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Military Medal Awards To QA Nurses


The QAIMNS and QARANC nurses who have been awarded the Military Medal and other medals for bravery


Military Medal The Military Medal (MM) was first established by King George V on 25 March 1916 to award Warrant Officers and Other Ranks for bravery in battle on land. It was awarded to members of the British Army and related services such as the QAIMNS. It was also awarded to equivalent members of the Commonwealth countries. The Commander in Chief would recommend recipients for the Military Medal.


QAIMNS Medals

A collector of British military medals has purchased the above collection of QAIMNS nurses medals from the First World War and needs some help in traced their history. In the photo above the medals and ribbons are from left to right the Associate Royal Red Cross Medal (ARRC), Military Medal (MM), 1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and the Service Medal to the Order of St John. The owner can be narrowed down a bit because only 122 Military Medals were awarded to female nurses of the First World War. Some recipients of the MM are described further below. The owner hopes to cross reference the recipients of the MM with ARRC recipients and then check those results with Clerkenwell for the award of the Service Medal to the Order of St John. If you can help then please contact me.

First World War Nurses Medals



QAs were given officer status since 1904 but no rank so were able to be awarded the Military Medal. In World War One the Matron In Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Dame Maud McCarthy, would include one of her official cards with the words With Heartiest Congratulations printed above her signature.

Commissioned Officers were awarded the Military Cross (MC), which could also be awarded to Warrant Officers.

Personnel that were awarded the Military Medal could use the letters MM after their name.

MM The Military Medal was silver and had the face of the Monarch on the front of the 36mm diameter medal and the ribbon was dark blue, with three white and two red stripes at the centre. Subsequent acts of bravery would be awarded with a silver laurelled bar.

During a review in 1993 the Military Medal was discontinued and all ranks could thereafter be awarded the Military Cross.





A QARANC wall plaque and shield is available to buy through Amazon. The QA shield is hand made and ready to hang on the wall. .

Buy Now.






Findextrawork

Find Extra Work Since leaving the QA's we have done an assortment of self employed work and jobs, some which only take an hour a week, others have been full time. We have written about these at our other website Findextrawork at www.findextrawork.co.uk where we share the information for free to help others with information and resources about earning more money. Visit Findextrawork for more information.




Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Holders of the Military Medal


Ethel Garrett

Sister Ethel Garrett was awarded the Military Medal (MM) during the First World War for her brave actions during an enemy air raid on Number 37 General Hospital which was attached to the Serbian army. Together with QA Reserve sisters Rebecca Calhoun and Margaret Smith Dewar they tried to provide cover for their patients. Sister Dewar was struck in the chest by a piece of bomb casing that had exploded nearby as she knelt over a wounded soldier. Sister Calhoun went to her aid but she died in her arms. She herself did not escape injury during this air raid and was hit by a bomb splinster as she attended patients. Sister Garrett attended a soldier who had been wounded by a German bomb and had sustained a compound fracture of his skull. She risked her own life to administer life saving first aid. Whilst she was doing this 14 bombs fell within an 80 yard radius of their location.

Ethel Garrett was a member of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve QAIMN(R) and served at No 37 General Hospital at Vertekop, Solonika during WWI. She was also awarded the French Croix-de-Guerre and the Serbian Military Medal For Valour from the Crown Prince of Serbia (also awarded to Sister Calhoun and was the first time it was awarded to women). She died in February 1972. She was 89 years old.


During The Great War 65 Military Medals were awarded to military nurses. Nursing Sisters of the QAIMNS had no rank structure during the Great War so were awarded the Military Medal rather than the Officer equivalent of the Military Cross (MC).


Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Holders of the Military Medal



In his book Wartime Nurse: One Hundred Years from the Crimea to Korea 1854-1954 Eric Taylor documents two nurses who were involved in a bombing during the First World War that killed one QA and badly injured another. They administered emergency first aid during the air raid and ensured their safe evacuation before reporting back to duty in the operating theatre. They were awarded the Military Medal for displaying the most wonderful courage. Unfortunately the names of the QAIMNS nursing sisters are not cited.


If you know of a QA who has been awarded the Military Medal then please contact me so that I can update this page with more information.


Military Cross Recipients

Below are Military Cross recipients of the QARANC and RAMC:



Michelle Norris

The account of how Private Michelle Norris was awarded her Military Cross can be read in the opening chapter of The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese.

Private Michelle Norris MC of the Royal Army Medical Corps was only 19 years of age when she awarded the Military Cross. She gave emergency first aid to a wounded soldier on 11 June 2006 in Iraq despite being under continual fire from the enemy. One bullet even struck her medical rucksack.



A Qaranc.co.uk reader has recently purchased a set of medals (miniatures) and would like to research who they belonged to. These were an OBE, RRC, 39/45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal, Victory Medal and an UN Medal with a Korean Bar. If you can suggest a website or service where their history can be researched please contact qaranc.co.uk




The Real Tenko

The latest book about British Army nurses and nursing describes a dark chapter in the history of the QAs. The Real Tenko: Extraordinary True Stories of Women Prisoners of the Japanese by Mark Felton is an account of the fall of the Far East to Japan. It comprehensively covers war atrocities performed by the Japanese troops to women stationed in places such as Singapore and Hong Kong. This included Sisters of the QAs who were stationed in hospitals such as BMH Bowen Road Hong Kong and BMH Singapore. Read the Qaranc.co.uk review or Buy Now with free delivery available.


View more British Army Nursing Books - with free delivery available.



If you would like to contribute to this page, suggest changes or inclusions to this website or would like to send me a photograph then please e-mail me.

The photos and pictures on this page have been kindly sent to us for inclusion on this page. If you would like to contribute photographs then please contact us.


For the official Army QARANC webpage please go to
www.army.mod.uk/home.aspx
For the QARANC Association website please go to
www.army.mod.uk/army-medical-services/qaranc/9884.aspx


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Help Needed

A reader of Qaranc.co.uk is researching the exhumation of Heinrich Himmler in Luneberg, Germany circa 1945-46. He thinks that two nurses from the QAIMNS attended the exhumation due to the poor state of health of Walter Schellenberg. He would like to learn if any of the nurses kept a diary of the events leading up to the exhumation or sent any personal letters home to friends or family that may have provided an insight into Walter Schellenberg and the exhumation. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk if you have any information.



Qaranc.co.uk have recently learnt about two former Military Hospitals that we would like to write about. These are the British Military Hospital at Wuppertal in Germany and BMH Benghazi. If you know any information, would like to share your memories or have photographs that we can use on the site then please contact Qaranc.co.uk



A reader is writing an article about the demise of the Military Hospital for the RAMC Magazine and seeks some help. There was, in Kuala Lumpur, a hospital called BMH Kinrara. He would like to know when it opened and closed, what happened to the buildings and the staff. He thinks that Kinrara closed as Terendak opened and that the staff were transferred across to 34 Company RAMC? He would also like any information about the Military Maternity Hospital, Penang. If you can help then please contact Qaranc.co.uk



There is a lovely photo of three QA Midwives from the 1960s about half way down on the Royal Herbert Hospital page. If you can help with information about the Maternity Unit in Woolwich or identify the QA Officers then please contact Qaranc.co.uk


The BMH Dhekelia has new photos which includes a stunning picture of the demolition of the original building and some staff photos. The contributor would like some help with the date it was demolished and would love to hear from anyone who worked with her relative.





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QARANC.co.uk would like you to share your memories of serving in the QA's, your fondest memories of military hospitals you may have served in or perhaps share any photographs and have them appear on the QARANC website. Any thoughts, articles and photos can be e-mailed or sent in the post using our contact details.



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