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Pull Over! It’s an Emergency!: World War I Ambulance Drivers

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If you’ve ever driven in the city, then you are certainly familiar with the jarring sound of an ambulance on an emergency run. The loud wee-woo-wee-woo, in concert with rotating red lights, evoke a sense of urgency that causes you to instinctively check your mirrors and pull over—making way for the vehicle that just may be the link between life and death for some poor soul nearby. If you’ve ever ridden inside of one, strapped to a gurney with your neck in a brace after a car accident, as was I a few years ago, then you probably have an elevated sense of awareness, respect and gratitude for the people who drive them. Before then, I had never given them much thought. I just tried to stay out of their way.

Ambulances were still considered high-tech during World War I. This marked the first major conflict in which automobiles could be utilized to move the wounded and dying. Now, countless lives that would have otherwise been lost on the battlefield could be saved. Driving an ambulance enabled Americans to participate in the war before the official entrance of the United States in 1917; it also gave younger Americans, who were not yet 18, an opportunity to participate, as well as those who might have supported the Allies, but did not want to serve in a combat role.

Sepia image of old trucks with cross on them.  Men are standing outside the trucks.  Old buildings are behind them.
American Red Cross Ambulances in Italy.
Longshaw Kraus Porritt Collection, Veterans History Project, AFC2001/001/86295.

The American Red Cross and the American Ambulance Field Service (AFS) provided the majority of ambulance drivers to the Allied Forces. The Women’s Motor Corps of America and Nortan-Hajes Ambulance Corps also provided drivers and support.

According to the American Red Cross website, “During World War I, Red Cross employees and volunteers provided medical and recreational services for the military at home and abroad, and established a Home Service Program to help military families. Eighteen thousand Red Cross nurses provided much of the medical care for the American military during World War I, and 4,800 Red Cross ambulance drivers provided first aid on the front lines,” including one Ernest Hemingway and a young Walt Disney. Other notables served as World War I ambulance drivers, including the ninth Librarian of Congress, Archibald MacLeish. “During World War I, 296 American Red Cross nurses and 127 American Red Cross ambulance drivers died in service to humanity during the war,” according to the American Red Cross.

According to the AFS website, “AFS participated in every major French battle and carried more than 500,000 wounded during World War I. By the end of the war, 2,500 men had served in the American Field Service with the French Armies.”

The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) holds more than 350 collections from World War I veterans, some of whom served as ambulance drivers with fascinating stories to tell. Through recorded interviews, photographs, letters, diaries and other documents, these veterans help to paint a vivid picture of what life was like for them a century ago.

Black and white image of man in military uniform and cap.
Frank Buckles in uniform.
Frank Woodruff Buckles Collection, Veterans History Project, AFC2001/001/1070.

The last known World War I veteran, Frank Woodruff Buckles, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 110, has three VHP interviews in the Library of Congress archives. Buckles’ collections also include a multitude of documents. During one of his interviews, Buckles shared that his main goal upon joining the Army was to get to France as soon as he could. He took the advice of a sergeant who told him, if he wanted to get to France, he should train to go into the ambulance corps, and that’s just what he did. Little did the Army know that Buckles had lied about his age; he was only 16 years old when he told the recruiter he was 21.

Piece of paper with black typed letter.
Letter to Clare, December 1917.
Eugene A. Curtin Collection, Veterans History Project, AFC2001/001/1379

Eugene Curtin served in the Army medical corps attached to the 100th Ambulance British Expeditionary Force. Stationed near the front lines in France, he was often one of the first people to treat wounded soldiers rescued from the battlefield. Curtin took great care to write home often, mostly to his mother, describing life at war. In a letter written to his sister, Clare, he said,

They speak of the grandeur of war. There is no such thing; it’s just a deadly, sickening, bloody slaughter.

Ambulance drivers, nurses and medical corpsmen were not immune to the uncertainty that infantrymen felt in the heat of combat, and, like their comrades, were very cognizant of the anxiety their loved ones were feeling back home. This fact rings true in Curtin’s very first letter.

Where I’ll be sent to after I don’t know. Wherever that place may be I’ll go gladly and I want you all to know that I’ll be happy but lonesome wherever I am. So don’t worry and I’m sure I’ll come back O.K.

World War I Army veteran Richard Thomas Crump kept a meticulous scrapbook detailing his days as an ambulance driver. An historical treasure trove, this 65-page book of photographs documents everything from Crump’s training days, to ambulances, to snap shots of images we don’t usually associate with World War I: German Prisoners of War, French villagers and the aftermath of war.

Sepia photo of two men inside a vehicle. Men are wearing uniforms and caps.
Longshaw Porritt at the wheel of an ambulance in Italy, World War I.
Longshaw Kraus Porritt Collection, Veterans History Project, AFC2001/001/86295.

