0:00:02 > 0:00:04The First World War -
0:00:04 > 0:00:08a hell on earth for millions of soldiers.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10We know about the men who served.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13But women also played a prominent part,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17many of them nurses on the front line.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21This is the story of a Welsh woman who spent the whole war
0:00:21 > 0:00:23in the thick of battle.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Annie Brewer was a nurse.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42She won some of the highest gallantry medals for her work
0:00:42 > 0:00:44with the French army during the First World War.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49In her hometown of Newport, her great nephew, Ian Brewer,
0:00:49 > 0:00:51is intrigued by her story,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55especially as Annie kept the most remarkable photographic record
0:00:55 > 0:00:56of life on the front line.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04The photographs hold the clues to the life of a Welsh woman
0:01:04 > 0:01:08whose extraordinary war career has been forgotten.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09Ian has always wanted to unearth
0:01:09 > 0:01:12the secrets held within the pictures.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15It all started when I was ten years old.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17I used to visit Annie's sister
0:01:17 > 0:01:21and I could see this picture on the wall of this...
0:01:21 > 0:01:25It was all soldiers fighting, flames in the background,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and there was an angel over them all.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30I was fascinated by this picture.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33There was French writing on it and I could never understand it,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36but eventually I did get to know what it was.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40It was a citation for an act of bravery she had performed.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43And that act is when she went out in an ambulance in the shellfire
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and she pulled some injured troops back to the hospital.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52For this act of bravery, she received the Croix de guerre,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55one of the highest awards given by the French government
0:01:55 > 0:01:57for heroism in battle.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Yet her story isn't known outside the family.
0:02:06 > 0:02:07St Woolos Cemetery in Newport
0:02:07 > 0:02:11is one of the biggest municipal cemeteries in Britain.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14It was here that Annie Brewer was buried.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17But over the years, the location of her grave
0:02:17 > 0:02:19has been lost to the family.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24It might be in the name of Brewer or it might be in the married name,
0:02:24 > 0:02:25that's Mistrick.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33- We've got Annie Elizabeth Mistrick at 23 West St.- That's it.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36- Fabulous.- She was aged 46 years old. - Right.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41She was actually buried, as you said, on 3 February, 1921.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Ian wants to start his voyage of discovery by tracking down her grave
0:02:46 > 0:02:49with the help of cemetery superintendent, Charlie Dare.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55Charlie knows exactly where she is buried.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And this is grave 201. This is where Annie's actually buried here.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Wow, that's amazing. I'm so glad to have found this spot.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It means so much to me and the rest of the family.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16No headstone. I thought there might be a small headstone.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24I know people might think I'm daft, Annie, but just for you.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25I know what you went through.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Ian believes Annie's was one of the most remarkable lives
0:03:30 > 0:03:32of the First World War.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Now in the 100th anniversary of the conflict,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37he wants everybody to know her story.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Nancy Knight is Annie's niece.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Born in 1921, a few months after Annie's death,
0:03:44 > 0:03:49she was named after Annie who was also known as Nancy.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Well, I know that Dad and auntie Annie used to mooch school a lot.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Oh, you shouldn't have said that!
0:03:56 > 0:03:58That's all that I know about it.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Yeah, that they used to mooch school, the both of them.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06I think from a very early age that she could've been...
0:04:06 > 0:04:10A very powerful will of her own.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13I remember them saying about auntie Annie
0:04:13 > 0:04:16when the troops' train came in and she was at home,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20she'd go into the station and she said to the tommies,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22"Come on, here you are. Light up a fag."
0:04:22 > 0:04:24Have a fag in light up a fag.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27So Nancy, How proud are you of Annie?
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Well I'm very, very proud of Annie.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33She is so courageous and so brave.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I'd like to wear a big medal myself saying...
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Annie was my auntie, like. Yes.
0:04:37 > 0:04:43She was a woman of determination. You could see it there.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Ian knows the photographs are the key to Annie's story.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51But what will they reveal about Annie's medical work at the front?
