Modern day Florence Nightingale!
No, not our own SuperNurse, but..
A FEMALE Army medic has been dubbed Britain’s new Florence Nightingale after winning a nursing VC.
Major Janet Pilgrim, 42, has been awarded a rare Royal Red Cross for her extraordinary devotion during a summer of mayhem in Iraq.
Under constant enemy fire, she remained a rock of calm and caring in the busiest military field hospital since the Falklands War.
North Shields-born Jan — as she is known to pals — commanded Basra air base’s field hospital from May to September 2007.
Jan and her staff treated a constant flow of maimed and dying soldiers amid a fanatical onslaught from Mehdi Army rebels attempting to oust British troops from the southern Iraqi city.
Up to 100 rockets and shells a day landed near to the hospital, which was damaged three times.
It took a direct hit from a giant 122mm rocket, wiping out the welfare department and cutting power to key clinical units.
Jan insisted on personally leading the team who prepared each of the 20 soldiers’ bodies for repatriation.
She also informed the friends and commanders of the dead.
The Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps officer’s citation reads: “Utterly committed as a leader, loved by those she commanded, exceptionally gifted as a nurse; she was the very embodiment of what many aspire to be.
“It was testament to Major Pilgrim’s achievements that her squadron withstood so well the pressures of a constant flow of casualties.”
Modest Jan insisted her medal was for her whole team from Hospital Squadron, 34 Field Hospital, based in York.
She said: “It’s a great honour — but there is no way the award is just for me.
“I see it as for everyone in my team. They were all so brilliant, and everyone worked so hard.”
Jan admitted the constant bombardment was a tough challenge.
She said: “None of us had ever been so close to the frontline before.
“The base itself was a target.
“But after a while it became a routine. We’d slip on body armour and helmets and crack on. The hardest part was losing people.”
Brigadier James Bashall, the commander of UK forces in Basra last summer, said: “Major Pilgrim was an absolute rock in the hospital.”
From UK national daily!
get a grip!!!
Accolades?
Why does she deserve accolade, she is part of an army taht is fighting an illegal battle and has comitted lots of abuses against innocent civilians including women and children.
she deserves all the accolades, it takes a brave person to do what she did and still remain human and caring amidst all the killing, BRAVO!!!