It's A Long Way To Tipperary

Often overlooked are the nurses of the Great War. Poignant testimonies of the nurses themselves bear witness to their extraordinary courage, sacrifice and hardship in this new appraisal of their work. Mass mobilisation of nurses by professional and voluntary nursing services led to considerable rivalry between different groups and working environments were very varied. Nurses were involved in the day-to-day harrowing duties of Casualty Clearings Stations, Stationary Hospitals, Hospital Barges and Trains. Many lost their lives or severely damaged their health. Some suffered war trauma or shell-shock, hitherto considered a combatants' disease. The exigencies of war led to nurses pioneering new care practices and inventing a variety of adjuncts that helped with diagnosis and treatment. While the main part of the "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" inevitably focuses on the Western Front, the nurses involvement on the Home Front is also considered as is their part in the preparation for Civil War in Ireland in 1914 and the subsequent Easter Rising of 1916. 'I am still living, sleeping, feeding and working under canvas ... a fellow nurse from the same hospital back home shares a bell tent wi'The mere idea that men who have been badly injured should be subjected to unnecessary pain because the supply of the strongest anaesthetic has given out is heartbreaking.' 'My dear little resuscitated Suffolk boy got gas gangrene above the amputation and died this afternoon, and the other boy has had to have the other leg off now.' 'It was work that demanded endless patience, for results were slow and you could only go a step at a time and hope for the best.'