![Violette Thurstan](pix/thurstan-v.jpg)
Matron Violette Thurstan, MM, Order of St George
(Russia), Order of La Reine Elisabeth (Belgium)
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Military Medal
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Miss Violetta Thurstan was a pupil at
the Ladies College, Guernsey. She trained as a
nurse at the London Hospital and was working as a nurse
in the Isolation Department of the Town Hospital when
war broke out. She immediately volunteered for overseas
service and went to Belgium and was there when it was
occupied. After escaping overland she worked in hospitals
in Belgium and Russia then with a Flying Column ambulance
train in Serbia. Her books sold in vast numbers, especially
Field Ambulance and Flying Column.
During an air raid at the Rouen hospital
where she was matron she was knocked down by a falling
roof. She immediately got up and helped stretcher-bearers
to carry the wounded to the next line ambulance. For
this she became one of the few women to win the Military
Medal. She also won the Russian Order of St George and
the Belgian Order of La Reine Elisabeth.
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