Kitty's War: The remarkable wartime experiences of Kit McNaughtonThe remarkable wartime experiences of Kit McNaughton Kitty’s War is based upon the previously unpublished war diaries of Great War army nurse Sister Kit McNaughton. Kit and historian Janet Butler grew up in the same Victorian district of drystone walls, wheatfields and meandering creeks, except many decades apart. The idea of this young nurse setting out on a journey in July 1915 which would take her across the world and into the First World War took hold of Janet Butler and inspired her to research and share Kit’s story. This decisive and dryly humorous woman embarked upon the troopship Orsova, bound for Egypt in 1915. Kit’s absorbing diaries follow her journey through war, from Egypt, where she cared for the Gallipoli sick and wounded,to the harsh conditions of Lemnos Island, off the coast of the Dardanelles, and then on to France and the Somme. Here she nursed severely wounded German soldiers for the British. During Passchendaele, a year later, she ran the operating theatre of a clearing station near the front line. Kit finished the war as Australia’s first plastic surgery nurse, assisting medical pioneers in this field as they repaired the shattered faces of Australian soldiers. Through Kitty’s diaries and Janet Butler’s thoughtful narration, we see the war through the eyes of a young Australian nurse as she is transformed by what she witnesses. Kitty’s War is an intimate and rare story of one woman’s remarkable experience of war. |
Contents
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August1915 3 Lemnos Island September 1915January 1916 | |
October 1916August 1917 | |
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Common terms and phrases
A.G. Butler ACCS active service ambulance andthe Anzac April arrival atthe audience August Aust Australian Army Australian General Hospital Australian Imperial Force Australian nurses Boulogne boys British Cairo Casualty Clearing Station Charlie Hicks Dartford Dave McCurdy December dinner Donnell duty Egypt entry Evelyn Davies experience February Fetherston France friendships Gallipoli Geelong Ghezireh Harold Burke Haynes letter Ida Mockridge identity interview inthe January John McCormack John McNaughton July June Katie Holmes Keith Barnes Kit’s diary later Lemnos letter to Mother LieutenantColonel Little River Matron Pocock MatroninChief McNaughton diary medical officers Medical Services Melbourne military Morrice Mudros narrative nice night November October ofthe Olive Haynes onthe orderlies Orsova patients postwar records Report Ross King Routine Orders rumour Ryan September 1915 sheis Sidcup soldiers Somme staff Stationary Hospital tents thenurses tothe train unit ward week Werribee Western Front Wiltshire Wimereux woman women wounded writes