PRIVATE FRANK NOLAN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY THE GREAT WAR MEDICAL SERVICES 1 MEDICAL SERVICES 2 AMBULANCE TRAIN MILITARY HOSPITALS
WAR AND MEDICINE WHEN THEY SOUND THE LAST ALL CLEAR GROUP CAPTAIN DOUGLAS BADER GROUP CAPTAIN DOUGLAS BADER CBE DSO '
THE MEDICAL MEMORIES ROADSHOW
‘To understand where we are today
We have to know where we have come from’
MEET THE CREW
Owen Willis, Orderly
Owen was just 18 years old when he joined Home Ambulance Train 18 as an orderly in 1914. He lived and worked on board for the whole war. He worked hard to ensure the safety of his passengers and introduced measures to control disease on board. Owen was proud that no soldier who travelled with him died during his journey.
Image courtesy of the Willis family
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Edmund Cooper, Orderly
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As a Quaker, Edmund was morally opposed to military service. In 1915, aged 21, he joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU), a voluntary service staffed by conscientious objectors. The FAU ran four ambulance trains as a way to help the victims of war without taking part in the fighting.
Image courtesy of the family of Edmund Cooper
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Nurses
These nurses in their starched uniforms pose for an official photograph in a ward car on continental ambulance train 18, August 1915.
Science Museum Group Collection
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Kate Luard, Nurse
Kate had already seen action in the Boer War and was not fazed by ambulance train work. She wanted to get close to the front to care for some of the very worst casualties. Kate took the time to talk to her patients, and learned basic Hindustani to communicate with Indian passengers.
Image courtesy of the family of Kate Luard