The work of a doctor at the Front in these days must be a terrible duty. The continual stream of wounded, friend and foe, consequent upon the ghastly struggle is at once exacting and oppressing, but our R.A.M.C. medical officers go through the work cheerfully and courageously, and make the most of little incidents which relieve the monotony.

Luton has provided several doctors for the Army, and a few days ago a story appeared in the papers concerning a doctor who had worked under one of the famous tanks while it was in possession of a German trench. It came to us that the brave doctor in question was none other than Dr William Rose, the well-known Luton practitioner.

A Saturday Telegraph representative called on Mrs Rose at her residence, 'Linden House,' George Street West, to ascertain the facts and, although there is no actual proof that our townsman was the medical officer in question, we get confirmation that Dr Rose had worked under a tank in that way.

Dr Rose has been working in a part some distance from the actual centre of the Somme struggle, with the Northumberland Fusiliers, but he has since experienced life on the Somme, working with an ambulance unit instead of at a hospital.

Among the incidents he relates the arrival of his mail in a sandbag. In another letter, he says a couple of German prisoners brought into the British lines were so tall that they made their escort look very small indeed. They were very pleased to be out of it, and said they had entered a sap of the British troops by mistake. That was hard to believe, said the doctor.

He wrote from a German dug-out that he was in on one occasion and said it was at least 20 feet below the ground. There was a long passage from this room, and other rooms branched from the passage. Outside, all that remained of the village was a heap of broken bricks and rubble. In this dug-out he saw in an American journal a picture of the same village before it was destroyed.

He did not think it was very healthy sleeping in a dug-out 20 feet below the surface of the ground, and two comrades shared the room with him. Some of the German dug-outs, however, were very comfortable, even hot water being laid on.

In another letter, Dr Rose gives particulars of a very busy day on which he was at work practically from 2 am to midnight, and then up again at 4 am.

"Yesterday, two wounded Germans came through my hands. They came down on stretchers, but they had less severe wounds than many of our walking cases, one in particular being not nearly so sever. He said he understood no English, but he evidently understood "Stop that nonsense".

Dr Rose also relates his first experience of the "tear shells". She said that while at dinner his eyes began to smart and water, and he found that the others were in the same plight, so they promptly adjourned. They found the valley was full of "tear" gas, and put on their goggles to protect their eyes.

They had a good many cases, and the doctor said that he suffered a good deal while attending these cases, probably because of the effect of the gas on the blankets covering the men.

He gives a description of another German dug-out he sampled, 15 feet deep, with accommodation better than any he had ever seen in a British dug-out. He said that behind this place was a little graveyard with many white crosses bearing the names of the gallant lads that had fallen.

His bed was a stretcher, looped at the head with a couple of wires, resting at the foot on a couple of trestles.

In a wood close by flowers were blooming, blackberries growing, and he found some honeysuckle. He put up some partridges at one place, big strong birds, and he wished he had a gun, and some of them were so tame they came within a couple of yards.

Referring to a dressing station at which he was engaged, he says: "Some very nasty sights are to be seen at the present station, but the men are very cheerful, not grumbling at all, although it was a wet cold night."

In a house where he was subsequently billeted,the windows were shattered and there was a big hole in the roof, but otherwise the place was not much damaged. On the mantelpiece were two children's toys - a teddy bear and a rubber toy. They constituted the contents of the room.

Relating the worrying experience of the officers, he tells how he suggested to one that he should go and get some sleep. The reply he got was: "It's no good. I shall be sure to be asked to be asked some such question as, How many cross-eyed men can you supply from your company for converging machine gun fire?"

Concerning the tank, Mrs Rose had sent her husband a cutting from a daily paper, and he points out discrepancies in the report, making the story impossible. He said, however, that he had been under a tank, using one end as a dressing station while the men who worked the tank were at the other end asleep. So he admits that the doctor who was at work as mentioned there might have been himself, but thinks it might just as possibly have been somebody else, for other doctors had worked in the same way."

[Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 21st, 1916]