Function of the 10th Field Ambulance

Heroes Remember

Function of the 10th Field Ambulance

Transcript

We were out there to get out onto one of the higher levels. And it was a peninsula with a narrow, a rather narrow neck and they’d made three attempts to get onto that. The third attempt, they did get on, and that’s where I joined the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders… were out there, they’d got out to the town of Goes. I was with the 10th Field Ambulance at this time. The purpose, the function of the 10th Field Ambulance was to get casualties back to hospitals. They had a casualty clearing station, and the casualties were brought into the casualty clearing station and were shipped back to hospitals. They were assessed as to which hospitals to go to depending on the severity of their wounds. And soon after I joined, the Padre Tom Davies came back and he was, he insisted on coming back although the padres, his superior officers really wanted him to stay further back because he had already been injured. But he was very loyal to the company. And I was very happy to have him with me because he was a wonderful man.

Description

Dr. Theal gives a general description of a field hospital and his reliance on the padre.

Dr. Gordon Irvine Theal

Dr. Theal was born in Grimsby, Ontario on April 2, 1916. His father, a farmer, operated a feed mill and later became a grocer, at which time Dr. Theal was old enough to help in the family business. At the insistence of some friends, he enrolled in Queens University’s medical school in Toronto. With the outbreak of war, he joined the Officer Training Corps. After graduating, Dr. Theal married and moved to British Columbia, where he went from camp to camp, encouraging enlistment in the regular forces. After shipping overseas and a couple postings in England, he was shipped to France during the D-Day invasion. His brigade accompanied the Allied advance from France to Holland. During this time, Dr. Theal and his team performed triage. This was the first contact the wounded had with a doctor and he would provide emergency medical treatment before the wounded moved back to the larger field hospitals. After completing his tour, Dr. Theal returned home to Ontario, to his wife and daughter, and took up private practice. He currently resides in Courtney, British Columbia.

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