Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915Anonymous
History
Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915
Anonymous
World War, 1914-1918 -- Hospitals, charities, etc.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
A sergeant of the D.C.L.I. had a fearful shell wound in his thigh, which
has gone wrong, and as the trouble is too high for amputation they will
have their work cut out to save his life. They were getting out of the
trench for a bayonet charge, and he had just collected his men when he
was hit; so the officer "shook hands with him" and went on with the
charge, leaving him and another man, wounded in the leg, in the trench.
They stayed there several hours with no dressings on, sinking into the
mud (can you wonder it has gone wrong?), until another man turned up and
helped them out; then they _walked_ to the Regimental Aid Post, 200
yards away, helped by the sound man. There they were dressed and had the
anti-tetanus serum injection, and were taken by stretcher-bearers to the
next Dressing Station, and thence by horse ambulance to the Field
Ambulance, and then by motor ambulance to where we picked them up. There
are lots of F.'s regiment wounded.
_Friday, February 19th._--We left B. at 5 A.M. to-day, and were delayed
all the morning farther up by one of the usual French collisions. A
guard had left his end of a train and was on the engine; so he never
noticed that twelve empty trucks had come uncoupled and careered down a
hill, where they were run into and crumpled up by a passenger train. The
guard of that one was badly injured (fractured spine), but the
passengers only shaken.
At St Omer Miss M. and Major T. and I were being shown over the Khaki
Train when ours moved off. There was a wild stampede; the Khaki Train
had all its doors locked, and we had miles to go inside to get out.
Their orderlies shouted to ours to pull the communication cord--the only
way of appealing to the distant engine; so it slowed down, and we
clambered breathlessly on. We are side-tracked now at the jolly place of
the Moor and the Wireless Lorries; probably move on in the night.
_Saturday, February 20th_, 9 P.M.--We've had a very unsatisfactory day,
loading up at four different places, and still on our way down. I'm just
going to lie down, to be called at 2 A.M. Now we're four: two go to bed
for the whole night and the other two take the train for half the night
when we have a light load, as to-day. If they are all bad cases, we have
two on and two off for the two watches. We have some Indians on to-day,
but most British, and not many _blesses_.
The other day a huge train of reinforcements got divided by mistake: the
engine went off with all the officers, and the men had a joy-ride to
themselves, invaded the cafes, where they sometimes get half poisoned,
and in half an hour's time there was a big scrap among themselves, with
fifty casualties. So the story runs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account