Personal info
- Name: Harriet Elizabeth FRASER
- D.O.B: 12th Aug, 1888
- D.O.A: 1st Oct, 1918
- D.O.D: 17th Jun, 1980
- Award: Albert Medal translated to George Cross
- Occupation at time of action: Staff Nurse, Territorial Force Nursing Service, attached No 36 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Army Medical Corps
- Book: The Complete History - Volume 2
Rousbrugge, Belgium 1 October 1918
1 October 1918
The First World War 1918
Rousbrugge (Roesbrugge), the site of a large Casualty Clearing Station, was on the River Yser, close to the French border, north-west of Poperinge and Ypres. Sisters G W Carlin and G White, and Staff Nurse H E Fraser were awarded the AM for their gallantry in evacuating patients when a serious fire broke out on 1 October 1918. Only Nurse Fraser lived long enough for her Medal to be converted to the GC.
Citation
The KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal to Sister Gertrude Walters Carlin and Staff Nurse Harriet Elizabeth Fraser, both of the Territorial Force Nursing Service; and to Sister Gladys White, of the British Red Cross Society, in recognition of their gallantry in saving life at a Casualty Clearing Station in Belgium in October last. Early in the morning of the 1st October, 1918, a serious fire occurred in No. 36 Casualty Clearing Station at Rousbrugge, in Belgium. At the time some of the patients were undergoing serious operations in the abdominal and general operating theatres, the walls of which were composed of wood. The first intimation of danger in the theatres was the extinction of the electric light accompanied by volumes of smoke, and almost immediately the wooden walls burst into flames. The two sisters and staff nurse helped in carrying the unconscious patients to safety, and then returned to the burning wards to assist in carrying out other patients. During this time ether bottles and nitrous oxide cylinders were continually exploding, filling the air with fumes and flying fragments of steel.