Bob Wright
Hawkeye
(There is no moral nor informational substance to this story. Related as a matter of interest only.)
This story was told to me by my friend, Donna Chipman, a member of my church.
Donna's maternal grandfather was a sharpshooter in World War I. He was severely wounded during a battle. Afterwards, a detail came by picking up the wounded. Those who were expected to survive were placed in an ambulance, those not likely to survive were placed on a flat bed, horse drawn wagon. As her grandfather was critical, he was placed on the wagon. In placing him on the wagon, his identification tags swung out from his shirt. The officer in charge of the detail noted his ID as a sharpshooter, and had him placed in an ambulance.
This soldier recovered, too late to go back into combat as the Armistice had been signed by the time he recovered. He was sent back home and was discharged. He attributed his life being saved by his ID tags and so continued to wear them after discharge.
Later he went hunting near Atoka, Tennessee, then thick bottom land woods, and good hunting. As he stalked, he realized his ID tags were making noise, so he stopped, took them off and placed them very carefully in the fork of a tree, marking the spot to return for them.
Unfortunately, he left by a different route and failed to get his tags back. It was a couple of years, or more, that passed before he thought of trying to retrieve them. As it turned out, he did go back, but the tree had grown considerably since his hunt. Carefully, he cut off the branches above the fork, then cut off the trunk below the crotch. Splitting the remaining wood, he discovered his tags he had placed there long ago.
Bob Wright
This story was told to me by my friend, Donna Chipman, a member of my church.
Donna's maternal grandfather was a sharpshooter in World War I. He was severely wounded during a battle. Afterwards, a detail came by picking up the wounded. Those who were expected to survive were placed in an ambulance, those not likely to survive were placed on a flat bed, horse drawn wagon. As her grandfather was critical, he was placed on the wagon. In placing him on the wagon, his identification tags swung out from his shirt. The officer in charge of the detail noted his ID as a sharpshooter, and had him placed in an ambulance.
This soldier recovered, too late to go back into combat as the Armistice had been signed by the time he recovered. He was sent back home and was discharged. He attributed his life being saved by his ID tags and so continued to wear them after discharge.
Later he went hunting near Atoka, Tennessee, then thick bottom land woods, and good hunting. As he stalked, he realized his ID tags were making noise, so he stopped, took them off and placed them very carefully in the fork of a tree, marking the spot to return for them.
Unfortunately, he left by a different route and failed to get his tags back. It was a couple of years, or more, that passed before he thought of trying to retrieve them. As it turned out, he did go back, but the tree had grown considerably since his hunt. Carefully, he cut off the branches above the fork, then cut off the trunk below the crotch. Splitting the remaining wood, he discovered his tags he had placed there long ago.
Bob Wright
