Ruth Stanley Farnam (September 11, 1873 – December 7, 1956) was an American soldier and writer. She fought as a soldier in the Serbian army during World War I.

Family

Ruth Stanley Farnam was born at Patchogue, New York, the daughter of William Henry Stanley and Ida Jay Overton Stanley. She married Charles Henry Farnam and later, Baron Raymond de Luze. She went by the name of Baroness de Luze until her death in 1956.

Ruth Stanley Farnam

War work

She originally served as a volunteer nurse in a medical unit attached to the Serbian army. She was present during the Battle of Brod on October 11, 1916 and, when a soldier asked if she was afraid, answered: "Do you think I am scared? I have never lived before". After this, she was allowed to enlist in the Serbian army as a volunteer soldier. She was decorated three times by the King of Serbia.

Ruth Stanley Farnam

In 1918, she published her autobiography, A Nation at Bay: What an American Woman Saw and Did in Suffering Serbia. She died in 1956, aged 83 years.

Ruth Stanley Farnam

See also

Viktoria Savs

References

1873 births

1956 deaths

Women in 20th-century warfare

American women in World War I

Women in European warfare

Royal Serbian Army soldiers

Serbian military personnel of World War I

Foreign volunteers in Serbian armies

American expatriates

Expatriates in the Kingdom of Serbia