Two Canadian Nurses in World War 1
In November our thoughts turn to Remembrance Day and the ceremonies held in our communities to acknowledge the heroism and sacrifices made by the combatants. We remember the military leaders and the young men who followed them – those who never came home - many of them in unmarked graves.
But I recently found a story about the Canadian nurses who volunteered to go overseas and serve close to the front lines.
There were some 3,141 Canadian nurses who volunteered to serve overseas with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, of this number 2,500 were accepted. They were paid $4.10 per day, their ages ranged from 21 to 38 and all were single. 55 of them never came home.
Two of those 2,500 nurses were Meta Hodge and Eleanor Thompson. Meta had already lost two brothers on the front lines of the war before she decided she had to serve in the war zone. There was a daily flood of injured men admitted to the hospital and the nursing staff was always busy.
The two of them were assigned to the #3 Canadian General Hospital at Doullens, France. Shortly after midnight on May 30 (year) they heard an airplane approaching - rushing out in time to see a flare dropped from the aircraft, they realized it was a German plane, and it had also dropped a bomb. The women rushed back into the hospital just as the bomb hit the hospital dead on. The nurses were knocked down - Eleanor Thompson was injured by debris, Meta Hodge had a leg torn and 1,000 helpless patients were calling for help. The building was on fire, the operating theatre obliterated. The nurses shook the debris off themselves and raced to fight the fires and help the patients escape. Thirty two men and women were killed in the attack but because of the quick and trained response by the nurses there were no additional deaths.
For their heroism both Emma Thompson and Meta Hodge were presented, in 1918, with the Military Medal for Valor - the first Canadian women to receive this honour.
This year when we remember the men and women who gave their lives to protect their homeland and lifestyle, offer also a thank you to the nurses who risked their lives to help those on the battlefield.
Yours For Home and Country, Ruth Fenner, Provincial Historian, British Columbia Women's Institute
