In the Line of Battle: Soldiers' Stories of the War
History
In the Line of Battle: Soldiers' Stories of the War
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
[Leaving his great work in Labrador and Newfoundland, so that he might
visit the front as a member of the Harvard Surgical Unit, Dr. Wilfred
T. Grenfell spent three months in France as an army surgeon, and during
a short stay in London related some of his experiences and indicated
the marvellous advance that has been made in over-coming disease and
saving our soldiers’ lives. Not long ago in public, Field-Marshal Lord
Grenfell said that when he and Dr. Grenfell went into large communities
people did not say to Dr. Grenfell “Are you a cousin of Lord Grenfell?”
They said to him (Lord Grenfell) “Are you a cousin of Dr. Wilfred
Grenfell?” And he was very proud indeed to be able to say yes. Dr.
Grenfell’s two cousins, the twin brothers who were both captains in the
9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers, were killed in action, one of them, Capt.
F. O. Grenfell, being the first of the recipients of the Victoria Cross
granted for the present war. Two other cousins, the brothers Capt. the
Hon. Julian Grenfell and Sec.-Lt. the Hon. G. W. Grenfell, sons of Lord
Desborough, have also fallen in the war.]
I am on my way from France to Labrador, and I am really sorry to be out
of khaki, though I never was in it before.
While I was in the thick of my work on the other side of the Atlantic
I was invited to join the Harvard Surgical Unit at the front. I found
it possible to do so, because I knew that in my temporary absence my
work in Labrador and Newfoundland would be faithfully carried on by my
friends and devoted helpers. So I came over and was attached to the
Harvard Unit with the rank of major, and the experiences I have gained
as an Army surgeon will remain amongst the greatest and proudest of my
life.
I have had the opportunity of seeing what the British Army is doing in
many ways in this terrible war. I have been at many places, including
the base at Boulogne, and many great battle-centres, such as Ypres,
Bethune and Armentières. And I have been in the trenches, so that I
have had full chances of seeing what is really going on. It is hard,
almost impossible, to find words in which to express admiration of the
courage, endurance and humanity of the British troops in this terrible
conflict.
All my life has been a roving one, ever since I took my degree as a
doctor exactly thirty years ago. When I really began life I decided
to look for some field of work where I could be useful. I went into
the London Hospital, and very soon became intensely interested in the
Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. In those days the fishing
vessels were all sail, and when a man was seriously injured he had to
be transferred to some vessel that was carrying fish to Billingsgate,
and then he was taken to the London Hospital. This state of things on
the North Sea brought home to one the possibility of Christian men
preaching the gospel of love and help; and men went out and largely
brought about that wonderful revolution which we see to-day amongst
North Sea fishermen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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