Helen Fairchild

Helen Fairchild (November 21, 1885 – January 18, 1918) was an American nurse who served as part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, and who became known for her wartime letters to her family in the U.S., which vividly depicted the realities of combat nursing during World War I. She died of post-operative complications after surgery for a gastric ulcer while on duty with No. 10 U.S. Base Hospital on the Western Front.

Biography Helen was born in Turbot Township, Milton, in central Pennsylvania to Ambrose and Adda Dunkle Fairchild in 1885. She was the fourth of seven children and worked on the family farm in her earlier years. In 1913, Fairchild graduated from Pennsylvania Hospital and worked as a nurse. After the United States joined World War I, Fairchild and 63 other nurses from the hospital volunteered for the American Expeditionary Forces, joining U.S. Base Hospital No. 10 (also referred to as Pennsylvania Hospital Unit).

In May 1917, Fairchild sailed with her unit from New York to London, and traveled from there to Le Treport, arriving in June 1917. Among other activities, Base Hospitals provided four-person teams consisting of a medical officer, a nursing sister, an anaesthetist, and an orderly to British Casualty Clearing Stations, mere miles from the front line. Fairchild volunteered for one such team during the Third Battle of Ypres and moved to (British) Casualty Clearing Station No. 4 near Dozinghem,