The Wounded in the Field

In action these three chaplains reported at the Advanced Dressing Stations as soon as an attack was expected and took their places alongside the Roman Catholics, staying there while the battle lasted, It was work of great value and intense activity. All through the night of an attack and all the next day the doctors worked continuously till the last wounded man had been treated, and in this period the chaplains were constantly on their feet. They met each ambulance and talked to each man. Sometimes they stood by the stretcher as the doctor dressed a man's wounds, or else they went off to another tent where the men lay after treatment. Their time was fully occupied in giving religious ministration or in little acts of page 72 personal kindness, which varied from carrying a stretcher to promising to send a cable. And of course there were the inevitable burials. Although it was sometimes suggested that, where possible, all the dead should be sent back to the dressing stations for burial, this was seldom done. The advantages would have been the concentration and careful marking of graves and the avoidance of funerals within range of enemy shellfire.