WHAT OUR NURSES DID

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 27, 29 December 1939, Page 24

WHAT OUR NURSES DID

Unselfish Service During 1914-18

By

O.A.

G.

NE of the bravest pages in New Zealand's history of the last war was written by the nursing service. Our nurses served in almost every field of operations, even on ships running to the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia, where the exhausting heat was only one of the discomforts they cheerfully endured. Although no actual call for their services has yet been made, many New Zealand nurses have already volunteered for duty overseas. Whether they will be sent abroad will depend on the dispositions of the 2nd New Zealand Division. At the moment some nurses are serving in the established hospitals of the principal military camps. Five hundred and fifty New Zealand nurses, including nineteen masseuses, served in hospitals, hospital ships, and bases overseas during the last war. Eleven died as a result of war serviceten were drowned when the hospital ship Marquette was torpedoed in the Aegean Sea while travelling between Alexandria and Salonika, and one died from wounds received when bombs were dropped near a field hospital at Hazebrouck, in Northern France. Without Complaint Our nurses sometimes toiled heroically in the most distressing circumstances, mever questioning their hours of duty

and never counting the strain on themselves. In Egypt, in the early days, only those who witnessed the work of these women could realise what they did silently and without complaint. In France, too, during the winter months, nurses endured the greatest discomfort, sometimes working long hours though suffering intense pain. I retain a memorable picture of Canadian nurses in a field hospital near Poperinghe, on the Ypres road, where they worked the clock round attending to the ceaseless stream of wounded coming from the Ypres Salient. At that time front-line engagements were almost a daily happening and the mud added to the perils and misery of the wounded men. At Three Days’ Notice The first of our nurses left New Zealand on August 15, 1914. There were six of them, and they received only three days’ notice to sail with the advance party of the Main Expeditionary Force. On April 18, 1915, the first contingent of 50, under Miss Maclean, Matron-in-Chief, sailed for England on the Rotorua. This ship, by the way, was sunk later in the English Channel. This first contingent was sent back to Egypt from

England and distributed among hospitals at Cairo and Alexandria, where they were urgently needed because of the numbers of wounded and sick men coming from the Peninsula. Hospitals were afterwards established at the Citadel (once the palace of the Empress Eugenie) at Abbassiah and, still later, at Port Said.

On Barges in France It was not only in hospitals in Egypt and England that our nurses worked; they gradually spread their welcome influence through all the seats of war. Some even worked on barges in France when men were conveyed via the canals to the nearest base hospitals. They were to be found on ships going to and from Gallipoli; German East Africa and Mesopotamia; they were at Salonika; they were on ships bringing refugees from Siberia; they cared for Indian troops on the way home to Bombay; they toiled on hospital trains in Egypt and France, on ships in the Persian Gulf, on hospital ships plying between New Zealand and England, and between England and France, never knowing when their ships might be torpedoed, never free from the thought that their ships or trains might be bombed. Quiet Obedience One of the greatest stories of heroism and quiet obedience in the most terrifying circumstances came from the sinking of the Marquette, when ten New Zealand nurses were drowned. Official messages afterwards recorded the bravery of these women during their ordeal. The Marquette was a hospital ship going

to Salonika. At 9 o’clock on the morning of October 23, 1915, she was torpedoed when in sight of her destination. Tragic scenes followed the sinking of the ship, for a mishap to two lifeboats added to the confusion and the tragedy. The enemy made no attempt to rescue the women. Those in the water could see ships passing in the distance. One ship stopped, lowered a boat, but pulled it up again and sailed away, leaving the survivors in the water. Eventually they were rescued by British and French boats and taken on to Salonika, suffering dreadfully from exposure. " Awful" Conditions at Salonika Conditions at Salonika itself have been modestly described as " awful." Insufficient accommodation and staff added to the difficulties of the New Zealand doctors and nurses working there, and the Serbian soldiers were in the most disgusting condition from exposure and lack of attention and supplies. Here again the New Zealanders showed their courage and ability in the face of circumstances which must have distressed them beyond measure. Typhoid fever, dysentery, trench fever and frost bite had taken heavy toll of the fighting men, Several of our nurses worked with units of the British Army during the war, having left New Zealand at their own expense soon after war broke out in 1914. One of these was killed at Hazebrouck, in Northern France, when the hospital was bombed by German airplanes; many suffered greatly from the arduous and exhausting work and were disabled for monthe«.

As with the men of the forces nurses carried their identification numbers, preceded by 22 and a bar. Nineteen of them were awarded the Royal Red ‘Red Ist class; 64 received the Royal Honours | | Cross, 2nd class, and Many were "Mentioned in despatches for devoted service while on duty. Here are some of the hospital ships on which our nurses served during the war years: Letitia, Dunlace Castle, Egypt, Delta, Braemar Castle, Goorker, Essequibo, Deventa, Valdavia, Dongola, Gascon, Glengorm Castle, Maheno, Marama, Nivassa and Carisbrook Castle.