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Show Brave Stretcher Bearers. I am writing this, says a man who has just come back from Over There, in order to point out one branch of the service whose, members seem to receive the least c red it tof any others in this war. It is Liken 'for granted thai every army has its corps of stretcher-bearers, hut the life ami work of then nu-u is seldom mentioned men-tioned to the daily papers. Durinsr my stay In Prance as a Ked Cross ambulance driver. I came iu tou'-h with a reat many of these "brancadiers." as they are called in French, and have come to admire ad-mire their splendid work, carried out in spite of tlie greatest danger, and I feel that these men should get all the glory that is coming to them. They ore usually men who have passed the middle age of life, and are more or less hardened to the terrible work they have to do. Most of them seem to have been in some professional work before the war burst over their heads. Their work is to bring the wounded from tlie field back to a "Poste de Secours," where the wounded receive their first treatment. The "bram-adiers' follow an attack and bring in their "blesses" on small push-earls, push-earls, which consist of a stretcher hung on two wheels, and it usually takes three j or four men to get It over the shell-torn i roads. They go out in the open field with 1 absolutely no arms and nothing to protect pro-tect them except a steel helmet and their red cross sewn on the left arm. They work In plain view of the machine guns and artillery lire, but there is no seeking safety in a shell-hole when danger becomes be-comes imminent, because they have a dutv to perform which requires instant action, and any chance of safety must not be taken until they have made cer-j cer-j tain of the safety of the man they are i bringing in. Thousands of Iheso men have been ' killed since the war began, and hundreds are being killed every day. No army could exist in this war if it was not for these men, who continually cairy on their I work of mercy, and, iu my opinion, de-pcrve de-pcrve more credit than they get and might be calWl the "Unknown Heroes." IJusion Transcript. |