Agnes Warner and the Nursing Sisters of the Great War

by Shawna M. Quinn

Our good doctor is going to be married next month. I am so glad, for he lives all alone and needs some one to look after him.

  I shall have to go to bed to get warm. There is no heat in this house and when it rains it is like an ice box.

  September 11, 1915

  I expect to leave here in two weeks to go to an ambulance at the front. It is somewhere in the north in Belgium. I think Dr. R___ is sorry to have me leave, but it will be a much larger field and the kind of a place where there will be much to do. They have all been so nice to me here about helping me get my papers ready to send to the minister of war, so I do not think there will be any difficulty in my getting through. I go to Paris first, then to Dunkirk, where Mrs. T___[Mary Borden Turner?] will meet me, after that my destination is uncertain. Do not worry if you do not hear from me regularly, for it may be difficult to get mail through. I will write as usual.

  I cannot tell you how glad I am to be able to go to the front, for it means a chance to do good work and I shall be so glad to be in the north when Bayard comes over and nearer the Canadian boys. Even if I cannot see them I shall not feel so far away.

  One of my men today got word that his baby, seven months old, had just died and the little girl of two is very ill. He expected to go next week and has been counting the days till he could see them. He has never seen the baby as it was born after the war began — another one of the sad things of this awful war.

  Good-night; I am so glad of the chance of active service.

  September 19, 1915

  My orders came today, and I leave on Tuesday for Paris and on Friday for Dunkirk. I am up to my eyes in work, for there is so much to be done before leaving and new people to break in. Three military nurses arrived yesterday, but it is rather difficult to manage for they know nothing at all about taking care of sick people. They have all been at the front, and wounded too badly to return and sent into an auxiliary service. One is a priest, one a hair dresser, and the third a horse dealer; however, they are nice men and are willing to learn, which is a great thing in their favour.

  If they are able to raise any money for me I will see that it is wisely spent. There is great need everywhere, and I am proud of the people of Saint John, they have done so much.

  There is a poor woman who lives in a little village near here. She had two sons — one has been killed in the war, the other a helpless cripple for eighteen years and is not able to move out of his chair. He makes baskets sometimes, but now there is no one to buy the baskets. The mother goes out by the day but can earn so little. I gave him five francs, one of the De Monts dressing gowns, and some warm underclothes. He was so grateful, poor boy, and says he will not feel the cold now. His mother is away nearly all day and he sits by the window all alone and depends upon the neighbours coming in to help him from time to time; he is always cheerful and never complains.

  The W___s have such a hard time — they get so little of their income since the war began. It has gradually gone down from $3,000 per year to $500; four of them to live on that amount. So many people are in just the same condition, there is no end to the misery.

  I do not know whether it is the French or the English army we are to follow at my new post.

  September 23, 1915

  Paris

  I am off tomorrow at 7:30 a.m., to Boulogne, then Calais, and reach Dunkirk at 9:30 p.m.

  I have had two very strenuous days and will be glad to rest in the train tomorrow. It took such a time to get my papers in order. The thermometer for the last two days has been about 100.

  Mobile No. 1,

  France

  I am really not in France but Belgium. I cannot tell you just where, but it is within ten miles of the firing line, and not far from the place where so many of our boys from home have been sent. I thought when I came here that it would be entirely English, as the lady who gave the hospital is an American married to an Englishman. The English are not far away but they are taken to their own hospitals.

  We belong to a little wedge of the French that is in between the English and Belgians. It is a regular field hospital and is composed of a great many portable huts or sheds; some are fitted up as wards, another the operating room, another the pharmacy, another supply room, laundry, nurses’ quarters, doctors’ quarters, etc. It is a little colony set down in the fields and the streets are wooden sidewalks.

  The first night I arrived I did not sleep, for the guns roared all night long, and we could see the flashes from the shells quite plainly; the whole sky was aglow. The French and English guns sounded like a continuous roar of thunder; but when the shells from the German guns landed on this side we could feel a distinct shock, and everything in our little shanty rattled.

  Yesterday I saw my first battle in the air between German and French aeroplanes. We could scarcely see the machines, they were so high up in the air, but we could see the flashes from their guns quite distinctly and hear the explosion of the shells. Today a whole fleet of aeroplanes passed over our heads; it was a wonderful sight.

  There are about one hundred and fifty beds in all here.

  I have been inspected by doctors, captains, generals, and all kinds of people till I am weary. I hope they are satisfied at last, but I cannot go off the hospital grounds until I have two different kinds of passes given to me — one is a permission to go on the roads about here and the other is good as far as Dunkirk.

  We have a man in our ward who had a piece of shrapnel the size of an egg in his abdomen; they had to take out about half a yard of intestines, which had been torn to pieces. He was also shot through the shoulder, in the arm and leg. As we got him within two hours after he was wounded there was no infection, and having a clever surgeon he is getting along famously. Another poor chap has lost his right arm and shot through the liver as well as being cut up by a piece of shrapnel — he is getting well also. Two have died, and it is a blessing; for to live in darkness the rest of one’s life is worse than death. The Germans are using a new kind of gas bomb that blinds the men.

