The amount of sickness here is unimaginable. What is even worse is the ability to heal and help! But who can be blamed? This is war and we are all doing our part to help.
If one is to get hurt on the field, they either have to wait for the stretcher bearers who are assisted by the German prisoners occasionally, to retrieve them or are left to themselves to find a place where they can get medical attention.
A terrible thing the doctors and nurses must do is classify all the wounded. The ones with dire need of attention get help first followed by the ones who were capable of waiting a few hours. The ones whose recoveries seem unlike are simply left to die. I understand that the hospitals were flooded with people dying, and hospitals were short staffed as well but the thought of some men just not receiving help seems cruel.
A few of those ill and injured I've seen are those who have trench foot (the extreme swelling of one's foot), trench mouth ( an extreme pain in ones mouth that will cause bleeding), trench fever (a disease transmitted by lice). It was horrible seeing those wounded by machine guns and those suffering through burns due to poison gas. Some suffer through a difficult emotional state called shell shock.
The Canadian Army Medical Corps plays a huge role in saving the lives of our men. Without them illness and injury here would that much more tougher.
- https://sites.google.com/a/adamscott.ca/world-war-i-museum-feb-2010/illness-and-disease-medicine-room-for-the-first-world-war/injury-and-illness-by-ross-kayli-jenna
- http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/camc-e.aspx
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