Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-12-05

tire regiments were not unusual. la
the industrial cities girls of 1912 ac-
costed soldiers. Young boys dragged
Girls in isolated villages were de-
tanned all day for a loaf of army
bread or an outworn coat.
Many respectable women were
driven to prostitution through the
hunger and misery of demolished
villages. and the cessation of factory
production in cities. While these
names are not found on any casualty
list. they are not the least lamenta-
BILE victims OF modern warfare.
Aspirants to Glory
Returning to the battlefield of hon
or, do not overlook the miracle of a
hand grenade exploding in your face;
there may be nothing left of you but
m shoe flung 80 feet away: or of
shrapnel shattering every conceiva-
BILE bone in your body. hardly giving
you time TO be aware of the scarlet
robe Of glory in which you are
draped. In a more serious mood
schrapnel tore off half the chest of "a
soldier. leaving a hole of serrated
tissue sickening in sight and dimen-
sion. In another dOcumented in
stance it Whitfield the thigh Of flesh,
leaving beefy. raw. dripping strands.
What chance has human flesh against
bullets that will pierce armor six
inches thick,
Other scenes may entice the would
be hero. A veteran of my acquain-
lance told how an aerial bomb COM
pletely decapitated the camp cook
Is he prepared breakfast in a stable.
Another aspirant to fame was flung
so feet atop a tree trunk. His body
dangled grotesquely for two weeks
before it was hauled down. its ghast-
disintegration matched only by It's
OF course you do not like to hear
these facts. But do not blame ME if
'hese facts are revolving; you ma
he the one TO help sponsor anothe~
war to end war. You may be the one
TO return to your sweetheart "A eu-
much. You may be the one to peer
Mt lovely sunsets-with two hollow,
sockets.
After a big drive it became rou-
tine to declare temporary truce while
those who had manned the butcher
ing cleaned up the dead and the parts
thereof before the wind brought in
the p~aralyzing smell. After the clean.
up each side settled down to piling
up more dead. There is no lack of
inanity to the procedure.
You will want to get a glimpse of
the stage right after the orgy. Ii is a
ramshackle panorama of corpses
strewn among boulders, corrugated
pits and broken machinery. A leg
stands all by itself. A hundred feet
away is a hand. the fingers stiffly
outstretched and turning purple.
they belong to the soldier
whose trunk, only, juts from the
she'll hole.
In the jungle of broken guns and
Iacerated flesh you will find corpses
to fotness by cotton tanks.
Look about: a head is twisted
around completely. A pelvis is swung
violently out of line by she'll concus-
sion. An eye socket has been sliced
away, but mockingly the other one
blinks as the hands convulse-mind
you, there is no sound just spamod-
ic jerkings. Next to the breathing
corpse lies another with the brains
out of a smashed skull. Ad-
on the field replendent in vic
-ory. are the fellows who got in the
way when the order was Fire at the
groini"
Noble Servitude
And the agony of each living suf-
rises in dolorous monotone. Oc-
through, a few gasps follow, witch
Ings, droopings of the eyelids-then
silence. Another body sinks sliding
noiselessly into the lush. And at
night come the all-drenching rains,
which battle the dead and those
still living, and the next morning the
swell of agony is heard yet more
Noble servitude was given its
noble due.
If you have the heart-those Of
you, especially, who may be seduced
to seek GLORY eternal"-stop back
10 the field hospital.
Trucks rumble in with the wound
ed, but shell-torn roads jerk the last
bit of life out of many and the stone
dead roll in with the near-dead. The
wounded are taken inside. In that
atmosphere of extreme hurry, the
reek of disinfectant and gangrene
above the groans that forever
rise and ebb. Never mind how cal
loused, you feel something in YOU
give way at the sight of rows upon
of white cots each housing a
figure heavily bandaged, each star
ing CLASSIFY.
Few move. Each one means, Each
begs to be told the truth. Nurse,
will | see again." Sure you'll see,"
a nurse soothes. We've only ban
daged your eyes" But that fellow is
blinded for life. and the nurse knows
it. You gulp when she tells you this
and your fist c~lenches. You want to
help him but you can't.
You view the effects of a bayonet
and ask why the hole. You are told
the assailant couldn't pull back the
blade because it had stuck between
vertebrae, so he shot his rife to
make the hole bigger. Some yank
it loose you are reminded.
On the operating able you look at
4 fellows chest which resembles