Page 19 - QARANC Vol 20 No 2 2022

The Gazette QARANC Association 19
Church where Two US Medics treated many casualties of D-Day
a visit to La Fière Bridge, where US paratroopers dropped in order to take this bridge and one downstream to allow troops a route off Utah Beach. The memorials here echo the courage of the Americans who fought for four days to achieve their objective.
From here we moved to the town of Sainte-Mère-Église which had to be liberated to allow movement inland from Omaha Beach. Now it is famous for the figure of a paratrooper and his parachute on the church spire. This is in honour of John Steele who was injured when he landed on the spire,
The site of the 101st British General Hospital near Bayeux
was captured by the Germans but later escaped.
Nearby, is the village of Angoville- au-Plain where two American medics, Robert Wright and Kenneth Moore, from the 101st Airborne Division (the Screaming Eagles) set up an aid post in the church where they treated over eighty casualties, both US and German over a few days from 6 June.
There is still evidence of their time there – blood on the pews and cracks on the stone floor where a mortar round hit but failed to detonate. There is a memorial to the two men outside
the church and Robert Wright’s ashes are buried in the churchyard.
Our final visit was to Omaha Beach and then the huge American cemetery there. We then returned to Bayeux where we laid a wreath at the CWGC Cemetery and saw the names of two QAs on the Memorial – Sisters Mollie Evershed and Dorothy Field who died when HMHS Amsterdam struck a mine in August 1944. It was a fitting end to a memorable trip.
Thanks to Lindi Kibbey for organising this despite all the delays due to the pandemic.
Chris follows in the footsteps of Captain Sir Tom
Chris Eberhardie of Millbank Branch speaks here about her efforts to raise funds for the military charity HighGround.
The pandemic was a wake- up call for us all.
For those over 70 it felt like being confined to barracks, but it was also an opportunity to live life a different way and still help others from home.
I have been involved in a small military charity called HighGround since 2016 and had planned to do a 1,000-mile walk for them over the space of a year but Lockdown intervened and then Captain Sir Tom Moore captured the public’s attention. What chance did an overweight, former QA reservist stand against a 100-year-old World War II veteran
recovering from a hip operation? Undaunted, this determined tortoise decided to carry on. I may not have always done three miles a day, but I have to date completed over 600 miles and raised £4,745 for a remarkable charity. HighGround (whose motto is ‘life beyond the military – outdoors) provides horticultural therapy and employment possibilities in the land-based sector for veterans and
personnel leaving the three services. As much of my walk was spent trudging round my house and garden wearing a Fitbit, I had a lot of opportunity to improve my garden and appreciate its benefits both physical and mental. I had a sense of purpose, was stimulated to get up and move and put into action some of the benefits of horticultural
therapy.
Some of our patients are a bit put
out about being offered gardening! However, many end up accusing the HighGround staff of ‘therapy by stealth’ as they find that they can stand for longer periods, improve their fine finger movement to sow seeds and prick out seedlings and enjoy the chillies that fill the greenhouse.
Not every serviceman or woman wishes to continue in the profession or trade they practiced while in the service nor do some want to go into policing or security, but they are happy outdoors. Some find new careers as tree surgeons, farming, conservation, falconry, estate management, gardening or forestry.
You may have found your happy place but please pass the message on about HighGround and what it can do. The website is www.highground-uk.org