Transcription: CHILDREN OF THE GREAT WAR "WE NEED YOU" This is a transcript of an interview conducted by Age Exchange as part of the Children of the Great War project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Age Exchange is a member of The Imperial War Museum First World War Centenary Partnership. www.childrenofthegreatwar.org.uk  www.age-exchange.org.uk If you wish to contact Age Exchange about this contribution, or access other archive material from its the Children of The Great War project, please email greatwar@age-exchange.org.uk Title A brief history of the Voluntary Aid Detachment About: The Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurses club at Cavendish Square The story was shared at: The New Cavendish Club, London, UK On: Saturday 8th March 2014 By: Sonja Curtis AE Reference: NCC0001 Interview with Sonja Curtis Sonja, can you just begin by telling us about your role here (at the New Cavendish Club)? Ok well I'm a Membership Secretary here but I was also asked to start a charity to commemorate the VADS and all nurses that were killed during the two Great Wars. That's what we"re doing now. The Nursing War Appeal covers the First World War and the Second World War and the VADs started before the First World War really. I didn't know that... Well I believe that you've really got to go back to Florence Nightingale and the Crimea War because, I made a note of the date of this because I'm not good on dates. That happened in 1899. She went out there - there were 38 nursing ladies, or ladies that knew a bit about nursing. 43 years later we had the Second World War and I think mainly nurses volunteered from Commonwealth countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The women actually wanted to go and nurse and help out in the World War and Britain wasn't really keen to have them.  I'm not sure how it happened. The Red Cross and St John's then formed hospital trains and ships that went out there to collect the wounded soldiers and on the way out they would take supplies and on the way back they'd bring back the injured. Those trains and ships were staffed by nurses. Most of the nurses then were trained by the Army. The Red Cross did do a fair amount but if you wanted to find nurses, they were normally in the Army. There was a big centre there in Pimlico wasn't there? That's right. My opinion is, I think it was the enormity of that situation that made the Government realise that the medical facilities you need and personnel you need for a standing Army is totally different to the amount of personnel you need during Wartime. Nothing really changes. They couldn't afford to keep that number when they weren't in a Wartime situation. I want to ask you about the club.  You said it has another name.

Transcription: I've read loads of books now.  The one thing that comes out to me are the funny stories they tell.  They tell stories arriving at places they have been posted and there's nobody to greet them.  They just found their way and they're told off afterwards because they're in the wrong place.  But there's always a funny side line.  Even when they're being told off.  It's usually minor things and it's obvious that they're  being bullied.  One recorded the fact that in one ward the men were supposed to stand to attention behind their beds.  You can also see in some of the writings are the attitude of the young women.  They had breeding and manners and these lads respond to it and of course they liked them.  At times they were quite naughty in as much as they were pulling their leg. They'd have fun. Oh yes and that comes through.  There's obviously hardship but they had fun.  These girls all of a sudden saw lads without arms and legs and you can't imagine. It was very dangerous for them as well. But they were limited by the bounds set by those that thought they were qualified to restrict the VAD or any of the movements of people that weren't really capable in their eyes but they were capable. I suppose what must have happened quickly; well nobody imagined the numbers killed.  SO those women they just had to step up to the plate. That's right.  There was no way they would be prepared for that.  It must have been horrific. So this extraordinary club set up by Lady Amptill (Lady Ampthill) which clearly she felt there was a huge need for these women to have a place where they could be.  I suppose they spoke about it because they met up there together  What was the membership? Well they had 2,000 applications when it was first set up.  One of the things that amused me - this room is Temple Suite with Miss Temple who became the Secretary here, the overall Manager and Gilbert was the Porter.  Miss Temple had the idea of setting up a bar and they had sherry. They were so young when it happened. My dad was a Pilot in the First World War and when I look back, he was 19 when the war ended.  They were young men. What was the motto of the VADs?  Did they have a motto? No I don't know.  I don't think they'd allowed one! Sonja, thank you very much.  What a wonderful collection and story. [ENDS] ____________________________________________________________________ Copyright © Age Exchange Theatre Trust Ltd. 2014 (a company limited by guarantee) Registered in England No. 1929724. Registered Office: 11 Blackheath Village, London SE3 9LA Registered as Charity No: 326899 age exchange  heritage lottery fund LOTTERY FUNDED

Transcription: Wow.  That's an amazing book  "Another VAD exhausted.  Post Armistice the new disease.  Is there a remedy?  Reduced energy, overstrained nerves, reduced enthusiasm, restlessness of parents, VAD members wanted a home, these signs are the natural result of November 11th 1918."  That's interesting, post Armistice exhaustion. That's the VAD scarf that they had. This marks an anniversary. 1960.  This is the last lot they did and they had these.  I mean we're losing all our VADs now but there was some kind of ceremony they had and it's 1917 to 1960.  I think it's lovely. This is a classic, a frame.  What's in the frame? Well you've got a capsule that was attached to a pigeon and inside there it says "we are sending £2,000 for more pay VAD at Devonshire House.  War bonds and War savings." The post mark is a tank and it says "15". I'm not sure if this is Margaret Amptill (   Lady Ampthill  ) but it would be.  I don't know what happened to it. Well it must have been received because you're holding it. Trafalgar Square, does it say? Yes. By pigeon service dated 9th March 1918. So your hope is that you'll have your nurses War memorial? Well part of it is the memorial.  The other part of it is to set up a scholarship to train a nurse in our days in humanitarian aid, so she can take that through.  Most nursing has come out of conflict.  We take it for granted, triage nursing for example, where casualties are prioritised.  We do that in hospital nowadays and people don't realise how it actually developed.  I suppose if we went back to the First World War I would think field dressing, that sort of thing, bandaging I suppose.  It's all come on.  Trauma nursing you know.  So if we could put in place a scholarship where a nurse could further educate herself in humanitarian aid I think it would benefit everybody. So that's part of the mission of the charity? Yes.  It's the other side of it.  It's not just a memorial; it's a memorial with names.  You’ve got a memorial to Florence Nightingale, Museum to her, there are some names of VADs in Yorkminster commemorated and it's in a wooden plaque on the screen but there is nowhere in this country where all the nurses that were killed in service where it is commemorated.  That is disgraceful in that day and age. Yes, and when you look at the numbers too. Yes, 70,000 to 100,000 they reckon signed up.  I mean those men that wrote the letters too, they would be horrified if they thought they'd just been ignored. Yes of course and everything we've seen from VADs, it's the same tale.  It's tale of gratitude from the men who received the care in their darkest hour.  A lot of them didn't survive but those did; their letters of thanks, commendation and goodwill. We're sitting next to stuff from 1914 - 100 years old.

