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Fanny Goes to War By: Pat Beauchamp Washington (1900-) |
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BY PAT BEAUCHAMP
(FIRST AID NURSING YEOMANRY) WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
MAJOR GENERAL H.N. THOMPSON,
K.C.M.G, C.B., D.S.O
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1919 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED To T.H.
INTRODUCTION
I eagerly avail myself of the Author's invitation to write a foreword to
her book, as it gives me an opportunity of expressing something of the
admiration, of the wonder, of the intense brotherly sympathy and
affection almost adoration which has from time to time overwhelmed me
when witnessing the work of our women during the Great War. They have been in situations where, five short years ago, no one would
ever have thought of finding them. They have witnessed and taken active
part in scenes nerve racking and heart rending beyond the power of
description. Often it has been my duty to watch car load after car load
of severely wounded being dumped into the reception marquees of a
Casualty Clearing Station. There they would be placed in long rows
awaiting their turn, and there, amid the groans of the wounded and the
loud gaspings of the gassed, at the mere approach of a sister there
would be a perceptible change and every conscious eye would brighten as
with a ray of fresh hope. In the resuscitation and moribund marquees,
nothing was more pathetic than to see "Sister," with her notebook,
stooping over some dying lad, catching his last messages to his loved
ones. Women worked amid such scenes for long hours day after day, amid scenes
as no mere man could long endure, and yet their nerves held out; it may
be because they were inspired by the nature of their work. I have seen
them, too, continue that work under intermittent shelling and bombing,
repeated day after day and night after night, and it was the rarest
thing to find one whose nerves gave way. I have seen others rescue
wounded from falling houses, and drive their cars boldly into streets
with bricks and debris flying. I have also, alas! seen them grievously wounded; and on one occasion,
killed, and found their comrades continuing their work in the actual
presence of their dead. The free homes of Britain little realise what our war women have been
through, or what an undischarged debt is owing to them. How few now realise to what a large extent they were responsible for the
fighting spirit, for the morale , for the tenacity which won the war!
The feeling, the knowledge that their women were at hand to succour and
to tend them when they fell raised the fighting spirit of the men and
made them brave and confident. The above qualities are well exemplified by the conduct and bearing of
our Authoress herself, who, when grievously injured, never lost her head
or her consciousness, but through half an hour sat quietly on the
road side beside the wreck of her car and the mangled remains of her
late companion. Rumour has it that she asked for and smoked a
cigarette. Such heroism in a young girl strongly appealed to the imagination of our
French and Belgian Allies, and two rows of medals bedeck her khaki
jacket. Other natural qualities of our race, which largely helped to win the
war, are brought out very vividly, although unconsciously, in this book,
e.g. the spirit of cheerfulness; the power to forget danger and
hardship; the faculty of seeing the humorous side of things; of making
the best of things; the spirit of comradeship which sweetened life. These qualities were nowhere more evident than among the F.A.N.Y. Their
esprit de corps , their gaiety, their discipline, their smartness and
devotion when duty called were infectious, almost an inspiration to
those who witnessed them. Throughout the war the "Fannys" were renowned for their resourcefulness.
They were always ready to take on any and every job, from starting up a
frozen car to nursing a bad typhoid case, and they rose to the occasion
every time. H.N. THOMPSON, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.,
Major General . Director of Medical Services, British Army of the Rhine... Continue reading book >>
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History |
War stories |
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