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
I have a man wounded in eight places, including a fractured elbow and a
fractured skull, which has been trephined. What is left of him that
hasn't stopped bullets is immensely proud of his bandages! He was one of
nineteen who were in a barn when a shell came through the roof and burst
inside, spitting shrapnel bullets all over them; all wounded and one
killed. We have just put off an emergency case of gas gangrene, temp.
105, who came on as a sitter! They so often say after a bad dressing,
"I'm a lot of trouble to ye, Sister."
_Later._--Just time for a line before I do another round and then call
my relief. It is an awfully cold night.
_Tuesday, March 9th, 12 noon._--We are passing through glorious country
of wooded hills and valleys, with a blue sky and shining sun, and all
the patients are enjoying it. It is still very cold, and there is a
little snow about. They call their goatskin coats "Teddy Bears." One
very ill boy, wounded in the lungs, who was put off at Abbeville, was
wailing, "Where's my Mary Box?" as his stretcher went out of the window.
We found it, and he was happy.
_Wednesday, March 10th._--We got to Etretat at about 3 P.M. yesterday
after a two days' and one night load, and had time to go up to the
hospital, where I saw S. The Matron was away. We only saw it at night
last time, so it was jolly getting the afternoon there. The sea was a
thundery blue, and the cliffs lit up yellow by the sun, and with the
grey shingle it made a glorious picture to take back to the train. It
had been a heavy journey with bad patients, and we were rather tired, so
we didn't explore much.
We woke at Sotteville near Rouen this morning, and later in the day had
a most fatiguing and much too exciting adventure over catching the
train. Two of the Sisters and I walked into Rouen about 10.30, and found
No.-- A.T. marked up as still at Sotteville (in the R.T.O.'s office),
and so concluded it would be there all day. So we did our businesses of
hair-washing, Cathedral, lunch, &c., and then took the tram back to
Sotteville. The train had gone! The Sotteville R.T.O. (about a mile off)
told us it was due to leave Rouen loaded up for Havre at 2.36; it was
then 2.15, and it was usually about three-quarters of an hour's walk up
the line (we'd done it once this morning), so we made a desperate dash
for it. Sister M. walks very slowly at her best, so we decided that I
should sprint on and stop the train, and she and the other follow up.
The Major met me near our engine, and was very kind and concerned, and
went on to meet the other two. The train moved out three minutes after
they got on. Never again!--we'll stick on it all day rather than have
such a narrow shave.
We are full of convalescents for Havre to go straight on to the boat.
They are frightfully enthusiastic about the way the British Army is
looked after in this war. "There's not much they don't get for us," they
said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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