New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-09
Of Kovel' Braved Shells
On Two Fronts to Help Wounded
Mrs. Wynne Gave Up Career
as English Centlewoman
to Drive Ambulance -
Says Americas Chance
Lies in Aiding Russia

New York IS the unwilling host day
q young English woman whose fame
as an ambulance driver first in Elan
ders and for the last eighteen months
with the Russian armies, has spread
throughout Europe. She is Mrs. Hilda
Nynnc, known in England as the
heroine of Kovel." though she might
lay equal claim. it appears, to the title
Of heroine OF the User and OF the eau
casus.
Her career rs heroine, as opposed to
that o. English gentlewomen, began in
October. 1914. She possessed several
motor cars, which she turned over to
the government as ambulances and
winch she herself accompanied TO Flan-
ders as driver. There, thirty-slX hours
efter her departure from England, she
plunged into the thick OF the great
fight a. Oxmudo. m which the French
marins and zouaves so distinguished
themselves, losing 80 per cent OF their
electives. Mrs. Wynne's bit was TO
drive between the artillery fire OF the
Germans and the Belgisns along the
road into Dixmude.
braved Shell Fire Daily
She established headquarters at
Furnes. which j. seven miles from
Newport, eight from Dixmude and
twenty from Ypres. Along the User
Canal she drove daily to the areas most
subjected TO she'll FIRE. She made daily
visits to Ypres during the great Ger
man attack and bombsrdment, and car
ried in her ambulance not only the
wounded fighters. but the helpless and
infirm civilians caught there by the
tidal wave Of war.
When the continuous Smelling Of
/ Furnes made il uninhabitable. Mrs.
| Wynne went to live in dug-out mile
outside of Newport, which for time
became the centre of her activities.
! She worked for year for the Belgian
and French armies, and IN this time
carried in the car. which she drove her
/ self, more than 5000 wounded. The
French government bestowed upon her
the Croix de Guerre. and she received
/ from King Albert Of Belgium the Order
of Leopold.
Then she transferred her activities
( 10 Russia, where the need OF ambu-
lances and of almost every other
modern means for alleviating the lot
of the wounded was and is inconcelv-
able. To-day there are behind the
/ French front serving both the British
and the French armies $4,000 ambu-
lances. Germany has $4,000 in use.
But Russia, with / 900 miles Of firing
line 10 serve, has only 5000. Mrs.
Wynne, who consented 70 an inter
view yesterday at the st. Regis, is the
authority for these figures.
Seeks American Support
1t is her purpose and hope while
here 10 win American support for the
tremendous task of providing for the
Russian wounded. She wants not only
money. but surgeons and cars and men
10 drive them who are not afraid to
work hard or to die. She has the con-
vction, which she shares with Ivor
Bevan. her countryman, with whom
she is associated in this work, that such
a practical and concrete display of in
terest in the lot Of the Russian soldier
as Americans have shown in the French
poilu would do more than almost any
thing else to stffen Russia's deter
mination TO see the war through TO
victory.
Nothing" she said. could so com
pletely refute the insidious propaganda
Of the Germans. who are continually
telling the Russians that France and
Great Britain and America care moth
ING for her, 90 nothing for her, and
are willing that she should bleed TO
death in their behalf. We must show
the Russian soldiers By our presence
among them and our expenditure and
work in their behalf that we are their
allies personally as well as politically
and that We are in reality their broth
ers in arms.
Here is Americas chance TO strike
telling blow for the cause. Every one
must understand the overwhelming
importance OF making Russia's CO.
operation in the fight for liberty abso-
lately wholehesrted and SECURE. Indi-
vidual Americans can do this if they
viii simply by contributing their
money and their services to this vital
work of providing transportation Tor
tho Russian wounded. And in doing
so they will also be filing crying
need in the name of common human
ity'