Finally, a Field Ambulance!
Morris Hirsch's company, under the Major who was the 2 IC, were given the task of medical support for the Gordon Highlander mopping up operation of the last Italian stand, 300 miles south, on the high escarpment barrier to the Gondar region, the source of the Blue Nile.
Staff Sergeant Bill Osgoby, a stocky boisterous Yorkshireman, was responsible for the wellbeing of the rank and file of 'B' Company. A quiet, reserved Portuguese sergeant, Alfred, from the Belgian Congo, managed the medical functions, from sick parades to operating theater. Literate only in French and Portuguese, he communicated in Swahili, augmented by flourishes of sign language.
The Ugandan King's African Rifles provided the muscle–stretcher bearers, cooks, cleaners, sentries and general factotums to fill the host of miscellaneous duties of a military unit. Corporal Samuel was the theater orderly, the equivalent of a theater sister. In training exercises his surgical operation section, set up under a tarpaulin, was ready for action in record time. Quietly efficient, with a ready beaming smile, he was to prove a boon under stress.
All was quiet. Boredom had set in. But suddenly all hell broke loose. Their own aircraft were strafing their position! Morris' initial fear gave way to consternation. How could the chain of command function in such chaos? It seemed impossible they could restore order and co-ordination with the air force.
Watching a colonel's frantic efforts, Morris was filled with awe at his responsibility, will and leadership. He doubted he would manage. He also realized how much depended on the courage, initiative and panic resistance of the rank and file. Now he understood bravery. He knew this was a minor episode but it was a revelation to him.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
Excerpt from Dr. Morris Isaac Hirsch's Unpublished Memoirs. Hirsch Archives.
Photo Credits: Hirsch Archives