Transcription: Alice in Red Cross Land. I'm not sure what date this was actually published. The Silver Wedding Procession June 29th 1918.  The March of the Women's War Services. Devonshire House Alphabet: A stands for Amptill (   Lady Ampthill  ) , our well beloved Head. B stands for bins full of folders not bread. C for the club where the tired member snores. D stands for drill you should see us form fours. E for the empire we serve at all cost. F stands for folders which never get lost. G for the garden where tennis is played. H for the hall where enquiries are made. I for investiture granted to few. J stands for jumpers of every hue. K for the kits which are kept in reserve. L stands for letters we sometimes deserve. M for the mentions proclaimed in The Times. N for the nonsense I've put in these rhymes. O stands for Officers all very smart. P the procession in which we take part. Q stands for questions some make us feel ill. R requisitions we try to fulfil. S for selection board which makes us quake. T for tea parties with plenty of cake. U stands for uniform we're proud to don. V stands for VAD, Red Cross and St John. W for women we are proud of our sex. X for X ray, nothing else starts with X. Y for years’ of service for which stripes are given. Z for the zeal with which we have striven...

Description: English translation of Eine Kindheit im Ersten Weltkrieg by Else Wuergau The book deals with the impact of the beginning of the war on the idyllic life of a large family of farmers. The main characters are the parents of the narrator: the father a village schoolteacher, from 1916 medical orderly at the Somme front, and the widowed grandmother with her six children. Three of the four daughters have families of their own; the youngest tends to the wounded and becomes a Red Cross nurse. The unmarried eldest son manages the large family farm in Enzberg and is therefore dispensed from military service. The youngest boy, only fifteen years old at the outbreak of the war, joins up voluntarily. In 1917 the eldest becomes unable to withstand the burden of his responsibilities and puts an end to his life. The farm has to be sold; the purchaser pays in war bonds, the value of which are shortly afterwards reduced to virtually nothing. The youngest son is killed in action in Belgium just before the armistice. Available in PDF (13 MB) => http://www.kindheit.stefanmart.de/index_en.html

Description: Der Soldat M. Rabenschlag befand sich seit ca. 1916 im Kriegsgefangenenlager Stobs (Grafschaft Roxburgshire in Schottland) in englischer Kriegsgefangenschaft. In dem Album haben sich zahlreiche seiner Mitgefangenen in den Jahren 1916/17 mit kurzen Eintragungen sowie ihren Heimatadressen handschriftlich verewigt. Das Lager in Stobs wurde 1903 südlich von Hawick errichtet. Bei Kriegsausbruch diente es noch als Lager für heimische Truppen. Zeitweise waren dort bis zu 5000 Soldaten stationiert. Im Oktober 1914 wurde das Lager in ein Kriegsgefangenenlager umgewandelt und 200 Holzbaracken für etwa 6000 Gefangene gebaut. Unter diesen befanden sich auch die überlebenden Besatzungsmitglieder des Kriegsschiffes SMS Blücher. Die Gefangenen wurden zu verschiedenen Arbeiten eingesetzt, u.a. bei Bauarbeiten im Lager, in der Feldarbeit oder beim Bau eines Abwassersystems. Zudem brachten sie ihre eigene Zeitung heraus und entwickelten ein lebendiges Theaterleben. Die letzten Gefangenen wurden Ende 1919 entlassen. || Zahlreiche Informationsblätter zu Theateraufführungen im Kriegsgefangenenlager Stobs in Schottland.

Description: Este un volum de jurnal din cele trei deţinute de Biblioteca Judeţeană Octavian Goga Cluj. || Dumitru Nistor, ţăran din satul Năsăud s-a născut în 1893. Visând din copilărie să călătorească şi să vadă ţări străine, în 1912, când vine vremea “număraşului” (recrutării) el cere să fie primit nu în miliţia ardeleană, unde erau recrutaţi de obicei românii, ci în marina austro-ungară. Terminând şcoala de marină, după o călătorie la Viena, este îmbarcat ca Geschützvormeister (“primul îndreptător de tun”) pe vasul SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, cu destinaţia Asia. Prins de război în Marea Chinei, crucişătorul Kaiserin Elisabeth participă la câteva bătălii navale, pentru ca în 2 noiembrie 1914 să se hotărască scufundarea lui. Echipajul pierde şi lupta terestră, este luat prizonier de japonezi şi transportat în arhipelagul nipon. Timp de zece luni, ţăranul-marinar din Năsăud va fi prizonier într-o mănăstirea buddhistă din Himeji, iar apoi mutat într-un lagăr, construit special pentru prizonierii germani şi austrieci, la Aonogahara, nu departe de Kobe, unde va rămâne până la sfârşitul anului 1919.

Description: Articol publicat în „Rampa” (Bucureşti), în numărul din 24 noiembrie 1919.