THE AMBULANCE DRIVER Maud Fitch

What'sHerName

Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 538 Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2018

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

November 11, 2018 is the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I. To mark this day, we bring you the story of one fearless woman and her ambulance. Maud Fitch, a cowgirl from the desert between Nevada and Utah, wanted to join up when America entered WWI. Unable to enlist as a soldier (she was a woman, after all!) she purchased an ambulance and shipped it at her own expense to France, where she reassembled it and drove it through the heart of the war zone. Cars had only recently been invented, but Maud Fitch drove and maintained the truck by herself, delivering the wounded to hospitals. For her courage and gallantry during one harrowing event, she was awarded the French Cross. Guest Valerie Jacobson is Project Manager for the Utah Centennial World War I Commission. She earned her BA/BS in History/Geography from Weber State University and her MA in History from Utah State University. Her lesson plan on “World War I: Utahns at the Front” featuring Maud Fitch’s story is available from the Department of Heritage and Arts, and more lesson plans for teaching WWI can be found at the National History Day website. Here you can join in the national fundraiser to build a WWI memorial in D.C. Music featured in this episode provided by The Antique Phonograph Collection, Ars Sonor, and Parvus Decree. Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, are all the traitors present? Let's get started, shall we?
0:04.5	From rags to riches. I'm so sick of this. Working like a dog and being treated worse.
0:09.1	Yorkshire to New York. Or climbers, you and me.
0:12.4	A life dedicated to revenge. Let's make this an occasion to remember.
0:16.9	A woman of substance on Channel 4. Stream now.
0:19.8	This episode was sponsored by Girls Can Crate, a subscription box inspiring girls to believe
0:25.3	that they can be and do anything.
0:27.8	Real women make the best heroes, and every month they deliver them to your front door.
0:36.1	Hi, Olivia.
0:37.4	Hi, Katie.
0:38.8	November 11th, 2018, in a few days, is a pretty significant historical anniversary.
0:45.2	It's the 100th anniversary of the Armistice, the ceasefire, that ended World War I.
0:50.7	Oh, yeah.
0:52.1	So, to commemorate that day, I have a World War I story for you. It's a story of adventure
0:58.8	and heroics and most of all a story of grit. It's the story of Mod Fitch, a cowgirl and a mine
1:10.0	owner's daughter from the middle of nowhere in the wild west.
1:14.8	She lived in the desert between Nevada and Utah.
1:17.9	I mean, it's still the middle of nowhere today.
1:20.9	But when the U.S. joined World War I, she wanted to do something to help.
1:25.4	So she bought an ambulance, she disassembled it, she shipped it to France with a six-month
1:32.9	supply of oil and fuel, and sailed there herself where she reassembled it and drove it
1:39.8	around the Western Front all by herself.
	...

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