After years of researching the contributions of Canada’s military nurses, former nurse and University of Ottawa professor Dr. Cynthia Toman has written the book, Sister Soldiers of the Great War: The Nurses of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.
Published by UBC Press, Sister Soldiers of the Great War tells the story of Canada’s first women soldiers — nursing sisters who enlisted as officers with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Unfortunately, nothing prepared them for the poor living conditions, the scale of the casualties, or the type of wounds they encountered. Despite this, their letters and diaries reveal they were determined to soldier on under all circumstances.
An Access Copyright Foundation research grant in 2011 helped Dr. Toman continue her research about the WWI nurses, a part of Canada’s historical record that has not been well documented.
Dr. Toman has worked as a professional nurse, is a historian with a PhD in history who has written extensively about nursing and military nursing in particular, and has taught at the University of Ottawa’s School of Nursing.
A preview of the book is available from UBC Press.
In the same vein, also from the UBC press, is the release of “WAR-TORN EXCHANGES The Lives and Letters of Nursing Sisters Laura Holland and Mildred Forbes” edited by Andrea McKenzie of York University. Graduates of the Montreal General School of Nursing, the letters of Holland and Forbes also vividly describe the lives and relationships of Nursing Sisters in World War I.
Thanks for sharing. I’ll take a look at it.