Researcher seeks stories of New Brunswick wartime nurses

War stories usually revolve around soldiers, however, there's a lesser-known, equally compelling side of World War I that a local historian is looking to uncover.

In terms of World War I, "nurses had a particularly interesting perspective, and one that isn't very often sought," said Fredericton-area historian Rev. Ross Hebb.

Hebb is the author of Letters Home: Maritimers and the Great War, 1914-1918.

He is currently on the hunt for "letters, diaries, even memoirs from those ladies — particularly New Brunswickers who served in the Great War."

A new type of woman

Hebb said the women who joined up as nurses at the start of the war were "a different cohort" than the young women who signed up in the latter war years from 1917-18.

By contrast, those who "grew up with the war happening," according to Hebb, were often already trained nurses, generally single, "a little bit older," had travelled and were financially independent.

These women, said Hebb, "represented something new in the population in early 20th-century Canada."

"Being unmarried, well-educated and financially secure gave them a bigger-picture perspective on the events they were both seeing and participating in," he said.

"Theirs is a more mature, refined perspective on the events that were transpiring."

Dangerous wartime service

While it's unknown exactly how many women from New Brunswick served, Hebb said his research has uncovered 149 who joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

They served in "all sorts of different capacities," from Canadian hospitals in England and France, to hospital ships that transported the wounded.

Letters from the front

11 years ago

Duration 1:43

Rev. Ross Hebb has collected hundreds of letters from the First World War and he's been giving talks on the letters and the men who wrote them."Some of them even served closer to the front lines in casualty clearing stations," said Hebb.

"They served in all sorts of different places, including areas that were dangerous."

Hebb said he knows that because out of 2,800 or so Canadian nurses who served in the Great War, 47 died or were killed.

Names posted online

In an effort to find out more about the women, Hebb posted nearly 50 names of World War I nurses from the Saint John area on his Facebook page, Letters Home: Ross Hebb.

He's hoping New Brunswickers will recognize the names and reach out with additional information, such as letters, diaries, or other primary sources.

"If the information is found, the public would be as interested in it as I am in finding it," said Hebb, who hopes to write a book on the subject.

"It would provide a perspective on the Great War that we don't usually get — from an emerging demographic of financially independent, well-educated single ladies from the early 20th century Maritimes, and Saint John area," he said.

"I think reading about the events of our history in their words would be most interesting."