Diaries of a Stretcher-bearer 1916-1918

Book excerpt: DIARIES OF A STRETCHER-BEARER is the story of a family that came to Australia before WWI and found itself immersed in the war with four family members taking part. It is a day-to-day account of the heroism of the stretcher-bearers during WWI. These men walked out into no man's land, picked up the wounded and dying and struggled back to their own trenches through the glutinous Somme mud under fire from German snipers. Intertwined in the book is the story of another brother evacuated from Gallipoli with typhoid fever. It tells of his whirlwind romance with the English Nurse who nursed him back to health, and the tragic end of their romance in a Royal Flying Corps training crash. Throughout the book the author maintains his steadfast spirit in finding the lighter side of war. Contrasting the horror of war are stories of army idiocy and the camaraderie of true mateship. DIARIES OF A STRETCHER-BEARER is a book that reveals both the best and worst of human nature.