Scottish ambulances in Spain (press release)
042-0098-001 Glasgow, 13th October, 1937. Scottish Ambulances in Spain. Sir, The Unit started on its third campaign on 2nd September. The first and second had occupied some 10 1/2 months at a cost of a little over £9,000 - £874 a month on the average. Relying on the same gener...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English |
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13 October 1937
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6BF839DA-E982-49A3-83DF-5E7028F436AA http://hdl.handle.net/10796/ACD8B873-5D7E-4928-A6B8-9798D80C505B |
| Summary: | 042-0098-001
Glasgow, 13th October, 1937. Scottish Ambulances in Spain. Sir, The Unit started on its third campaign on 2nd September. The first and second had occupied some 10 1/2 months at a cost of a little over £9,000 - £874 a month on the average. Relying on the same generous support from the public, the Committee, at the urgent request of the members of the Unit, agreed to their returning to Spain after a short rest. To our great disappointment, far from £874 being contributed in the first month, only some £140 was received. Sympathisers with our financial difficulties explain the falling off by the fact that Spain has not been prominent in the newspaper headlines since the massacring by the Japanese of thousands of innocent non-combatant Chinese. But the suffering in Spain is as great as ever. This is brought home to us in all its horror by a film which is being exhibited entitled "News from Spain". The scenes showing non-combatants with their women and children rushing to take cover at the approach of bombing aeroplanes is exactly what we have been reading of the happenings in Shanghai, Nanking and Canton, and what the newspapers were telling us so prominently until lately of the destruction of towns and villages in Spain. One of the pictures may be a representation of the devastation caused at Parla, near Getafe, on October 30, 1936, when one of our ambulances was destroyed just after Miss Jacobsen and the driver had left it to shelter themselves at the back of a house nearby. On returning after the aeroplanes had passed they found the ambulance on fire and almost burnt out and the front of the house behind which they had taken cover entirely blown away. Madrid sees similar tragedies almost every day, especially in the poorest quarters and in the neighbouring villages. Houses are destroyed, their inhabitants compelled to take shelter with friends as poor as themselves and where even such accommodation is not available, to squat in the street until they can be evacuated to safety in distant villages or at the sea-side. Even this makeshift is bearable in summer but what is to happen when the winter nights come? Soon there will be little time for this charitable work. A mass attack on Madrid has long been in preparation and may begin any day. The members of the Scottish Ambulance Unit will then be more than fully occupied picking up wounded at the front, frequently under fire, and transporting them to Hospital. But whenever there is a lull in the fighting their return will be eagerly awaited by the poor starving people behind the lines, who have come to depend on them so much. If this humanitarian work is to continue, immediate help is required to carry on. This means food, food and still more food, and to pay for it, money, money and still more money! Subscriptions large or small will be gratefully acknowledged by Sir Daniel Stevenson, 5, Cleveden Road, Glasgow. The need is urgent; it is hoped that the response will be prompt and generous. Yours faithfully, D.M. Stevenson, Chairman
292/946/42/98 |
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