"In that terrible weather, with wind travelling 100 miles an hour, and rain and sleet, all seems so pitifully hopeless…during those fearful days our thoughts were constantly with the boys of the Peninsula and wondering how they were faring; but little did we realize the sufferings until the wind abated and they began to arrive with their poor feet and hands frostbitten.  Thousands have been taken to Alexandria, hundreds, the boys say, were drowned because their feet were so paralysed they could not crawl away safely in time.  They endured agonies.  Sentries were found dead in their posts, frozen and still clutching their rifles…their fingers were too frozen to pull the trigger.  And some we have in hospital are losing both feet, some both hands.  It’s all too sad for words, hopelessly sad” (RSL Virtual War Memorial, 2017; Anne Donnell, 2016).

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Two days after their arrival in Mudros on the 5th of August the hospital site was finally set up and before breakfast two days after that they had 200 sick and wounded patients admitted. This number rose quickly over the next four days, ending in over 800 wounded and sick flooding the site of the NO.3 AGH. At the end of August of that year it was recorded that the majority of the deaths that occurred on the site of the No. 3 AGH were from sickness. Throughout their service in Greece, Anne Donnell and her medical unit experienced a continuous stream of patients without the needed supplies and equipment to treat them all. On the 27/1/1916 the no. 3 AGH left Greece for Alexandria in Egypt (Anne Donnell, 2016). In early 1917 Anne was a part of a group of nurses that visited Ireland and Scotland whilst on leave. While in Ireland they marvelled at the people living their lives seemingly untouched by war and laughed when a group of street urchins jeered at them after mistaking their uniform for that of the suffragettes. In Scotland the girls visited places such as Rob Roy’s Cave, Loch Lamond and Stirling castle and expressed quite a bit of sadness at having to leave (as expressed in Anne’s journal, later published as a book). On her return, the no 3 AGH did a bit of moving, embarking from Alexandria to Brighton, England before finally settling Abbeville, France where the hospital remained until 1919. On the 5th of May 1917 while stationed in France, Anne was promoted from staff nurse to the position of sister. During her service in 1918 Anne fell sick twice, once on the 18th of January and again on the 9th of March- both times she was admitted to the No. 2 Stationary hospital in Abbeville. Anne’s war service ended on the 18th of January 1919 when she disembarked back home to Australia after four years away (RSL Virtual War Memorial, 2017; Anne Donnell, 2016).