How Private John Kendrick Of The Royal Army Medical Corps, Won The D.C.M. At Steinstratte

  Splendid indeed have been the services rendered to their sick and wounded comrades by the devoted members of the Royal Army Medical corps.  Surgeons, hospital orderlies and ambulance men have all alike laboured with an untiring energy, an absolute forgetfulness of self, and contempt for danger, which are beyond all praise. On the morning of October 25^th 1914, Private Kendrick, with the other stretcher-bearers of No.2 Field Ambulance, received orders to proceed from their bullets at Boesinghe to that part of the Allied line held by the British, in order to collect the wounded.  The regimental medical officer having asked for a man to be left to assist him, Private Kendrick was detailed for the duty, and helped to carry two wounded men of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and five badly wounded Germans from the firing line to a small house a little distance in the rear.  To remove them to hospital was impossible, for the reserve trenches were being heavily shelled by the enemy, and before they had covered half the distance both the wounded men and their attendants would in all probability have been blown to fragments.  As our troops were on the point of being relieved by the French, and the services of the surgeon and his assistants were required elsewhere, Private Kendrick volunteered to remain in the house with them until such time as they could be removed without danger.  But soon a terrible problem presented itself.  None of the wounded men had tasted food for many hours; and, what was worse, one and all were consumed with a raging thirst, and their cries for water were pitiful.  Kednirck distributed all his rations and the contents of his water bottle amongst them, but this went but a very little way among seven, and he became very alarmed.

            Kendrick searched the house; not a morsel of food, not a drop of water, was to be found.  To obtain any he must make his way to the French trenches across ground affording scarcely a particle of cover and on which shells were falling in a never-ending stream.  The brave man wrecked little of his own life, but he trembled for the lives of the helpless men, friend and foe alike, who had been committed to his care.  If he attempted to reach the French trenches and were killed, what would become of them, with no one to attend to their hurts no one to summon when an opportunity for removing them in safety should arrive?  On the other hand, they could not survive many hours without either food or water; by the next morning at farthest it was doubtful whether any of them would be left alive. He went to the door and looked out to see if he could discern any signs of the enemy’s fire subsiding.  It was more violent than ever; the skies seemed literally to be raining shrapnel; huge “Jack Johnson’s” churned up the ground on every side.  He turned back into the house, to be greeted with heartrending appeals for water from both Briton and German.  That decided him; he would relieve their torment or perish in the attempt; and promising them that they should soon have both water and food; he started at a run for the French lines.

            The distance was not far, but the danger was great, and shells were continually bursting about him.  However, he reached the trenches in safety, explained the situation to our gallant allies, and was readily provided with all the food and water he could carry.  On his return journey, being heavily laden, he was, of course, obliged to proceed more slowly; but the house without mishaps, to receive the grateful thanks of the wounded men whom his heroism had preserved from a lingering death.  Next day, and again on the following morning, did Private Kendrick run the gauntlet of the enemy’s fire, and on each occasion he passed through it scathes.  Nevertheless, during the second night he experienced a narrow escape.  A shell struck one of the gables of the house and nearly the whole of that side of the building collapsed with a crash.  Providentially, the occupants were at the other end, or they must have been buried beneath the ruins. On the morning of October 27^th, Private Kendrick, who was beginning to wonder whether he had been forgotten, determined to signal for assistance.  Having found in a drawer a piece of white cloth, he sewed to it a Red Cross, made out of a red handkerchief which he happened to have about him, and hoisted his improvised flag in front of the house.  It was seen towards midday by his Commanding Officer, Colonel Mitchell, who happened to be passing in his car.  He brought the car up to the door, assisted Private Kendrick to remove the wounded men to it, and conveyed them safely to the hospital of the 2^nd Field Ambulance. Private Kendrick had been in attendance on them since 5 a.m. on the 25^th, or fifty-four hours.  The house and the entire road on which it stood were still being heavily shelled as they drove away. Private Kendrick was awarded the D.C.M.  He is thirty years of age and is a resident of Glasgow.  Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'     

How Acting Lance-Corporal Terence Giles OF The Royal Army Medical Corps, Won The D.C.M. Near Zonnebeke

