by Sue Reid
“I don’t know,” I said again. I’d seen so much suffering already. Could I bear to make nursing my career?
I told him I’d think about it and then I watched him walk away, hands thrust deep in his pockets, white coat flapping in the warm September breeze. I was smiling. He’d given me his address. It was on a bit of paper in my pocket.
In the afternoon I was driven down to the station. As we left, I looked back at the hospital. The damage to the Surgical wing was being repaired. A lot of the patients had had to be evacuated, of course, but the damage wasn’t as bad as had been feared. Soon, I feel sure, the hospital will be as good as new.
I stood on the platform, waiting for the train, my luggage heaped about me. I looked down at it, at the hockey stick and tennis racket propped against my case. I remembered the day I’d arrived. I’d felt like a schoolgirl then. I didn’t now.
Just before the train was due a lorry screeched to a halt in the station forecourt. I heard the sound of boots as soldiers jumped down and ran on to the platform. A Sergeant saw me and saluted smartly.
As the train pulled up he was at my side in a jiffy. “We’ll help you with that,” he said. I wondered if he’d noticed my hands. I watched as the soldiers fought for the right to carry my luggage on to the train.
“Get a move on, lads,” the Sergeant barked. He saluted again as I thanked him. “It’s nothing, miss,” he said. “We’d do anything for you nurses.”
He turned quickly away. I looked at him, at the khaki-clad men hoisting themselves up on to the train, and then suddenly I didn’t see them any more. I saw all those others – row upon row of wounded men – as clear as if I was still in the hospital. And I knew then what I was going to do. I was staying – here, where I was needed most.
“I’ll be back,” I promised as I clambered on to the train.
Historical note
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 nurse
ries. 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.
Timeline
1859
Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnesses the suffering of wounded soldiers at the Battle of Solferino in Italy.
1862
Dunant publishes A Memory of Solferino.
1863
The Geneva committee set up to investigate the relief of the sick and wounded in war leads to the founding of the first Red Cross society.
1864
The first Geneva Convention is signed by 12 nations.
1865
Britain signs the Geneva Convention.
1870
The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War is founded.
1875
The Geneva Committee becomes the International Committee (of the Red Cross).
1882
The USA signs the Geneva Convention.
1905
The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War becomes the British Red Cross Society (BRCS) and receives its founding Charter in 1908. Its first president is Queen Alexandra.
1909
The War Office in Britain draws up a Voluntary Aid Scheme. As a result of this, “Voluntary Aid Detachments” are created by the BRCS and Order of St John. Detachment members – later to become known simply as “VADs” – train in peacetime in first aid and other skills so that they can help supplement the work of the medical services of the TA in war.
1910
The Voluntary Aid Scheme is introduced in Scotland. (Branches of the Red Cross are also gradually established in all parts of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.)
1912
A party of 12 VADs – the first to serve abroad – is sent to aid the wounded in the Balkan War.
1914
The First World War begins. The BRCS and the Christian-based Order of St John form a Joint War Committee.
1918
The First World War ends.
1919
The League of Red Cross Societies (now called the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) is formed. One of its new aims is to relieve suffering from causes other than war. The BRCS establishes branches in British territories abroad.
1921
The BRCS creates the first United Kingdom blood-transfusion service.
1924
British Junior Red Cross is formed.
1929
The Third Geneva Convention provides rules for fair treatment of prisoners of war.
1939
The Second World War begins. In Britain a “Civil Nursing Reserve” is organized by the government to staff Emergency Medical Service (EMS) hospitals that would treat the large numbers of civilian casualties that were expected in the event of war. Owing to the shortage of available professional nurses, VADs are released to serve in the Reserve.
1945
The Second World War ends.
1949
The Fourth Geneva Convention allows for the relief of civilians in war, especially those in enemy territories or those living under an occupying power.
Acknowledgments
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.
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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd., 2005
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Text © Sue Reid, 2005
Cover illustration © Richard Jones, 2009
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