  It is pouring rain tonight and cheerless enough here, but I can only think of the poor men in the trenches.

  I got a joyful surprise today — a letter from Mr. Bell enclosing a post office order from Mr. Calhoun of Philadelphia. Nothing gives me so much pleasure as to help these poor people.

  It is beginning to get cold. I shall get bed socks for the men, for they have not enough hot water bags to go round and all suffer from cold feet.

  I passed Colonel MacLaren’s hospital in the train — it is very impressive to see the rows and rows of white tents. I also saw some Canadian nurses in the distance, and did so want to get out and speak to them.

  I must go to bed now to get warm. As long as one keeps going the cold is not so apparent but when one sits still it is not pleasant.

  There are four English, three American, and three French nurses here.

  October 3, 1915

  My fund is like the widow’s cruse — it never gives out. Somebody is always sending me something. I do hope they all realize how grateful I am and how much good I have been able to do. I have been very careful how I spent it.

  A boy of twenty went off today. He had absolutely nothing warm to put on him, so I got him an outfit at Dunkirk. He was almost blown to pieces, poor boy, and he said that one sock was all that was left of his clothes. They provide them with necessary things at the hospital, but sometimes the supply gets a bit low and now it is so cold they need extra underclothing. When he was brought in they put him in a ward by himself because they thought he would not live through the night, he was so terribly wounded. His right arm was gone, he had a bullet in his liver — it is still there — and multiple wounds of head and body. But he made a wonderful recovery and went away very white and weak, but cheerful and confident that he will get something to do that will not require two hands. He has the Médaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre, and his lieutenant, captain, and general have all been to see him several times — they say he was a wonderful soldier.

/>   Three of us went to Dunkirk by motor to get various supplies. We saw many interesting things on the way, and in Dunkirk saw the destruction caused by the bombardment. The whole side was out of the church and several houses were simply crushed like a pack of cards. Some of the nurses were in Dunkirk when it was bombarded, and they said the noise was the most terrifying part of it all.

  The day we went to Dunkirk we saw a lot of armoured cars. Such curious looking things they are — some are painted with blotches of yellow and green and gray and red and brown so they cannot be distinguished from the landscape. We saw lots of English troops. I looked in vain for Canadians, but they are not far off.

  It has been awfully cold so far and rains most of the time. We have decided that we shall just keep putting on clothes like the Italians do in winter and never take anything off.

  We get wounded every day, sometimes not more than half a dozen, but as they are almost all seriously wounded we are kept busy.

  There have been so many troops moving on lately that we thought we would be left without anything to do. We have orders not to do anything that is not absolutely necessary as we may have to move also.

  I believe the hospital at Divonne has been taken over by the nuns. I miss the lovely flowers that I had there. I share a small room with two other nurses and there is not much room to spare. We have boxes put up on end for tables and wash stands, and there is only one chair. Some of the nurses have tents, two in each.

  We have had a terrible busy week. All the new ones that came into my ward lived only thirty-six or forty-eight hours — they were too far gone to save. Five went away cured and they really were cases to be proud of.

  I think it was the sweetest thing of little Mary Murray to send me her birthday money for my soldiers. I have been getting them fruit and cigarettes for Sunday. That is the thing that overwhelms me at times — the awful suffering every way one turns. Dorothy Thompson sent me £5, much to my joy.

  Last night I could not sleep for the noise of the guns; they must have been bombarding some place near at hand, for the whole earth seemed to shake.

  The boys who drive the American ambulance and bring our patients in say this place is a sort of heaven to them, they are always glad to get here. Mrs. T___[Turner?] does everything she can for them. They are a nice lot of boys and are doing good work.

  Some of the poor men who have lost large pieces of their intestines find the hospital diet a little hard.

  November 7, 1915

  Mobile No. 1

  Letter writing is done under difficulties here. I have gone to bed in order to keep warm and have a small lantern with a candle in to light the paper.

  November 15, 1915

  I did not get any further with my letter for the kitty insisted upon playing with the candle and I was afraid we would have a fire, and since then I have been so busy I have not had a minute. We have had three glorious days and have appreciated them, I can tell you. It has been so cold and wet we have all been water-logged. As for me, I have no word to express my gratitude for all the friends have sent to me. I am quite overwhelmed with all the gifts of money and supplies, but I shall make good use of them and nothing shall be wasted.

  The wool which Mrs. S___ sent turned up yesterday and I have already given half of it to the women in one of the villages here to knit into socks. There is a dear old English colonel who has a soup kitchen near the firing line and he is always looking for socks. He does a great deal of good, for he gets the men when they are carried in from the trenches and gives them hot drinks and hot water bottles, and warm socks when he has them. So many of the men have just straw in their boots and are almost frozen. It makes such a difference if they can get warmed up quickly. Poor souls, they have had a hard time since the heavy rains began. They are brought in here just caked with mud from head to foot.

  Oh, how glad I was to get the cheque from the Red Cross Society and the cheque from Miss G___. I have written to her and would like to write long letters to everyone who is so kind, but there is not time.

