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World War I Stretcher Bearer
"They were all cannon fodder" Australian veteran Edward Smout recalls Passchendaele
"They were all cannon fodder."
World War One veteran Edward Smout joined the Australian Army Medical Corps - and was a stretcher bearer at Passchendaele.
"We had two doctors. They had more surgery in 48 hours than they would in 20 years.
"There were no tablets or painkillers as we know them today. They didn't exist. Chloroform was only used on the seriously wounded. The seriously wounded ones didn't seem to feel much pain. They were semi conscious. The others, well, they just had to put up with it."
