Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 204
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[Page 204]
near the Line.
Being the first we had up till then seen, we could not but admire their grit & pluck & did not forget to tell them so. They did their work splendidly. It seemed so strange to see quite a young girl arranging, at the train, for the motor cars to take their loads of wounded & the organization was very good.
On arrival at the Hospital each man was taken in charge of, by the sister in charge of the ward & 2 orderlies, & after all his particulars battalion, wounds, etc, had been taken, for the first time for about six months he was gently placed between clean sheets white as snow.
What a sensation it caused! However almost before the first beautiful thoughts had passed, sleep, glorious sleep, soon changed a bustling ward into a quiet calm.
How can one describe the feelings on waking next morning it is almost certain that quite a number, on the instant of waking that morning really thought they were in Heaven itself, for even had they been, their feelings could not have been more pleasant. Heave
Transferred from all the din, & roar, the mud & water, blood stains of the wounded, the groans of the dying, the pain & the weariness, to a quiet, lovely bed with spotless white sheets, with Sisters & Nurses with kindly faces, as it were, quietly "hovering" about was deliciously restful. It was therefore not surprising that one did say He thought he was in Paradise & if it was not, well he for one was satisfied with this!
Lying in a ward in the Hospital, – this particular Hospital No 30 General at Calais was composed of large Marquees, house accommodation being unavailable, – the ordinary Military routine more or less continues here, & being a "Tommy" Hospital, naturally the military "Red Tape" dicipline is more forcibly applied. As almost every "case" in this ward had been lying or "Stretcher cases", two "Tommy"