‘No time for tears for the dying’: Stretcher-bearers on the Western Front, 1914-1918.

Abstract

In the century since the Great War began there has been little research into the war experience of British, Indian and Dominion stretcher-bearers that served the Western Front. The unarmed regimental and medical corps stretcher-bearers provided a key role in the provision of health care on the Western Front and carried out their duties in the same conditions faced by combatant personnel. Yet the stretcher-bearers are largely absent from the common military narrative of ‘fighter and gallant hero’; the study of military medicine, the Army Medical Service and its Corps has subsumed their wartime experience. Stretcher-bearers dealt with sick, badly wounded, horribly maimed and dying men on a daily basis. Charged with the task of removing the sick and wounded from the battlefields, they saved the lives of countless men. What we do know of these men, is generally found in the narratives of the wounded; as very few stretcher-bearers have told their own story. This thesis significantly adds to the knowledge of this group of non-combatants. An examination of the problems and challenges faced by this group of non-combatants, which negatively affected their work, is given. These problems derived from either internal Army issues, from external forces or a combination of both. This thesis significantly contributes to the knowledge of the Great War by providing a human dimension to the work and place of these non-combatants. The stretcher-bearers assessed by this thesis are from Australia, Britain, Canada, India, New Zealand and Newfoundland.