Coach Perry
Orange 4
9 October 2014 Name: Edith Cavell
Life: Edith Cavell was born on December 4, 1865 in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Edith Cavell began her profession of nursing at age 20. She soon moved to Belgium where she was appointed matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute in Brussels in 1907. During World War I in 1914, the Berkendael Institute was converted into a hospital for wounded soldiers of all nationalities. Edith Cavell was a British nurse serving in Belgium who was later executed, on October 12, 1915, on a charge of assisting Allied prisoners to escape during World War I.
What makes her heroic: During the time Edith Cavell served as a nurse, she saved hundreds of people’s lives, some people might not be here today without the decisions she made. Edith Cavell was arrested on August 5, 1915 by local German authorities and charged with having aided the escape of some 200 Allied soldiers: she was executed seven days later in front or a crowd. The unjustness and brutality of Edith’s execution, especially since she had also helped to save the lives of German soldiers, stirred public opinion around the world. Her words of understanding and forgiveness for her executioners captured people's imagination and made her captors look brutal and barbaric. While Edith Cavell is most remembered for her courage during a time of war, she also contributed to nursing and the practice of medicine.
Adversities she overcame: While Edith Cavell was serving as a nurse, she made the decision to help injured soldiers of all nationalities. However, when some wounded British soldiers arrived, Edith had to face a near-impossible dilemma: if she helped the soldiers she put at risk the neutrality of the Red Cross and would possibly endanger the lives of others working with her. If she refused to help them they would be in danger of being executed, along with any civilians who had harbored them. Edith decided to help