  The splendid qualities of the brave and devoted stretcher-bearers of the R.A.M.C. were strikingly exemplified in the murderous fighting in Western Flanders in October and November 1914.  Their untiring energy their indifference to danger, their presence of mind, and their resourcefulness were beyond all praise, and the debt of gratitude under which they placed their comrades in the fighting line can scarcely be over estimated. Many a sore stricken soldier would have been left to perish miserably on the blood soaked battlefield had not some gallant Red Cross man risked death or mutilation to carry him to the ambulance wagon. The splendid manner in which the stretcher squads performed their task was the more commendable since they were often terribly overworked, and there was, at the time, a great shortage of non-commissioned officers in the R.A.M.C., so that privates were sometimes called upon to undertake duties which would, in ordinary circumstances, have been discharged by sergeants.  Thus it happened that on the night of October 26^th 1914, Terence Giles, of No. 6 Field Ambulance, who had lately been appointed acting lance corporal and placed in charge of 120 men stationed in dug outs between the town of Ypres and the firing line, found himself at the head of a bearer subdivision on the way to the trenches of the 6^th Brigade to the East of Zonnebeke, to collect and forward the wounded to the nearest Field Ambulance Headquarters.

            Passing through Zonnebeke to the outskirts of the polygon lately the scene of some most desperate fighting, and which was to witness more desperate fighting in the days to come, they came to a halt under cover of some houses.  Here they left the ambulances, with the officer who was in command of the party and about thirty men, and proceeded some way up a road on their left, in order to get into communication with the Regimental Aid Post.  On reaching the end of cover they halted, and a cycle orderly was sent forward to ascertain the number of wounded at the Regimental Aid Post.  Information had previously been received that the road ahead of them was a very dangerous piece of ground, and this was confirmed when, shortly afterwards,, the cyclist returned with the news that before he had gone far he had been “spotted” by the Germans and his cycle struck by several bullets, though he himself had, happily, escaped injury.  Another man was despatched, this time on foot; and he succeeded in getting through to the wounded-who were in a little half ruined house just behind our trenches-and in bringing back two of them and the information that there were a number of others there.  The stretcher-bearers were then despatched, in twos to make their way best they could to various parts of the firing line.  Giles himself reached the Aid Post by way of the road, and returned with a wounded man on his back.  He then went back and started for the ambulances with two others, less severely injured, whom he supported by placing his arms around their waists and their round his shoulders.  They had not gone far, however, when the church of Zonnebeke, which the enemy had been shelling for some time, burst into a bright blaze, masking the road as light as day.  A storm of bullets from a German on the tip of a rise some two hundred and fifty yards away warned them they had been seen, and they lost no time in taking refuge in the ditch by the roadside, where they remained for some twenty minutes, with bullets whistling incessantly over their heads and rattling against a wire fence just behind them.  At the end of that time, as the ditch was half full of water, and they were nearly numbered with cold, Giles, fearing the consequences to his wounded comrades if they stayed longer, decided that they had better take their chance, though the firing continued as fiercely as ever.  With considerable able difficulty he got the half frozen men out, and they then resumed their slow and perilous journey which they completed in safety, though had a narrow escape, his coat being perforated by a bullet, which, however did not touch his body.

            Having seen the men that he had rescued placed in the ambulance wagon, this brave man faced the danger of the bullet swept road for the third time, and presently returned supporting an officer, who had been wounded in leg and foot. On the following day Giles again distinguished himself by the coolness and courage he displayed in taking up stretcher-squads to remove the wounded belonging to a battery in action, which was being heavily shelled by the enemy; and the official announcement of the decoration conferred upon him for his “highly commendable conduct on October 26^th” added that he “had constantly performed god work.” Acting Lance Corporal, now Sergeant, Giles who was awarded the D.C.M., is twenty-seven years of age and a Londoner, his home being at Wood Green.  Extracted from 'Deeds That Thrill The Empire'     

The Army Medical Department

 Though surgeons in the army are mentioned as far back as 1223, it was not until 1328 that paid medical officers accompanied our armies.  The pay about this time was four pence per day; the “physicians” in the reign of Henry V. ranked between the barber and the washerwomen!

