Difference between revisions of "187th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps"

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'''Unit War Diary.'''
 
'''Unit War Diary.'''
  
''The War Diary for this second-line Field Ambulance Unit, which remained as part of 70th Infantry Brigade, or the 70th Brigade Group, throughout its existence, was completed personally in manuscript form by the Commanding Officer (initially at least).   
+
''The War Diary for this second-line Field Ambulance Unit, which remained as part of 70th Infantry Brigade, or the 70th Brigade Group, throughout its existence, was completed personally in manuscript form by the Commanding Officer.   
  
''This meant that some of the text was difficult to decipher on occasion.  An attempt has been made to record what is hopefully a correct version of the manuscript but there clearly may be errors in my interpretation.  Question marks are used where words are not legible.''
+
''This meant that some of the text, especially that written by Lt Col Mcnamara, the unit's first Commanding Officer, was difficult to decipher on occasion.  In addition Lt Col Mcnamara was apparently keen on the use of shorthand and some of the text appears to be shorthand script.  An attempt has been made to record what is hopefully a correct version of the manuscript but there clearly may be errors in my interpretation.  Question marks are used where words are not legible.''
  
''It became clear, as the months were documented, that this was much more a personal commentary on events than a conventional War Diary, and therefore this adds a distinctive flavour to the text - which I have tried faithfully to reproduce, although sometimes the lack of punctuation and capital letters caused some problems.  What was fascinating were the "Lessons Learned" from those events in which he was very critical - and particularly self-critical - often writing of himself in the third person.  What shone through was his concern for the welfare of his men at all times - the preparations for Christmas in Iceland in 1940 are very noteworthy.''
+
''It became clear, as the months were documented, that this was much more a personal commentary on events than a conventional War Diary, and therefore this adds a distinctive flavour to the text - which I have tried faithfully to reproduce, although sometimes the lack of punctuation and capital letters caused some problems.   
 +
 
 +
What was fascinating were the "Lessons Learned" from those events in which Lt Col Mcnamara was very critical - and particularly self-critical - often writing of himself in the third person.  What shone through was his concern for the welfare of his men at all times - the details of the preparations for Christmas in Iceland in 1940 are very noteworthy.''
  
 
[[187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1940]].
 
[[187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1940]].

Revision as of 10:51, 21 August 2013

Unit details.

Name: 187 Field Ambulance.

Abbreviation: 187 Fd Amb.

Unit War Diary.

The War Diary for this second-line Field Ambulance Unit, which remained as part of 70th Infantry Brigade, or the 70th Brigade Group, throughout its existence, was completed personally in manuscript form by the Commanding Officer.

This meant that some of the text, especially that written by Lt Col Mcnamara, the unit's first Commanding Officer, was difficult to decipher on occasion. In addition Lt Col Mcnamara was apparently keen on the use of shorthand and some of the text appears to be shorthand script. An attempt has been made to record what is hopefully a correct version of the manuscript but there clearly may be errors in my interpretation. Question marks are used where words are not legible.

It became clear, as the months were documented, that this was much more a personal commentary on events than a conventional War Diary, and therefore this adds a distinctive flavour to the text - which I have tried faithfully to reproduce, although sometimes the lack of punctuation and capital letters caused some problems.

What was fascinating were the "Lessons Learned" from those events in which Lt Col Mcnamara was very critical - and particularly self-critical - often writing of himself in the third person. What shone through was his concern for the welfare of his men at all times - the details of the preparations for Christmas in Iceland in 1940 are very noteworthy.

187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1940.

187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1941.

187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1942.

187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1943.

187 Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, War Diary 1944.

Personnel details for 187 Field Ambulance.