0:04:54 > 0:04:57He has come to the University Hospital of Wales,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59home to Cardiff University's Mushin Museum,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03to meet Dr Peter Lloyd Jones.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Dr Jones, these are some of the photographs of my great aunt Annie
0:05:07 > 0:05:09from World War I.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I should have about... It's over 150 here.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17They are an amazing set of pictures, really,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19because it would have been all too easy...
0:05:19 > 0:05:22And what most people would have done would just be
0:05:22 > 0:05:24take a set of snapshots of themselves grinning at the camera
0:05:24 > 0:05:26with some friends.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30These actually tell a story. This is sort of photojournalism, really.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35- These are all French uniforms. - Yes, indeed.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38She was a very fluent French speaker from a young age
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and she went and joined the Red Cross and ended up with the French army.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47- This is something which is... - Oh, a Thomas splint.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Thomas, who was Hugh Owen Thomas,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53an orthopaedic surgeon from Liverpool
0:05:53 > 0:05:55who invented this thing.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58It's a strange looking piece of apparatus
0:05:58 > 0:06:02because you put your leg in it and it goes right the way down
0:06:02 > 0:06:06to the far end which is this piece here.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10There's a dent in there so that you could put a piece of rope over it,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12so that you could pull on the lower part of the leg.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14I thought you were going to say that.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20You could imagine a bone breaking, it's surrounded by muscle.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23The muscle in response to the painful stimuli
0:06:23 > 0:06:26will contract and the whole thing will do that.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31You can imagine amount of damage those two ends of bone make.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37So, if you put a leg into one of these early on and pull on it
0:06:37 > 0:06:42until they all naturally fall back into line.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45You eliminate all that secondary trauma.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48It reduced the number of deaths
0:06:48 > 0:06:55from 80% as a result of breaking your leg to about 20% and less.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57So a very important piece of kit.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02There's one photograph I'd like you to see him Dr Jones. It's a...
0:07:02 > 0:07:09- That's this one here.- Well, clearly that's your aunt...great aunt.- Yes.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11She's giving an anaesthetic.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Interesting after you considering
0:07:14 > 0:07:17the sort of anaesthetic machinery we'd be using,
0:07:17 > 0:07:23she's using a wide tube there and a valve and a proper mask.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26That's really quite advanced stuff.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30I've learnt more in the last two minutes than I ever thought I would.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Ian wants to find out more about Annie's work.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Although thousands of women served on the Western Front,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Annie was one the few who were within 10km of the front line.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53He's come to London to the Florence Nightingale museum,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57to meet Professor Christine Hallett, an expert on nursing in this period.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04For a trained British nurse at that time in those field hospitals,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07it would have been pretty tough because she would have been
0:08:07 > 0:08:11one of the few fully-trained nurses in a French field hospital.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16They had wound infections like Gas gangrene, tetanus,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18really distressing conditions for the nurses
0:08:18 > 0:08:20to have to care for the soldiers.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Nurses have never encountered these kinds of wounds before.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28This was the first really large-scale industrial war,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30so you had patient coming in with multiple injuries.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35They would have had rushes of patients all the time
0:08:35 > 0:08:38so it would have been incredibly stressful, actually.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40I think lots of the nurses suffered from shell shock
0:08:40 > 0:08:41just the way soldiers did
0:08:41 > 0:08:44because you never knew when the next shell was going to come
0:08:44 > 0:08:46or when the next bombardment was going to come.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50The soldiers would come into the hospitals,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53their clothing full of lice and nurses often wrote
0:08:53 > 0:08:55about how the soldiers apologised and said,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58"Don't come near me, nurse. I'm really dirty and full of lice."
0:08:58 > 0:08:59But, of course, the nurses...
0:08:59 > 0:09:02It was part of their work to undress the patients, wash the patients,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04make them comfortable in bed.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06So, they caught the lice too.
