Annie's War: A Welsh Nurse on the Western Front

The First World War -

a hell on earth for millions of soldiers.

We know about the men who served.

But women also played a prominent part,

many of them nurses on the front line.

This is the story of a Welsh woman who spent the whole war

in the thick of battle.

Annie Brewer was a nurse.

She won some of the highest gallantry medals for her work

with the French army during the First World War.

In her hometown of Newport, her great nephew, Ian Brewer,

is intrigued by her story,

especially as Annie kept the most remarkable photographic record

of life on the front line.

The photographs hold the clues to the life of a Welsh woman

whose extraordinary war career has been forgotten.

Ian has always wanted to unearth

the secrets held within the pictures.

It all started when I was ten years old.

I used to visit Annie's sister

and I could see this picture on the wall of this...

It was all soldiers fighting, flames in the background,

and there was an angel over them all.

I was fascinated by this picture.

There was French writing on it and I could never understand it,

but eventually I did get to know what it was.

It was a citation for an act of bravery she had performed.

And that act is when she went out in an ambulance in the shellfire

and she pulled some injured troops back to the hospital.

For this act of bravery, she received the Croix de guerre,

one of the highest awards given by the French government

for heroism in battle.

Yet her story isn't known outside the family.

St Woolos Cemetery in Newport

is one of the biggest municipal cemeteries in Britain.

It was here that Annie Brewer was buried.

But over the years, the location of her grave

has been lost to the family.

It might be in the name of Brewer or it might be in the married name,

that's Mistrick.

-We've got Annie Elizabeth Mistrick at 23 West St.

-That's it.

-Fabulous.

-She was aged 46 years old.

-Right.

She was actually buried, as you said, on 3 February, 1921.

Ian wants to start his voyage of discovery by tracking down her grave

with the help of cemetery superintendent, Charlie Dare.

Charlie knows exactly where she is buried.

And this is grave 201. This is where Annie's actually buried here.

Wow, that's amazing. I'm so glad to have found this spot.

It means so much to me and the rest of the family.

No headstone. I thought there might be a small headstone.

I know people might think I'm daft, Annie, but just for you.

I know what you went through.

Ian believes Annie's was one of the most remarkable lives

of the First World War.

Now in the 100th anniversary of the conflict,

he wants everybody to know her story.

Nancy Knight is Annie's niece.

Born in 1921, a few months after Annie's death,

she was named after Annie who was also known as Nancy.

Well, I know that Dad and auntie Annie used to mooch school a lot.

Oh, you shouldn't have said that!

That's all that I know about it.

Yeah, that they used to mooch school, the both of them.

I think from a very early age that she could've been...

A very powerful will of her own.

I remember them saying about auntie Annie

when the troops' train came in and she was at home,

she'd go into the station and she said to the tommies,

"Come on, here you are. Light up a fag."

Have a fag in light up a fag.

So Nancy, How proud are you of Annie?

Well I'm very, very proud of Annie.

She is so courageous and so brave.

I'd like to wear a big medal myself saying...

Annie was my auntie, like. Yes.

She was a woman of determination. You could see it there.

Ian knows the photographs are the key to Annie's story.

But what will they reveal about Annie's medical work at the front?

He has come to the University Hospital of Wales,

home to Cardiff University's Mushin Museum,

to meet Dr Peter Lloyd Jones.

Dr Jones, these are some of the photographs of my great aunt Annie

from World War I.

I should have about... It's over 150 here.

They are an amazing set of pictures, really,

because it would have been all too easy...

And what most people would have done would just be

take a set of snapshots of themselves grinning at the camera

with some friends.

These actually tell a story. This is sort of photojournalism, really.

-These are all French uniforms.

-Yes, indeed.

She was a very fluent French speaker from a young age

and she went and joined the Red Cross and ended up with the French army.

-This is something which is...

-Oh, a Thomas splint.

Thomas, who was Hugh Owen Thomas,

an orthopaedic surgeon from Liverpool

who invented this thing.

It's a strange looking piece of apparatus

because you put your leg in it and it goes right the way down

to the far end which is this piece here.

There's a dent in there so that you could put a piece of rope over it,

so that you could pull on the lower part of the leg.

I thought you were going to say that.

You could imagine a bone breaking, it's surrounded by muscle.

The muscle in response to the painful stimuli

will contract and the whole thing will do that.

You can imagine amount of damage those two ends of bone make.

So, if you put a leg into one of these early on and pull on it

until they all naturally fall back into line.

You eliminate all that secondary trauma.

It reduced the number of deaths

from 80% as a result of breaking your leg to about 20% and less.

So a very important piece of kit.

There's one photograph I'd like you to see him Dr Jones. It's a...

