First World War – Sister Claire Evelyn TrestrailSister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five born on 10 December 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse, following in the footsteps of her mother who was a qualified nurse, Acting Chief Nursing Officer of Perth's King Edward Hospital and was also involved with the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance Services. Trestrail's younger siblings also participated in World War I along with his two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the Royal Flying Corps and 1 Machine Battalion respectively. Amarald also received a military medal for bravery at Villaret. Sister Ella also worked as a nurse, married, but returned tragically an amputee. Only his youngest sister Amy did not serve in the war. Trestrail began her training at Wakefield Saint Private Hospital in Adelaide as a nursing officer. Then, in January 1911, she passed her final examinations for the Australasian Trained Nurse Association, which later led Trestrail to accompany Catherine Tully and Myrtle Wilson on a trip to England in late 1913. Then in August , they ventured for Belgium under the leadership of Madame Saint. Clair Stobart, sailing for Belgium then on September 22, 1914 they arrived in Antwerp. Shortly after their arrival, they began setting up 120 beds in a concert hall in Burchem, which, frighteningly, was in direct line of German artillery fire which was arriving quite regularly. Trestrail was one of the first Australian nurses to face the horrific wounds of modern warfare, visibly inflicted on the French and Belgians. Trestrail wrote in the Australasian Nurses Journal on December 19...... middle of article..... . met Sydney Percival Swan whom she later married. He was a former Albion serviceman, was in France in 1922 serving with the 21st Howitzer Brigade and he was also the branch manager of Burns Philip in North Queensland. In 1936, Trestrail and his family moved to Roseville in Sydney. War broke out again in 1939 and Trestrail trained the women of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Sister Trestrail died in New South Wales in September 1960, of old age. Trestrail fought for what she rightly deserved by fighting for the appreciation that allowed her to receive the Star of 1914. Comments recorded in the British archives dated May 4, 1918 read: “Ineligible ". Was not used to create an authorized unit of the BEF. (primary source) on June 6, 1919, attitudes changed and a receipt for the 1914 star and clasp was issued to surprise by the Navy..