A Forgotten Soldier On A Forgotten Front
A Forgotten Soldier On A Forgotten Front
She’d been raised on the stories of Kipling and had read and re-read the Charge of the Light Brigade. Desperate not to be sent back to Salonica, she rested all her hopes on being accepted into the ranks of the Serbian army as a soldier.
She expected rejection. Instead, Milos Vasic, the Serb commander whose men she had served, welcomed her. “If you remain with the army,” he told her, “you will have to go with them through Albania. The trip will be terrible, like nothing you have ever experienced.”
Flora asked: “Will I be a burden?”
“Quite the reverse,” Vasic said. “It will be better for us as your presence will encourage the soldiers. You represent the whole of England to them”.
That night, Flora Sandes became a private in the Serbian Army.
Originally shared by Ray Radlein
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/A_forgotten_soldier
She’d been raised on the stories of Kipling and had read and re-read the Charge of the Light Brigade. Desperate not to be sent back to Salonica, she rested all her hopes on being accepted into the ranks of the Serbian army as a soldier.
She expected rejection. Instead, Milos Vasic, the Serb commander whose men she had served, welcomed her. “If you remain with the army,” he told her, “you will have to go with them through Albania. The trip will be terrible, like nothing you have ever experienced.”
Flora asked: “Will I be a burden?”
“Quite the reverse,” Vasic said. “It will be better for us as your presence will encourage the soldiers. You represent the whole of England to them”.
That night, Flora Sandes became a private in the Serbian Army.
Originally shared by Ray Radlein
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/A_forgotten_soldier
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