`At a country station not far from London I saw to-night the arrival of the first ambulance train of the war,' writes a Press Association reporter on Saturday.
For hours ambulances waited for the arrival of the convoy bearing the first sickness and accident cases on their return from the Western Front. Nurses were in attendance with the ambulances. Then the train pulled in, grey-painted with the Red Cross prominently displayed on a white background, and volunteer ambulance men, special police and police constables entered to carry the patients to the waiting coaches.
Many of the soldiers were carried from the train, some had their arms in slings and others, wrapped round in blankets, were cheerfully smoking cigarettes. There were a few onlookers to see the 20 ambulance coaches bear their burdens to a large hospital nearby.
Later a second ambulance train drew in; most of the men were either sick or had leg injuries.
The Irish Times, October 30th, 1939.