Message on back read:
“The hospital boat that takes the patients from our Hospital on the Suez, to various ?? hospitals in Egypt.”

The Indiana barge served as a hospital ship for wounded allied soldiers in World War 1. It was used to transport the wounded to various hospitals along the Suez Canal, sailing from Qantara to Port Said alongside with her sister ship, Niagara.

Evan Samuel Rees joined the army at 19 and served in the Middle East during the First World War. Medal no.1669, PTE E. S. Rees with the R.A.M.C (Royal Army Medical Corps). He survived the WW1 and returned to the he was born to became a cabinet maker. Evan worked at the Swansea docks as a carpenter during the Swansea Blitz of WW2.