Ambulance Drivers during World War I
World War I allowed for the emergence of many new types of warring equipment. The airplane proved to be very useful and successful. The armored tank became an integral part of an army. However, one of the many new innovations that is frequently overlooked is the introduction of the ambulance.
Even though ambulances were used as early as the 1480’s, they were first predominantly used in World War I. The main reason for this is the advent of the automobile. The first vehicles designed as ambulances were first used in 1792 by the French Army (Prose & Poetry). These were usually wagons pulled by slow animals, such as oxen. Because the ambulances were slow in addition to the rough terrain they had to pass through in battlefields, most patients were likely to die from the trip itself (Prose & Poetry). Additionally, the ambulances had bad reputations. They were considered as “driven by civilian drunkards and thieves who ran when they heard the guns” (qtd in Prose & Poetry). With the introduction of the automobile, the image of the ambulance changed. The ambulances were faster and performed their job much better. The novelty and the speed made driving an ambulance more acceptable to members of the better educated class in the United States (Prose & Poetry). This allowed ambulance organizations to recruit volunteers from ‘better’ schools, such as Harvard and Yale. Ironically, since the automobile was still new many recruits had to first learn how to drive. Because of the number of better educated volunteers, there were a significant number of famous authors that were ambulance drivers during World War I. They included Ernest Hemingway, W. Somerset Maugham, and E.E. Cummings (Literary).
Three predominant volunteer ambulance groups were active in World War I: the American Field Service (AFS), Norton-Harjes, and the American Red Cross. When the United States entered the war, the AFS and Norton-Harjes merged into the U.S. Army Ambulance Corps (Literary). Many of these volunteer groups recruited drivers directly from colleges and universities around the United States.
When war broke out in 1914, the Australian Government raised the first Australian Imperial Force for overseas service. The nurses to staff the medical units, which formed an integral part of the AIF, were recruited from the Australian Army Nursing Service Reserve and from the civil nursing profession.
The outbreak of World War One was accompanied by new strategies, innovations, and inventions that developed modern warfare. World War One saw the widespread use of everything from artillery to machine guns and airplanes to submarines. World War One also saw the world’s most powerful navy, Great Britain’s Royal Navy, pitted against the up and coming German Imperial Navy. From Britain’s effective use of the naval blockade to Germany’s terrifying unrestricted submarine warfare, both sides were constantly looking for new strategies to implement.
Henrietta Lacks is not a common household name, yet in the scientific and medical world it has become one of the most important and talked names of the century. Up until the time that this book was written, very few people knew of Henrietta Lacks and how her cells contributed to modern science, but Rebecca Skloot aimed to change this. Eventually Skloot was able to reach Henrietta’s remaining family and through them she was able to tell the story of not only the importance of the HeLa cells but also Henrietta’s life.
In the early 1900’s the United States’ medical field was stagnant causing many deaths in wartime. The majority of deaths in war times were often caused by diseases that were incurable. The United States medical field had to grow to current needs in war but it grew very slowly. The United States Army Ambulance Service was established on June 23, 1917 and the Sanitary Corps established one week later on the 30th. (David Steinert). The Sanitary Corps quickly expanded to nearly 3,000 officers during World War I but, this field was still much smaller than any other
More than any previous war, World War II involved the commitment of nations' entire human and economic resources, the blurring of the distinction between combatant and noncombatant, and the expansion of the battlefield to include all of the enemy's territory. The most important determinants of its outcome were industrial capacity and personnel. In the last stages of the war, two radically new weapons were introduced: the long-range rocket and the atomic bomb. In the main, however, the war was fought with the same or improved weapons of the types used in World War I. The greatest advances were in aircraft and tanks.
Medical procedures and inventions are constantly being developed and made better. World War 1 was a time in which many of the procedures used today were first thought of and used. It was a time that inspired the doctors and nurses working today, not to mention the fact that it’s a topic that still affects everyone in the world today. Medical advancements made during World War 1 had a major impact on the world as evidenced by those advancements still in use today.
Ambulances were further developed from the base model which already existed during the war. The ambulance’s main purpose was to speedily take injured soldiers from the battlefield to the medicine and doctors in order to receive appropriate care. Jonathan Lettermen created the ambulance that was used during the Civil War; this ambulance could carry three injured people at a time along with all the supplies necessary. This ambulance was not the ideal ambulance: the ride was extremely bumpy and unstable, but they accomplished their job of taking people from the battlefield to the hospital area. Incredibly, during the Civil War there were multiple “trains” of ambulances; each train consisted of forty ambulances, and there were always forty trains on call at a time (Frederick). They were stocked with supplies and stretchers for those unable to get in unaccompanied. The ambulances were exceptionally helpful during the Civil War. The battle of Antietam was considered the bloodiest day of the Civil War. There were over twenty three thousand casualties during the Antietam battle, and in twenty four hours the ambulance corps had all the dead men off the field (Kagan 164). At the end of the war, the ambulance was widely recognized as a significance lifesaver (Oshinsky
World War I is remembered as a soldier's conflict for the six million men who
Lemay C. M. and Barkan R. E., 1999, ‘US immigration and naturalization laws and issues’, Greenwood Publishing Group
Ewing, Walter. "The Many Facets Of Effective Immigration Reform." Society 47.2 (2010): 110-117. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Before WWI, the practice of medicine was far from how it has developed into today. The practice was not advanced, and therefore, had few concrete methods. However, with the beginning of the First World War, there was a great push to improve these methods. Although the war caused much illness and death, it also catalyzed many improvements such as blood transfusions, x-rays, vaccines, and sanitation.
Turk, Sarah. "Ambulance Services in the US." IBISWorld. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
Erika, Lee. "U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues." Journal of American Ethnic History. Vol. 20. Issue 2 (2001): n. page. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
World War I is known as a war that occurred on extremely cruel terms; there were not many restrictions on what and when certain weapons could be used. Unfortunately, the Industrial Age brought with it many new ways to kill; the soldiers of World War I came in contact with many new weapons that they had never seen in combat.
A Farewell to Arms has many similarities between Henry and Hemingway; the first noticeable one is that Henry, like Hemingway, was an American in the Italian army. Henry was an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, just like Hemingway was. Thomas Putnam stated in his article on Hemingway that "during the First World War, Ernest Hemingway volunteered to serve in Italy as an ambulance driver with the American Red Cross. In June 1918, while running a mobile canteen dispensing chocolate and cigarettes for soldiers, he was wounded by Austrian mortar fire." This is comparable to Henry’s experiences in A Farewell to Arms. Anders Hallengren drew the connection that both men, real and fictional, were one of the first Americans wounded in World War I. "There is a parallel in Hemingway's life, connected with the occasion when he was seriously wounded at midnight on July 8, 1918, at Fossalta di Piave in Italy and nearly died. He was the first American to be wounded in Italy during World War I." A...