The First World War
When Britain declared war on the German Empire, Canada was automatically compelled to fight alongside Britain in the Great War of 1914-18. At the beginning of the war there were five Permanent Force nurses and 57 listed in reserve. By 1917, the Canadian Army Nursing Service included 2,030 nurses (1,886 overseas) with 203 on reserve. In total, 3,141 Canadian nurses volunteered their services. Because of their blue dresses and white veils they were nicknamed the "bluebirds," and for their courage and compassion they received the admiration of many soldiers.
The First World War saw great courage and sacrifice on the part of many nurses, such as Britain’s Edith Clavell. She was a nurse who remained in Brussels, Belgium, after the Germans occupied the city early in the war, tending to wounded soldiers of all countries. However, in addition to this work, Clavell helped captured British, French and Belgian soldiers escape to the neutral Netherlands (where most would eventually make it to England). When her activities were discovered, she was executed as a spy, but not before she helped about 200 men escape the Germans.

In many ways, the First World War was a time of great change and innovation in the field of military medical services. At first, medical units were set up in hospitals. However, the eventual establishment of Casualty Clearing Stations provided faster and more effective treatment to the injured at the front line.

The Casualty Clearing Station was an advance unit, situated close to the front line, where ambulances could deliver the wounded to be assessed, treated or evacuated to one of the many hospitals. The early stage assessment and treatment available at these units proved very effective in the efficient handling of large groups of battle injuries that occurred at the front. At the same time, however, the proximity to the fighting exposed the Nursing Sisters to the horrors and dangers particular to the front. The advance areas were often under attack from air raids and shell fire, frequently placing the lives of the sisters in danger. As well, the Casualty Clearing Stations were often plagued with the same aggravations of front line life; many nurses reported that rats and fleas were constant plagues.
The dangers of working in an advance area were not restricted to the land operations. One of the innovations of the First World War Medical Services was the introduction of the hospital ship. These ships were also subject to the dangers of enemy attack. On the night of June 27, 1918, the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle was torpedoed by a German U-boat and 234 people lost their lives, including all 14 sisters on board.

In France, as well as Africa and the Mediterranean, the nurses had to deal not only with an exhausting workload, but often under extremely primitive working conditions and desperate climatic extremes. This was the pre-antibiotics age and, as was the case during the South African conflict, the ranks of the injured were swelled by infection and outbreaks of diseases such as meningitis. In spite of these challenges, the Canadian Nursing Sisters were able to provide comfort to the sick and injured.

A total of 3,141 Nursing Sisters served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and 2,504 of those served overseas in England, France and the Eastern Mediterranean at Gallipoli, Alexandria and Salonika. By the end of the First World War, approximately 45 Nursing Sisters had given their lives, dying from enemy attacks including the bombing of a hospital and the sinking of a hospital ship, or from disease.
Quite a rich amount of history there. Interesting
ReplyDeleteThey sure did a noble work!
ReplyDeleteI was looking earlier with regards to history for what is shortly to come up in several countries and this caught my eye so I thought I would post it.
ReplyDeleteDying for one's country is the most noble deed of all Jack ...
ReplyDeleteThese nurses truly were dedicated back then.
ReplyDeleteDedication is something our younger generations don't understand as well as our ancestors.
ReplyDeleteTerri, I read your write yesterday and I read Hiedi's and Dougs. It's 6am and when I get home this afternoon again I am going to finish off a series which I wished to embark on. I want to write on especially the two wars and then the current on. I don't want to write about what is correct or not - but what we do and can recall within history. The ending ones are going to be more personal but tomorrow is a day that we remember. In every country we remember and pay respect.
ReplyDeleteSo that is what my intentions for later are. On both sides of my family they all served. Unfortuntely my scanner/printer are still in Edmonton Alberta - but I have letters from my grandmothers uncles that were in Italy...and the letters that I have are something that surpass time and are of tremendous value to me.
This page here is from government archives here in Canada. It's not my own writing but there are many areas from which we remember. Even the society of Germany people that were economically lost after WW1 and they had no idea that Hitler was doing what he was so I do wish to write on Germany - the people as well.
ReplyDelete3200 nuns actually did all of this I found it very noble to say the least. And this took place in other countries as well.
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