'Khaki Angels' is the title of a new book about Kiwi stretcher bearers of both world wars. The Author is Brendan O'Carroll who was with me for "Jebel Sherif" and who has published already several other books about the LRDG. I guess that this is one of the rare books about thos men...
Hi Kuno - as you know I have been Brendan's editor, designer and publisher for Khaki Angels, as well as his books on the LRDG: Barce Raid and Bearded Brigands. As usual, it's been an interesting and productive collaboration. Here's a progress report on Khaki Angels: it has just come off the press in Taiwan and I expect to get a couple of advance copies this week. Stock will arrive in New Zealand about 20 September and it will go on sale in bookshops in early October. It will be available worldwide, direct from Ngaio Press, as soon as we get it through Customs. The book has its own page including ordering details, on our website, at Khaki Angels. I'm very happy the way this book has turned out. Brendan has dug out some great stories about the causes and nature of battlefield injuries and the way they were dealt with in the first and second world wars. He draws some interesting comparisons between the two wars. Most of what he writes about, and the stretcher-bearer reminiscences he has collected, would apply equally to all British and British Commonwealth forces. With echoes for other forces as well - Allied or Axis. Indeed, one long and extremely interesting reminiscence that extends from the North-West Frontier before WW2, through Malta, Italy and D-Day, was from Denis Bounsall, a Brit who served with the Dorsetshire Regiment. Denis emigrated to NZ in the early 1950s and as he had a great story to tell, Brendan gave him honorary Kiwi/2NZEF status for the book. Khaki Angels very visual, with about 240 photos and other graphics. It's a hardback, with full colour or sepia tint throughout. You described the cover images as 'draft' but that's the way they ended up.
Item Details ISBN: 0958285543 ISBN-13: 9780958285544 Title: Khaki Angels Authors: Brendan O'Carroll Category: First World War Format: Hardcover Year: 2009 Publisher: Ngaio Press Khaki Angels by Brendan O'Carroll (9780958285544) - The Nile NZ
While others dived for cover, the bravest of the brave went in... Brendan OCarrolls new book pays tribute to the courageous Khaki Angels: stretcher-bearers and other Kiwi frontline medical people who put others before self in two world wars, serving in Gallipoli, Europe, North Africa, Greece, Italy and the Pacific. Khaki Angels also looks at general wartime medical matters: field organisation, what caused death and injuries, what the injuries were like and how they were treated. ... and we meet some heroes. A classy production in hardback, colour throughout. "There is no finer work in connection with the army than that performed by the stretcher-bearers. They must always go where the fighting is fiercest, for there the casualties are most severe. Under the enemy's fire, they afford first aid to the wounded, and carry them, when unable to walk, to the nearest and most suitable cover. It is only on rare occasions that official notice is taken of their bravery." (Herbert Strang, The Empire of Arms, 1919) *** Brendan OCarroll is one of New Zealands best-known military authors. His books on the Long Range Desert Group are internationally acclaimed and he featured in a TVNZ documentary about the LRDG, shown in April 2009. Khaki Angels is his first book about medical heroes.
Denis Bounsall and Brendan O'Carroll interviewed by Paul Holmes Q+A: Denis Bounsall and Brendan O'Carroll intervie | News Video
I note from recent obituaries that Denis Bounsall DCM died on 15 January 2022, one below: Tributes flood in for D-Day hero who carried wounded soldier two miles whilst under fire
