noon day luncheon, as were
Lieut.. Ralph5B. Lycan, who has just
returned from naval service, T.. N.
Irish, WHO served overseas for lS
months, and Miss Vera Backus, who
gave a reading. -
~, Miss MacGregor related expert
ences of her trip across the ocean
and on the trains, which carried her
to the front. She visited Liverpool,
~Havre and Paris en- route. She told
of her work In caring for the wound
ed and the exciting conditions under
which the work was carried on. 1.-The
air was literally filled with planes.
and bailoons," said Miss MacGregor,
when we were near the Chateau
1nierry front. 4 saw many balloons
come down in flames and many air
planes fall to the ground: - -:
1.-THE Germans were pretty busy
dropping bombs In our section as we
were in direct line between the
German front and Paris. On one oc-
casion eight horses were killed by
bomb short distance from our
camp. .....'. ........x,.
In Danger Zone. IS. 1se
I'VE were within the danger zone
practically all of the time, as our
organization kept moving with the
front. line continually. At times we
fell behind and the wounded did not
receive first aid for nearly sixty
hours. Then again they were
brought in so fast that we could net
accommodate them in, our quarters,
SO they were placed on litters along
the hillside and cared for there:
s.. Miss MacGregor told OF a most
wonderful piece of camoufiage, un-
der which an aviation camp was
Housed. ut looked from distance
like hillside, with green grass ano
beautiful trees painted upon the
background. 1t was surely deceiv-
ing, as we did not discover what IT
was until we were within twenty
feet of the camp
Cited For Bravery.
She was at St.. Michel forest, Ar
gonne salient and Chateau Thlerry
fronts and more than $4,000 wound
ed were cared for by her company.
Two citations, which were given her
company for bravery and wonderful
work il caring for the wounded,
were read by Miss Backus. These
will appear in full in later issue
of The Pioneer.
Lieut.. Lycan gave an interesting
talk, describing just how the trans
ports and battle ships were protected
from stationary and floating mines
and from the submarine. The de-
scription was somewhat as follows:
A cable supported by wires with
a float at the end was dropped from
the deck after several days out,
which extended some two hundred
Yards from either side OF the snip
The floats were equipped with rud-
-ders. which were controlled from the
shin and which were so placed as to
keep the floats full length at all
times.
Mine Cable Cut.
When, the cable came in contact
with a stationary mine 1t would tenoo
to work the mine out toward the
end, where the mine cable would be
forced into the clippers, which were
attached to the floats, and thus cut
in two. This would then release the
mine, which would come to the sur
face. Lieut. Lycan sketchedd draw
ing on the blackboard, and thus gave
his audience a very vivid description
of its workings.
Miss Backus' reading was OF the
comedy variety and was enjoyed by
all.