-That's this one here.

-Well, clearly that's your aunt...great aunt.

-Yes.

She's giving an anaesthetic.

Interesting after you considering

the sort of anaesthetic machinery we'd be using,

she's using a wide tube there and a valve and a proper mask.

That's really quite advanced stuff.

I've learnt more in the last two minutes than I ever thought I would.

Ian wants to find out more about Annie's work.

Although thousands of women served on the Western Front,

Annie was one the few who were within 10km of the front line.

He's come to London to the Florence Nightingale museum,

to meet Professor Christine Hallett, an expert on nursing in this period.

For a trained British nurse at that time in those field hospitals,

it would have been pretty tough because she would have been

one of the few fully-trained nurses in a French field hospital.

They had wound infections like Gas gangrene, tetanus,

really distressing conditions for the nurses

to have to care for the soldiers.

Nurses have never encountered these kinds of wounds before.

This was the first really large-scale industrial war,

so you had patient coming in with multiple injuries.

They would have had rushes of patients all the time

so it would have been incredibly stressful, actually.

I think lots of the nurses suffered from shell shock

just the way soldiers did

because you never knew when the next shell was going to come

or when the next bombardment was going to come.

The soldiers would come into the hospitals,

their clothing full of lice and nurses often wrote

about how the soldiers apologised and said,

"Don't come near me, nurse. I'm really dirty and full of lice."

But, of course, the nurses...

It was part of their work to undress the patients, wash the patients,

make them comfortable in bed.

So, they caught the lice too.

They spend their evenings

kind of working through the seams of their uniforms

getting lice out of their uniforms.

The nurses would often write with news of life on the front.

They would also appeal to friends and family

to send medical provisions and comforts,

which were in short supply.

So this is an example of a letter

that was written by one of the nurses.

The nurses working in field hospitals

and on trains were really great letter writers.

They wrote very frequent letters home.

My great aunt was one of those frequent letter writers.

In fact, I've got one of the letters here I can read to you

because it is very significant in what she says.

"My dear Ede, I leave here on Monday

"next to go to a new hospital.

"2,900 beds, and I will still hold the position of commandant major.

"My hair stands on end at the responsibility,

"but the general assures me

"that I'm capable of taking charge of twice as many beds,

"so I must take it as a compliment."

"To tell you the truth, I do not feel well enough to have such hard work.

"At the last attack of Ardennes, we did 229 operations in seven days,

"working day and night.

"And after, I was done not. Absolutely done up.

"With love to Father, Mother, and yourself. Nancy."

A hospital of 2,900 beds is pretty huge,

-so I'm not surprised that she says it made her hair stand on end.

-Yes.

The experts Ian has met so far

have been fascinated by Annie's photographs.

But Ian wonders how on earth she was able to take the photographs

on the front line.

The most popular camera used by individual servicemen, nurses, etc.

was one of these - the Kodak Vest Pocket camera.

-It's called a Vest Pocket because it can fit in your pocket.

-Right.

This was introduced in 1912

-and cost £1.10.

-Incredible.

So if you think that the average salary of a British...

In Britain in 1914 was 16 shillings a week,

so you know, you could save up for one of these cameras.

It was an affordable camera for many people involved in photos.

That's why photography became a very popular pastime

in a couple of years leading up to the First World War.

-Can I just feel the weight of that?

-Yeah, sure.

-It's pretty sturdy, isn't it?

-It is.

By 1926, they'd sold 2 million of these.

Beautiful piece of engineering.

It made Kodak a lot of money, but it was a great camera.

Obviously, this is the viewfinder

so you're actually looking down

getting the image in there to take the picture.

Most servicemen, nurses, etc. would have used these.

This is a particularly interesting photograph here, Ian.

It looks like there's a group of nurses outside of building

and they're all looking up at the sky.

I think what they're actually looking at

is probably a German aircraft.

A bombing aircraft would have been the biggest threat

because quite often, even though hospitals were actually marked out

with large red crosses to indicate where they were,

quite often there'd be of the military camps in the area

and bombing aiming equipment in the First World War

was very rudimentary.

So even the. you may have tried to miss the hospital

the chances are that bombs would have fallen on the hospital grounds.

Ah, right.

It was here in Verdun in north-east France

that Annie was working in 1916.

The Battle of Verdun began in February that year

and lasted for over 10 months.

It was a war of attrition.

There were over 400,000 French casualties,

and Annie found herself at the centre of this Armageddon.

They were having to deal with these guys coming in

very badly wounded in many cases.

The nurses would have seen some really bad sights.

The Germans in 1916 were looking to try to knock the French Army

out of the war.

What they decided to do was to try to just crush the French army.

They needed to find a place that was strategically

and emotionally important to France, and Verdun fitted that bill.

