Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1917 — DEATH RATE ONE IN FIFTEEN [ARTICLE]

DEATH RATE ONE IN FIFTEEN

Risk of Fighting Man Not as Great as Imagined. Washington, D. C., August 23. That the risk of the fighting man is not nearly so great as is popularly imagined is the belief of marine corps officials here who ha\ e compiled statistics covering the allied "losses in the war. A careful estimate shows that only one man in fifteen is killed, and one out of 500 loses a limb. Recent reports from French and British hospitals show that about 95 per cent recover from wounds, while about 90 per cent are able to return to the firing line. While the marine corps officials hold unbiased views in regard to the expected casualties among their own troops in France, it is pointed out that the “soldiers of the sea” recently engaged in warfare in (Haiti, suffered less than 1 per cent losses. These were sustained while covering a wide terrain, fighting from house to house, and capturipg and holding small redoubts, taken one by one from the enemy. This method of warfare is said to be rapidly superseding the trench system -.on the western front.