Death and burial
Despite their best efforts, medics and nurses on Lemnos could not save all the sick and wounded. Death was an inevitable part of their work.
The military cemetery to the north-east of Mudros town was the first established on Lemnos. There are two others in West Mudros. In total, 1,324 service personnel from Commonwealth countries are buried on the island. This includes 148 Australians.
‘Poor Noel Biden died to-day. It was very hard to lose him. The only consolation is he had every care and attention and loving hands to tend to him. He had four trained nurses in attendance and the doctor was constantly at his bedside. He was such a dear boy. We all felt it very much when he died.’
– Staff Nurse E.B. Taylor, The Maitland Daily Mercury, 18 Mar. 1916
‘We always write to their mothers if they die. I have had some of the sweetest letters from the poor mothers ... Some of the baby Jocks (as we call them) are only 16 or 17 – it is so sad to see them die. They are plucky little boys. You’d give anything or do anything to save them.’
– Sister Olive Haynes, letter, 10 Sept. 1916