The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-01-13
CAPT. EARL MCRAE,
FORMER LAKELAND
BOY, WRITES OF HIS
EXPERIENCES IN
THE BATTLE ZONE

| LIT. Earl Mchae' son OF MT. w. ID.
McRae, of this city, who enlisted in
the Medical Corps from Tampa and
was commissioned a captain, and who
has been in the fighting zone since
last summer has written an interest
ing letter to his wife, which appeared
in a recent issue OF the Tampa
Times and which we reproduce be-
low. The Times says:
The Times is pleased to publish the
following letter received by Mrs. F..
H. McRae, 402 S. Boulevard, from her
husband Capt. Earl McRae, who be-
fore receiving his commission, was a
we'll known physician Of this city.
Capt. McRae left Tampa in July 1917,
for Camp Oglethorpe, going from
there for oversee service. He was as
signed to the 310th field hospital
corps of the 303d sanitary train, at
tached to the 18th division of the
army of occupation.
Capt. McRae has been across about
eight months and has seen some real
active and exciting service right in
the midst of things as he has been up
in the advanced firing lines. He Is
now stationed at Semur, France, from
which point this letter was written:
Semur, France, Dec. Is, 1918.
My Dear Cherie: | have been kept
quite busy today at the hospital as
had two operations this morning and
two accident cases this afternoon plus
my other ward duties, so my legs
have been constantly moving.
| Major Herrick, of Cleveland, O., Is
well acquainted with H. Hodgson,
who was an inferno under him. The
major and | are taking care of the
surgical cases and he is an excellent
operator He is assigned here per-
manently while ] am only assigned
Temporarily while my division is here.
When stop and think Of the quie-
tude of everything here it certainly
makes me feel good 1t will take me
some time to get over the strain !
| had to go through a few weeks ago,
no one can realize or appreciate it
until they have had about three
months of it. continual, never end
| ing, nerve tension, high speed grind.
My little work here at the hospital is
really great relaxation and I am
glad | have 1t to keep my mind busy.
The dinner given by the officers of
the 310th field hospital Thanksgiving
day was a great success and was a
wonderful meal. Those whom you
know were Capt. Rollings, Beasdall,
Shelton, Young, Bell and six others.
Everything was well prepared and
/, the French family, at whose house 1t
was served. turned over their dining
room, with all their linen, silver,
dishes, etc. The dining room was an
propriately decorated with Old Glory
and numerous flowers, making it look
| like a place at home. We had a large
and lengthy menu, finishing up on
some good American made" cigars
from Tampa, which certainly made
me feel at home.
Rollings and have put in for fur
Tough and are planning to visit the
London surgical clinics, where / am
hoping to be able to meet the famous
Drs. Lane and Mognihau, authorities
on fractures and abdominal surgery.
! have mentioned before the "Y"
representatives and the three girls
We had with us at the front in my
hospital near Grand Pre- last October
| for nearly three weeks making soups
etc, for the boys. It certainly made
our boys feel good to have some Of
our own girls up there.
We were using the church there as
o hospital That was the longest
time | have ever spent in church at
one sitting, even had to sleep there.
We had to leave the girls behind
when we moved up tC Grand Pre- on
account of it being so dangerous. We
surely had a close shave there one
night. thought my babies and
Cherie would have no daddy The
Hun did everything but blow up our
building with his bombs, six of our
men were killed and thirty-five
wounded that same night took
care of Major Mason w. Gray, from
Detroit, of the Sixth division, DR..
Mitchell's division | was first to sec
him; he was fatally wounded 100 feet
back of my building, his right arm
was almost torn off and right leg shat
tered. The major was certainly a
game man and every inch soldier.
saw his chances were slim and had
to tell him as he insisted on knowing