Also, of course, the Battle of the Somme,

which is the British focus in 1916, the one we've all heard of,

which sort of to find the first world war for the Brits,

as Verdun defines a First World War for the French,

the Somme was primarily fought to take German pressure off Verdun,

and that worked.

Although it takes another two years to defeat Germany,

after those two big battles in 1916,

the German Army is never the same again.

Verdun was, and probably still is,

the most shelled place on the face of the earth.

More artillery shells hit that small area on the River Meuse

than anywhere else at any other time.

On a hill overlooking the town of Verdun

stands a statue commemorating the thousands killed in the battle

that raged here for almost a year.

Ian is on his way to Verdun.

He is following in the footsteps of his great aunt Annie

who came here 100 years ago.

Do you know what's funny?

This is the first time we've ever been abroad together.

Ian is travelling with his son,

Phil, who is himself a decorated war veteran of recent conflicts.

Are some of the buildings still going to be there?

I don't think that after that war

there's a lot of the same buildings around, but there are a few.

During the war, the French government

requisitioned large buildings and land to house field hospitals

for the never-ending stream of casualties from the front.

These are the places where Annie worked.

I've almost got a picture like that. I can't believe this.

That doesn't half look familiar to me.

I got another shot somewhere of that with the ambulance.

Let's just go back a bit. I think I missed a photograph I'm looking for.

I'm tensed up here!

-That one.

-That's the one I meant, yeah. Oh, gee-whiz.

It is the same place. I'd stake my life on it, Phil. I can't...

I can't believe it!

-That's a real treat.

-It's all right, sorry, yeah...

I'm so bloody emotional.

You know, and never thought I'd...

I never thought I'd get to a place where she's been...

within yards of us.

-Everything else matches.

-Look at that. That is there, right?

We can find... We can go to the absolute spot where she's standing.

-Yeah.

-You're right! The ambulance is just about by there.

That tower...is there.

You see a bit more of that tower, so we're that way a bit.

All right, Dad, if you just move to your left a bit.

That's it. That's where Annie was standing.

Smile for the camera. One, two, three.

CAMERA CLICKS

The chateau is now a hotel.

There to welcome them is the manager, Catherine Pierrat.

-Catherine, Ian.

-Nice to meet you.

You know, I'm so emotional about this I've got to give you a hug.

Yes, you can. Of course.

-What do you think about that?

-Oh, my God!

-Unbelievable!

-Yes.

I've probably got shots very similar to that here.

To be confronted with a place where I've got photographs of Annie

in front of an ambulance.

I couldn't stop my emotions and it was just...

..pouring around inside me, you know?

Fabulous. I just couldn't believe things.

It must've been sad times, as well.

I'm sure when it was a hospital it must have been dreadful

and dazed at what they were experiencing.

I'm described I was here in the good times

because what they were going through then was so horrendous.

To think Annie being here,

I was now in the same place, virtually on the same spot.

Much of Annie's life and work during the war is still a mystery to Ian.

He's always known that Annie left South Wales

to work as a private nurse for a Cardiff woman.

They were in Paris when war broke out

and Annie joined the French Red Cross immediately.

Marie Cappart, a genealogist, has been helping him with his research.

What we know is that as early as 1915,

she joined the lady called Yolande de Baye

who ran battlefield hospitals and ambulances and we needed nurses.

And nurses with special skills as Annie had.

When Yolande arrived in the Verdun area,

as all the battles were there to open several hospitals.

Annie stuck with her and she joined her

and helped her to run the hospitals and then for the soldiers.

That's fantastic.

She was the lady Annie was working for.

But then, I think they really, really, really were close.

Hit it off, eh?

And I have here a picture of Yolande de Baye as the nurse heroine.

As you can see,

Yolande de Baye was made Knight of the Legion d'honneur,

which is the most honourable decoration...

-It's the highest, isn't it?

-It's the highest on the French ranks.

On the day the battlefield hospital Yolande was running was bombed,

Annie was wounded and it's on that occasion that she was awarded

the Croix de guerre.

The citation I got of aunt Annie,

it seems to coincide with the date in 1917. So the chances are...

-Well, they definitely were together, weren't they, now?

-Yeah, it was.

But it's pinpointed for me,

a bit of uncertainty as to when she got it and what the occasion was.

So it's really fantastic. It really is.

Yeah, it's pretty sure that she was awarded the Croix de guerre

because she was so brave.

When I...

read the citation it gives me goose pimples

-every time I read it, you know?

-Yeah.

She's out in an ambulance in the shellfire.

She's got disregard of everything except the patient in front of her.

And nothing is going to shift her.

I can also see now how they were such good friends.

They were two of a kind.

