War Nurse (14 page)

In 1859 a Swiss businessman, Henry Dunant, stopped at the small Italian town of Castiglione. What he saw there horrified him. Not far away the Battle of Solferino had been fought, and the wounded lay in houses, and even churches, and on every street corner. French and Italian doctors went from man to man, working tirelessly, but it was clear to Henry Dunant how little they could do – and how much more could be done if things were better organized. So he stepped in to help. He organized the townspeople so that they worked together more efficiently to bring aid to the wounded. Even children were pressed in to help – fetching and carrying water for the thirsty men. And he made sure that
all
the wounded were looked after – even the enemy. And as more doctors were desperately needed he persuaded the authorities to release the Austrian doctors who’d been captured so that they, too, could help treat the wounded.

Henry Dunant never forgot what he saw at Castiglione. After he got home he worked hard to alert governments to the plight of the wounded. He wrote a book –
A Memory of Solferino
– and sent it to national governments and all the important people of the day. It described the awful suffering he’d seen but it also came up with an idea of how to relieve the suffering.

Dunant’s idea was a novel one – to set up special relief societies, made up of volunteers, who would be trained in peacetime to care for the wounded in time of war. A committee was set up to look into Dunant’s idea. Dunant, of course, was one of its members. The committee would later become the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Dunant knew that it was also very important that the wounded soldiers – and the doctors and nurses caring for them – be considered “neutral” in any conflict and thus protected from harm. Other governments agreed with his ideas, and in 1864 they signed an agreement that became known as the “Convention of Geneva for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded in armies in the field”. The “Geneva Convention” was initially signed by 12 nations – Britain signing a year later, in 1865.

In 1863 the first relief society based on Dunant’s ideas was founded. Many more relief societies followed – in both Europe and America. The societies adopted a symbol – a red cross on a white background. They would become known as Red Cross societies.

It wasn’t until another war broke out – between the French and the Prussians – that there were calls in Britain for a relief society to be established, which would be based on the code of the Geneva Convention. So in 1870 the “British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War” was founded. Florence Nightingale – whose work Henri Dunant much admired – lent her support to the new organization. Its first job was to aid wounded combatants – on both sides – in the Franco-Prussian War.

In 1905 the “British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War” became the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) – part of the growing international Red Cross movement. Then, in 1908, the Territorial Army (TA) was created. Its job was to provide a military force for home defence in the event of invasion. The following year, the War Office proposed a Voluntary Aid Scheme. Under this scheme, the BRCS, the Order of St John (a much older relief society) and the Territorial Force Association were asked to provide trained personnel to supplement the TA’s medical service. They did this by raising “Voluntary Aid Detachments” of men and women through their county branches. After training in first aid, members of the detachments – later to become known as “VADs” – worked in hospitals and dispensaries and at public events, developing the skills they would later need in wartime. As well as training in first aid, VAD nursing members had to do a course in home nursing. VADs could also choose to train in cookery, sanitation and hygiene.

Within a year of the start of the scheme there were more than 6,000 trained VADs. With the outbreak of war in 1914, many more flocked to join the relief organizations – about 57,000 men and women in nearly 2,000 Red Cross detachments. The BRCS and Order of St John decided to join forces for the duration of the War. They formed a Joint War Committee, enabling them to provide relief more efficiently to those who most needed it.

When the War began, many VADs worked in private homes that had been turned into auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes. Then in 1915, owing to the shortage of nurses, the War Office allowed VADs to work in military hospitals. They were supervised by trained military nurses and worked under the hospital’s Matron and Commanding Officer. At first VADs served in home hospitals, but as the War progressed more VADs were sent to serve abroad.

They worked in the newly established hospitals and hospital trains, rest centres and hostels for relatives of the wounded. But not all VADs were nurses. Some worked as ambulance drivers. Many VADs had enrolled as “general service” members, working as hospital wardmaids, storekeepers, telephonists, cooks, drivers, dispensers, X-ray assistants and clerks.

After the War ended in 1918 the League of Red Cross Societies was formed. Its object was to extend the role of Red Cross societies to other areas – like improving public health, preventing disease, and providing aid to people suffering from emergencies other than war – such as earthquakes and floods. The BRCS also established branches of the society in its overseas territories. The Junior Red Cross was founded for younger members. Welfare became an increasingly important aspect of Red Cross work.

VADs continued to be trained to serve in army hospitals, but now regulations were brought into force so that in future they could be mobilized to serve in naval and air-force hospitals as well, in conflicts anywhere in the world.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the BRCS and Order of St John again came together to make the best use of their resources. Private homes were again opened as auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes for the less seriously wounded in the forces. Initially just for officers, after the evacuation of Dunkirk many more were opened for “other ranks”, and Rest Homes were established for foreign soldiers serving alongside the British. As well as serving in these hospitals and military hospitals, VADs also staffed first-aid posts, worked in emergency shelters, ambulance trains, hostels and nurseries. And a number served in military hospitals abroad.

When the War ended in 1945, the work of the BRCS and other Red Cross societies carried on. There was still a great deal for them to do. One consequence of the War was the huge number of refugees and “displaced” people – all of whom needed help. So in 1949 the Fourth Geneva Convention was signed so that all these innocent victims of war were also entitled to receive aid from the relief societies.

But what of the VADs? After the War ended most VADs returned to their ordinary lives. But there was still a need for nursing members – even after the NHS was formed in 1948. In hospitals, Red Cross nursing auxiliaries worked alongside trained nurses, while other Red Cross volunteers took on other duties, like transporting convalescent patients home, or helping out at the National Blood Transfusion Service.

There are no VADs now, but their values live on in the work carried out today by organizations like the British Red Cross and the Order of St John. Over its long history the Red Cross has found many ways to provide voluntary relief to the sick and suffering worldwide. Its work continues to evolve. There are Red Cross branches all over Britain. Today you will find Red Cross volunteers doing all sorts of jobs – from fundraising and providing relief for victims of conflicts, emergencies and natural disasters – both at home and overseas – to tracing displaced persons and helping out at public events. If – at one of these events – you were to go up and ask one of these volunteers about their work, you may perhaps find that she was once a VAD. Maybe she will have a story or two to tell you about her work as a VAD when – as a young girl – she nursed the sick in the Second World War.

A number of people and organizations have helped me with my research for this book. In particular I’d like to thank: the staff and volunteers of the British Red Cross Society and the Museum and Archive, Tate Greenhalgh (Thackray Museum), the Imperial War Museum Sound and Document archives, Kate Mason (Royal College of Nursing Archives), Tom Snowball, Captain Starling (AMS Museum).

My thanks also go to Jill Sawyer and Lisa Edwards at Scholastic for all their help and fine editing.

And to Jerry Crewe, Sheila Reid, Angela Sinclair and especially Madge Dobinson (Dobbie) – serving VADS in WWII – my most grateful thanks for sharing their knowledge and so many memories with me.

For Andrea

While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Kitty Langley is a fictional character, created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.

Scholastic Children’s Books

Euston House, 24 Eversholt Street,

London, NW1 1DB, UK

A division of Scholastic Ltd

London ~ New York ~ Toronto ~ Sydney ~ Auckland

Mexico City ~ New Delhi ~ Hong Kong

First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd., 2005

This electronic edition published 2012

Text © Sue Reid, 2005

Cover illustration © Richard Jones, 2009

eISBN 978 1407 13295 2

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage or retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical or otherwise, now known or hereafter invented, without the express prior written permission of Scholastic Limited.

Produced in India by Quadrum

Background cover image supplied by Getty Images

The right of Sue Reid to be identified as the author of this work respectively has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

www.scholastic.co.uk/zone