Medicine and War
Medical mobilisation at the outbreak of war is extremely important for a nation at war, both for service on the field and on the home front.
During the First World War, militia medical services mobilised under the Canadian Army Medical Corps which included doctors, surgeons, nurses, and a brand new group of women called the Voluntary Aid Detachment, or VAD for short. Canadian VAD units were modelled after the British system established in 1909.
Women had only recently been able to make a role for themselves in the professional world as nurses. In Canada, female nurses had only officially been involved in one conflict previously - the South African War. The creation of this new profession was seen as a major leap forward in women’s rights.
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Newspaper clipping of Alberta Page, who served in France and received the Royal Red Cross Medal. (1919) by Canadian Centre for the Great War. Canadian Centre for the Great War
Who were the VADs?
When war broke out, over 2,000 Canadian women eager to participate volunteered with the VADs, with around 500 making it over to Europe. Because of their lack of nursing experience, VADs mostly stayed in Canada and worked in convalescent hospitals; those who went abroad also worked as nurses’ aids, ambulance drivers, and clerical staff at overseas hospitals.
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Nurses vs. VADs
The typical Canadian VAD would have been a young woman from an upper-middle class family with little to no work experience, while a nurse was typically from a working class background. Due to the different social classes and the VADs’ lack of medical experience, there was often conflict between the nursing sisters and the VADs.
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Controversy over VAD role
Unlike the official position of nursing sisters, the voluntary nature of the VAD role meant that they were not bound by army laws or hierarchy in the same way. The VADs were largely considered a nuisance and a burden as they lacked the medical training of professional nurses.
This rivalry led to complaints of VADs not following the orders of the nursing matrons or doctors of the unit. There was also some concern amongst nursing sisters that the existence of this voluntary role would threaten the new professionalism being attributed to women’s work.
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Newspaper clipping of Alberta Page, who served in France and received the Royal Red Cross Medal. (1919) by Canadian Centre for the Great War. Canadian Centre for the Great War
VAD involvement unrelated to war
Around 1500 VADs remained in Canada and worked in hospitals on home soil throughout the war. They also assisted in domestic crises like the Halifax Explosion and the Spanish Flu pandemic.
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Famous VADs
Without a doubt, the most well-known VAD is Vera Brittain, an Englishwoman who served with the British army.
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Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart, who signed on as a VAD in Toronto in 1917, deserves the title of most famous VAD to serve with Canada despite technically being an American.
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Rosemary Edgley
Like many others who experienced the war first hand, VAD members kept mementos of various forms. Many had album books where they collected poems, songs, sayings, and signatures of other service members they met. These books - such as the one kept by Rosemary Edgley - reveal the popular culture of the time as well as individual feelings about the war.
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Frances Cluett
In Newfoundland, 60 women volunteered to serve as VADs in the Great War. One of these volunteers was Frances Cluett, who left her hometown of Belleoram to sign up as a VAD with the St. John Ambulance. She went overseas in 1916 and wrote numerous letters home of her experiences nursing in Rouen, France and Constantinople. When the war ended, she traveled around Europe before returning to Belleoram, resuming her old job as a teacher.
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Remembering the VADs
The VADs were officially demobilised in October, 1920, and the women quickly and quietly returned to their previous lives. Unlike in England where Vera Britain emerged as the voice of British VADs, a Canadian equivalent never came forward. This has led to a pattern of Canadian VADs being combined either with their British counterparts or as nursing sisters in official histories and remembrance efforts.