Gutsy WWI nurse inspirational
For the past year the largely forgotten World War I exploits of a New Plymouth-born nurse have consumed Denise Wood.
In 2017 Wood, a retired New Plymouth nurse, was asked by the Merchant Navy if she would make an Armistice Day speech about Eva Brooke.
Since then Brooke has become an inspiration to Wood.
‘‘When I delved into this I thought what an amazing woman. Her nursing career was outstanding, but no one actually ever acknowledged her. And to think she was born in New Plymouth.’’
Evelyn Brooke, known as Eva, was born in New Plymouth in 1879 and after completing her nursing training worked at a private hospital in Hawera.
In 1910 she went to Wellington to work as a ward sister and at the outbreak of WWI Brooke left with the First Expeditionary Force as second in charge of the nurses, Wood said.
‘‘The post of matron followed in April 1915 on the hospital ship Maheno. They embarked for Turkey in July 1915. During August and September 1915 the Maheno made five trips to Anzac Cove at Gallipoli. As ship matron she was responsible for all nursing arrangements,’’ Wood said.
‘‘In extreme heat, whilst bullets raked the decks, the nurses worked with the poor, torn, mangled fellows amid the horrible odour of dysentery, diarrhoea and decay.’’
And back then the men always took charge, which caused some tension.
‘‘The first disputes arose over rank. Nurses were given the courtesy rank of officer. Many male officers refused to recognise this and the women were subjected to unpleasantness.’’
Brooke was a quiet, seriousminded woman, Wood said.
‘‘She wrote in her diary: ‘‘sometimes these last four years have seemed like a dream. It has reshaped my life in a way of lasting fulfillment.’’
The first army nurse to receive the royal red cross and bar medal, Brooke was also awarded the British War Medal, which was not a common medal to receive, Wood said.
‘‘She also got the Victory medal with Oak Leaf for bravery, gallantry and active service.’’
Wood has been captivated by the courage Brooke showed.
‘‘The gutsiness of a little woman that was asked to go to war to serve her country. She did the most extraordinary things for not only the soldiers, her staff, the people all around her.
‘‘She was a very caring, compassionate woman who holds a special place in my heart. And what she would have seen in war – the ravages and carnage. (Nurses) were very traumatised.
‘‘Just imagine holding the hand of someone dying. They were the ones who witnessed the shot off limbs, the blown up body parts.’’
Armistice Day is on November
11, which commemorates the end of World War I in 1918. Wood will march in the New Plymouth street parade wearing a nurse’s military uniform to represent all nurses who have taken part in all conflicts, she said.
Brooke was one of 30 women featured in the Women of Empire: the untold stories of New Zealand and Australian women in WW1 exhibition at Katherine Mansfield House in Wellington in
2016
And in 2015, Brooke was on the front cover of a passport-sized book New Zealand Post Shop produced to commemorate the Anzac centenary of World War I and was featured on a stamp.
Eva Brooke died in Wellington on February 11, 1962, aged 83.