There were flags with a red cross
flying, and lights were turned on them so that they would show
prominently. And the windows were brilliantly lighted. Those inside
heard the buzz of the advancing airplanes, but did not give them a
thought.
"The machines came right on, ignoring the hospital with the German
wounded, indicating they had full knowledge of their objective, until
they were over a wing of the Red Cross hospital that contained the
operating room on the ground floor. In the operating room a man was on
the table for a most difficult surgical feat. Around him were gathered
the staff of the hospital and its brilliant surgeons. Lieutenant Sage of
New York had just given him the anesthetic when one of the airplanes let
the bomb drop. It was a big fellow. It must have been all of 250 pounds
of high explosive.
"It hurtled downward, carrying the two floors before it. Through the gap
thus made wounded men, the beds in which they lay, convalescents, and
all on the floors came crashing down to the ground. The bomb's force
extended itself to wreck the operating room, where the man on the table,
Lieutenant Sage, and all in the room were killed. In all there were
thirty-seven lives lost, including three Red Cross nurses.
"The building caught fire. The concussion had blown the stairs down, so
that escape from the upper floors seemed impossible.
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