I have also, alas! seen them grievously wounded; and on one occasion,
killed, and found their comrades continuing their work in the actual
presence of their dead.

The free homes of Britain little realise what our war women have been
through, or what an undischarged debt is owing to them.

How few now realise to what a large extent they were responsible for the
fighting spirit, for the _morale_, for the tenacity which won the war!
The feeling, the knowledge that their women were at hand to succour and
to tend them when they fell raised the fighting spirit of the men and
made them brave and confident.

The above qualities are well exemplified by the conduct and bearing of
our Authoress herself, who, when grievously injured, never lost her head
or her consciousness, but through half an hour sat quietly on the
road-side beside the wreck of her car and the mangled remains of her
late companion. Rumour has it that she asked for and smoked a
cigarette.

Such heroism in a young girl strongly appealed to the imagination of our
French and Belgian Allies, and two rows of medals bedeck her khaki
jacket.

Other natural qualities of our race, which largely helped to win the
war, are brought out very vividly, although unconsciously, in this book,
_e.g._ the spirit of cheerfulness; the power to forget danger and
hardship; the faculty of seeing the humorous side of things; of making
the best of things; the spirit of comradeship which sweetened life.