“I shall never forget the horrors I have seen and heard, and I was not at Messina!”
DR. METCALF AT MESSINA.
Dr. Francis Metcalf, formerly of the United States Army, who, during the Spanish War was a surgeon on the U. S. A. Hospital Ship Relief, in a personal letter written January 15th from Capii to Surgeon-General Torney, U. S. A., says:
Embarking the Injured.
Dr. Metcalf at Messina.
“Of course, I volunteered immediately to go to Reggio and Messina and stated my former service on the Relief. I was accepted and was the only American there, excepting a couple of correspondents and the vice-consul. To avoid red tape and the questioning of orders I stuck the old insignia (the Red Cross) on a riding suit. Technically I suppose that violated the proprieties, but it wasn’t much of a time for technicalities and it avoided a lot of palaver. At any rate, I didn’t discredit the corps of which you are the head.