Little Short of a Miracle
Brigid Wells introduces extracts from the memoirs of her mother, Susan Richmond, who as a young English actress postponed a promising career on the stage to offer her services to the victims of the Great War. Richmond spent over a year at the Suffragette-founded Scottish Women’s Hospital in the Abbey of Royaumont, northern France, nursing mostly French soldiers. Her vivid descriptions of daily life during the devastating months of the Somme offensive offer both a heart-rending and uplifting account of the bravery of male patients and female staff alike.
During that first Somme attack, two men were brought to my ward who have made a very deep impression on my heart and mind. They were the bravest of a brave assembly, and I loved them for that and for other things.
It was about 10.30 one night that Cluzel reached the hospital. He lay face down on his stretcher, moving his head quickly from side to side and watching everything with interest. The ambulance that brought him carried also a case so desperate that I had not very much thought to spare for Cluzel. We had laid him in the corridor just outside the receiving room, until we could get the other case prepared and carried up to operation. I covered Cluzel with a large blanket, an attention he assured me was quite unnecessary. He then showed me a large piece of shell that had been extracted from his hip at the ambulance, and would have liked to tell me the story of his wound, in a loud musical voice; but I was obliged to beg him to reserve it for another time [...] there were at least half a dozen things I should be doing.
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