A Casualty Clearing Station Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Casualty Clearing Station - Essay Example Dr. Hayward started by explaining how the conditions at war were not as one expected them to be but they were rather tougher and difficult to cope up with. To support this stand, he began his narrative by stating that he had worked for twenty years as a surgeon in the general hospitals in an area and he also had an exposure to war like situations as he had served as a surgeon at British Red Cross Hospital, Netley during the initial period of the War. But the author explains in his narrative that this familiarity with war like situations was in no way close to the experiences that he gained at the Casualty Clearing Station (C.C.S) at Crouay where he got posted upon his request in July 1918. This was because the C.C.S received patients directly from the war field and this was different from his working at the British Red Cross Hospital. Thus, Dr. Hayward provided an inside picture of the C.C.S by beginning his compilation from his normal days of work and ending it after his work at the C.C.S. The firsthand account of Dr. John A. Hayward is a text that provides historians with not only geographical evidence but also with historical and cultural evidence. From the geographical perspective, his writing narrates the war experiences of the different regions in France beginning with the Base Hospital at Trouville where he only dealt with minor injuries. This was followed by his work at the C.C.S at Crouay where he treated patients who were pouring in from the battlefield.