NEW PLYMOUTH AMBULANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 October 1916, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH AMBULANCE.

AT WORK AT VERDUN, DRIVEN BY A NEW ZEALANDER. Mr. A. Marshal*, of Inglewood, lias received a letter from an old friend, a Gisborne settler who was on a trip Home just before the war, and volunteered for service with the French as a chpuhVnr. He has been engaged in some very arduous work, and he relates the following interesting fa'ts:— Two days ago a new car arrived on which is painted "The Gift of New Plymouth, Taranaki. New Zealand." *t lia.s been put in my charge, and I hope it will render % good account of itself. Curiously enough, the chauffeur with me, a lad of -28, ea'led Fairbourne, lives at New Brighton, where he was lorn. For some time I have been driving an exactly similar car, so that I anticipate no trouble. The new cai, No. :)'2,8£7 on the French register, is a 20-h.p. G.M.C. (General Motor Company), an American car. She i: fitted to carry eight wounded, in addition to two drivels, no more than .'our of .whom can be stretcher cases. Slit, has only three speeds and is very low geared, which does away witli a lot ot gear-changing. Her speed is not great, "20 miles per hour at best, but she is specially designed for this particular work, and the G.M.C. is now one jf the standard makes with jur ambulance? at the front. Last year I wa? with a British ambulance which is part of the French Army. Then I transferred to a purely French ambulance, but now I am with a section of the British. Red Cross attached to the French. The censor is very strict about our letters, sc that ■what I am about to write may be deleted, but as it takes twe months for letters to reach New Zealand perhaps he will be more lenient on this occasion. Last year I was driving a cai given by the Island of Jersey, where I iliave a good many friends, and they were very interested to know where their car, was and what it was doing. The people who subscribed to this ear may be equally pleased, so if the censor will allow it I will mention that we are working in the firing line near Verdun. The exact pTace that we go to is Hill 304, which, as you probably know, has seen more fierce fighting than any place except Mort Homme. The danger of ambulance work is very much exaggerated .We have,been here just three weeks without losing a man. The French section which «e relieved was here two months, and during that time out of 40 drivers they bad five killed and eight wounded, but they were very unlucky, and the fighting was very much more severe before the British had begun to pdt on the pressure at Picardy.