Show HOW AMERICAN YOUTH GOT THE FRENCH MEDAL wounded driving ambulance he Is given highest military honor ARE DOING A GREAT WON qa american ambulance drivers remarkable experiences shown in extracts from letters to friends and relatives in this country new york about young americans are engaged in driving in the different services of the american ambulance hospital in paris some idea of the great work they are performing Is contained la in extracts from letters sent to relatives and friends in this country the latest of these communications Is from william 11 barber twenty one year old son of J A barber lawyer of toledo and onetime one time judge in the ohio courts young barber Is now recovering from a serious wound received inthe in the performance of his duty at verdun where he displayed such exceptional bravery that he was decorated by the french authorities with the alre the highest medal for military valor in france young barber started from this port on may alay 6 and was wounded on june 20 ills his captain lovering Loverl ng hill in reporting his case to the ambulance hospital said the boy was driving his ambulance with three wounded soldiers at midnight along one of the most dangerous roads at verdun ile he was forced to stop by shells bursting ahead of him during a lull full in the firing he started again when a shell burst a few yards away many small fragments struck him one penetrating a lung and another his side notwithstanding his wounds he went on until lie he tell fell sli showing as his captain said the most splendid pluck doing dangerous work with enthusiasm and coolness recovering from tile the effects of his Av wounds mr barber wrote from his cot in the american ambulance hospital the following letter on june 30 to his parents tore side and legs dear folks at home abroad and grandma four nights ago I 1 had a pretty narrow escape I 1 can mention no names here but this is the gist of the story 1 I was driving my car with ith three wounded soldiers in it along a road that was being shelled well I 1 got in a the midst of a pretty hot shower so I 1 stopped toy my car and got under it A few minutes later I 1 supposed it was blowing over so I 1 got out I 1 had no sooner got out when I 1 heard one of those big ob coming the loudest I 1 had ever heard I 1 run ran to the front of my car crouching down in front of the radiator when it burst ft It struck ray my car 1 I was only hurt a little I 1 was not disfigured in any way it tore my side and legs a little the french treated me wonderfully I 1 succeeded in getting the next american ambulance driven by wheeler a great ecat boy who took me to the city of whore where our post Is here I 1 was given first rid aid and the medical chief personally conducted me in tin an american ambulance in tile the middle of the oie night to a very goof good hospital they say BUY I 1 have lieve the best doctor in france in paris well I 1 woke up the next neat day in a hed bed and have been recuperating ever si sacco rice everyone is wonderful to me general retain second to joffre has das stopped in to shake ha ads with me and many are my 4 congratulations on too for above my bed hangs the Medal llo tile the greatest eanest honor the french can give rn lyone really keally I 1 am proud although dont deserve it any more than the pest feast please ilease excuse my ego egotism tisla just BA as good as new isi in dxee tt ree or four our days I 1 go to the spite at neuilly Keu Neu llly where I 1 can have every comfort of course you yon wont worry about me I 1 will be just as good as new soon and really this Is true tile the germans peppered the life out of my car no one goes over the road in daylight but the fellows brought me back the next day a handful of bullets taken from it and said they could get me a bushel more it if I 1 desired them for three days I 1 was not allowed to ent eat or drink and could hardly move in bed my spirits were high too I 1 will try to write bett better erand and take more pa pains I 1 ns goodby WILLIAX neuilly sur belne july 10 1916 11 later lie he wrote dear folks well I 1 am here and line ills this Is a 1 wonderful ho hospital altal and they surely treat you great I 1 am just getting back to normal and have no temperature the doctors here are the best in the world and surely know their business when my wounds heal up which they are fast doing I 1 will be just as good as new no scars at all I 1 am very happy here and hope every day that you are as aa happy and never worry about me I 1 think I 1 have done a small part of a great work and my medal lle shows what the french think of my services it Is given for discipline and valor and by the way what amuses me there Is an annual pension of loof I 1 have been treated wonderfully since I 1 have it given to me 1 I am the only ambulance boy who has been given a Medal lle and I 1 am told hat mr BaI balsley SICY ra an american evl avla r Is the only other american ato has it WILLIAM driving under fire another letter vividly describing the experiences of ambulance drivers at the front was sent bent by the young american who volunteered to take charge of the first ambulance provided by members of the new york stock exchange in that letter to his parents the writer says well im still alive and kicking hut but the lord only knows why I 1 finally started work at verdun on the alst of june I 1 quit the ath of july I 1 hope never to put in a reign of terror like that again the first night we started we were greeted with a gas attack and had to wear our masks tor for about three hours luckily they were the weeping kind that