Canadian Nurses: The First Contingent

In October 1914, Canada's 25,000 strong First Contingent of soldiers sailed for Britain to join the war effort. One hundred Canadian military nurses, "officers and ladies", accompanied the First Canadian Contingent to staff the first two Canadian hospitals.

The first 100 nurses grew to approximately 2,800 Canadian military nurses who served overseas during the First World War in a multitude of Canadian Casualty Clearing Stations, Stationary Hospitals, and General Hospitals. Of the original 100 nurses, some remained nursing in France for the war's duration; others served in pioneering hospitals in Lemnos or on transport ships in Gallipoli, then moved to Salonika; and four others joined the war effort in Russia.

This presentation by Andrea McKenzie follows the first contingent of Canadian nurses, using their words and images, plus those of their colleagues, to re-create their wartime lives.. Through shot and shell, gas attacks, illness, and the first shots of the Russian Revolution, Canadian nurses remained at their posts, fighting to treat and save their soldier colleagues.