A hundred years ago in the September of 1917, a man’s life was saved by the first air ambulance.

The First World War raged on, and British soldiers were marching through the Ottoman Empire.

A small battalion were asked to walk through the thick woodland to watch for enemy troops approaching.

As they did so, they were ambushed.

The shootout which followed lasted only a few minutes but a British soldier was shot in the side of his neck.

Bleeding badly, the troop never would have survived a three day trip to the nearest hospital. The troop needed help, and fast.

He was taken on a plane together with grenade supplies to the nearest hospital in less than 45 minutes, which then saved his life.

The concept of the air ambulance was born.

Although times have changed, the principle of saving lives since the civilian air ambulance was established has never changed.

Put simply, helicopter can get to locations more quickly than land and ambulances saving vital minutes which can be the difference between life and death.

A young woman from Essex owes her life to the crews on the air ambulance which was dispatched to her after she suffered horrendous injuries in a crash.

Tara McIntyre, aged just 22, had emerged from a junction on a quiet Sunday afternoon, before a car hit her side on.

The car had been travelling quickly, hitting Tara’s side door head on.

On collision she had broken her aorta valve, the largest artery in the body.

The scale of the crash meant ambulance services were forced to drain both of her lungs at the side of the road.

Tara was then sedated by the East of England Air Ambulance team, who had arrived to assist in the small town of High Garrett, near Braintree.

She was flown to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge within 30 minutes for treatment.

Although Tara was lucky to survive, she lost her ability to walk during the crash.

Mum Jo McIntyre said: “Obviously you don’t think anything like having a crash could happen to you.

“You just don’t think about anything like having a crash, but when it happened to my daughter Tara, we were just in complete shock, as you would expect.

“But the ambulance service are life savers, every single one of them for the services they provide.

“The East of England Ambulance Service carry out vital work, and most people don’t realise the work they do.

“Without them she wouldn’t be here, and we are forever grateful.”

Since the crash three years ago, Tara has raised almost £5,000 for the ambulance service in a combination of charity events.

She is still learning to walk and last year, along with a carer, completed a walk around the air ambulance field where the service is based.

She volunteers with the charity when out on bucket collections, explaining to passers-by why the work of the air ambulance is so important.

Mum Jo said: “We can’t express in words how grateful we are to have the ambulance service here.

“We have nothing but admiration and respect for the ambulance service and they are heroes, every last one of them.”

The East of England Ambulance service have two helicopters, with the Essex and Hertfordshire service having another two.

Each air ambulance helicopter consists of two pilots, a doctor and a critical care paramedic.

It costs on average around a million pounds every month to keep both the East of England Ambulance Service and the Essex and Herts Ambulance Service open and saving lives, relying on the public and their donations.

For national air ambulance week, which runs from Monday September 11 to Sunday September 17, four air ambulance charities which operate in the east of England are teaming up together to promote their causes.

The Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, Magpas Air Ambulance in Cambridge, East Anglian Air Ambulance and London’s Air Ambulance are coming together to explain their work to the public.

The air ambulance services have launched a badge collection with four pin badges to collect, each representing the four air ambulance charities.

Joanna Dew, who works for the East Anglian service, said: "We are delighted to take part in national air ambulance week.

“Working together has been an absolute pleasure and a fantastic way to showcase the work we all do.

"The air ambulance pin badge is a great initiative for the public to get involved with.

"This way we can show support, as buying any or all of the badges will help keep ambulance services flying.”