  This ambulance was established by an American lady who then gave it to the French government. The expenses of running it are paid by them, but I think Mrs. Mary Borden Turner pays the nurses and also helps out in the way of extra supplies.

  On All Saints Day we went to the little cemetery and decorated the graves of the soldiers who have died in the hospital. There was a special mass and service in the churchyard and the general sent us an invitation. It was pouring rain but I would not have missed it for anything, and I only wish the mothers, wives, and sisters could know how beautiful it all was and how tenderly cared for are the last resting places of their dear ones. It was a picture I shall never forget. The corner of the little churchyard with the forty new graves so close together, each marked with a small wooden cross and heaped high with flowers — the general standing with a group of officers and soldiers all with bared heads — the nurses and one or two of the doctors from the hospital behind them, and then the village people and refugees — hundreds of them, it seemed to me — and the priest giving his lesson — and all the time the rain coming down in torrents and nobody paying any attention to it. There were no dry eyes, and when the general came and shook hands with us afterwards, he could not speak. He is a splendid man, very handsome and a patriot to the backbone — one of the finest types of Frenchmen.

  Do not worry about me for I am very well and so glad to be here in spite of the cold and discomforts. Mrs. S___’s socks and bandages have just come.

  November 28, 1915

  It is bitterly cold here and we feel it more because it is so damp. I can’t tell you how thankful I am to be able to get socks and warm things for the men. We can send things to the first dressing station by the ambulances and from there they go to the trenches at once. Mrs. D___’s socks came yesterday, and I sent them off to Colonel Noble, who has the soup kitchen at the front. All Mrs. S___’s have been given away. It was such a good idea to have them white, for they put them on under the others and it often saves the men from being infected by the dye of the stockings.

  This morning when I got up my room was like a skating pond, for the moisture had frozen on the floor and the water in the pitcher was solid. The getting up in the morning is the hardest, but after we get started we do not mind the cold.

  The patients have plenty of blankets and hot water bottles, so they do not suffer.

  Two Zeppelins went over our head yesterday, but fortunately we are too unimportant to be noticed. I suppose that is one of the reasons they will not let us say where we are, for there are so many spies everywhere that can send information.

  An English nurse came yesterday; she has had most interesting experiences. She was in Brussels when it was taken by the Germans and was obliged to take care of German soldiers and officers for some time. She said the officers, as a rule, were brutes, but some of the men were very nice and grateful.

  For three days and nights the guns have thundered without ceasing. I wonder what it all means?

  My kitty keeps all the seventeen dogs that loaf around here in order. Yesterday she chased a big yellow dog, half St. Bernard, down the main sidewalk of the ambulance. It was a very funny sight, for she was like a little round ball of fury and the poor dog was frightened to death.

  December 5, 1915

  Last night we had the most awful wind storm. I thought our little hut would be carried over into the German lines. It rained in torrents and the roof leaked, and I could not get my bed away from the drips, so I put up my umbrella and the kitty and I had quite a comfortable night.

  Ben Ali, the poor Arab who was so desperately wounded, was up today for the first time.

  I have ordered six dozen pair of socks from Paris. My nice old English Colonel Noble (with the soup kitchen) is always clamouring for them. I think he saves lots of the men from having frozen feet.

  December 26, 1915

  Christmas is over, and in spite of the undercurrent of sadness and the suffering the men had a very
happy day. In my ward all but one were well enough to enjoy the tree, and they were like a lot of children with their stockings. Christmas Eve one of the orderlies who was on guard helped me decorate the ward and trim the tree, then we hung up their stockings. They had oranges, sweets, and cigarettes, and some small toys and puzzles and various things of that kind to amuse them.

  I had a package for each one in the morning, and, thanks to my good friends at home, was able to give them some nice things. I had a pair of warm socks and gloves for each one, a writing pad and envelopes, pen, pencil, small comb in a case, tooth brush, tooth powder, piece of soap, wash cloth, and a small alcohol lamp with solidified alcohol — a thing made especially for the trenches and which delighted them very much — also a small box of sweets, and to several of the very poor ones I gave a small purse with five francs in it. One poor boy said he had never had such a Christmas in his life; he is one of a family of seven, and says that in times of peace it was all they could do to get enough to eat.

  Christmas day at four o’clock the tree was lighted, and one of the many priests who acts as an infirmier (male nurse) here came round to the different wards and sang carols. He has a very beautiful voice and was much appreciated by the soldiers. Mrs. Turner then came in, followed by an orderly with a huge hamper containing a present for each man. They had a wonderful dinner, soup, raw oysters (which came from Dunkirk by motor), plum pudding, etc. I could only give my men a bite of pudding to taste it, but they were able to eat the oysters and other things in moderation.

  In the other wards, where there were only arms and legs and heads to consider, they had a royal feast. She also gave a grand dinner to all the infirmiers and men on the place — had a tree for them and a present for each one. We also had a good dinner and a present for each. She certainly went to a great deal of trouble and made many people happy.

  The next day we divided the things on the trees and each man made a package to send home to his children. They were even more delighted to be able to do this than with their own things.