This is the recounting and the diary of my life - Marino Mattei

9.

After a little while I came to and I once again began to walk. Finally I arrived at the first medical post, which wasn't too far. I thought that from there they would take me back [behind the line] by some means of transport. There was great confusion. The wounded were in the hundreds, some were screaming and others were moaning. There were those who were missing legs and others who had lost arms. It was frightful.

As I was waiting to be seen, my head began to hurt. In worse condition was my right arm where a piece of shrapnel had punctured my elbow and had fractured the bone. The medical officers were appealing to the wounded, telling us that those who could walk should go away because undoubtedly the Greeks would soon be advancing on our location and would be taking all those remaining as prisoners. I was finally given medical aid, as I said, for my head and arm injuries. At this point I could not yet feel my other wounds. It rained uninterruptedly. It was Christmas Eve. The artillery and machine guns continued to fire furiously. Due to lack of food and the wounds I'd received I did not have the strength to move. The officers insisted that those who could walk should go towards a location further from the line. Not only was there no means of transport but there was also no road. I thought for a moment and decided to depart. At least I could distance myself from the artillery shelling.

As I said, it was raining like a deluge. I didn't know where to go but it was easy finding the path because there was a procession of the wounded who were retreating. After I had been walking a little while my right leg began to hurt. The blood was flowing down and it was drenching my clothes. The more I walked, the more it hurt. My strength was decreasing but I forced myself to go on in order to reach the first military hospital. I wanted to take care of my leg because it was becoming rigid and very hard to move. After about 2 hours I finally arrived. Once there I also found Silvano from Coreglia who, as I mentioned [see part 8], had been wounded the day before. I was given medical help and they also gave me a small chocolate and a little anisette liquor to drink. However, there too they begged us to move on because they were anticipating the Greek advance at any moment. I didn't know what to do. If I remained I was afraid of being taken prisoner and if I left I would become even weaker, I would likely freeze from the cold and I still could barely move my leg.

I found a soldier who said he would accompany me and he would help me along and this gave me the courage I needed to leave. The soldier found a cane [for me] and we departed. I had already walked for more than two hours. In fact, I had gotten wounded at around 9:30 in the morning and in these conditions I was, one might say, exhausted. We left at around noon. Water was pouring down. The soldier helped me, particularly in the more difficult points because there was no real road; only a small path.

We continued to walk. It was at around 4:30 when we came upon a stream that we had to cross. There was no bridge. Under normal circumstances the stream would have been small but after two days of heavy rains it had become a torrent. I was dying of thirst. We couldn't find drinking water but I could no longer resist so I began to drink the water flowing on the ground, filled with mud. Arriving at this torrent, I did not feel strong enough to cross it. I no longer knew what to do. Going back was out of the question because I couldn't make it, staying where I was would have surely meant death and I didn't think I could successfully cross the stream. Along with me there were many others. Some tried to cross and some remained. The water was not too high but it rushed by at a frightening rate. The soldier who had been helping me was encouraging me [to cross]. I stayed there for a while and then I decided to pass through the stream; it didn't matter what was going to happen. Little by little I began but when I was about halfway across I stepped on a stone and slipped. The water swept me away but luckily I found a plant that had also been swept away and I grabbed onto a branch just in time. I managed to regain control and, at this point, with God's help I made it across the stream.

I could not take anymore. I couldn't move my leg or my arm. I tried with all my power and after a great deal of sacrifice - along with the soldier who was holding me and dragging me by his side - at 8:00 at night, as God wanted it, I arrived at a road that was passable for automobiles. I thought there might be ambulances but, unfortunately, I was loaded onto a baroccio [dialect - perhaps wheelbarrow or wagon]. I saw ambulances but because there were so many wounded soldiers they only carried those who had been brought there on stretchers. In others words, those who could absolutely not move on their own.

As soon as I was aboard the baroccio we departed for the encampment hospital. I would scream with each bump that we hit along the road. By then I was suffering from hypothermia and in those conditions (I had been walking for almost 12 hours) the pain was intolerable. Finally we arrived at the hospital and I received medical treatment. A very good doctor who was a lieutenant from Lucca examined me. We talked for a while. He knew of Coreglia [the village close by to where my father lived in Gromignana]; he had been there on vacation. As soon as he was finished with the examination he gave orders for the nurses to bring me something to eat, cigarettes and anything else that I might need. In fact, I was treated like a prince. They put me to sleep and as tired as I was I slept the whole night through. I no longer even felt the pain.

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© 2009 by Maurice Mattei
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