(1889-1963)
Commandant of the British First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). Grace McDougall was instrumental in reorganizing the FANY corps for overseas service in World War I. She was decorated by the British with the 1914 Star, by the French with the Croix de Guerre, and by the Belgians as a member of the Order of the Crown, the Order of Queen Elizabeth, and as a Knight of Leopold II.
McDougall, the first member of FANY at the front lines, began as a nurse in Antwerp, Belgium. She worked under constant bombardment and frequently went into the trenches to rescue wounded soldiers. In the Allied retreat from Antwerp, McDougall fell behind German lines while helping a sick English officer. She succeeded in escaping German capture and slipped across the Dutch border to safety.
Back in England, McDougall unsuccessfully petitioned the War Office to get a FANY unit accepted for service. She finally offered the unit to the Belgians. In October 1914 she established the first FANY hospital at Calais in addition to dressing station at Oostkirke, one mile behind the trenches. She later established a typhoid hospital, a convalescent camp for British soldiers, and a convoy of ambulance drivers for the British Red Cross.