Courageous, you know? No fear.

Good nurses.

Won't stand any nonsense.

You know, if they said do something, it'd be done.

What they went through together in the bombing and other events...

They really must've had a fantastic bond between themselves.

But one mystery still remains.

Three photos show Annie standing close to one man,

and Ian suspects that this could be Annie's husband.

Annie was married to Daniel Mistrick,

and according to her death certificate she was a widow.

Despite his efforts,

Ian has been unable to find the marriage certificate.

Now, I've found out that Daniel Mistrick was a Frenchman

born in Rouen.

He made his studies there,

and then when war broke out he enrolled in the army.

He was working with the ambulance service.

I pretty much suspect that's how Daniel met Annie.

We have searched all records of places in 1917

without finding anything official.

So what I suspect is that they did get married

and I'm pretty sure of that.

Then they have been married by a military priest.

Being a marriage on the battlefield,

no former trades went back to the French officials.

So I think they fell in love in the war battlefield.

-It's really romantic.

-Fairy tale stuff, yes.

And you don't know what tomorrow's going to be

because tomorrow we might not be there any more

because of all the bombings.

But, what I think is that their romance blossoms

on Verdun's battlefield,

which is quite in an extraordinary love story in the middle of hate.

And Marie is about reveal to Ian another to twist in the tale.

I know you thought that Daniel had died at war

-because Annie's mentioned as a widow.

-Yes.

But then I found out that he wasn't killed in action at all.

-He survived the war.

-Bloody hell.

He was awarded a Legion d'honneur as well.

I thought he had a Medaille militaire or...

I wasn't sure about that because it wasn't in Annie's collection.

He has a Medaille militaire

and he was awarded the Legion d'honneur

because in 1917 and in 1918,

-under bombing he went to fetch the wounded soldiers.

-Right.

He was so brave.

He did get married after the war...two times.

Gosh.

-And he died in the '60s.

-'60s?

-1960s, yeah.

-Good heavens!

And he's buried in France. He even was in action in World War II.

-Simply amazing.

-I'd like to think that he'd never forget Annie.

I know.

I really, really... I'm sure he never, never ever...

The thing, like, the first love, they say

especially when it's such a fairy tale story...

There has already been a great deal of interest

in Ian's visit to the area and people here want to help him.

He has been contacted by Marielle Humbert.

She takes Ian to the home of Dr Bruno Fermont.

During the First World War it was a hospital on the front line.

'Bonjour, monsieur.'

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

In August 1917, there was a big bomb there.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

And this is when the shell exploded.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

Three nurses were killed.

Ian has finally found the actual place where Annie was wounded.

You see, I believe my aunt was here at the time,

and I got us a citation when she won a Croix de guerre

and the dates seem to coincide.

"Miss Nancy Brewer, volunteer nurse.

"A nurse remarkable for her technical ability

"whose moral strength and devotion...

Sorry, "..have been clearly demonstrated time and time again.

"Notably on 18 August, 1917.

"On this occasion, she set the finest example of coolness

"and total disregard of danger,

"lavishing her attention on the wounded

"and the fire from enemy artillery."

It was Annie's courage that day and the award of the Croix de guerre

which had first intrigued ten-year-old Ian.

Now, more than 60 years later, he has discovered how close

Annie came to losing her life that day.

Three of her friends were killed.

Annie's best friend, Yolande de Baye,

never forgot those nurses,

and she was determined to commemorate their sacrifice.

The place she chose to remember them was here, the Ossuary at Douaumont,

the final resting place

for the bones of 130,000 French and German soldiers

who died in the Battle of Verdun.

This is in memory of three of Annie's nursing friends

who were killed in the bombardment on the day she won a Croix de guerre.

18 August, 1917.

Annie, you know, they would have been friends.

She would have known them all well.

How nice to have a memory like that.

War should have never happened again, but it did. People never learn.

It's such a wonderful memorial ground up there.

I was really, really glad to be there.

For Ian, this has been a journey of discovery.

Now he feels he understands what Annie went through 100 years ago.

He believes everyone should know Annie's story.

Annie's grave is no longer unmarked.

Ian has put up a memorial stone fit for a war hero.

And the family of Annie Brewer has come together to remember

a woman who nursed the sick, wounded, and dying

on the Western Front throughout the First World War.

And it is my privilege to dedicate it now

as a lasting tribute to Annie.

We now have a picture of Annie's life

and service as a nurse during the First World War.

Annie, from now on, we will remember you.

From now on, Annie, we will not forget.

I feel I know her.

Sometimes when I'm doing something, I'm talking to her.

When I'm on the files, yes.

Sometimes I can almost feel her.

And that'll never go away from me. That can never leave me now.