Like Crump, Longshaw Kraus Porritt was careful to document his experiences through photographs as well as through several other documents and materials. Porritt enlisted in AFS in March 1917, shortly before the United States had officially entered the war. Following a stint on the Western Front, he transferred to the Navy, and then went on to serve with the American Red Cross as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front. The 272 photographs in his collection offer a rare glimpse of the Italian side of World War I, while the assorted manuscripts tell another side of his own personal story—that of being unable to qualify for war benefits because his “official” military service lasted for less than 90 days.

As they were more than 100 years ago, ambulance drivers remain a necessary, yet often overlooked group of public servants—that is until you are the one trapped in your car, covered in glass and blood and slowly losing consciousness. So the next time you hear that piercing wee-woo-wee-woo, check your mirrors, pull over, resist releasing a groan of frustration and give that driver a nod of gratitude.

Comments (18)

  1. Great article Lisa – many thanks for airing this. Only one small observation: I’m pretty sure that Walt Disney, while undoubtedly a volunteer for the American Red Cross, never got anywhere near the front lines in any theatre of war in WW1. If memory serves, he never left the USA.

  2. Hello! I am a 69 year old man and I seem to recall that during World War One and possibly World War Two, ambulances were given respect by both sides fighting and we’re not attacked. This is something I was told when I was youn. Is there any truth to this? Thank you!

    • Thanks for your comment. I think it is safe to say that the ambulance drivers put their lives on the line, but were not targeted specifically by either side.

  3. WHERE ARE THE WOMEN!? American women put their shoulders to this wheel just as mightily as men. They, too, waged war with nothing fiercer than a Model-T, but their immense contribution goes unsung (France remembers…) That I can read an entire page from the LOC without seeing mention of the Women’s Motor Corps, AFFW, CARD, YWCA, and Red Cross casts shame on every editor writing these pieces.

    • Thanks for your comment, William. You may have missed that The Red Cross and Women’s Motor Corps are listed in the third paragraph of the post. VHP accepts, includes and highlights the stories of all veterans in various ways throughout each year, including women. Thanks for reading, and please consider interviewing a veteran for the Veterans History Project. Find out how at http://www.loc.gov/vets.

  4. Hi, my Grandfather was in the Ambulance Corp in WW1 and he received medals from both the American and French gov’t for bravery. I can’t seem to find the battle that was involved for him to receive the medals, it seems that he swam across a river 8 times to retrieve wounded. Would there be any place i can look that may have the information on those in the Ambulance Corp who were decorated for bravery? Thanks

    • Hi, Ken. You may want to try The National Archives (archives.gov). They hold official military service records. Thanks for writing.

  5. My Great Uncle was an ambulance driver in WWI and was killed in conducting his duty as such

  6. Walt Disney actually did leave the USA and join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver in France for one year. For complete information on his efforts to join the war and his service in France, read David Lesjak’s book, “In Service of the Red Cross – Walt Disney’s Early Adventures – 1918 – 1919.”

  7. My grandfather served as an ambulance driver for the french during WWI prior to the US joining the war. He did suffer from effects of a gas attack. Where can I look to learn more about his involvement?

    • Hi, Bill. Thanks for writing. You may want to try The National Archives (archives.gov). They hold official military service records.

  8. How would I go about finding out about a woman from Clarkston WA. who served as a nurse and ambulance driver during WW1 in England?

    • Thank you for reading. If the veteran or the veteran’s loved ones submitted her collection to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, then you can search for her record by last name on our online database at http://www.loc.gov/vets. If not, you may want to contact the National Archives, http://www.archives.gov, where official military service records are stored.

  9. Hello Lisa

    A very interesting article. I would like to know if there were any French men or women driving ambulances at the front in WW1.

    All my searches mostly mention the Americans. Were there no French ambulance drivers? I’ve always assumed there were but can’t seem to find any evidence.

    • Thank you for reading. Our collections only include those who served in the U.S. military. You may want to reach out to the WWI Centennial Commission or the National WWI Museum to see if they can either answer that question or point you in the right direction:
      https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php
      https://www.theworldwar.org/

      Hope this helps!

  10. Nice detail, thanks for this. There were many women women of note who drove ambulances: Dolly Wilde, Joe Carstairs, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Tolkas etc. Although Disney did volunteer for the Red Cross, the war ended with the armistice on November 11, 1918, before he actually made it to Europe.

  11. Thanks for the article! My grandfather served as WW I ambulance driver.. He was a farm boy who had never driven a motor vehicle prior to enlisting at age 17. He never talked about his experience, other than telling me he’d seen women doing the work alongside the men.

  12. My grandfather was an ambulance driver in WWI with Ambulance Company 26, 3rd Sanitary Train, 3rd Division. He was 23 at the time, and was involved in most of the major allied offensives in France after the US entered the war according to his discharge papers. I asked him about his service one night (circa 1970) and his breathing became unusually deep and measured as he answered. All he said was that he drove ambulances carrying the wounded from the battlefields to the hospitals, and that the Germans would use the red crosses on the ambulances as artillery targets for their 88mm guns. He didn’t offer anything more, and I didn’t ask any more questions. He came home from the war unscathed, physically at least.

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