Lemnos Heroes - Staff Nurse Rachel Pratt

Sister Rachel Pratt, Australian Army Nursing Service, of Carlton. AWM image

A good article about the 8 Australian nurses awarded the Military Medal, the nurses equivalent of the Victoria Cross, in the First World War.

It includes the story of Staff Nurse Rachel Pratt who served on Lemnos with Matron Grace Wilson at the 3rd Australian General Hospital in 1915. She went to serve in France and was injured as a result of aerial bombing of the No. 1 Australian Casualty Clearing Station (1ACCS) where she was stationed.
She was promoted to sister and awarded the Military Medal “for conspicuous gallantry displayed in the performance of her duties”.

After recovering she returned to nursing until the end of the war. The shrapnel that would remain in her lung would trouble her for the rest of her life. 


Nurses Under Fire by Elizabeth Stewart AWM Wartime magazine Issue 50