Free Let There Be Light by Al Lacy Page A

was 6:47.
    Two minutes later, all the staff members were present, and seated.
    Walton ran his eyes over their faces. “Ladies and gentlemen, I needed to have this meeting with you just before the seven o’clock shift change, so I could make all of you aware of what is about to happen. I assume that most of you heard about the battle that took place near Winchester, Virginia, this past Tuesday.”
    Heads were nodding.
    Walton continued. “I received a wire late last night from Union army headquarters in Washington, D.C., stating that a train is on its way to Frederick, carrying ninety-three wounded Union soldiers from that battle. It will be arriving about noon today. Since we are already almost to capacity in the military ward, this number of patients arriving is going to put a tremendous load on us. We’ll have to put some of our present patients on cots so the new ones can have the beds.
    “From the information I received in the wire, I know there willbe several amputations to perform, and a good number of the men will need surgery for bullet and shrapnel removal. Others are not wounded so severely. I know this is going to add exceedingly to your workload, but you have each demonstrated before that you are willing to labor long and hard to care for the men who have bravely fought on the battlefields for the Union cause.”
    Heads were nodding again.
    Walton smiled. “You’re a great bunch. If I had my way, every one of you would be given a medal of honor from Congress. All right. You’re dismissed.”
    As the meeting broke up and the day staff went to work, every preparation possible was made so they would be ready when the train brought in the ninety-three wounded men.
    The train arrived in Frederick just before noon. Several army wagons were at the depot to take the wounded Union soldiers to Memorial Hospital.
    Medical carts and stretchers were employed to bring the patients into the hospital from the wagons. Some of the wounded men were taken directly to the military ward, while the greater number was hurried to the surgical unit. There, the staff physicians did quick examinations to determine the order in which the amputations and surgeries should be done. Nurses and their assistants in the military ward went to work to patch up the men who were less seriously wounded.
    By three o’clock in the afternoon, men who had had surgery and amputations were being brought into the crowded ward and placed in beds made available by other patients being placed on cots.
    One young officer was lifted from a medical cart and placed on a bed, while a nurse and her assistant stood by. The officer was still unconscious from the morphine which had been administered before his surgery. One of the attendants handed the nurse the wounded officer’s chart, then he and his partner hurried away with the cart to pick up another patient.
    “Loretta, you go ahead and make him comfortable. I’ll look over his chart,” Millie Ross said.
    “All right, Millie,” said Loretta. She adjusted the pillow under the patient’s head, then moved around the bed, tucking sheets and covers close around his body. When she was finished, she studied the pale face of the unconscious soldier for a moment, then turned to Millie. “The surgery was on his lower back?”
    Millie looked up. “Yes. The surgeons had to take a piece of shrapnel out. It says here that it was quite large, but no serious damage was done to the spine.”
    Loretta nodded. “That’s good. At least he will walk again. How many severed spines have we seen from what cannonballs have done to our soldiers?”
    “A lot of them. And bayonets too.”
    “Yes. And how horrible it is to have to stand by when they are told that they will never walk again.”
    Millie looked at the unconscious young officer with compassion. “He’s going to be here a good while for recuperation, but at least he won’t have to live the rest of his life paralyzed.”
    Another medical cart was seen coming