True Stories of the Great War, Volume 5 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 5 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
Owing to the probable proximity of the enemy I had to bear in mind the
necessity for all possible speed, which was awkward, as they required
very careful handling. However, I hurried up as much as I was able.
Sudden manoeuvring or the shock of shells hitting us might make our
work impossible. Firstly, iodine was applied to the majority of wounds
and their immediate area, and a fresh temporary dressing applied. Then
ably assisted by the sick-berth steward and two first-aid men, I spent
the next few hours in endeavoring to get these, for the most part, very
dirty patients, as clean as possible. It should be added that, at this
stage, morphia was administered by hypodermic injection to three or
four cases, and again once or twice during the night. It was found to
be very beneficial.
Many of the men had lost an arm and a leg, and in some cases both arms
and legs. Several poor fellows had their faces almost entirely blown
away.
I had prepared masks of lint for the faces, specially medicated, to
relieve the terrible burns caused by the picric acid used in shells.
A German seaman, a brawny young fellow, suffered much pain and
considerable loss of blood from a wound in his left foot. Examination
showed the presence of a piece of metal, embedded in the lower part of
the instep, from underneath which steady oozing of blood was occurring.
I put the patient under chloroform, and he was kept lightly under,
most excellently, by the Paymaster, while I removed the fragment of
shell and many pieces of loose bone. The removal proved more difficult
than I had anticipated, owing to the numerous "talons" the piece of
shell possessed. These pointed in all directions, and were embedded in
the bones of the foot so firmly that it was rather like the extraction
of a huge molar with a dozen or more distorted fangs. The fragment
weighed some six ounces, and its removal gave the patient great relief.
A German seaman had compound comminuated fracture of right radius,
ulna, and humerus, due to a huge wound in the neighborhood of the
elbow. Multiple wounds of face and body and a scalp wound. This man
appeared to be suffering from severe shock, was at times wandering in
his mind, but at others quite clear. The wound in the scalp was found
later to penetrate the skull in the left frontal region. He died after
several days in hospital.
IV--"IT WAS VERY FINE SPORT"
A sub-lieutenant I discovered sitting in the wardroom with his legs
upon a chair. He had sustained a "lozenge-shaped" clean cut shell wound
in the middle of right thigh, about 5 inches by 2 inches, and passing
deeply through the anterior muscles. He was very cheery and was only
anxious to get back to his work, which he did after two or three weeks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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