Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-17
BELGIAN ambulance
CORPS IN NEED Of AID
Red Cross Worker Makes Strong
Appeal for Support From
Americans.

Appeal to the people OF the United
States to contribute as literally as they
can for the support Of the Belgian Red
Cross field ambulance now serving In
Flanders. under the allied military au-
thorities along the Nieuport-Ypres line,
Is made by Miss May Sinclair. who has
served In the Belgian Red Cross. She Is
at present at St. Johns Wood, London.
engaged in relief work. She tells of
her personal experiences and observa-
tons while with this ambulance corps.
which has already saved moro than
5000 Belgian and French soldiers. In
her appeal she says:
L know that the American press is
besieged by the writer's of appeals for
Belgium. 1 know that American gener-
osity has already done SO much for this
country that 1t is hardly conceivable
that it can do more. And ! am only
one OF many persons who have been
there and seen it's need with their own
eyes But what 1 have seen has taken
from me every reasonable scruple.
Help Badly Wanted.
Help il wanted-very badly wanted
for the Belgian Red Cross field am
bulance now serving In Flanders under
the allied military authorities along
the Nieuport-Ypres line. 1 had the good
fortune to be with that ambulance
when 1t was quartered In Client, and L
know that it is impossible to exag-
gerate the value Of it's services to the
Belgian army.
Its volunteers have worked from
September ~ to the present time. I'M
tiringly. by day and by night, often
under heavy shellfire, on battlefieids,
in burning towns, nearly always at the
risk of their lives, often going into
places where no military ambulance
could go.
Its founder and commandant, DR..
Hector Munro, and four of its field
women, Mrs. Elsie knocker, trained
nurse and skilled chauffeur; her friend,
! Miss Mari Chisholm. Lady Dorothie
Fielding and Mrs. Arthur Gleason, an
American woman, have been decorated
by King Albert with the Order of Leo
pold II, the highest Belgian honor for
valiant service.
Has Saved 5000 Men.
Mrs. Knocker has established a
dressing station at Pervyse, close be-
hind the Belgian lines. Up to date the
corps has saved more than 5000 Bel
gian and French soldiers. Hitherto Its
tor ambulances and Ave scouting cars)
have peen met by voluntary subscrip-
lions, public and private. and by a
| small grant from the British Red Cross
Society, which has also provided a good
! number of its motor ambulances and
cha uffeurs.
But now the British Red Cross re-
quire all their cars and all their funds
for the increasing necessities of the
British army. In March they will be
compelled. reluctantly. to withdraw the
cars they have SO generously supplied.
The ambulance's London committee
has done its utmost, but it's funds are
not sufficient to meet this violent in
crease in Its expenditure. and 1t is now
dependent on the comparatively small
number of people whose generosity and
whose means are not exhausted by
larger enterprises.
Doomed to Extinction.
| IF no help comes to it this gallant
little corps IS doomed to extinction
within a few weeks. The Belgians can
not afford to keep it-still less can
they afford to lose 1t.
will any of your readers help?
Subscriptions should be sent to the
secretary and treasurer, Alexander Nc
Cornell, esquire. 81 Chancery lane, Lon
don, W. c., payable to the account of
the Munro Motor Field Ambulance"