| Show i I American Boy Tells Efforts to Save cave Wounded Under Fire ES The following letter was written by Robert Redfield Hedfield Jr a University of Chicago student who went to France to serve In the ambulance corps and who Is In the section awarded the CroIx de do Guerre The letter was written written written writ writ- ten to his family I know lenow there Is certainly no way that In writing I can give you any Idea of the experiences I have passed through and the things I have seen I might Just as well confine my remarks to I am well and hope you are the same At present I am nm writing on a hardwood hardwood hardwood hard hard- wood table under an electric desk lamp I am nm within a few hundred yards of ot the German trenches and hell heH hellse Ose se above me But here It Is per pcr- per per-I I quiet I am three stories below belowground belowground ground In a R sort of catacomb Here I wait walt till Ull my car is needed The aIrIs air airIs airIs Is fresh but some somewhat hat damp the place Is dark cluttered with stretchers pass In and out Must Forget Forge All Feeling Across the table sits an officer at ata ata ata a telephone switchboard Every little while while perhaps perhaps once every five minutes min min- utes men utes-men men come In by the communIcation communication communication cation trenches bearing silent dirty bloody lumps They are carried under acetylene lights In a small room In the second cellar and the surgeons slit the filthy woolen and begin their work I am surprised at the excellent control control control con con- I have over my nerves This afternoon afternoon afternoon aft aft- I opened a box bos of sardines carefully spread the fish on a hunk of bread and ate the light lunch with relish while the priest heard confession confession confession confes confes- sion from a torn and crushed ghastly thing b beneath which the red patch grew and grew In spite of the lint bandages I know It sounds heartless but one has to develop the faculty of giving opiates to ones one's sympathetic reactions It Is only afterwards that I remember remember remember re re- re- re member these horrors and shudder shudder- a o man with face torn away a shameful shameful shame shame- ful animal thing out of which came came a slight Indescribable sound a man suffering suffering suffering suf suf- fering from shell shock mind mod gone ever every muscle of his body crawling crawling But enough of that Work In Hell of Noise Well If I am on deck and they have a load of ot wounded ready I emerge from the quiet cavern Into a world where the sky Is shattered split sund sundered red by report after report The earth shakes and quivers Airplanes Airplanes Air Air- Airplanes planes above below German artillery artillery ar ar- ar- ar tillery over the hill hili whinIng Ing lag shrapnel the shriek of shells passIng pass pass- Ing above above above-a a hell of noises Somehow Eames and I start the engine we receive our freight of wounded we lire ire off ort at first through the narrow cluttered streets of a I place where a n town once was Then we dip Into a stretch of road rond marked on our maps unavoidably dangerous It Is about three quarters of a n mile long Up the valley vaHey we can see the German positions You Tou can imagine that we dont don't stop to pick wild flowers ers on this place Bang bang whine crash everywhere In spite of the souls In agony behind us us in spite of piteous and pas si sl rites we tear madly down this stretch with every ounce of power pow pow- er the car has Once safe around the corner we go slowly until we deliver our load at the hospital Shells Hit Three Cars Cara Three of our cars have been hit bit by two put temporarily out of commission One car hit a new shell- shell hole two nights a ago o and tipped over The driver left the car car to find a telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone and when he returned he found a shell sheH had passed through the drivers driver's drivers driver's ers er's seat I have no hatred of the Germans Somehow I am beyond that Even when they came down In airplanes on our hospital the other night and with bombs killed and wounded 14 Including In Inv eluding nurses I could not summon hatred only hatred only horror and wonder On one trip down from the Poste de Secours I carried a half dozen French doctors of ot Importance and one wounded man a couche of considerable consider consider- considerable able Interest He TIe was a Prussian first lieutenant the highest officer taken In Inthe Inthe inthe the recent attack After lying In the trenches for a day he was brought In with the remaining French wounded When we unloaded him I addressed him In German Guten morgen Herr Lieutenant wie Sic sich l' l He answered In German but I soon discovered dis dis- discovered covered that he spoke excellent Eng Eng- gUsh glish I had only admiration for him he had such control over himself Victim Betrays No Pain He lIe lay there on his stretcher on the ground In the center of a ring of questioning Frenchmen One leg was badly torn tom his face with thin straight nose thin colorless lips Ups and wide Intellectual intellectual In In- eyes betrayed no pain or any emotion As he answered the questioners ners In his beautiful flawless Trench he took off oft his round shell- shell rimmed glasses and with a piece of rag cleaned them with meticulous care settling them back on his ears It was quite a sight eight I am en repos' repos now for two days Then I shall Ishall have two days of the theand sate safe and easy work of evacuation e th two more of repose This Is good after 48 hours' hours duty doty at the Poste de Secours |
