The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-11-04
NURSE TELLS OF
WORK IN FRANCE
Interesting Address by Miss
Holmes of American
Ambulance
GLOWING TRIBUTE TO
FRENCH OFFICERS
Had 10 Desperately Wounded Men in
Her Care Daily for 10 Months-Gives
War Time Conditions.

w dl lIlC AOluILAOilo'
Miss Marion Holmes of Boston, an
auxiliary nurse in the American am
bulance or hospital on the outskirts of
Paris for 10 months, gave an intensely
! interesting account of the work being
done by the hospital in the Unitarian
parish house last evening to an audi
ence that filled nearly the seating ca
pacitv of the assembly room. AT the
conclusion of her address a collection
was taken to be devoted to the inter
ests of men whose homes were in the
invaded portion of France and who
are not only homeless but have not
heard from a member of their families
since they first marched away to an
swer the call to arms.
Miss Holmes paid a glowing tribute
TO the French soldiers and their wo-
men folk and declared that as result
of what she had seen of the effects of
war she was an "'out and out pacifst.
Miss Holmes has a very rapid delivery
and managed to convey wealth OF
first hand information on the war time
conditions in Paris and the Paris hos
Ipitals in the hour during which she held
the close and undivided attention of
her auditors.
She said that she reached Paris in
April, 1915, and two weeks later was
enrolled as an auxiliary nurse at the
American ambulance, as hospitals are
Icalled i'm France She remained there
10 months, having 10 desperately wound
ed men in her care daily during that
time. The number of patients num-
bercd from $50 to $50 daily except
during a big drive, when the number
for days at a time would be over 600.
There are from 80 to 100 nurses in
the hospital, most of them American
trained, and the surgeons, with the eX-
ception of one Frenchman, are all
Americans.
She described the conditions just be-
fore a drive, when orders would come
to evacuate from the base hospital
every wounded man who could stand
being moved to prepare for the big
influx of wounded soon to come. These
would begin to arrive a few hours af-
ter the big attack had started and
would reach the hospital with only the
first temporary dressings having been
applied.
She compared the equipment to the
American hospital, modern i'll every
respect and the best that money can
). buy, with the first equipment Of the
< French military hospitals. In the lat
ter there was one nurse for 80 badly
wounded men in the early days of the
r war, and the orderlies were men physi
callv or mentally unfit for service al
the front. Beds were changed only
once a month and wounds dressed only
once in three days, for there were only
two surgeons to $50 wounded eases
The prayer of every Frenchman was
that if wounded he would not be sent
to a French military hospital. The
French government recognizes the won
derful work done by the American hos
pitfalls and has bettered many condi
tions in the French military hospitals
There have been no training schools
=, for nurses but after the war these will
, be established.
u She described conditions in the hos
;; pital when the Champagne drive be
- gan and said that for days she an,
o. the other nurses worked II hours dali
70 with only one-half hour for lunch. Sh
u spoke of the numerous eases of ga
i RdHAftlt WHICH she tNDldlHHu WAS ull
J, ferent from asphyxiating gas, whic
effects only the respiratory organ
The gas gangrene is caused by a gerl
peculiar to certain soils and especial
that of the Champagne district Deaf
often follows quickly upon the frs
symptoms of that affection. 1t VIZ
II discovered that sterile water droppe
II at the rate of 30 drops to the minut
81
II She told of her first patient and
Il the conditions under which many of II
II men who came under her care we
II wounded. She asked all of h
II BOYS, - as she called them, what the
II feelings were when ordered to char!
and in every instance the reply WI
that when the order came they suffer,
mental anguish, but shortly before Il
time came to leave the trenches
advance to the attack memory becar
blurred and most of them could l
member nothing from the time tn
advanced to the attack until it w
over.
More than one had told her that (
German soldiers advanced to the /;
tack, prodded from behind by their {
ficers, and that the Germans were m
drunk. She said that she had ask
the French if they were not provid
~ with stimulants before an attack a
. that those she had asked had declar
that the only thing they ever receiv
was little stimulant mornings wi
their coffee.
She described two terrible cases
- jaw wounds which were saved fir,
. permanent Disagreement by the We
derful work of the dental departing
- of the American hospitals; described t
many nervous wrecks as the result
the breaking down of the nerves fir
the terrible noise and scenes that h
r been undergone; pictured scene
lie Paris the night of the one Zeppe
~ raid on that city, and closed with
tribute to the women of France a