Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-03
NEBRASKA unit
MENTIONED IN
GENERAL ORDER
Major General FIagIer Issues
Order Telling Of Work of
117th Sanitary Train,
Rainbow Division.

Lincoln. May "A general order
has been issued by command of Ma
jor General Flagler, from headquar-
tiers of the AID division, American
Expeditionary forces in Germany,
reciting the salient features of the
service of the ll7th sanitary ;rain,
part of the Rainbow division. This
train is composed of units from the
District of Columbia, Nebraska, Or
egon, Colorado, New Jersey, Ten
nessee, Oklahoma and Michigan. 1t
was combined at Camp Mills, Long,
Island, N. Y, and underwear. train
ing in the American area i'll France,
then in the Luneville sector.
The order. in part, is as follows:
THE sanitary train went to the
Champagne, along with the rest of
the division. Here for the first time
they experienced that shell fire and
exposure that was to be their lot
until the close of hostilities. During
the intense bombardment preceding
the German attack of July IS, it
seemed as if the enemy had espe-
cially chosen as targets the dressing
stations, ambulance heads and hos
pitals. Shells dropped from every
where. Large night planes bombed
the hospitals situated near Chalons.
The routes of the ambulances were
covered by fire. Though the diff
culties Of proper functioning were
great, they were overcome.
Problem Serious.
3"At Chateau Thierry even greater
difficulties were experienced. Due
to the many casualties the problem
of evacuation became a very serious
one. This was partly solved by the
establishment of Triage at Epieds,
and later at Beuvardes, at all times
within five kilometers of the actual
fighting line. During this battle
ambulances were often driven with
in 1000 yards of the front line,
across shell-scarred fields, to collect
and evacuate wounded. The steady
service rendered at this point did
much to maintain the morale of the
troops.
cat St. Mihiel the problem was of
different character. All roads
were clogged by the rush of trans
port north. Here great versatility
was shown. Motors were useless
so pack mules and mule ambulances
were thrown forward. Ample sup
plies were rendered available in this
way.
Fl Many Sick.
an the Argonne- Meuse offensive
the list of men to be evacuated was
.swelled by the many sick, as well as
the wounded. The weeks and
weeks of mud, water and improper
nourishment, with the nervous
strain, were beginning to tell on the
division. Nightly enemy aeroplanes
few up and down the valley of the
Aire on bombing expeditions, the
hospitals at Baulny seeming to be
their special target During this
period ambulance heads were estab-
lished forward of Sommerance, less
than two kilometers from the front
lines. Excavations were carried on
without interruptions and a marvel
Gus state of efficiency was shown in
spite of the almost insurmountable
difficulties
l"T.e sanitary train was seriously
handicapped in its move towards
Sedan. Even so, it succeeded in
reaching its station and taking care
of The ever increasing number of
sick.
During the march of the division
to the Rhine, the sanitary train
performed successfully the difficult
task of evacuating the sick over the
ever frightening line of communi-
cations. 1t finally reached Neu-
enahr, in the kreis of Ahrweller,
which is occupied as part of the
army of occupation. Not the least
among the services of this organi-
cation has been its fighting the
threatened epidemic of influenza in
this division during the first months
OF 1919
THE l17th sanitary train has