Friends of France : $b The Field Service of the American Ambulance described by its membersVarious
History
Friends of France : $b The Field Service of the American Ambulance described by its members
Various
American Field Service; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
Early one morning there was an urgent call for a single wounded. The
man's comrades gathered around the little car to bid their friend
good-bye. He was terribly wounded and going fast. "See," said one of
them to the man on the stretcher, "you are going in an American car.
You will have a good trip, old fellow, and get well soon. Good-bye
and good luck!" They forced a certain cheerfulness, but their voices
were low and dry, for they saw death creeping into the face of their
comrade. The driver took his seat and was starting when he was asked
to wait. "Something for him," they said. When the car arrived at the
hospital, the man was dead. He was cold and must have died at the start
of the trip. The driver regretted the delay in leaving. Why had they
asked him to wait? Then he saw that the ambulance was covered with
sprigs of lilac and little yellow field flowers. The men knew the car
would serve as a hearse.
Once an American ambulance was really pressed into service as a hearse
in a very touching funeral. A young lieutenant, the son of a prominent
and influential official, had been killed in a gallant action. The
family had been granted permission to enter the lines and attend the
funeral. The young officer, who but a few days before his death had
won his commission, was held in the deepest affection by his company,
and they arranged that, as something very special, he should have a
hearse. A car from Section "Y" was offered, and went to the church in
the hamlet back of the trenches. The soldiers literally covered the
ambulance with flowers and branches, and then stood waiting with the
great wreaths they had brought in their hands. The little group emerged
from the partly wrecked church, and the flag-covered coffin was slid
into the car. The _cortège_, headed by a white-robed priest and two
censer boys, wound slowly down the tortuous path that the troops follow
on their way to the trenches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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