When war was declared in 1914 , Knocker wrote to Chisholm that there was " work to be done " , and suggested they go to London to become dispatch riders for the Women 's Emergency Corps . Chisholm rode her motorbike all the way from Dorset to the capital . It was while acting as a courier in this way that she was spotted making hairpin corners in the city by a Dr. Hector Munro . Munro was setting up a Flying Ambulance Corps to help the Belgians who had been caught unawares by the German invasion and invited her to join his team , as she describes in a June 1976 interview : '' “ Munro was deeply impressed with my ability to ride through the traffic . He traced me to the Women 's Emergency Corps and ... said , ' Would you like to go out to Flanders ' and I said ' Yes , I 'd love to ' . " '' Both she and Knocker ended up in Belgium as part of the corps which included Dorothie Feilding and May Sinclair . Initially quartered at Ghent , the unit relocated to Furnes at the end of October where the women worked tirelessly picking up wounded soldiers mid-way from the front and transporting them back to their field hospital at the rear . After the beds ran out , the wounded were laid on the floor or propped up against the wall . As the dead piled up , the two nurses were told to remove them to the mortuary . Chisholm wrote in her diary : '' “ No one can understand ... unless one has seen the rows of dead men laid out . One sees men with their jaws blown off , arms and legs mutilated . ” '' Chisholm and Knocker soon came to the conclusion that they could save more lives by treating the wounded directly on the front lines . In November , they decided to leave the corps and set up their own dressing station five miles east in a town named Pervyse , north of Ypres , just one hundred yards from the trenches . Here , in a vacant cellar which they named " Poste de Secours Anglais " ( " British First Aid Post " ) , the two would spend the next three and a half years tending to the wounded . No longer affiliated with the Belgian Red Cross , they began acting completely as free agents and had to support their work by raising their own funds . Through sheer perseverance Knocker was able to arrange for the two of them to be officially seconded to the Belgian garrison stationed there . In January 1915 , they were both decorated by King Albert I of Belgium with the Order of Léopold II , Knights Cross ( with palm ) for their courageous work on the front lines . They were also awarded the British Military Medal and both made Officers of the Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem . Chisholm was also decorated with the Queen Elisabeth Medal of Belgium and the British campaign medals , including the 1914 Star . The two became instant celebrities earning the distinction of being among the most photographed women of the war
1914 Star
1914 Star
Mairi Chisholm