Field Hospital and Flying Column

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume VIII, Issue 4, 1 October 1915, Page 193

Field Hospital and Flying Column

Miss Violetta Thurston

By

{Member of Matrons' Council, and National Council of Nurses of Great Britain and- Irelnad)

This tale of "High Adventure " is told m simple language— the only language m which it could possibly be clothed— and m a pleasant conversational style. Unlike many stories, it begins at the beginning, and not m the middle. The obvious reason is that it is a record of daily events — a journal. Not a hum-drum diary, which always faithfully records the weather. The events that this journal records and which follow each other, m such rapid succession, reminding us of the rapidly changing colours of a kaleidescope, are too stirring and too important to admit of such commonplaces as the mention of the weather. It is "written m a way that makes a short " story arresting, namely, nothing of interest is excluded, while verbosity is carefully avoided. It will repay anyone the time spent m reading it, but -all nurses will read it with very special •interest, particularly those who have done * similar work at the front. The book is m some measure, an elaboration of some letters of the writer, which all diligent readers of The British Journal of Nursing will have read m its columns from time to time. With regard to the work of Nurses, the writer's opportunities and experiences have been almost unique and as she has both seen and heard and taken part m all she describes, we can depend upon the truth of it, which is what we cannnot always get from newspapers, however " Official " the report may be. The one proclamation that is reproduced m these pages, issued by the Germans m Brussels is sufficient to show how pitiless and cruel they have been. People are to bd punished whether they are guilty or not of offences committed ! and Von der Goltz, the Governor, who issued this proclamation, was recalled on account of his leniency ! ! Miss Thurston has been m the fortunate position of having missed many things that might have been very unpleasant. Had the effect of the inoculation been a little worse, she might have been left m Brussells, a prisoner m the

hands of the Germans ; inactive, disappointed ; and her interesting story would not have been told. She might have been caught with contraband of war, and been interned m Cologne. We have read or heard of an Englishman being shot who was found m possession of a camera ! She might have been killed by the bomb thrown from the Taube. Her illness might have had a much more serious result. These might-have-beens were not chance occurrences, of course. We can fully enter into the feelings of the writer when she entered Cologne a prisoner and was treated with indignity and incivility, where only 2| years previously the Germans had gone out of their way to shower kindnesses upon Englishwomen. The contrast must have been sharp and painful. The whole adventure m fact is a study m contrasts. The most striking having been the journey through the enemy's country, with the accompanying eliscomforts and incivilities, and the arrival m Copenhagen as free women, recipients. of the most generous hospitality, and kindness. " A peaceful interlude "indeed ! We dwell for a moment, as we read and reflect, upon the mutual advantage, the joy, the beauty, of the spirit of internationalism, m other words, brotherly love. The Danish Nurses welcomed the English Nurses as confederates of the same profession — the highest of all professions for women. We can well believe that the welcome was one of special warmth, because our compatriots had been engaged m relieving the greatest of all suffering, the sufferings of the battle field. The journey into Russia, and the work done m the hospitals when attacheel to the Flying Column is all charmingly told. The whole story is a revelation of splendid courage, heroism and unselfish devotion to duty on the part of all those doing any kind of duty m warfare. . What the men and women of the Flying Column endured and achieved would appear under ordinary circumstances, physical and moral impossibilities, and yet the things were done.

The story is also a forceful commentary on a system of military nursing entirely inadequate and insufficient m time of war, making ample allowance for the unprecedented nature of the war. We feel grateful to the young German Officer m Hamburg who showed such marked courtesy and kindness to our compatriots ; acknowledging generously at the time, that it was a. return for much kindness received m England. It will keep us from becoming

bitter and indulging m generalities wholly to the disadvantage of the Germans. Yes, the history of the great war must be studied from many aspects and we are glad that this little story of the work of nurses should enter into it, as a not insignificant stone of the great mosaic. — -B.K. Published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 24 Bedford Street, Strand, London W. Price 2s. 6d. net.