For the Sake of the Soldier: Voluntary Work of Brisbane WomenMacleod, Rita
History
For the Sake of the Soldier: Voluntary Work of Brisbane Women
Macleod, Rita
World War, 1914-1918 -- Medical care -- Australia; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Australia
HOW WOMEN MAY HELP AND ENCOURAGE.
There is an ever-increasing demand for comforts for the men in the
trenches. The Queensland Soldiers’ Comforts Depot in Parbury House has
an army of women throughout Queensland working daily to supply those
wants. But these women are in need of re-inforcements just as the
soldiers in the trenches are in need of re-inforcements of men to-day.
Those women who have immediate ties with men in the firing line have
learnt of the soldiers’ delight in receiving additional comforts--they
have also heard of the long hours spent midst wind, rain, mud and
snow, when the soldiers’ only food was military rations, their only
clothes--military equipment. Sufficient comforts have not been sent
to the men. Additional socks, mufflers, mittens, Cardigan jackets,
Balaclava caps, shirts, games, musical instruments, books, tinned
fruits and milk are urgently needed. Surely the women of Queensland
will not fail to make further and greater efforts to bring some
gladness to the men fighting for us in France and Egypt.
The Anzacs who have returned from facing the hourly risk of death have
a strange look in their eyes, and many, when sitting quietly smoking or
resting, seem to be listening. One soldier was questioned: “You look as
if you were listening all the time to something we can’t hear.” “Yes,”
he said, “when I sit quietly I seem to hear the chaps in the trenches
calling for me to come back.” The Anzac in question was well enough to
do light military duty, but he felt that even he, after his strenuous
work and severe wounds, should return and give the men a helping hand.
Can’t you hear, women of Queensland, the men in the trenches calling
for extra comforts? Can’t you hear them saying, “If we had a few more
pairs of socks and some extra warm clothing things wouldn’t be so bad.
I wonder why the women don’t send us more things?” Those who have their
women folk working here are unbounded in their gratitude for individual
parcels. They also receive goods from the Soldiers’ Comforts Fund. But
think of the men who have no friends or relations to work for them!
They depend entirely on extra comforts to the Comforts Fund--and if
there are not enough to go round there must be many a bitter thought.
But not so bitter as the thought of no reinforcements of men. Nor so
bitter as the thought of extra risks, extra hours of suffering because
the country they are fighting for refuses to assist them in their hour
of need. Every extra man in the trenches lessens the casualty lists.
Every extra comfort gives not only a glow of pleasure and hours of
comparative ease, but encouragement. Writing from the trenches men say
that when parcels arrive excitement is intense. It seems a voice from
home, and for the nonce war and death are brushed aside. But the lonely
soldier who receives no remembrances, not even slight acknowledgment of
his sacrifices, must sometimes wonder if his country and countrymen and
women are worth risking death for.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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