[Siouxz]

Hard to type through tears....

[longhorn too]

Very brave women taking care of very brave men.

[Dan Middleton]

A soldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers
There was lack of women's nursing, there was dearth of women's tears

Excellent article.

[RichInOC]

Dirge of Dead Sisters
1902
For the Nurses Who Died in the South African War

Who recalls the twilight and the ranged tents in order
(Violet peaks uplifted through the crystal evening air?)
And the clink of iron teacups and the piteous, noble laughter,
And the faces of the Sisters with the dust upon their hair?

(Now and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils,
Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by -
Let us now remember many honourable women,
Such as bade us turn again when we were like to die.)

Who recalls the morning and the thunder through the foothills,
(Tufts of fleecy shrapnel strung along the empty plains?)
And the sun-scarred Red-Cross coaches creeping guarded to the culvert,
And the faces of the Sisters looking gravely from the trains?

(When the days were torment and the nights were clouded terror,
When the Powers of Darkness had dominion on our soul -
When we fled consuming through the Seven Hells of Fever,
These put out their hands to us and healed and made us whole.)

Who recalls the midnight by the bridge's wrecked abutment,
(Autumn rain that rattled like a Maxim on the tin?)
And the lightning-dazzled levels and the streaming, straining wagons,
And the faces of the Sisters as they bore the wounded in?

(Till the pain was merciful and stunned us into silence -
When each nerve cried out on God that made the misused clay;
When the Body triumphed and the last poor shame departed -
These abode our agonies and wiped the sweat away.)

Who recalls the noontide and the funerals through the market,
(Blanket-hidden bodies, flagless, followed by the flies?)
And the footsore firing-party, and the dust and stench and staleness,
And the faces of the Sisters and the glory in their eyes?

(Bold behind the battle, in the open camp all-hallowed,
Patient, wise, and mirthful in the ringed and reeking town,
These endured unresting till they rested from their labours -
Little wasted bodies, ah, so light to lower down!)

Yet their graves are scattered and their names are clean forgotten,
Earth shall not remember, but the Waiting Angel knows
Them who died at Uitvlugt when the plague was on the city -
Her that fell at Simon's Town' in service on our foes.

--Rudyard Kipling

[SuziQ]

We have Florence Nightingale to thank; she was called the 'Angel of the Crimea' for her valiant efforts to clean up the battlefield hospitals and treat the injured in conditions that would not cause their deaths from their wounds becoming infected.

In this country, Clara Barton did the same for the Civil War battlefields, and from her efforts came the American Red Cross.

[RichLane]

Yeah how come 60 Min's isn't ruining this story! Oh yeah unless its bad news MSM doesn't want any thing to do with the war.

[ken5050]

Great story..many thanks for posting..hat pisses me of so much is all the crap and garbage that's in the NY Times every day...nothing good like this..

[B4Ranch]

She says she will no longer take freedom for granted. She misses the little things: "Going to Wal-Mart. Going to get milk. Going to get stamps at the post office. Mowing the grass. Just sitting on my steps and watching the sprinklers."

It's the little things that count.

Going to Wal-Mart. Going to get milk. Going to get stamps at the post office.

Nobody asking for your ID to check if you are 'authorized to be there" When I was in Nam we had Medics who were so strongly against killing they refused to wear or carry a weapon but they were so strongly patriotic they refused to be kept from the front lines.

I will never forget those men, never!