Voluntary Aid Detachment

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Includes info about VAD Nurses and the history of the Voluntary Aid Detachment. The Voluntary Aid Detachment worked alongside military nurses during the two World Wars. The VAD were formed in August 1909 and the role of the Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses and assistants were to provide nursing and medical assistance during a time of war. These roles saw the VADs work in a variety of roles which included nursing assistants, ambulance drivers, chefs, and administration roles. The majority of VADs worked within Britain and some were posted overseas such as those with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France during the Great War and in other countries such as Belgium, France, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia. The war diaries of Mrs Katharine Furse, the Commandant of the VAD, and various VAD nurses who served in France and Belgium can be read in Women in the War Zone: Hospital Service in the First World War. The Voluntary Aid Detachments cared for wounded soldiers in a variety of wards in British Military Hospitals such as The Royal Herbert Hospital in London and in the many convalescent hospitals that were set up in buildings throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The British Royal Red Cross Society trained the Voluntary Aid Detachment in roles such as first aid, bed making, giving a patient a blanket bath, feeding a patient and keeping a ward clean. Mrs Katharine Furse was the first Commandant of the British Red Cross VADs. She arrived in Boulogne in October 1914 where she started the No 1 British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment Unit Rest Station at the Gare Centrale (cited in Women in the War Zone: Hospital Service in the First World War by Anne Powell). Miss Crowdy took over from Katharine Furse as the Commandant of VAD in France and Belgium. In the book Women in the War Zone: Hospital Service in the First World War by Anne Powell one nickname given by troops for the VADs is Very Adorable Darlings. Other nicknames of the VAD include the Starched Brigade. 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 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. VAD Records VAD records from World War One and the Second World War are stored with the British Red Cross Museum and Archives. Sadly they are incomplete but staff can help with information requests including dates of service, duties performed, where the VAD served and any honours awarded. A written request is needed and further information can be found at www.redcross.org.uk/index.asp?id=3423 If you would like to contribute any info, photographs or share your memories of being a VAD then please contact me. The war diary of VAD Miss Lesley Smith can be read in Women in the War Zone: Hospital Service in the First World War and brings to the reader the horrors of nursing in France during the Battle of The Somme. It describes the mental anguish of the soldiers and her own terrors: It was not possible for me to attune myself to the existence of head wounds. Death has its own clean finality; but these men, whose admirable bodies lay inert and helpless at the mercy of a grotesque, obscenely rolling head, seemed a denial of everything beautiful and fair. And I was trapped in their horror. I saw and admitted the triumph of ugliness and evil, and knew that wherever I went afterwards, I would take my own bedlam with me. 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 ********************************************* 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. VAD Helmet The VAD helmet image above is of a military helmet that was found in France. It is thought to be a WWI helmet worn by a Voluntary Aid Detachment member. It is green in colour and has a red cross with VAD written on the front. It looks original and was most likely painted on by the wearer during the war. With the same shade of red paint is written Miss J. RHYS on the inside of the helmet which is the photo below. The finder of the helmet is keen to learn more about World War One VAD Helmets and to learn how to trace information about this particular VAD member. If you can help in the VAD helmet research or know of any site or information about any WWI VAD member listing then please contact qaranc.co.uk VAD Medal The photograph below is thought to be a VAD medal, brooch or badge which belonged to a VAD from World War One and the present owner would like some help to identify it and give some history about the VAD medal such as why it was awarded. The VAD Medal is a diamond shaped metal badge, on bronze or brass, and is about an inch across and slightly more top to bottom. The face is enamelled with a red cross edged in brass on a white background. The centre square of the cross is still red but has a star drawn in. The ends of the cross do not quite reach the corners of the diamond. The photo below is a picture of the reverse of the VAD Medal. The reverse is slightly concave and at the bottom is engraved Reg no. 491257. There is what looks rather like a hallmark of three boxes with (probably) an S in the first, a shield in the second and an I in the third. Beneath that are initials GKS which fit with the lining of the case box, which is printed with G Kenning & Son, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow. The badge is fixed by means of a brass ring which is just over a quarter of an inch diameter to a dark green ribbon. The ribbon is about an inch wide and almost two inches long. The top of the ribbon is fixed to a metal bar which carries the initials SRIA. The bar does not have a brooch type pin, but a single long downwards pointing spike about two inches long. The badge or VAD Medal is believed to have belonged to a VAD who did not see any service overseas and was probably based in Yorkshire. The family are keen to learn more about the VAD Medal and if you can help please contact qaranc.co.uk and we will be pleased to pass on the information about this Voluntary Aid Detachment medal. Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia** Qaranc.co.uk received some information about the VAD Medal and it is a medal from a male only organisation called Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA) rather than having anything associated with the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia has nine grades and the medal is worn by those who hold grades one to four. Thereafter this would then change to a similar medal that has a yellow ribbon for grades five through to seven and then changes to a red ribbon for grades eight and nine.			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