           From that time they were frequently mentioned!  In 1415 Henry V., on under taking the invasion of France, appointed Nicholas Colnet his field surgeon for a year, under the condition that he was to take with him three archers on horseback, and to accompany the King wherever he went.  He was to have forty marks and twelve pennies daily, each of his archers having twenty marks and six pennies.  Thomas Morstede was then appointed chief army surgeon, with fifteen assistants, three of whom were to be archers, and the remainder of his own profession.  Morestede was in high favour, as appears from the king’s grant (May, 1415) of twelve attendants, one chariot, and ‘deux soniers.’”  This Morstede was termed “Knight Surgeon,” and in 1514 an Act of Parliament was passed to exempt surgeons from “bearing armour, or being put on watches or inquests.”

           After 1557 surgeons seem to have been on the staff of the generals commanding; and at that time fifty-seven doctors, together with Thomas Gale, “the soldier surgeon,” were in the army serving in France.  Later on every troop of the Life Guards had its own “chirurgeon”; the proportion of medical officers to men being in James II.’s reign one and a “mate” for every thousand men; but this was increased to two “assistant surgeons” in 1802. The first mention of uniform is in 1803, when it was scarlet, with the royal crown on the button, the badge of the Irish establishment being a harp.

           The first important reorganisation of the department was in 1858, when both the pay relative rank was raised; but it was two years later before the first competitive examination for admission to the army was instituted.  Up to about 1873 the army doctors were attached to, and remained with, the regiments to which they were gazetted, except on promotion or by exchange with other officers; but there were inconveniences attendant on this old system, and a general medical staff was organised instead. The war services of the army medical department are as extensive, naturally, as those of the army itself.  Its members have, as happened in India about 1796, had to lead a company out of action, and afterwards command it on returning to England, or to rally a cavalry detachment, as did Dr. Wilson of the 7^th Hussars in the Crimea when he rescued the Duke of Cambridge. Victoria Crosses have been gained by surgeon J. Mouatt at Balaklava; Assistant Surgeon W. G. N. Manley and W. Temple in the New Zealand War of 1864, at the Gate Pah; Doctor J. E. Hale, A. D. Horne, W. H. T. Sylvester in the Crimean campaign; C. M. Douglas at the Andaman Islands in 1867; H. T. Reade, V. M. McMaster, and W. Bradshaw in the Mutiny; by Surgeon-Major J. H. Reynolds at Rorke’s Drift; and recently by Surgeon-Major in Burmah.

           Its organisation in the field is a number of bearer companies, that carry the wounded to the dressing stations, whence they are transferred to field hospitals, and, if necessary, to hospitals on the line of communication, or even the base.  A bearer company has three medical officers, one warrant officer, and sixty men; the transport being provided by the A.S.C.  There are nineteen companies of the Medical Staff Corps and two depot companies.  The blue uniform of the Army Medical Staff has black velvet facings.  The headdress is the cocked hat with plume of black cock’s feathers for brigade surgeons, etc.; the junior ranks wear the helmet.  The cross-belt is black and gold.  The special badge of the Medical Staff Corps is the red Geneva cross on a white ground.  

JAMES HENRY REYNOLDS  (Surgeon-Major, Now Lieut.- Colonel)  Army Medical Department             On January 22^nd 1879, during the Defence of Rorke’s Drift, Lieut. –Colonel Reynolds behaved with conspicuous bravery, attending to the wounded under a heavy crossfire from the Zulus on the hills above the Post, and a continual shower of assegais from those attacking the barricades.  When not actually engaged in his humane task, he carried ammunition to the men from the magazine.  Son of Mr. I. Reynolds, J.P., of Dalyston House, Granard, Ireland, Colonel Reynolds was born at Kingstown, Dublin on February 3^rd 1844.  Educated at Castle Knock and Trinity College, Dublin he entered the Medical Staff Corps as Assistant-Surgeon, March 31^st 1868, becoming Surgeon March 1^st 1873; surgeon-Major (fir distinguished field service), January 23^rd 1879; Lieut. –Colonel, April 1^st 1887, and attained substantive step (Brigade-Surgeon Lieut. –Colonel) December 25^th 1892, retiring in 1896.  Served I the Kaffir War of 1877-8, and in Zulu War; besides Rorke’s Drift, was present at the battle of Ulundi.  Possesses the South African Medal with three dates-1877-8-9-being equivalent to three clasps, and also the Gold Medal of the British Medical Association for his services at Rorke’s Drift.  During his second years service received the approbation of the Commander-in-Chief (Lord Sanghurst), for services rendered during a severe outbreak of cholera in India in the 36^th Regiment.  Colonel Reynolds is now (although on retired list) in Medical Charge of the Royal Army Clothing Factory, London.    

