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[Page 27]
my patients sent back to England that I had a case of surgical instruments sent out to me by the British Red Cross, whom the British prisoners must thank for all that has been done in keeping them going until their return home.
The patients in the Exchange Barracks were always well fed and enjoyed the privilege of having a fire for cooking their own food supplies. With the aid of the food-stuff sent through for invalids, and some of the parcels received by the patients from the British Red Cross, we managed to diet the men according to their various ailments.
A transport of wounded leaving the barrack would be searched the day before, and asked if they had any claims on the camp, given a sort of pass-port to the border where they would have to pass another commission before being exchanged. The patients were provided with a full rig out of clothing of a kind; it was an order that all men going out on exchange must have one complete outrig of dress, but in place of boots, clogs were served out. The soles of boots were made of wood, and the uppers bits of leather or paper.
One case I shall never forget of a boy who had lost both his legs. On the morning of his departure for exchange, a German officer asked the men if they had got everything, at the same time examining their clothing, andwhen he came across this legless young man, and asked him if he had got his boots. The boy laughed, raised himself on both his hands, and pushed out his two stumps saying, "I dont want clogs on these", and although the German was highly amused, he insisted that the boy must not go without