Canadian and English hospital service

After her husband had been mortally wounded at Ortona, and following his death Ms. Smith-Adamson enlists in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps as an operating room nurse. She serves in military hospitals in Toronto and Camp Borden, and later in a convalescent hospital in England. Her request for a transfer to the continent is granted.

Helen Smith-Adamson

Helen Smith-Adamson was born in Burford, Ontario in 1916. Her father had the distinction of being the first graduate of Royal Military College. Unable to pursue a science degree because of her gender, Ms. Smith-Adamson enrolled in the nursing program at Toronto Western Hospital. After three years, she graduated and found employment as a nurse with John Inglis Co. Her husband had been mortally wounded at Ortona, and following his death Ms. Smith-Adamson enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps as an operating room nurse. She served in military hospitals in Toronto and Camp Borden, and later in a convalescent hospital in England. Ms. Smith-Adamson arrived in Njimegen as the war was ending, and transferred to a casualty clearing station in Sogol, Germany. While there, she had the distinction of treating Field Marshal Montgomery following his plane crash. After the war, Ms. Smith-Adamson was a civilian nurse until she remarried.

Medium:

Video

Owner:

Veterans Affairs Canada

Duration:

2:09

Person Interviewed:

Helen Smith-Adamson

War, Conflict or Mission:

Second World War

Branch:

Army

Units/Ship:

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps

Rank:

Lieutenant

Occupation:

Nurse

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