Remembrance Series

World War Medical Services was the introduction of the hospital
ship. These ships were also subject to the dangers of enemy
attack. On the night of June 27, 1918, the Canadian hospital
ship Llandovery Castle was torpedoed by a German U-boat and
234 people lost their lives, including all 14 sisters on board.
In France, as well as Africa and the Mediterranean, the nurses
had to deal not only with an exhausting workload, but often
under extremely primitive working conditions and desperate
climatic extremes. This was the pre-antibiotics age and, as was
the case during the South African conflict, the ranks of the
injured were swelled by infection and outbreaks of diseases such
as meningitis. In spite of these challenges, the Canadian Nursing
Sisters were able to provide comfort to the sick and injured.
N/S CHRISTINE MACDONALD (SECOND FROM LEFT). CHRISTMAS IN A FIELD
HOSPITAL IN FRANCE, WITH US MEDICAL UNIT AS GUESTS OF CANADIAN ARMY
MEDICAL CORPS.
Nursing Sisters of Canada 9