IN THE STRUMA VALLEY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16435, 31 January 1919, Page 8

IN THE STRUMA VALLEY.

t NEW ZEALAND NOSE'S EXPERIENCES. "\LADDIN ' UNDER SHELLFTR-E. To have been the only New Zealand 1 nursing sister who was permitted to i visit the Struma Valley on the Greek 'roui is somewhat rn.ro distinction, but it belongs to Sister Falconer, of I Chrisichurch, who is now on furlough, oud is staying in this city prior to gofncr 011 to Dunodin and Invercargill. I Sister Falconer wears four blue chev--5 rons which denoto four years spent in nursing sick and wounded. She is a member of Queen Alexandra's Imperial Militarv Nursing Service Reserve, which she joined through the High CoramiEsioner for New Zealand bi Lon- , don, and her work has embraced nurs- : n<- in Hampstead (London), Siuidcrliind" (North England) Salon.ca, • an d the famous Struma Valley. The hst-named place was the scene of hor most interesting labours, and in eonversation with a "Press" representative yesterday she disclosed veij interesting facts regarding life in a casualty clearing station on the Macedenian'front. Sister Falconer's experiences of the stern realities of war may be said to have commenced with the first night of ■ her arrival at Salonica. Enemy 'plants ■ bombed Salonica on that nighty ana , considerable damage was wrought on ♦lie E"vpt, the ship m which she tra- ' veiled "to Greece. Nothing in the way • of Mass remained unbroken on the ship > after the raid, the fact that the war- • ships in the "harbour had their, anti- , aircraft guns in action being partly ! responsible for this. One enemy, bomb ; fired, a large warehouso in the city > \fter three months at the 29th hea- > era I Hospital, Sister Falconer, along , with five other nursing sisters, was sent - to a casualty clearing station in the i Struma Valley, about fifty miles from • the base, and near to the little town I of' Lahana. All the transport had to r be done by means of motor lorries and i ambulances, and the roads wero all in [ shocking condition. Here, in the sum- > mer, tlio work of nursing was one of i herculean effort. Malaria and dysentery > were very prevalent among tho_ troops, > and although tlio clearing station was ; intended to have charge of only four » hundred cases at a time, tliero wore often between seven and eight hundred men to be nursed, sick and -wounded both. At times there would be great congestion in the base hospitals, as the hospital ships could not convey the casualties to Malta quickly enough. This meant that tho clearing station became more or less of an actual hospital, and that vory often cases, the worst of which in tho ordinary course of events ' would not have been kept there for more than a week,, were actually nursed back to convalescence before they could be taken down to Salonica, That was during the summer —the worst summer there had been in that part of the r country for sixteen years. _ "It is small wonder," declared Sister Falconer, ''that there were so many cases of malaria. 1 don't think that 1 people 5 m England realised just how bad conditions wero in the Struma. They were > not so 1 bad as in Mesopotamia, it is true, but they were very bad." L "Winter in the Struma was severe; the season was a short, sharp one, and for three months there was little or 5 no fighting done. Then matters were quieter at the clearing station. "In 5 February we tobogganed," says Sister Falconer. "We had an interesting experience in December, when a Hun 'plane was brought down in the camp, by Captain Green, one of our best ayiators, and its occupants were taken prisoner. The pilot was a cousin of the Kaiser, who was very dejected at . his capture. Another well-remembered sight was watching the big Zeppelin being destroyed at Salonica. We climbed the hills by the camp, and saw it falling in flames." »• • Another experience of which. Sister Falconer speaks with a great deal of enthusiasm was her visit to the Struma front. The Director of Medical Services and the AJXM.S. were so pleased with the work of the sisters that they decided to arrange an entertainment for them. To this end they secured permission for them to go up to the front to witness a performance of a pantomime, "Aladdin," which was written and staged by members of the 85$ ■ I'ield Ambulance. The journey from Lahana began at 9.30 a.m., the first part of the route being done in a motor ambulance. The sisters set off in" the midst of a snowstorm, and after four hours completed the -first stage of their journey. The second • stage was traversed in a "special train." The train consisted.of a narrow truck drawn by two mules, the truck being covered with a tarpaulin, while inside there were chairs, obtained by some manner of means, and brazieis which warmed the truck. The final part of the trip was completed in a mule waggon, and headquarters were finally reached at 6 p.m. Here the sisters .had afternoon tcaj and then came another drive ,in mule waggons to the "Palace" theatre, where the pantomime was staged. Shellfiro could be heard throughout the performance. On entering the hall the visitors roceived a perfect ovation, many of the "Tommies" present not.- having seen a woman for six months. The performance was a delightful one. says Sister Falconer, the dresses alone having cost over two hundred pounds. The music was a feature, two of the violinists having been with Sir Henry Woo'd's orchestra at the Queen's Hall, London, while other members of the orchestra belonged to the band of the 23rd Battalion, Welsh Regiment. The performance was given twice weekly, and all the soldiers in the Struma Valley were allowed to see it at some time or another during the winter months. After the performance the headquarters staff entertained their visitors to a fivecourse dinner in their mess, and then farewells were made, the sisters arriving back at the clearing station at four o'clock next morning. "In all I was a year and nine months at the clearing station," added Sister Falconer. "I saw no New Zealanders during that time. All our patients were Tommies,' or Greek muleteers, although ocasionally we saw Bulgarian prisoners, and once or twice some Turks. There was a New Zealand dinner given in Salonica while I was up at the station, and I was particularly anxious to go down for it, as I was told that Dr. Agnes Bennett would be there, but it snowed that night, and the roads weye quite impassable." As a nursing sister who. is keenly interested in other members _ of her eex who have been nursing during the war, Sister Faloner .expressed herself as dismayed by the prospects ahead of those nurses who contracted malaria in the course of their duties. She does not think that these women (of whom a large number travelled in a hospital ship with her on the way from Salonica), will ever be fit to take up their profession again, and wonders whether the British Public is alive to this fact. She hopes that when tho nation's reward to those who have suffered in the cause of Liberty is being considered, these women will not be forgotten. . , Sister Falconer brought many inter- . esting souvenirs of her stay ui the Struma Valley home with her. One of ■ theso is a gorgeous thing, and it is doubtful whether there is another of its kind in the Dominion. It is , a D®*t . of the Byzantian period, an article or . exquisite workmanship, richly chased, • and studded with uncut jewels. [ ther article of interest is an ikon, and she has various pieces of brass, tne < possession of which any collector would envy her. Most of them are ' eery od, ■ and bear in no nntyrte l " tracing .toe jmarks of " *'■