JOSEPH JOHN FARMER  (Corporal)  Army Hospital Corps            On Febuary 27^th 1881 during the battle of Majuba Hill, when our men were driven back, the Boers rushed forward and, disregarding the rules of modern warfare, commenced firing at the wounded whom Farmer was attending.  He held up a white handkerchief in order to induce the Boers to stop firing in his direction, but immediately was shot through the hand.  Nothing daunted, and determined to do his best for those in his charge, he seized the handkerchief again in his unwounded hand, but instantly a bullet passed through it, rendering him powerless to continue. This brave man, owing to his wounds, has now left the services and follows the occupation of house painter in London.  He was born in ondon on May 5^th 1854, and Queen Victoria at Osborne presented his cross to him on August 9^th 1881.

FERDINAND SIMEON LE QUESNE  (Surgeon-Captain, now Major)  Royal Major Medical Staff                During the attack on the village of Tartanon May 4^th 1889, a young officer, William Graham Michel (of the 2^nd Norfolk, or 9^th Regiment) was mortally wounded.  Surgeon-Captain La Quesne remained for some minute’s whith him, within five yards of the loopholes of the enemy’s stockade, whence proceeded a hail of lead.  While dressing the wounds of another officer soon afterwards, Dr. Le Quesne was himself severely wounded.  Born at Jersey December 25^th 1863, Major Le Quesne is the son of the late Lieut. –Colonel G. N. Le Quesne.  Served in the Chin Looshai (1890), and Wunthoo (1891) Campaigns; also through the Boer War, 1899-1902.  Educated at king’s College Hospital, London, of which he is Honourary Fellow.  Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., in command of the mounted men, taking part in the assault of the Inholbane Mountain, noticed that some Zulus who had taken up a strong position in some caves, from which they commanded the spot where some of our wounded were lying, were causing much loss to our men.  He therefore ordered their dislodgement.  Some delay taking place in carrying it out, Captain the Honourable Ronald Campbell, Coldstream Guards, with Lieutenant Lysons and Private Edmund fowler, “advanced in a most courageous manner over a mass of fallen boulders and between rocks which led to a cave on which the enemy lay hidden.”  There being only room for one man to pass at a time, they advanced in single file, and the first to reach the cave was Captain Campbell.  On seeing him the Zulus fired, shooting him dead, upon which Lysons and Fowler sprang forward, and with great gallantry drove them from their stronghold.  Afterwards Lysons remained at the cave’s mouth while Captain Campbell’s body was carried down the hill.  Lieut. –Colonel Lysons, son of the late Sir Daniel Lysons, of Crimean fame, was born at Modern, surrey on July 13^th 1858.  Educated at Wellington he joined the 90^th Light Infantry in 1878, serving through the Zulu War as A.D.C. to Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., taking part in the affairs of Zungen Nek, and the Inhlobane Mountain, and the battles of Kambula and Ulundi, being twice mentioned in despatches and obtaining medal and clasp.  Served through Soudan War 1884-5, obtaining medal and clasp.  Served through the Soudan War 1884-5, obtaining medal, clasp and bronze star with Egyptian Army. 

