Stretcher-Bearers’ Heavy Work Under Fire

Northern Advocate, 9 October 1941, Page 9

Stretcher-Bearers’ Heavy Work Under Fire

(Official War Correspondent, N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, September 16. For 24 arduous, wearying nours a day be stretcher-bearer is at the call of trontine trooos. He may be on his feet almost stumbling back to the dressing nations under the dead weight of injured nen, trudging forward again, perhaps ■arrving water for his comrades, to fetch tq C k fresh cases. But his doggedness saves lives. Here Private McAllister, who ,vas a fibrous plasterer in Auckland beioie _he war, tells how the bearer s work is *°lt e wasn't easy, in all those months we iad of desert training, to picture what our job in action would really be like. Stretcher bearers went through their instruction in first aid and methods of aandling wounded men. and we did actually apply what we knew to several cases at injury through accidents; but naturally we had no chance of working under the strain of battle. . . Thankful for Training Still, we were to be thankful later on for that training. A great deal of it was infantry drill and exercises with the rest of the 'battalion, and the toughening that nave us meant that half our battle was won I can tell you that the weight of a man, even a little chap, gets pretty heavy when you have to go out and bring them in at all hours of the day anc l ni^ht It was not until the battle of Crete began that the bearers in my company had to work at full pitch. When we were in northern Greece, in the positions near Servia, the company was in reserve, and so we were never called upon but bearers up in the line were getting a fair enough experience in carrying wounded over rough mountain tracks. During the withdrawal through Greece, however, we had a few cases to attend to. A Different Story In Crete the story was different. As with the men who were fighting, there was no start or finish to a clay, because we had to carry right on. We were lucky to get anv sleep. We might sit down for a while behind a bank, and then the call would come again. If it didn’t, the Jerry planes would wake us up just the same. We were able to get most of our cases out in daylight, but we always went round the line at night to sec how things were going. There was not a great deal of work to do in'Tny area on the first day. After carrying a few wounded back to a dressing station which had been set up linden a culvert on the road, we went out in the aiternoon and found a lot of donkeys running loose among the olive groves. Our eyes lit up jat the sight of them, because we knew how useful they would be in our job. It seems funny now to think of chasing donkeys in the middle of a battle, but we corralled the animals and took them back—together with a lot of wounded parachute troops as trial passengers. The fellows called me “O.C. Donkeys,” and at one time I had seven of them. We used the animals wherever we could. Tougher and Tougher Well, the days became tougher and tougher, and, as I said, it was impossible to tell where they started or finished. My mate and I went out on as many as eight, or nine calls in the daylight hours, carrying wounded back under all sorts of conditions. Twice we had to dig out men who had been buried in their weapon pits by mortar bombs. I remember one chap who was buried up to his neck, but escaped with a shaking and a burst eardrum. We used Jerry’s own shovels to dig him out. . , , , On one of those occasions we had to crawl up on a ridge, dragging the stretcher between us. We must have shown ourselves on the skyline, because machine-gun bullets began to spatter around us. Sometimes we couldn’t get a stretcher up to a wounded man for two or three hours, on account of air bombing and machine-gun and mortar fire, and so one of us would go ahead alone to give the man a shot of morphine, and we’d take him out when things were quieter. , . Ambulance Workers Respected I think, though, that, the Germans respected our duty whenever they knew just what we were doing. For instance, one day we were taking a fellow back from Galatos hill across a stretch of flat country; a Messerschmitt dived down and banked over us. We just kept walking and hoping for the best. He came down and had a damned good look at us, bul he didn’t open fire. Normally we carry rifles for the protection of the wounded, but we handed them in as spares because we simplj couldn’t have used them. All we carrier were stretcher, water bottles and medica haversack, although whenever we coulc we took extra water up to the boys ir the line. We learned that there are thre< really imnortant things in our job: knov, how to a'pply a tourniquet; make you: man comfortable; and get him back to dressing station- as soon as you can. Witl mortar bombs dropping everywhere yoi never know where the next one wil land, and the wisest plan is to get ; wounded man out quickly. So it went on, day after day, until th< final hectic afternoon when the Jerrie broke through near Galatos. I remembe taking a walking wounded case back b the dressing station, and on the way for ward again I met another man, who ha< been hurt by a mortar bomb. He sail the Germans were breaking through, am I saw swarms of them about 500 yard away, just starting to come in amon; our boys. I’ll never forget that, siglff Still, we drove them bac,k later in th evening. Gameness of Troops One thing my job taught me was th gameness of the men. I never heard whimper from all the wounded men saw —even that chap buried up to hi neck was cool and calm, .although natur ally he was a bit dazed. And there wa a fellow with one leg pretty well blow: off. According to all the rules of th game he should have been unconsciou: But plucky! Why, I remember that m mate and I were out of cigarettes, bu this chap had some, and he showed u which pocket he was carrying them i: and told us, to help ourselves. Our job was tough enough. We becam dead tired at times, yet somehow w managed to keep going. But it was u there among those fellows sitting in th front line that you found real toughnesi