World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, Canadian
From here he will be taken by an ambulance a few miles away to a
field ambulance station. This station may be in huts or tents, and is
probably receiving wounded from four or five dressing stations. After
that the wounded man goes to the casualty clearing station and finally,
if the case is bad enough, to the base hospital. When he is fit to move
again, he will be placed on board ship and brought over to a hospital
in England. As he slowly recovers he is taken out for pleasant drives,
and everything is done to make his time in the hospital pass quickly.
The attention given by the Red Cross nurses is simply splendid and it
is no wonder that the boys often sing the song, "I don't want to get
well."
A kind old lady was visiting one of the hospitals in England. She was
shown through a ward, where a number of wounded soldiers were lying
in bed. Being of an inquisitive turn of mind, she asked one of the
soldiers how he felt. His reply to her was, "I am not so bad, Lydy."
She then asked him if he had accounted for many Germans, and his reply
was: "I dunno, I did my best."
She then went to the next cot and asked the soldier in it the same
questions. His reply to her first question was: "I feel damn rotten."
This did not appear to shock the old lady, as she had previously heard
of some of this kind of soldierly language. However, she was not
deterred, and asked him how many Germans that he had accounted for.
His reply was very startling. "When I was in my first attack, I was
very savage, and all at once my pal, Bill, shouts out, 'Shike your
bynet (bayonet), Tom! Shike your bynet, Tom! You have got five of the
Bleeders on.'"
The old lady left the hospital highly delighted with the prowess of the
cockney soldier.
The Y.M.C.A. is doing wonderful work for the boys at the front. It
not only looks after the spiritual, moral and physical welfare of the
boys, but it also provides amusements and sports, moving pictures and
good concerts in which the fair sex are represented by a few of the
boys dressed up in very attractive and lady-like costumes. The reason
boys are substituted for the part of girls is due to the fact that no
ladies are allowed to come within the danger zone. However, we try to
fool ourselves into believing that these imitations are the real thing,
and at a distance they certainly look it. But your illusion is quickly
dispelled on a closer examination of their hands and feet, which are
too large and muscular for pretty young girls.
The Y.M.C.A. officials give good advice to the "boys" at all times.
Here they are supplied with pen, ink and note paper to write home.
In one particular Y.M.C.A. that I visited I noticed an inscription
which read as follows: "Write home to Mother to-day. She is anxiously
awaiting your letter."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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