Sadie Bonnell was born in1888 in England and educated at Bedales. At the outbreak of WWI she was 26 and joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry as an ambulance driver. Although trained as an ambulance driver she War Office was skeptical so they rejected her.
Undeterred she joined the Canadian Army Service Corps. She was based in a large camp near Arques, France. The German’s bombarded the area where she was stationed setting an ammunition dump on fire. She returned again and again succeeding in removing all the wounded. She also showed courage during the East End Air Raid. She also drove an ambulance in 1916 during the first air raids on London.
She was also one of the first women to drive an open-topped sports car around Europe. For a pastime she spent time in trees on platforms she had built herself. She was married twice however; no children were born out of the marriages.
She died in 1993 at 105 years young. Now can you tell me what she is noted in the history books for other than her courage under fire? Well she was the first ambulance driver to ever win the Military Medal, which is granted in recognition of “an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy.” Not bad, not bad at all
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