Stretcher bearer

British stretcher bearers inDunkirk evacuationof World War II.

Astretcher-beareris a person who carries astretcher,generally with another person at its other end, especially in a war oremergencytimes when there is a very serious accident or adisaster.

In case ofmilitary personnel,for example removing wounded or dead from abattlefield,the modern term iscombat medicwho will have received considerable training. Stretcher-bearers would have received basic first-aid training. The wounded soldier had to wait until the stretcher-bearers arrived or simply the stretcher-bearers will find them.

In times of war, stretcher-bearers may in certain situations be covered by Art. 25 of the First (Geneva) Convention of 1949 under the category of auxiliary medical personnel.

Origin

This term appears between 1875 and 1880. It is largely used before and up to theSecond World Warand is derived from theBritish Englishverbto stretchermeans "to carry someone on a stretcher".

A stretcher-bearer party, sometimes a stretcher party or company, is a group or a band of people temporarily or regularly associated which have to carry injured persons with stretchers. In the army stretcher-bearers were a kind of specific soldiers who work with militaryambulancesandmedical services.A famous stretcher-bearer and ambulance driver during the First World War was the youngErnest Hemingway.

See also

• Air-sea rescue
• Air ambulance
• Ambulance
• Lifeguard
• Medical assistant
• Medical evacuation
• Polytrauma

References

• Martine Da Silva-Vion, Jacques Theureau, "Stretcher bearers Autonomy Coordination with Units" inHealthcare systems ergonomics and patient safety, human factor, a bridge between care and cure,Riccardo Tartaglia, Sabastiano Bagnara, Tommaso Bellandi, Sara Abolino (editors), Taylor & Francis, London, 2005, 546 pages, § page 185-196.

External links

• Definition and usage with quotations in literature and poetry
• The Stretcher Bearer Party painted around 1918 by the lieutenant Cyril Barraud (1877–1965)masterpiece from the Canadian War Museum
• Photograph of stretcher-bearer party, National Library of Scotland
• The Dead Stretcher-bearer painted by Gilbert Rogers