AWM41 1068 - [Official History, 1914-18 War: Records of Arthur G Butler:] Nursing - Personal Narratives - Extracts from letters of Staff Nurse C E Strom - 21 June 1917 - 30 September 1918 - Part 7

                                         57.

We have been very busy indeed in the wards. During the 
last few weeks numbers of the poor old "amoebies" (as 
they call themselves) have developed other species of 
the disorder, and, in consequence, have been ill indeed. 
The medical officer of the compound decided to move all 
these relapses into one ward, and, as mine was the ward 
nearest the seat of government (the bell tent), they all 
came to me, all my up patients being transferred elsewhere. 
You can imagine how busy we were. One of my transferred 
lads who "boarded" in Nell's ward next door was given 
permission to come in to us every day as aide - and very 
grateful we were, too, for the permission, for old Tigers 
and I were well nigh "run off our feet" as the worthy 
express it. What with treatment, and the carting of 
diets, and the making and distributing of drinks; the 
making of beds, and sponging of patients, and so on and 
so forth, there was little time left for the very 
necessary tidying up and sweeping of the ward. That was 
where the aide-de-camp came in, bless his willing heart. 
His spare time he spends in laundering the "boss's" 
overalls or scrubbing the table to a snowy whiteness with 
all the scrubbing brush we have. And whenever he thinks 
the staff is looking more than ordinary fagged out, on g-

oes the kettle, and out comes the teapot..... 

We are still waiting for our leave, and we're about 
ready for it too. I don't think I should be able to 
keep going at all were it not for my two faithful, 
considerate, hard working assistants. They are just 
great. The only thing that troubles me in connection with 
our leave is that, after I have gone, they will still be 
hard at it, battling along in the heat whilst I am 
resting in the shade. 

 

                                                  52nd General Hosp. 18/7/18. 

Two days ago we were given about four hours notice to 
quit the 42nd., and proceed here on leave, pending two 
beds at the Con. Camp. 

We were rather staggered at the shortness of the notice, 
but, of course, got the required wriggle on, washed, 
ironed, packed up, and settled out affairs, on time. It 
is necessary when one proceeds on leave, to get all ones 
kit in readiness to follow one on, in the event of one 
not coming back. That means rolling up bedding, and 
folding up beds, and locking trunks and kitbags, and so 
on - all of which is a desperate nuisance when one is in 
a tearing hurry and the ambulance is at the door. 

On arrival here, we were told, to our dismay, that there 
were no empty beds at the Con. Camp, nor would there be, 
in all probability for another week. This was 
distressing, and wholly unexpected, as our matron had 
understood - and given us to believe - that our sojourn 
here would be a day or so at the most. However, there 
it was - the only thing for us to do was just to settle 
down and be happy.....

This hospital is of huts, and well established. It was 
here long before we were - was run by the Canadians until 
the Australians took it over last summer. Compared with 
our poor old tented, bedraggled 42nd., it is comfort 
itself, the wards are all huts, water is laid on through-

out the whole hospital - none of your slopping round with 
buckets from the cookhouse taps - each ward had a cosy 
pantry, and doors. There are lawns and flower gardens, 
green and glowing. The sisters' quarters are in several 
long huts, each hut containing so many rooms - mostly 
single, all the huts being a stone throw from the mess. 

 

                                     58.

The rooms have mosquito proof doors and windows - what 

wealth! But, oh, they're so hot. The room we have been 

given - its owners being away at the Camp - is right on 

the main road, and the traffic is very noisy and

plentiful; ambulances honk past, lorries, transport waggo-

ns, cars of all sorts, from the humble Tin Lizzie (Ford) 

to the luxurious staff car; Greeks trundle along in 

creaky old carts drawn by thin mules or water buffaloes,

motor cyclists dash by, and every kind of pedestrian 

toils dustily by. 

There is an electric power station across the road, and 

all day long the engine room goes "ponk -ponk, ponk-ponk" just 

as it used to go at the M.H., one gets used to it of 

course. However, everyone is so jolly good to us that I 

shouldn't complain about anything. 

Helen is here;  also lots of our old girls from 42, also 

several newer arrivals from Egyptian hospitals, all 

more or less (mostly less) entranced with the country. 