0:09:06 > 0:09:07They spend their evenings
0:09:07 > 0:09:10kind of working through the seams of their uniforms
0:09:10 > 0:09:13getting lice out of their uniforms.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22The nurses would often write with news of life on the front.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27They would also appeal to friends and family
0:09:27 > 0:09:30to send medical provisions and comforts,
0:09:30 > 0:09:31which were in short supply.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36So this is an example of a letter
0:09:36 > 0:09:38that was written by one of the nurses.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41The nurses working in field hospitals
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and on trains were really great letter writers.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46They wrote very frequent letters home.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49My great aunt was one of those frequent letter writers.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51In fact, I've got one of the letters here I can read to you
0:09:51 > 0:09:54because it is very significant in what she says.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58"My dear Ede, I leave here on Monday
0:09:58 > 0:10:00"next to go to a new hospital.
0:10:00 > 0:10:05"2,900 beds, and I will still hold the position of commandant major.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09"My hair stands on end at the responsibility,
0:10:09 > 0:10:10"but the general assures me
0:10:10 > 0:10:13"that I'm capable of taking charge of twice as many beds,
0:10:13 > 0:10:15"so I must take it as a compliment."
0:10:18 > 0:10:23"To tell you the truth, I do not feel well enough to have such hard work.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28"At the last attack of Ardennes, we did 229 operations in seven days,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30"working day and night.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33"And after, I was done not. Absolutely done up.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38"With love to Father, Mother, and yourself. Nancy."
0:10:38 > 0:10:42A hospital of 2,900 beds is pretty huge,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47- so I'm not surprised that she says it made her hair stand on end.- Yes.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54The experts Ian has met so far
0:10:54 > 0:10:57have been fascinated by Annie's photographs.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00But Ian wonders how on earth she was able to take the photographs
0:11:00 > 0:11:02on the front line.
0:11:02 > 0:11:09The most popular camera used by individual servicemen, nurses, etc.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13was one of these - the Kodak Vest Pocket camera.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- It's called a Vest Pocket because it can fit in your pocket.- Right.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19This was introduced in 1912
0:11:19 > 0:11:23- and cost £1.10.- Incredible.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27So if you think that the average salary of a British...
0:11:27 > 0:11:32In Britain in 1914 was 16 shillings a week,
0:11:32 > 0:11:34so you know, you could save up for one of these cameras.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39It was an affordable camera for many people involved in photos.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42That's why photography became a very popular pastime
0:11:42 > 0:11:45in a couple of years leading up to the First World War.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47- Can I just feel the weight of that? - Yeah, sure.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52- It's pretty sturdy, isn't it?- It is.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55By 1926, they'd sold 2 million of these.
0:11:55 > 0:11:56Beautiful piece of engineering.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00It made Kodak a lot of money, but it was a great camera.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Obviously, this is the viewfinder
0:12:02 > 0:12:04so you're actually looking down
0:12:04 > 0:12:07getting the image in there to take the picture.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Most servicemen, nurses, etc. would have used these.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13This is a particularly interesting photograph here, Ian.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It looks like there's a group of nurses outside of building
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and they're all looking up at the sky.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20I think what they're actually looking at
0:12:20 > 0:12:21is probably a German aircraft.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23A bombing aircraft would have been the biggest threat
0:12:23 > 0:12:26because quite often, even though hospitals were actually marked out
0:12:26 > 0:12:30with large red crosses to indicate where they were,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34quite often there'd be of the military camps in the area
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and bombing aiming equipment in the First World War
0:12:36 > 0:12:37was very rudimentary.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40So even the. you may have tried to miss the hospital
0:12:40 > 0:12:43the chances are that bombs would have fallen on the hospital grounds.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Ah, right.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It was here in Verdun in north-east France
0:12:49 > 0:12:51that Annie was working in 1916.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56The Battle of Verdun began in February that year
0:12:56 > 0:12:58and lasted for over 10 months.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01It was a war of attrition.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07There were over 400,000 French casualties,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11and Annie found herself at the centre of this Armageddon.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16They were having to deal with these guys coming in
0:13:16 > 0:13:19very badly wounded in many cases.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22The nurses would have seen some really bad sights.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25The Germans in 1916 were looking to try to knock the French Army
0:13:25 > 0:13:26out of the war.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31What they decided to do was to try to just crush the French army.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34They needed to find a place that was strategically
0:13:34 > 0:13:39and emotionally important to France, and Verdun fitted that bill.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Also, of course, the Battle of the Somme,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44which is the British focus in 1916, the one we've all heard of,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47which sort of to find the first world war for the Brits,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50as Verdun defines a First World War for the French,
0:13:50 > 0:13:55the Somme was primarily fought to take German pressure off Verdun,
0:13:55 > 0:13:56and that worked.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Although it takes another two years to defeat Germany,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01after those two big battles in 1916,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04the German Army is never the same again.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Verdun was, and probably still is,
0:14:07 > 0:14:12the most shelled place on the face of the earth.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16More artillery shells hit that small area on the River Meuse
0:14:16 > 0:14:18than anywhere else at any other time.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30On a hill overlooking the town of Verdun
0:14:30 > 0:14:33stands a statue commemorating the thousands killed in the battle
0:14:33 > 0:14:35that raged here for almost a year.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40Ian is on his way to Verdun.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44He is following in the footsteps of his great aunt Annie
0:14:44 > 0:14:46who came here 100 years ago.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Do you know what's funny?
