Waiting Game in Wartime

28th March

Waiting Game in Wartime

Anyone who’s read private diaries or letters from WW1 nurses will probably have noticed how their daily, weekly or even monthly routine veered between frenetic activity, nursing the injured in appalling circumstances, and empty days of waiting around for something to happen. The few weeks before the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915 saw Sister Muriel Wakeford playing the waiting game (although at the time she would not have known what she was waiting for).

“Sun 28 Mar

Went for a picnic up the Nile with the 2nd Battalion officers. Landed at Helonan and rode on donkeys across to Memphis. Saw the Statue of Rameses etc etc etc. Had a very pleasant day.

 

Mon 29 Mar

Nothing new

 

Tue 30 Mar

Same again

 

Wed 31 Mar

Letter from home today

 

Thu 1 Apr

Visited the Sphinx in the moonlight. Very pleasant.”

For anyone researching Australian involvement in WW1 from the point of view of the private individual who served, I recommend

  1. http://www.awm.gov.au/
  2. http://www.anzacsite.gov.au/
  3. http://museumvictoria.com.au/ (photos)
  4. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ (newspapers)
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By Rachel Sargeant

Rachel Sargeant is a British author. Her latest thriller, The Roommates, is a Closer Magazine "Must Read". Her other titles are The Good Teacher, The Perfect Neighbours and Gallipoli: Year of Love and Duty. Rachel won Writing Magazine’s Crime Short Story competition and has been shortlisted in various competitions including the Bristol Short Story Prize. She was born in Lincolnshire and is a graduate of Aberystwyth University. She now lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and children.

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