The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-03-21
PEDD|CORD'9
EXPERIENCES
OVER THERE
RELATES MANY HAIR RAISING
TALES ON WAY ACROSS AND ON
THE FIRING LINE.
was Gassed And Spent Month In Hos
pital-Address Was Highly
Entertaining.

rnr"S while in III" S"rvic" Of the United
states in this country and over there.
He told "f being SasS"d while in the
Argnnne Woods. His lecture was divid-
I'D in thrr" sections. medical and Surgi-
cal work Of tho army. gas service OF the
United States and tho Allies and a new
religion that he saw.
AS soon war was DECLARED I ~
rlird for cnl*tmont in tho nrdical corps
Of The army. being III" second physician
Ia go from this vicinity" said nr. Ped
dirnrd. "lcavinE Fort OElcthorp1 in Feb
ruary Of 1917. after spending two
months there. was transferred 10
camp Pike" then to New Orleans and
finally TO Camp Dix. New Jersey. whcrc
! was connected with d newly organized
sanitary train. About two weeks lat"r
ct 1l:3h o'clock Sunday evening. We
were ordered To pack up; WE loft soon
after and arrived in Jersey city at | n
NJ In about three hours We landed AZ
Hobnkcn WHERE VIZ were sent OIL hoard
ship. We finished loading about II a.
m. Being so tired after being up all
night went To my berth. Several
hours later 7 was awakened by tho slap
ping of water on tho window in my
room. Dressing | went on deck and
found that we wcrc out to sea in com
nnnN win thirteen OlHeT lFHnSppflS NV
torpedo boats and three cruisers
"Aftcr being out 2Ia days on" cruiser
and ALL hut two torpedo boats loft us.
About the third day tho buys began to
grt An attack Of Srasickness. Several
days after. tho physicians wrrn sent 10
the aid Of tho men, including myself.
We went To tho hold. where We found all
stages ur S"a sickness. II fell To my
lot to attend a colorrd trooper. When
walked up TO tho man, he said: "Faniain.
want TO ask YOU question: Is th"r"
any way Of getting back 10 tho United
States except by watcr?~ After I ON
swercd No" hc said Good bye Mem
phis. Tennessee"
Tho transports Kept zig tagging all
the way across. First tho weather was
warm. then cold. On tho morning Of
Sept TENDER :. the boys wore nil on deck
getting exercise. when an old Norwegian
ship sent out n signal Of distress. We
couldn't So" anything tho matter. until
wr looked around and saw tho British
ship rcrShinE with it's stern entirely
GU; Of the water 1t seemed rs though
the shin would dive straight down To
tho bottom. when We heard an explosion.
Coming from The British Isles VIC saw
an airplanc and six torpedo boats. which
wcrc warned of thr presence of tho L.
boat. The Hirplancs saw tho spot whnr"
tho submarine submerged and rirclcd
around This spot continually. while the
torpedo hoats did tho same trick. maxi
ing - larger circle each time. and drop
ping depth bombs.
While this was going on all trans
ports put on fun speed ahead, not stop
ping 10 help tho distressed ones on the
thor transport. leaving this for the tor
pcdo boats. In about fifteen minutes
III" destroyer came hack. Will" tho men
wor" holding UP pieces of the subma-
rinc. T had n little sympathy for the
RoCheS who wrrr drowned In this en-
counter. hut after being Mt tho front
awhile. my respect for them grow very
small.
I've landed in London several hours
later and wcr" sent to rest camp
named Winchester. from there {" South
ampton where We crossed tho English
Channel n six hours landing at Thcrn-
houeh. France. being sent soon after 70
French rest camp.
within a few days W" were sent n
PONIES. along with \ carload OF rati0ns.
The engineer must have had orders not
10 stop for hn kept going along MS fast
as possible with the ralionS in another
car and We were stored away in another.
We did not cat Tor IN hours. OF Nnlli
VI reached PONIES.
II was placed in charg" &c Field Hos
pital No 3d6. In about two weeks I
received orders To take my company to
Parade. about Il distanr" Of sixty kiln-
meters or forty miles. W. started for
Parade about eight o'clock Sunday
morning and arrived IL our destination
TueSda;. morning. After fhr"" days at
Parade was ordered hack 10 PONIES. he
ing transferred 10 division headquarters.
rs division medical gas officer. Several
weeks later VIC were ordered UP to the
front. along with nineteen mon 10 n
town named Rns" Brown. near tho Ar
gonnc Forest. Hero We heard our first
shell fire. II seemed awful loud at first
but We did not mind it after awhile.
IT was lairr transferred close 10 the
frrnt rs rr,imental surgeon. where n
first aid station was established. ] was
thorn seventeen days. and in that tim"
saw tho hoys 20 over the top six times.
Hero is whore lost all respect for The
Krrhc and received dose nf gas. being
Scnt hack To field hospital. In about
month | WAS discharged and was ordered
back 10 the front until the armisticc
WAS signed
"Fnur kinds Of gas was usrd chiefly:
cloud gas. gas shells. gas projectors ard
mustard gas. Tho FIRST klnd was worry
seldom used rs ono had Ia depend too
much on tn" direction of tn" wind. Gas
shells w"r" fired from trench mnrtars.
hut were not liked as they did moi hold
enough. gas 10 do til" amount nf damage
that was wanted Mustard gas proved
tn he the meaucSt If all. 1t is fired
from high explosives gun. the shell
bursting while in tn" air OVER the enc
Iny's trench. One drop nf mustard gIG
viii Caus" a hli-trr foot square. The
Germans. though. did nor know what a
real g:rs attack was until IN" Americans
rnvr them an attack Cor - hours con-
,inIIuu sly T:rfnr.. this Tho longest gas
attack lasted i6 hours
"Thrrr were 80 10 Ihn casualties for
III" Americans during rvs" hour gas
attaCN. On invest igat ton il WAS fund
e, hai it WAS caused ny lack Of discipline
: man would l." tired out af'"r sc to as
hours without rest and would sit down
on n" firing step Just h"fmr" gas at
tack. !aking a rhanC" Of h"in~ sa%s"d
raj her ,har 10 stand M, i
Il rnunI = new roll ci"m Will" ~ tho
front Jus plain religion wh"n ,rrn
wrr going oyer 'hc top and N all prnha
h,lity some Ia their death. they would
curse, 4: I'll" sam" time praying % Cod
under their breath NJ d"nnmInaI ions
knew hut ono faith--nnc God. Their
J. ,S thai rrlii'ihn ic =