Page 22 - QARANC Vol 16 No 2 2018

20 QARANC THE GAZETTE
The Nurse of the Mediterranean – Millbank Branch History Tour to Malta
On 14 May 2018, 17 members of the Millbank Branch of the Association and guests assembled with tour guide, Mike Peters, at London Heathrow Airport to begin a five-day visit to Malta to explore some of the history of the island in relation to its base for hospitals in WW1 and to visit the graves of Army nurses and others buried in Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries.
In WW1 Malta’s strategic position in the Mediterranean, and its sunny climate, meant that many buildings on the island were designated as hospitals in addition to the already established military hospitals. Such was the sheer scale of medical facilities that Malta became identified, for the second time in recent history, as ‘The Nurse of the Mediterranean’ (the first occasion being the Crimean War). Thousands of casualties, both sick and injured, passed through the medical facilities. In January 1916 the number of hospitals peaked at 27, and by April 1917 25,000 beds were occupied. The numbers of staff seem pitifully small in comparison, with 334 medical officers, 913 nurses and 2032 RAMC other ranks serving on the island in January 1916. 78,130 casualties from the Salonika campaign, and 57,991 from the Gallipoli campaign were treated on Malta during the war. It isn’t surprising, therefore, that there are many war graves on Malta, and amongst these are the graves of Army nurses and VADs, as well as those of other women.
Most of the women’s graves are
The graves of Frances Brace, Mary Clough and Dorothy Watson at Pieta Cemetery
The group gathered by the women’s graves in Pieta CWGC cemetery
situated in a quiet plot in Pieta Cemetery, which we visited the morning after our arrival – Frances Brace, QAIMNS(R), Mary Clough QAIMNS(R) and Dorothy Watson (TFNS). The first two were medically evacuated from Salonika and died of dysentery. Dorothy Watson worked at the St John Military Hospital and died of measles toxaemia. The other women interred in the same small plot are civilian Doctor Isobel Tate, and VAD Helen Taylor. We took the opportunity to lay wreaths, recite prayers and do a short reading, spending some time in reflection on what we had seen, before
we took some photographs as a permanent reminder of our visit.
I am always struck by the quiet and peaceful environment of a CWGC cemetery. Pieta cemetery is in the centre of a suburb of Valletta, surrounded by busy roads, shops and houses. The sights and sounds of life seemed to fade into the background as I spent some time in silent contemplation, full of admiration for the nurses and members of all three services who had given their youth and, ultimately, sacrificed their lives in service for their country.
While we were doing some background research for the tour of Malta, we found a picture of a plaque in one of the churches in Valletta. The plaque in St Mary Magdalene in Merchants Street, Valletta, has two central figures, a soldier in uniform