The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1919-01-10
OPERATE UPON
WOUNDED men
ON BOARD SHIP
Vessels Equipped for Giving Ex'
pert Surgical Aid.
RED CROSS IS GREAT HE'LL

RED CROSS IS GREAT HE'LL
Every Provision for Comfort Of Sol
diers After Arrival Made in Advanc
Many Organizations Help in tn
Work-Army Staffs Work Night ami
Day in Handling the Returnin!
Troops - Great Difficulties Sur
mounted.
For days. there have been pouring
back to our shores tens Of thousand,
of khaki heroes. Their tales of wal
| adventure have thrilled the hosts ol
civilian newspaper readers. In til,
glamor of their heroism there has beer
lost to sight the less romantic, ye
equally essential, work of otheJ
branches of military service, repre-
sentatives of which have returned
with the warriors and have received
but scant attention. For instance.
tied up at the army piers in Hoboker
are two former Ward liners, now tht
hospital ships Comfort and Mercy.
Each brought back to port in one weel
upward of 400 badly injured soldiers
many of whom We're such desperate
cases that operations were Necessary
while the ships were breasting terrific
seas on the way home.
The coast liners have been convert
ed from all semblance, except in out
ward lines, to passenger ships. Eacf
is equipped with up-to-date hospita.
apparatus, and each, so that expert
ments may be made even at sea, ha,
on the topmost deck a farm yard
tenanted by sheep, guinea pigs, white
mice, rabbits and chickens. There il
an abundance Of available material foi
dissecting and germ studying expert
ments.
Equipped as Hospital.
The Communicated ships have los
the scores Of magnificent stateroomi
that delighted peace-time passengers
Most of them have been ripped out tt
make way for berths for wounde.
men. The dining rooms have beer
converted into wards. Reading ant
smoking rooms have been made into
laboratories, and. operating rooms
dressing rooms, instrument lockers
chambers, sterilizint
quarters, bandage storerooms, etc.
On each of the vessels is a large
operating room on the promenade
deck, lighted with fully half a hun
dred bulbs and equipped with six op
Grating tables. Adjoining is a smaller
room where minor operations are per
formed.
Separate wards have been estab
lished for eye, ear and nose cases, fol
surgical patients, contagious diseases
and for minor ailments.
The medical personnel of each OF
the hospital ships, an aggregate of for
ty for both, comprises expert special
lists who have volunteered for navy
service during the war and who have
been doing superb work in emergen
cies on the sea.
Neither of the ships was originally
to transport wounded men
home. Both were sent to foreign wa,
Eers as floating hospitals attached ts
our fleets, to be in readiness to re-
ceive wounded cases Immediately af,
ter naval battle or a scrimmags
with submarines.
Encountered Bad Weather.
1t was with great difficulty that they
veathered the severe December storms
hat impeded the progress of such
ships as the Mauretania, the Adriatic
he Lapland, the Orca and the Mime.
lahda.
A sort of sub-hospital ship has been
at Hoboken for some weekS
n conjunction with the arrival Of
naimed and sick troopers. She is the
under command of Lieut.
Collins, which in peace times used ts
,ly between Montauk Point and Block
sland.
She, too, has been equipped fol
medical purposes and reconstructed ts
lold many berths and cots. Every
lay, sometimes two or three times q |
lay, she edges against a returning
and takes away wounded
men, landing them at the base hos
,ital on Ellis Island or the Fox Hills
hospital on Staten Island.
Good Samaritans.
Not a small part of the work OF
the men has been looked
Ifter by scores of Red Cross nurses |
lnder command of Col. Dorothy G |
'myley, head Of the ambulance divis
ON of the Red Cross. Her workers
AVE seen to it, with the cooperation /
# the National League for Women's
service, that casy-riding military am
have been at the piers in
numbers. Red Cross nurses
company each ambulance and re
main with the transferred patient
ntil they have been safely placed OF
ospital cots.
a less vital, perhaps, but neyerthe
ess important work done by the Rec
ross women has been in the greet
ngs' extended the returning troops
hey have been at the pier edgeg