Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 152, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1915 — Bravest on Earth, He Calls Belgians [ARTICLE]

Bravest on Earth, He Calls Belgians

Most Badly Wounded of Albert's Men Just “Grin and Bear It,* ' Says Surgeon

That the Belgian army, though greatly reduced la numbers, is still to the fore In the most desperate of the hand-to-hand encounters with the Invaders of their country, and that they are unexcelled for absolute pluck and daring, Is shown in a letter from a British medical officer engaged In the removal of Belgian wounded from a port on the French coast to England. The letter was reproduced in a recent Issue of The Edinburgh Scotsman as follows:

"Wo were pitchforked on board a Belgian hospital ship to carry wounded Belgians to Southampton. Ws ware a busy party—four doctors, two nurses and twenty rattling good chaps of the Royal Army Medical Corps. My word, we did work. Thera wars 40S wounded Belgians that trip, and out of that number 230 were cases on stretchers. Soma of them were terribly injured and we dealt with them on the way over.

"One ™k", a Major, had ten shrapnel bullets In each leg, causing compound fractures. The wounded were a par ti«nt lot They are most wonderful fellows, the Belgians. I think they must be about the bravest chaps on earth. You never hear a groan or a from any of them, hey just grin and bear it, poor devils. "You people at home can not possibly realize what war la like. 1 know I didn't till 1 came out here, but I know now. The need for establishing new hospital accommodation as the fighting moves backward or forward will be recognized, and you will understand how it is that we must be ready to be pitchforked anywhere at a moment’s notice and even to find patients from the fighting line awaiting os. That happened once. And to see the poor chaps (Belgians) In the streets, with nowhere to sleep, and no grab, and some of them almost collapsed with exhaustion —and one man helping another —would almost make you cry. That didn’t last long. We had a good hospital going In. no time at all, but It was one of the things which most happen in war.

"On a subsequent voyage with three hundred patients we had a fearful passage owing to a storm. Half the staff went down seasick and nearly all the wounded. It was an awful time for the poor beggars. And there we were, grabbing here and there and sliding around and helping them all we could. Bnt we landed them all right, and not a death. How’s that? No deaths out of 700 taken over in two journeys. I was a proud, proud lad. We all were."