OWEN EDWARD PENNEFATHER LLOYYD  (Surgeon-Major, now Lieut. –Colonel)  Army Medical Staff  Lieut. –Colonel Lloyd, son of the late Major M. Pennefather Lloyd, late 59^th Regiment, was born on January 1^st 1854.  Educated at Fermoy College, Cork, he is a member of the Royal Irish University.  Is L.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.M., and Edinburgh.  On August 4^th 1878, joined R.A.M.C., serving through the Zulu War, and the operations against Sekukuni.  Transvaal War 1881-2, taking part in the siege of Standerton.  Was Medical Officer to the Franco-British Boundary Commission to the Mekong River 1894-5, and since 1898 has been in medical charge of the Burma-China Boundary Commission. 

HENRY EDWARD MANNING DOUGLAS, D.S.O.  (Lieutenant, now Captain)  Royal Army Medical Corps This young army doctor, son of Mr. George A. Douglas, of Kingston, Jamaica, entered the medical branch of the Service July 28^th 1899, and was promoted Captain July 27^th 1902.  On his return to this country he did duty for some time at St. George’s barracks, London proceeding in October 1903, on active service to Africa with General Egerton’s command in Somaliland.

WILLIAM BABTIE, C.M.G.  (Major, now Lieut. –Colonel)  Royal Army Medical Corps            On December 15^th 1899, at the battle of Colenso, the wounded of the 14^th and 66^th Batteries R.F.A. were without medical assistance.  They had been carried to a donga in rear of the guns, which, as detailed in the account of Captain Congreve had suffered so fearfully from the enemy’s shell and rifle fire.  On assistance being sent for, Major Babtie, Staff Officer to P.M.O. Natal Army, rode across the open ground his pony being hit three times, and attended to the sufferers under fire which was directed onany one exposing himself.  This he was obliged to do in passing from on wounded man to another.  Later on he went out and assisted Captain Congreve when that officer heroically brought it in the late Hon. F.H.S. Roberts (V.C.)  Born on May 7^th 1859, Lieutenant-Colonial Babtie is the son of Mr. John Babtie, J.P., of Dunbarton.  Educated at Glasgow University, he entered the Army Medical Service on july 30^th 1881, and was promoted Major from July 30^th 1893.  Served in Crete 1897-98, as Senior Medical Officer, and for his services during the International Occupation was created C.M.G.  In South Africa he took part in all the actions for the relief of Ladysmith, and subsequent operations in Natal and the Eastern Transvaal.  Promoted Lieut. –Colonel November 29^th 1900.  Queen’s medal eith five clasps.  Has served as Assistant Director-General A.M.S. on the Headquarters Staff of the Army since June 1^st 1901.  Is a knight of Grace of the Order of St.John of Jerusalem in England.  Presented with the Victoria Cross by Earl Roberts at Pretoria in October 1900.  

EDGAR THOMAS INKSON  (Lieutenant, now Captain)  Royal Army Medical Corps             The Victoria Cross was awarded to this officer for a humane and devoted act at Hart’s Hill, Colenso, February 24^th 1900.  Lieutenant J. G. Devenish (1^st Royal Innskilling Fusiliers), having been severely wounded and unable to move, was lying exposed to a very heavy fire.  Lieutenant Inkson, seeing his danger, carried him for 400 yards through the hail of lead poured upon them, and in spite of the absence of cover for the entire distance, succeeded in conveying him to a place of safety.  Captain Edgar Thomas Inkson, son of Surgeon-Major-General Inkson, R.A., was born at Nyne Tal, India on April 5^th 1872.  After passing through University College Hospital, London, was gazetted Surgeon July 28^th 1899, just ten weeks before the war, and was almost at once sent out to South Africa.  He took part in every action for the relief of Ladysmith-from Colenso to the finish, at the end of February, with Fitzroy Hart’s or the Irish Brigade, being twiced named in despatches.  For his services he has been awarded-in addition to the Victoria Cross-both medals andmany clasps.  Although daily uunder fire for weeks together was never once wounded, even though in medical charge with the batteries at Colenso.  On return from active service, eighteen months after being gazetted, was presented with the Victoria Cross, at St. James Palace, by H.M. The King May 13^th 1902.

Aloha Hawaii by Randall Wilson (GS)