0:14:48 > 0:14:51This is the first time we've ever been abroad together.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Ian is travelling with his son,
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Phil, who is himself a decorated war veteran of recent conflicts.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Are some of the buildings still going to be there?
0:15:01 > 0:15:03I don't think that after that war
0:15:03 > 0:15:07there's a lot of the same buildings around, but there are a few.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10During the war, the French government
0:15:10 > 0:15:14requisitioned large buildings and land to house field hospitals
0:15:14 > 0:15:18for the never-ending stream of casualties from the front.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20These are the places where Annie worked.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28I've almost got a picture like that. I can't believe this.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31That doesn't half look familiar to me.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34I got another shot somewhere of that with the ambulance.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Let's just go back a bit. I think I missed a photograph I'm looking for.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40I'm tensed up here!
0:15:42 > 0:15:46- That one.- That's the one I meant, yeah. Oh, gee-whiz.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50It is the same place. I'd stake my life on it, Phil. I can't...
0:15:52 > 0:15:53I can't believe it!
0:15:55 > 0:15:58- That's a real treat. - It's all right, sorry, yeah...
0:15:58 > 0:16:00I'm so bloody emotional.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05You know, and never thought I'd...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08I never thought I'd get to a place where she's been...
0:16:08 > 0:16:10within yards of us.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14- Everything else matches.- Look at that. That is there, right?
0:16:14 > 0:16:17We can find... We can go to the absolute spot where she's standing.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22- Yeah.- You're right! The ambulance is just about by there.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26That tower...is there.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28You see a bit more of that tower, so we're that way a bit.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37All right, Dad, if you just move to your left a bit.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42That's it. That's where Annie was standing.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Smile for the camera. One, two, three.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46CAMERA CLICKS
0:16:52 > 0:16:54The chateau is now a hotel.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57There to welcome them is the manager, Catherine Pierrat.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00- Catherine, Ian.- Nice to meet you.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04You know, I'm so emotional about this I've got to give you a hug.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Yes, you can. Of course.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12- What do you think about that? - Oh, my God!
0:17:14 > 0:17:17- Unbelievable!- Yes.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I've probably got shots very similar to that here.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25To be confronted with a place where I've got photographs of Annie
0:17:25 > 0:17:26in front of an ambulance.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30I couldn't stop my emotions and it was just...
0:17:31 > 0:17:33..pouring around inside me, you know?
