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At the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) hospital in Rusthall, the lengths that nurses would go to look after their patients, is demonstrated by the care of Australian, Albert Smith, whose mother received regular updates about his deteriorating condition.

When he died, he was buried in the local churchyard and the nurse sent his mother a lock of his hair. Author Clive Roberts discovered Albert鈥檚 story whilst researching Rusthall War Memorial for his book 鈥淩usthall鈥檚 Fallen鈥�.

He always puts a poppy on Albert鈥檚 grave on Remembrance Day. However when reporter Sara Parker joined him at the graveside this year, they found someone had left an Australian flag and another poppy.

Can anyone solve the mystery?

With hundreds of thousands of casualties returning from the front in World War One, villages in Kent set up a record number of VAD hospitals to help treat them.

Tunbridge Wells Hospital archivist John Weeks tells of the VAD hospitals vital contribution. One VAD volunteer was Dorothy Wright whose memories about volunteering at Kingswood VAD Hospital are in the Imperial War Museums archive.

Location: Rusthall, Kent TN4 8RL
Image from Australian War Memorial

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