We even had our breakfast in bed this morning - brought 

in by one of the ex-42nds., who has been lately transferred 

down here. They are dears. Everyone encourages us to do 

just what we like, which we do very faithfully - spending 

most of the day lying on our backs, wherever it seems 

coolest. 

It is too hot to be enthusiastic about anything except 

baths; at night it seems like the Red Sea again. The 

air is still and infinitely more oppressive here than up 

on the slopes (I couldn't say "hills" in this instance). 

This is a miserable hole for civilized folk to have to 

live in. In winter it's pretty bad, with the mud and 

slush, and ice and stuff, but summer's just awful - flies 

and dust, and mosquitoes, and heat and smells ad nauseam. 

Roll on the day of our departure........

                                                                                   3/8/18.

.....

     Behold me on this delightful August evening once 

more in the region of the little Greek village on the 

hill; this is where we started out on our adventures,

a year ago...... I am at present most prosaically

in dock i.e. hospital.... I've had "the malaria" or 

"dingey" as the troops familiarly call the disorder, and 

have had a very welcome spell of bed in consequence. 

All this happened some time ago; I am now up and about 

again...... We stary in hospital until we have done 

our ten days on thirty grains (quinine), when we go to 

Con. Camp, Whence I came. 

Nell and I came up to the Camp about three weeks ago, and, 

alas, I have seen little of it, for the very night we 

arrived this tiresome plague fell upon me and that was the 

end of my activities for the time being. The hospital is 

only a few hundred yards away from the Camp, which is 

handy for the stretcher-bearers, the one medical officer - 

a charming lady, and the dearest M.O. in the world - 

looks after both the sisters in the camp, and those in the 

wards. 

The sisters running this place are all Imperials, and the 

majority of the patients are from Imperial hospitals. They 

are all very good indeed to us; the standoffishness which 

I expected to encounter has been entirely absent........ 

The M.O. tells me that from the "wogginess" of my blood - 

specimens of which she deftly obtained from my ears - she 

concludes that I have dwelt with this disorder for many 

months............

 

                                      59.

They say that I shall not be able to return to the 42nd. 

now that this has happened. That was the most unkindest 

cut of all. The mosquitoes up there are the stumbling 

block....... Unless I can wangle it otherwise, I shall 

return to duty at the hut hospital where Nell and I were 

for a few days before we came up here. It's a fine and 

handy hospital, clean, comfortable and convenient, but 

we belong, Nell and I, to the grey-tented, dusty, wind-

blown 42nd., and as long as it is - and we - remain there, 

we couldn't be happy "base-wallahing" anywhere.......... 

Malaria is such a common thing here that we have come to 

regard it more as a trial than a tragedy. Certainly it

is a nuisance in that it renders one less eligible for 

transfer to France - and liable to be boarded out of the 

country (and army), any minute which may appeal to the 

heads, but still we'll live through it yet............

 

                                                                 August the 9th, '18.

....

    ....... The M.O. has done her morning round, and has

broken it gently to me that I am to continue with twenty

grains for so many more days  And then no more malaria...

We partake of cocoa and a biscuit at ten a.m. and very

grateful it is too, though some of us thought little

enough of it a fortnight ago........

By the way we buy eggs here, from one of the villagers -

one of the V.A.D.'s gets them for us, with the aid of an

obliging Tommy who acts as middleman - at the awful

price of half a franc each, or five shillings a dozen.....

Now that I am so much better, I am a-weary to get back to

the wards again:  if only I can manage to get back to the 

old 42.....

The Principal Matron has been in to see us; she came

accompanied by a distinguished visitor, a melon and some

tomatoes.  The melon and tomatoes she left with us, to

our unbounded satisfaction, though, before we seize upon

them, we must first approach the M.O. on the subject,

there being some differences of opinion here abouts

regarding the healthful properties of locally grown

vegetables.  If the Greeks keep their gardens in the same

delightful condition as they do their streets, one cannot

blame the Authority for their suspicions........

Mate, do you think that Else would come out if I came

home?  Is the war nearly over, or is their still talk of

more reinforcements?  I just hate to realise that she is

missing all this whilst I am having my turn.  It would be

simplicity itself now, this getting sent home.  I have but

to complain persistently and I am there.  Any sister who

has had any of the local disorders is encouraged to state

whether or not she would like to be transported back to

the Sunny South - After that, the matter lies in the 

hands of the Medical Board, and very sypmathetic hands

they are too.  I wonder if you would cable me when this

letter arrives - I have thought so much about it lately

that I can't decide now what is the best thing to do...