0:17:34 > 0:17:37Fabulous. I just couldn't believe things.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It must've been sad times, as well.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47I'm sure when it was a hospital it must have been dreadful
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and dazed at what they were experiencing.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53I'm described I was here in the good times
0:17:53 > 0:17:57because what they were going through then was so horrendous.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02To think Annie being here,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05I was now in the same place, virtually on the same spot.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16Much of Annie's life and work during the war is still a mystery to Ian.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18He's always known that Annie left South Wales
0:18:18 > 0:18:21to work as a private nurse for a Cardiff woman.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24They were in Paris when war broke out
0:18:24 > 0:18:27and Annie joined the French Red Cross immediately.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Marie Cappart, a genealogist, has been helping him with his research.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39What we know is that as early as 1915,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43she joined the lady called Yolande de Baye
0:18:43 > 0:18:49who ran battlefield hospitals and ambulances and we needed nurses.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52And nurses with special skills as Annie had.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56When Yolande arrived in the Verdun area,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00as all the battles were there to open several hospitals.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Annie stuck with her and she joined her
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and helped her to run the hospitals and then for the soldiers.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08That's fantastic.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11She was the lady Annie was working for.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14But then, I think they really, really, really were close.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Hit it off, eh?
0:19:16 > 0:19:23And I have here a picture of Yolande de Baye as the nurse heroine.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25As you can see,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Yolande de Baye was made Knight of the Legion d'honneur,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31which is the most honourable decoration...
0:19:31 > 0:19:34- It's the highest, isn't it?- It's the highest on the French ranks.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39On the day the battlefield hospital Yolande was running was bombed,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44Annie was wounded and it's on that occasion that she was awarded
0:19:44 > 0:19:45the Croix de guerre.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The citation I got of aunt Annie,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53it seems to coincide with the date in 1917. So the chances are...
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- Well, they definitely were together, weren't they, now?- Yeah, it was.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58But it's pinpointed for me,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02a bit of uncertainty as to when she got it and what the occasion was.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04So it's really fantastic. It really is.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Yeah, it's pretty sure that she was awarded the Croix de guerre
0:20:07 > 0:20:08because she was so brave.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10When I...
0:20:10 > 0:20:12read the citation it gives me goose pimples
0:20:12 > 0:20:14- every time I read it, you know?- Yeah.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16She's out in an ambulance in the shellfire.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20She's got disregard of everything except the patient in front of her.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22And nothing is going to shift her.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28I can also see now how they were such good friends.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31They were two of a kind.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Courageous, you know? No fear.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Good nurses.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38Won't stand any nonsense.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41You know, if they said do something, it'd be done.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49What they went through together in the bombing and other events...
0:20:49 > 0:20:53They really must've had a fantastic bond between themselves.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57But one mystery still remains.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01Three photos show Annie standing close to one man,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and Ian suspects that this could be Annie's husband.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07Annie was married to Daniel Mistrick,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11and according to her death certificate she was a widow.
0:21:11 > 0:21:12Despite his efforts,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Ian has been unable to find the marriage certificate.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Now, I've found out that Daniel Mistrick was a Frenchman
0:21:21 > 0:21:23born in Rouen.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25He made his studies there,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and then when war broke out he enrolled in the army.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31He was working with the ambulance service.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36I pretty much suspect that's how Daniel met Annie.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40We have searched all records of places in 1917
0:21:40 > 0:21:42without finding anything official.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46So what I suspect is that they did get married
0:21:46 > 0:21:48and I'm pretty sure of that.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Then they have been married by a military priest.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Being a marriage on the battlefield,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58no former trades went back to the French officials.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02So I think they fell in love in the war battlefield.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05- It's really romantic. - Fairy tale stuff, yes.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07And you don't know what tomorrow's going to be
0:22:07 > 0:22:09because tomorrow we might not be there any more
0:22:09 > 0:22:12because of all the bombings.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15But, what I think is that their romance blossoms
0:22:15 > 0:22:17on Verdun's battlefield,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21which is quite in an extraordinary love story in the middle of hate.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27And Marie is about reveal to Ian another to twist in the tale.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32I know you thought that Daniel had died at war
0:22:32 > 0:22:34- because Annie's mentioned as a widow.- Yes.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37But then I found out that he wasn't killed in action at all.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40- He survived the war.- Bloody hell.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44He was awarded a Legion d'honneur as well.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47I thought he had a Medaille militaire or...
0:22:47 > 0:22:50I wasn't sure about that because it wasn't in Annie's collection.
