Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 264, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1917 — AMERICANS TELL VERDUN HORRORS [ARTICLE]

AMERICANS TELL VERDUN HORRORS

College Students Who Drove Ambulances Won Honors Before Enlisted Men Came. BATTERED VETERANS RETURN One Volunteer Describes Havoc Wrought by Shell Dropped Among Stretcher Bearers. —Two Hit While Helping Wounded. New York.—Some of the American college boys who went over to France last May as ambulance drivers for the excitement of the work behind the firing lines are returning home because the ambulance work has been taken over by the United/' States army and will be done by regular enlisted men. The following is ah extract from a letter written by a Williams boy two weeks ago, who went over with bls college unit to drive an ambulance at the front: . . The last six weeks we have been

serving in the Verdun sector with our base at Biercourt, which is eightjmiles from the town of Verdun. There are two front posts for the ambulances— Mort Homme hill and Hill 304. which have figured in the news of the new battle of Verdun. For two weeks the French were preparing for the attack, and the roads were only passable at night. The communication trenches were awful to get through, and were made worse by the heavy rains. One night iqst week two of the boys got lost in the darkness and could not find their way with their ambulance to the post/ Finally they sighted two dark objects, which resembled French soldiers walking along with theii; big overcoats on. After jabbering their peculiar brand of-French for 15 minutes without receiving any reply the lost ambulance drivers discovered that the dark moving objects were two American army mules, unable to speak or understand a word of French. Hit While Helping Wounded. “Two of our chaps were badly wounded at one of the first-aid stations while helping to load wounded men into the ambulance. One was blown right through the? door of the shelter hut and was discovered lying unconscious beside three dead French soldiers. It® boys who got tljem out had to go through a gas attack and a barrage fire. Two of them—each ambu-

lance has two drivers —had no time to get masks and were very sick after it was over? “but they were, going so fast that there were no fatal results from the gas. “ ‘Mac,’ one of our fraternity, has been wounded in eight places. He lost his right leg and two fingers, while his companion, ‘Vet,’ will have a stiff leg all his life from the effects of his wounds. They have both got the War Cross and military medals. “The worst experience of all happened to two of our college boys—Jim Alexander and Taffy Young. While they were driving along a road lined with batteries, which the Germans were trying to locate, with a wounded man lying in the ambulance, a shell burst right beside them. “Just before that the wounded man sat up and asked for a cigarette, and the shrapnel passed through the car where his head hafi been resting a few seconds before and strtick the stretcher bearer, who was looking out to see where we were. He died that afternoon. Had Jim not ducked he would have lost a leg. and if Taffy had ducked he would have been badly wounded. The anjlmlance was-shotto pieces by the shell, and they had to hold up the dying man for three hours until assistance came. During the attack we had about twenty-four hours sleep out of 184 hours, which was a fair average for all the ambulance drivers In our sector. During the German air raids one shell burst within twenty-five feet~PfJ3ur camp at Bler,court at midnighVThe roads are nearly impassable now for automobiles. We have been-treated very nicely by the French colonel _in .command branch depot, who feasted with champagne, cakes and cigars, and has given us seats for all the shows gotten up by the French soldiers. Volunteer Spirit Gone. “Several colonels and majors of the American Red Cross have visited us to see what we are going to do now. They all admitted tha’t we could do more for our country by enlisting in the regular army in Paris. This is. for all the able-bodied men in the, ambulance service. We were asked to enlist, |f we preferred, in the ambulance service for the duration of the war, but-It would not be the same. Most of the boys declined, and we are going to Paris to join up, including myself. Thepld/A'oiunteer spirit in the ambulance borps has gone forever—so now for the United States artillery or air service in search of adventure.”