Editing Friends' Ambulance Unit (section)

====Early activities====

[[File:FAU1914-1918 plate11 Bethune EProcter.jpg|thumb|Civilian hospital evacuation at [[Béthune]], [[Pas-de-Calais]] during the First World War; drawing by FAU volunteer [[Ernest Procter]]]]

In late October 1914, 43 of Baker’s volunteers were formally mobilised as '''The First Anglo-Belgian Ambulance Unit''', later renamed the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. This Unit was organised under the supervision of the Joint War Committee. 

They were pressed into service almost immediately. While making their initial voyage from [[Dover]] to [[Dunkirk]], the FAU encountered the [[HMS Hermes (1898)|HMS ''Hermes'']], sinking after being struck by a German torpedo, and rendered emergency aid to her crew. The volunteers had no chance to rest when they actually reached Dunkirk. Upon their arrival, they were again immediately called to provide medical care, this time for a group of around 3,000 badly wounded soldiers sheltering in nearby railway sheds.

Once the situation at the railway sheds was under control, the Unit searched for additional ways to be of service. At first, they primarily worked alongside the [[French Armed Forces Health Service]]. Their first hospital, the Hospital St. Pierre, was opened in Dunkirk in coordination with the Service. This partnership also allowed them to begin their ambulance work in earnest, evacuating French wounded from the Ypres front near [[Woesten]]. By early 1915,The Friends' Ambulance Unit had established relationships with French, Belgian, and British military authorities, as well as an additional military hospital.