It's no use considering that what has gone, I came out and

Else stayed, and that's all there is about it.  But, if

there is any way in which I can alter things now, do, for

any sake, tell me,  I feel so dash mean about it..........

                                                                   Con. Camp.

                                                                             17/8/18.

....

    Here am I in Con. Camp, been here a week, and expect

                                             60.

 to return to duty shortly - for the which, oh, be joyful.

Much as I hate work, and love resting in the shade, I

cannot help feeling that one needs a bit of the one to

help one appreciate a bit of the other.  The five weeks

since I left the old 42nd have seemed like so many months.

Nell has gone back to duty, and the old hospital, and the

old wards.  We were rather panicky about our return,

being afraid that high Authority would decide to send us

down to the 52nd, however, as Nell has managed to get

back to the 42nd without any great trouble, no doubt I

shall land there too..........

General Fetherston came today.  The warning that we got

was so short that we were unprepared for the occasion,

and my tent mate and myself were still busy getting

ourselves dressed up when he went away.   That was a blow.

We were determined to see him, and, despite the temperature

and other distressing drawbacks, set off forthwith to

catch him up at the next hospital, over the hill.

There we were able to obtain all the information we

desired, though I confess it did us little good.  I was

too breathless to ask all the questions which had worried

us, but most of them were asked by someone else, which was

handy, and came to the same thing.

Leave, we learn, is out of the question at present;

transfers to France doubtful; trips to England only

likely to happen to those on the "M. Scheme".  This

scheme I must mention, is one which has awakened wide

interest amongst the fair nursing staffs.  Briefly, it is

this - that, if we want to marry anyone in the United

Kingdon, who in turn would like to marry us, we may, with

a little trouble, and after filling in a few thousand

forms, go over and do it.........

When Authority makes an inspection to find out how we

all live, it always annoys me to think that they always

see us at our best, clean and cheerful - no mud on the

hem of our skirts (haven't we spent half the night

getting it off), courteous and calm.  What a happy

family we are, to be sure; what harmony; what perfect

conditions for work; what perfectly run wards.  Come

back again, General, come back in the middle of winter - 

and don't knock, just walk in.

Last month, by the way, is supposed to have been the

hottest for two years; no wonder we 1 felt so limp.

The days go slowly here.  We read, and sew, and venture

abroad only in the cooler hours of the day.  There are 

no restrictions imposed upon us here, except those

dealing with meals, mixtures, and mosquito nets.

Otherwise we may go and come as we like, providing, of

course, that the message, of "Lights Out" finds us

within the gates.

Went over to an adjacent Con. Camp the other afternoon,

the one to which all our 42nd boys have been despatched,

pending their discharge back t o duty.  There they were,

crowds of them, away by themself, barbed wire off from

the other dysenteric convalescents.  I have never before 

seen such a wistful community.  Some of the had been

discharged from hospital months before, but conditions

being unsatisfactory, still awaited their "ticket".

They had nothing to read, were not allowed out of the

compound, and, with the exception of the few necessary

fatigues connected with the daily routine, nothing to do.

No wonder they were glad to see a friendly face..........

                                                61.

                                                                          29/8/18.

...

   ....... I am back at the hospital again, and back at

work in my old ward, with the same delightful charge

sister, the same faithful Tigers, and a few of the same

boys.   Sometimes it feels as though I have never been

away at all....... the quinine which Authority thinks it

necessary for me to introduce into my system has been

reduced considerably - I now meet it only at the week 

ends.......

 

                                                                            8/9/18.

....

    ....... There is little more news at present.

Plenty of mosquitoes, plenty of rumours, plenty of

dust.  Life resolves itself mainly into a matter of

getting up, and going on duty, and coming off and having

a bath; it is too hot to think muchabout anything......

 

                                                                      Night Duty,

                                                                   19/9/18.        1 a.m.

....

    .......

It's a week since I came on night duty, and glad indeed

I was to come on.  The sun was too much for me altogether.

