THE SUPERB AND RARE GREAT WAR M.M. GROUP AWARDED TO A NURSE, VOLUNTARY AID DETACHMENT (VAD) FOR HER GALLANTRY DURING AN AIR RAID IN FRANCE, MARCH 1918, DURING WHICH THE WARD SHE WAS IN CHARGE OF WAS HIT BY A BOMB, DESTROYING HALF OF IT, INJURING PATIENTS. THE ONLY NURSE ON DUTY, SHE SHOWED REMARKABLE COOLNESS, CALLING THE ROLL OF PATIENTS AND DRESSING THEIR WOUNDS, SHE QUIETENED TWO MEN WHO WERE SERIOUSLY ALARMED AND CARRIED ON HER DUTY AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED

MILITARY MEDAL, G.V.R. ‘MISS L. A. FORSE, V.A.D.’, BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS ‘L. A. FORSE, V.A.D.’; TOGETHER WITH A SPECIAL SERVICE CROSS OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY, GILT AND ENAMEL, BY J. GAUNT, LONDON, REVERSE INSCRIBED, ‘L. A. FORSE M.M. REPLACEMENT’, THIS LAST IN CARD BOX OF ISSUE.

M.M. London Gazette 4 June 1918: Mrs Lilian Audrey Forse, V.A.D., attached No. 53 General Hospital, France.

‘For courage and devotion to duty displayed when during a hostile air raid a bomb fell on the hospital marquee of which she was in charge. Although great damage was done and many patients injured, she showed admirable coolness in the performance of her duties throughout and carried on as if nothing had happened.’

A more detailed recommendation held in the Imperial War Museum reads:

‘For courage and devotion to duty. During a hostile air raid on the night of 23 March a bomb fell actually on the hospital marquee which nurse Forse was in charge of and two other bombs fell in close proximity. One half of the ward was entirely demolished, several patients were injured, and a lighted coke stove was overturned mong the wreckage. Nurse Forse, with admirable coolness, collected here patients into that part of the ward that was left standing and having satisfied herself that none of the injured were seriously wounded, called the roll of patients and dressed their wounds, quietened two men who were seriously alarmed and carried on her duty as if nothing had happened.’

She received the Military Medal at an investiture ceremony in August 1918.

She was additionally awarded Special Service Cross of the British Red Cross Society, which was instituted in 1917 for acts of distinction or gallantry at the risk of one’s life.

Lilian Audrey Forse, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward John Forse, of Treberfydd , Englefield Green , Surrey , was born there on 9 November 1883. She was educated at home, due to the fact that for over seven years she was completely disabled and undergoing almost continual operations for a diseased bone in her right thigh. Eventually making a recovery, on 25 September 1916, she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross (VAD). She served for a month at Brooklands Hospital, Weybridge and then with No.1 London General Hospital until 20 April 1917 when she was sent to France…………….

Condition VF and better, some minor EK’s. Sold with research, MIC etc (digital). Note, the Special Service Cross is her official replacement, the M.M. and pair are here original issues. Ex Tony Sabell Collection, DNW, September 2012 (£15,000).

Just 138 M.M.’s awarded to women during the Great War and up until 1920, with a further 8 awarded for the Second War and after.