Is it makes you cry like the devil if you breathe enough of it it makes you very sick but it the asphyxiating asphyxia ting kind we went from verdun to a posts poste de secours just behind the first line trenches about yards away from the boches it was in the cellar of what remained of a house the rest res t of the place was nothing but plies piles of bricks etc there was another post half way between and another a little farther to the left the road out was under continual shell fire all the time and the he second night they shelled the poste de secours very heavily I 1 came up the road and just at the entrance to tile the little town met inet waldo who sold said that they were shelling the place and to be careful I 1 started on and then whistle and boom just ahead of we me at tile side of the rond road a shower of stones etc no damage I 1 went on got into a bunch of soup kitchens which were blocking bloching tile the road and stalled my motor metor I 1 got out to crank it just got it going when the next one lie arrived something lilt rue me on oil the ankle and knocked me over I 1 got up found my leg all wet and no feeling in it so I 1 concluded I 1 was wounded 1 I 1 got in tile car and started buck back to vei verdun dun to get it fixed li ted I 1 got about three hundred yards away anti anil then began to feel things in it so I 1 f felt I 1 it gain it seemed all right and my hands red so I 1 concluded u 1 wounded and it must have afen cell a piece of brick that lilt hit me so I 1 turned around and kent ent back again and sonic some more shells arrived found dawson and we took to a shell hole and lay there about fifteen minutes berber barber and johnson were lying under their cars just in front of us it let up for a while and we went on to the poste found another man changing a tire in front of the poste with purt part of the front of his car gone lie ile invited rue me to aid him I 1 refuse but I 1 never felt so BO like killing a person in my life the crazy idiot sitting bitting there changing a shoe with alth shrapnel bursting nil around aron nill 1 time he beard a whistle bed dive wn der his car A narrow escape two brancard lere lers were killed right alongside of hlin him and ho he want scratched well we got the tire on in a jiffy and he went off J just ili as he got to the end of the town one lit III behind him and wounded the three bles blesses bleses es who were inside but touch him film at all that was the worst night we had find really our french lieutenant found two shrapnel balls in his clothes but he want touched waldo had put hill pocketbook in his left band brewit breast pocket for the first time rn his life that night a shrapnel ball went clear through it and all the clothes but he touched two men were killed right beside him tile the night of the poor barber got wounded a piece in his lung one in his stomach and a large chunk as big as your fist out ot of his back however he Is getting on very well and la Is very happy as lie he had the dl distinction of being the lie only american ambulance driver to have ever received the Medal Aleda lle ille alre the whole see section la Is also very proud and happy proud that one of us got it and happy because he Is all right and to la getting well 1 I rolled all day the covering kilometers and carrying eighteen couches and six assis nil all night so I 1 had twenty six hours of rolling of course I 1 stopped for a bite of lunch and supper then I 1 rolled every night until we we are now hack back on repos and were all dead tired car has holes or mudguards mud guards or something smashed mine aline was as very lucky and Is whole and intact with the exception of a section of the rear mudguard about a toot foot long iong which was beat up by an artillery wagon half the section went into paris yesterday for forty eight hours bours permission granted for the good work we had done e etc tc the frerich french lieutenant gave the other half of us usa it dinner last night which was vas very good fun at which he announced that mr hill had been cited again that being his third citation abill ill give him a palm oaf leaf and that jackson dark clark and I 1 know he be very pleased I 1 also would receive the croix do de guerre when lie called out my name I 1 was so darned surprised that I 1 must have looked at him very queerly because he said yes you I 1 asked hill why ully I 1 got it later and what he said meant a great deal more to me than receiving the 0 G however I 1 know be pleased reign of terror over the reign of terror Is over ana it all seemed like a bad dream ive still got a black and blue spot on my I 1 leg where the brick hit me but all thank the lord I 1 hope we dont strike anything like that again 1 I cant explain my feelings about it except that I 1 was terrified absolutely and how I 1 managed to go out night after night and on an average of three trips a night I 1 dont know the psychology of the thing is extraordinary there were certain spots in the road where you yon felt perfectly safe and others where I 1 just had to make myself go through verdun though under continual shell fire was always a blessed relief in fact I 1 slept like a baby there one from nine until twelve before I 1 started everybody says the same thing you cant imagine the strain youre under everybody was snap snapping at each ot other her all the time about nothing just from want of sleep ive slept from about ten until five during the day at least I 1 always did some of the boys used to get up for lunch but I 1 slept instead and was glad of it because I 1 lasted much better at night that way TOM |