STRUCK BY SHRAPNEL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2603, 27 October 1915, Page 7

STRUCK BY SHRAPNEL

EXPERIENCE OF A CLYBE QUA* TEACHER THE AMBULANCE SQUAD. Privato A. East, an ex-teacher of the Clyde Quay School, writing from tho c Hospital at Malta, August 24, t says: "I could not havo fallen into t hotter hands, for tlie doctor —Captain Cameron —has been kindness itself, and ] the sister is very careful and gentle 'i when touching my cranium. Hut I sup- t poso I had bettor tell you how it all S happened. Our people had effected a 1 new landing on tho Peninsula, and the lighting was more severe than at the ' first. Our ambulanco squad had been ■ going strong for five nights and days, . and had brought a poor chap down. , There was no shelter near the beach, . and we wore going across the first open space, which was particularly danger- i ous oil account of snipers, when we • heard a shell coming, but it seemed to be fairly high, and I went on, intending to take cover at the end of the flat, where there was a creek. However, all | I remember is a funn.v sensation similar ■ to going off under chloroform. I don't remember dropping down, but when I j came to I was in tho dressing station ' with Major Grant. ' There were so many wounded to get off that T was thero for two days before I could be got off to tho hospital ship, but it was grand to get! there'and into bed once more. We tljen went to Jmbros for a day or two, ttien to Lemnos, and then on to Malt;!, I did' not enjoy tho passage, as my head felt as if a huge nerve was exposed to the air. 'j'iie doctor said I had a most wonderful eseapo from death. I have got. the leaden pellet 'that wrought the deed.' I am able to sit up and write, but my left arm and leg seem as heavy as lead, and when the doctor rubbed a nail brush across my foot I could not tell what it was. The outlook from our window is very beautiful and pleasant, the . blue Mediterranean on one side, and the white substantial residences and magnificent cathedral on the other. Yesterday .friend .whom I met in the hospital ship ,'tbok me in to the gardens, and although 'my leg feels heavy I got along with the aid of a stick. We had afternoon tea and cakes, the first for five months •Mt seemed worth being a bit 'crook' to enjoy the privileges of civilisation once more —and came back for proper tea, when we had scrambled eggs on . tcast, and I felt rather like a kiddy off to a "tea fight" for the first time.* Mr. Hercus, from Wellington, who went to .study at Cambridge, came on me with a great surprise yesterday. He offered his services as electrician to the War Office, and is now here managing the X-ray room at one of the hospitals. He came again to-day, and brought some papers and- letters from the college boys I know. I'm as happy as possible and a bit excited over going to dear old England." A cablegram received last week _ said that Private East was at the Flixton Hydropathic Hospital for massage battery treatment.