Eighty nurses gather in Greece to commemorate WW1 nursing sisters
MODERN day ‘Anzac Girls’ gather in Greece to honour and mark 100 years since the first Anzac nursing contingent arrived to treat war wounded.
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SOME 80 Australian and New Zealand nurses are on the Greek Island of Lemnos to mark 100 years since the first Anzac nursing contingent arrived to treat war wounded.
The solemn visit to the home of the Number 3 Australian General Hospital was part of a seven-day voyage of commemoration for the nurses, aged from 18 to 80, who also visited Athens, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Anzac Cove and Istanbul.
The nurses recreated the arrival of nursing sisters to Lemnos as they marched to the Turks Head Peninsula escorted by a bagpiper just like the 1915 contingent.
They also visited the Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries at Portianou and Mudros where 148 Australian soldiers and several Canadian nurses are buried.
During the cruise the group will also lay a wreath at sea at the location of the sinking of the Marquette with the loss of 32 Kiwis including 10 nursing sisters.
Also on the trip is 84-year-old Jack Grylls whose mother Doris Eastwood served at Thessaloniki.
Speaking to News Corp Australia from Lemnos tour leader and retired Registered Nurse Clare Ashton said 100 Australian nurses served on Lemnos during the war.
More than 2000 Australian and 500 New Zealand nursing sisters served overseas during WW1.
Ms Ashton said her thoughts would turn to Elizabeth McMillan whose letters home from the war are kept in the NSW State Library.
Sister McMillan served in New Guinea and Fiji in 1914 before she set sail for Lemnos.
When she returned home she founded Karitane Mothercraft in Sydney to promote care for mothers and babies.
“It is a very emotional time for everyone,” Ms Ashton said.
“People are amazed that a group of nurses would come here to salute the services of nurses.”
She said many of the WW1 women returned home to Australia deeply troubled by their war service.
“It wasn’t just the soldiers who suffered from post-traumatic stress a lot of the nurses did as well.
“They brought their war home with them and they just had to live with it.”
Ms Ashton said a lot more research was required to examine what happened to the WW1 nurses.
“These nurses had a very difficult time when they returned to Australia.”
Originally published as Eighty nurses gather in Greece to commemorate WW1 nursing sisters
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