The Human Cost of the Great War
A local Y.M.C.A. representative shares harrowing reports from the trenches of France to rally Kennewick residents for an upcoming fundraising drive.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the battle of the Somme, behind two wounded Tommies came a German youth not more than 18 years of age. One eye was gone. In the eyeless socket a handkerchief was stuffed to stop the flow of blood. A Hun? No, not now, but a brother in distress. Out went the hand of one wounded Britisher and in it his own cup of chocolate; out went the other Tommy's hand and in it his own treasured cigarette. 'Thank God that our country is allied with a nation that believes in extending a helping hand to a wounded foe rather than running a bayonet thru him,' declared Mr. White in relating this instance. There are now probably 250,000 American soldiers on French soil. Already the casualty lists are coming home and soon down the wounded lane will reel the battered wrecks of our own loved ones. What are we going to do about it? Think it over and be ready for the Y. M. C. A. solicitor when he enters your office or knocks at your door.
“Thank God that our country is allied with a nation that believes in extending a helping hand to a wounded foe rather than running a bayonet thru him.”
This piece highlights the intense patriotic and humanitarian pressure felt by small-town Americans during World War I. While the 'wounded lane' is a metaphor here, the trauma described echoes the ongoing civic challenge of how a community supports its veterans when the cost of war returns home.
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