Description
Object description
image: four British stretcher bearers lift up a wounded man lying on a stretcher from a trench up to ground level. Behind
them another British soldier stands holding a Red Cross flag. All of the men are exposing themselves to the possibility of enemy fire from
a short distance to the left, towards where the flag bearer looks with concern. They do so in wintry conditions, the men wearing leather
jerkins and gloves over their uniforms.
Label
Evacuating the wounded could often be hazardous. Williamson was serving on the Western Front when an officer was wounded a short distance from a German trench. Williamson and his comrades evacuated the officer under cover of only a Red Cross flag. The officer died before reaching the nearest dressing station.
Label
Extracts of letters from Department of Documents PP/MCR/333
A letter to his parents, 7 January 1918 - "I thought it was going to be quite decent on Xmas Day, but unfortunately a sad thing occurred: about 1 a.m. Captain Brownsword came round visiting. He bent down to drop in on my post. I said, 'Hurry up, get down quick!' but unfortunately he was not quick enough; there was a crack & I knew he was hit in the back, & he just toppled down and I caught him with my arms. Then the difficulty, imagine it, of looking after a man 6 foot 3, in a bit of trench half the width of your kitchen, and no longer; partly filled too with a fire step. I had to sit on the step, and hold him across my knees, while the stretcher bearer dressed him. Our stretcher was broken, & with difficulty we got another, one bearer being shot through the head bringing it..."
Label
"...Ultimately we got the Captain on a stretcher on the fire step. Then there was nothing to be done but to wait for daylight, being too risky to get him out then, in view of the snow and the bright moonlight, the Germans being as near as 60 yards. It seemed a very long time till 7.30, & we could not keep him warm. I could feel that his arms were just as icy cold as his hands, & feared for his life. When daylight came we put out the Red Cross Flag (a mutual arrangement of that part of the front) & four men having been told off for the work, we hoisted the stretcher out of the hole & got him safely away. I heard afterwards that they carried him miles without incident, but only to have him die from exhaustion within sight of the dressing station."
Inscription
H.S. WILLIAMSON 1918