Before finishing my soup the nurse came back
to ask me my name and number. She put this
information down in a little book and then asked:

"Where do you come from?" I answered:

"From the big town behind the Statue of Lib-
erty "; upon hearing this she started jumping up
and down, clapping her hands, and calling out to
three nurses across the ward:

"Come here, girls—at last we have got a real
live Yankee with us."

They came over and besieged me with questions,
until the doctor arrived. Upon learning that I was
an American he almost crushed my hand in his
grip of welcome. They also were Americans, and
were glad to see me.

The doctor very tenderly removed my bandages
and told me, after viewing my wounds, that he
would have to take me to the operating theater
immediately. Personally I didn't care what was
done with me.

In a few minutes, four orderlies who looked like
undertakers dressed in white, brought a stretcher
to my bed and placing me on it carried me out of
the ward, across a courtyard to the operating
room or "pictures," as Tommy calls it.
I don't remember having the anæsthetic applied.

-268-