I have four wards, am on the same line as on days - the

"amoebies"; possess one orderly, an M.A., who thinks he

knows everything, but doesn't, and have my pecious Nell

next door.  We are divided by two barbed wire fences, one

on either side of the divisional fence, but what of that?

We had supper together an hour ago :  every night duty we

have been on has provided for supper in a different way.

Nowanights one sister goes down to the central cookhouse

everynight, taking it in turns, of course, and dishes out

the supplies, and each sister's orderly calls for her

supplies and removes them at midnight.  The one and only

time I have been on the job so far, I made several

serious mistakes, giving one lady two rations of tinned

salmon, and someone else no milk, whilst one poor soul

was forgotten altogether.  It took me some time to settle

down after that night.  The mosquitoes are most

conversational now tonight.  There are millions of them.

Wherever there is a light, or human flesh, they gather

in the thousands.....Tonight I have been carrying on 

the good work with a strafer, and have already accounted

for thirty one.  The strafer consists of a test tube,

corked with a plug of cotton wool... and containing a few

drops of chloroform - or A.B.C. liniment.  The plug is

removed, the tube is introduced over the pensive, settled

insect and lo, he is interned and exterminated.  The boys

of the various lines hold competitions, the ones getting

the most corpses receiving so many packets of cigarettes

from the store.  I don't know whether it is strictly

fair that I should render first aid during the midnight

hours, maybe it gives our lads a bit of an advantage; but

we get the insects......

The proportion of anopheles - the malarial mosquito - to

the innocuous is very marked - there are dozens of them.

Nowonder we are such an unhealthy crew.  I am very well by

the way.   Have stopped taking quinine altogether now,

except on rare occasions when I feel it necessary......

Today I got your letters of June the 6th and 11th - how's

that for speedy transit.  A fortnight ago the mail of mud

                                               62.

mid-July came along.......

The guns are rolling constantly, away in the hills

behind us.  There has been a bit of a scrap for days.  

One cannot help wondering about the lads, where they all

are - all those boys who have walked out of these wards

during the last few months - lads in crumpled khaki,

laden with sundry impediments, and grinning cheerfully

as they go......

                                                                         3.30 a.m.

                                                                            26/9/18.

.....

     I've just put the kettle on the primus for our

four a.m. cup of tea - so here goes while it boils......

We do all our ironing with Tommy's assistance, he boils

our clothes for us; he makes our suppers and morning teas.

Once upon a time the laundering was done on the    if

It's no clean, it's caller "principle, but since the

advent of the faithful Thomas, all has changed.....

 

                                                                          30/9/18.

Of course you will already know the good news about 

this front.  We don't know whether peace has been

officially declared, here or not, but we understand that,

if it isn't declared now, it will be very soon.  You can

imagine the rejoicings of the troops.  After all the 

weary months they have put in here, fighting the climate

and the diseases of the country no less than the enemy,

after all the "slanging" that they have received from

the men on the other fronts.  The people in the United

Kingdom wanted to know, s ome time ago, when we were

going to start fighting, if you please.  And one of the 

London stations has a large notice for the edification

of the general public; "Don't argue with the troops from

the Balkans".  Wouldn't that break your heart, if you

were one of them, and had put up with all this charming 

country has to offer for the best part of two or three

years.  Makes us "hopping mad", that does.  The reason

for the notice was, we understand, a free fight between

men from here and men from the Western Front, both lots

arriving in London on the same train.  I don't know how 

much damage was done, but no doubt they each did their

best.

There are numbers of wounded Greeks in the hospital down 

at the base.  They are very busy indeed, down there.

The Greeks seem to make entertaining patients, if all we 

hear of their frollics is true.

As you know, it is the rule in Imperial hospitals, for

the up patients to stand to attention behind their beds

when Authority does a round - there they stand until they

are either told to sit down, or Authority's last cap

tail, or Sam Brown vanishes out of the door.  Well, the

interpreter had imparted this information to the

Johnnie Greeks, with all solemnity, the particular batch

he instructed happened to be influenza cases, all more or

less confined to bed.  Imagine the feelings of Authority

when, on entering the ward with a great assembly of

satellites, twenty odd men rose out of their little beds,

and stood gravely, and in scant apparel, at courteous

attention.  I wish I'd been there to have seen the face

of Authority.

On another occasion an interpreter was sent from G.H.Q. to

the