The Triage was a central “clearing house” to which sick, wounded, and gassed cases were
brought to be registered and treated, and from which they were evacuated to another hospital handling
the particular type of case. Splint cases were examined and necessary changes made, wounds were
classified as serious or slight, and each patient was tagged with the number of the hospital to which he
was to be sent. Cases of shock were retained and treated in the shock ward especially fitted up for this
work, the attendants being specially trained. During this period of waiting, patients were given hot
nourishment, their wet clothing and shoes were removed and replaced by dry garments, and the patients
were then wrapped in blankets, in order to keep them warm and comfortable.
The chain of evacuation during action began when the wounded were picked up by company
stretcher-bearers and regimental first-aid men and carried to the advance dressing station. Under the
direction of the regimental surgeon, each battalion surgeon established one of these stations as near the
firing-line as possible. Operating under shell and machine gun fire, the activity of these men, of
necessity, was confined to first-aid work. Hemorrhages were controlled, wounds cleansed, bandages
applied, splints adjusted in case of broken bones, an injection of anti-tetanic serum given and the patient
tagged and sent to the rear as soon as possible – on foot, if he were able to walk; by ambulance, if the
drivers were able to reach the aid station; or by ambulance stretcher-bearers, if the ambulances were
some distance away.
The ambulances carried on the work from the point where the first-aid men left off. Usually the
ambulance drivers went right to the aid station, thus relieving the stretcher-bearers of the long and
tedious work of carrying the wounded great distances. The ambulance companies also established
dressing stations at which the wounded made their second stop on their way to the rear. Here dressings
and splints were examined and readjusted when necessary, gas cases were stripped and mustard gas
cases bathed. To the satisfactory manner in which this was done must be credited the small number of
cases of shock and extensive mustard burns arriving at the field hospitals. From the ambulance dressing
stations the wounded were transported by ambulances to the Triage.
During the St. Mihiel offensive, Ambulance Company No. 357, under command of Captain
(later Major) Daniel Jones, operated a dressing station at Camp Jonc Fontaine, serving the 179th
Brigade. Ambulance Company No. 359 under command of Captain (later Major) Will S. Horn,
operated a dressing station at Jezainville, serving the 180th Brigade. Ambulance Company No. 358,
under command of Captain W. W. Phillips, was charged with the evacuation from the Triage to the
various field hospitals and the evacuation hospitals in and near Toul. Ambulance Company No. 360,
under command of Captain Van D. Barnes, which was horse drawn, was held in reserve. Early on the
morning of September 12 the litter-bearer sections of Ambulance Companies Nos. 357 and 359 were
supplemented by eighty men from Ambulance Company No. 360 joining the battalion aid stations. On
the second day of the drive, Ambulance Company No. 357 advanced its dressing station to Fey-en-Haye,
and Ambulance Company No. 359 moved its station forward to Montauville. On September 20, when
the sector had been stabilized, Ambulance Company No. 357 put an advance dressing station in Vilcey-
sur-Trey, and Ambulance Company No. 358 established a station at Viéuville-en-Haye when the
division sector was extended westward. As the 357th Infantry could be reached by motor vehicles only
by means of a long detour, four horse-drawn ambulances were used for evacuation duty between the
sector of the 357th Infantry and Fey-en-Haye.
Both during and after the offensive the ambulance men manifested a calm disregard for personal
danger that won them universal praise. Three ambulances were put out of action by direct hits by enemy
shells. Particularly noticeable was the action of the ambulance men evacuating wounded after the raids
made in the Puvenelle sector. During the night of September 23 the ambulances made four trips each
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