0:22:50 > 0:22:51He has a Medaille militaire
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and he was awarded the Legion d'honneur
0:22:54 > 0:22:57because in 1917 and in 1918,
0:22:57 > 0:23:03- under bombing he went to fetch the wounded soldiers.- Right.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04He was so brave.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11He did get married after the war...two times.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12Gosh.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18- And he died in the '60s.- '60s? - 1960s, yeah.- Good heavens!
0:23:18 > 0:23:23And he's buried in France. He even was in action in World War II.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27- Simply amazing.- I'd like to think that he'd never forget Annie.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28I know.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32I really, really... I'm sure he never, never ever...
0:23:32 > 0:23:34The thing, like, the first love, they say
0:23:34 > 0:23:37especially when it's such a fairy tale story...
0:23:41 > 0:23:44There has already been a great deal of interest
0:23:44 > 0:23:48in Ian's visit to the area and people here want to help him.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51He has been contacted by Marielle Humbert.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55She takes Ian to the home of Dr Bruno Fermont.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59During the First World War it was a hospital on the front line.
0:23:59 > 0:24:00'Bonjour, monsieur.'
0:24:01 > 0:24:05HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:24:08 > 0:24:11In August 1917, there was a big bomb there.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:24:21 > 0:24:25And this is when the shell exploded.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28HE SPEAKS FRENCH
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Three nurses were killed.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36Ian has finally found the actual place where Annie was wounded.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40You see, I believe my aunt was here at the time,
0:24:40 > 0:24:44and I got us a citation when she won a Croix de guerre
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and the dates seem to coincide.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50"Miss Nancy Brewer, volunteer nurse.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53"A nurse remarkable for her technical ability
0:24:53 > 0:24:56"whose moral strength and devotion...
0:24:59 > 0:25:03Sorry, "..have been clearly demonstrated time and time again.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07"Notably on 18 August, 1917.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11"On this occasion, she set the finest example of coolness
0:25:11 > 0:25:14"and total disregard of danger,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"lavishing her attention on the wounded
0:25:17 > 0:25:19"and the fire from enemy artillery."
0:25:21 > 0:25:25It was Annie's courage that day and the award of the Croix de guerre
0:25:25 > 0:25:29which had first intrigued ten-year-old Ian.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Now, more than 60 years later, he has discovered how close
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Annie came to losing her life that day.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37Three of her friends were killed.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Annie's best friend, Yolande de Baye,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44never forgot those nurses,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47and she was determined to commemorate their sacrifice.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54The place she chose to remember them was here, the Ossuary at Douaumont,
0:25:54 > 0:25:55the final resting place
0:25:55 > 0:25:59for the bones of 130,000 French and German soldiers
0:25:59 > 0:26:01who died in the Battle of Verdun.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33This is in memory of three of Annie's nursing friends
0:26:33 > 0:26:38who were killed in the bombardment on the day she won a Croix de guerre.
0:26:38 > 0:26:4418 August, 1917.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Annie, you know, they would have been friends.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49She would have known them all well.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54How nice to have a memory like that.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17War should have never happened again, but it did. People never learn.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21It's such a wonderful memorial ground up there.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23I was really, really glad to be there.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31For Ian, this has been a journey of discovery.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36Now he feels he understands what Annie went through 100 years ago.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41He believes everyone should know Annie's story.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Annie's grave is no longer unmarked.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Ian has put up a memorial stone fit for a war hero.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03And the family of Annie Brewer has come together to remember
0:28:03 > 0:28:07a woman who nursed the sick, wounded, and dying
0:28:07 > 0:28:12on the Western Front throughout the First World War.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14And it is my privilege to dedicate it now
0:28:14 > 0:28:17as a lasting tribute to Annie.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21We now have a picture of Annie's life
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and service as a nurse during the First World War.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Annie, from now on, we will remember you.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37From now on, Annie, we will not forget.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42I feel I know her.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Sometimes when I'm doing something, I'm talking to her.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51When I'm on the files, yes.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54Sometimes I can almost feel her.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59And that'll never go away from me. That can never leave me now.