Army Nursing

Questions about Army Nursing and Military Nurses

On this Army Nursing page are QARANC and QAIMNS related questions that we have been sent that we are unable to answer. Qaranc.co.uk would appreciate any information you can provide. If you would like to ask a question or provide an answer about the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps or the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service then please contact Qaranc.co.uk


Help Needed

We do not like to add phone numbers or e-mail addresses to this page to prevent spam. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk with any information and we will pass it on.


The daughter of QA Sister Joyce Ffoulkes Parry is trying to trace anyone who knew her mother’s fiancé from World War Two, Captain Kenneth Hanmer (or Hamer) Stanley. She served on the HS OTRANTO, from august 1940, late from 1941 on His Majesty's Hospital Ship Karapara and also in the 47th General Hospital Calcutta.





He was in the Middle East certainly up to 1941 and was at some point on a ship called Rahmani or Rahmane. This is a photo of him and she wonders if someone may recognise him.


Qaranc.co.uk are creating pages about the QAIMNS and QARANC veil and tippet worn by QA Officers. If you would like to add memories of wearing these items of uniform, having to prepare them or have a photo of veils or tippets or know information about their history then please contact Qaranc.co.uk


The photo above is thought to be a light blue nurse tote bag with an embroidered emblem of the QAIMNS. It has two flaps which fold onto the bag and are held together by little very old looking press studs. The owner does not know much about it and would love to learn more about it such as was this issued to the nursing sisters or individually hand-made as a gift. If you can help then please contact Qaranc.co.uk.




The above photo is of an unknown nurse’s cap from the First World War. We don’t recognise it as an army nursing cap and seek help to identify it. If you have any information then please contact Qaranc.co.uk.


This army nursing question comes from a final year Nursing Student at Middlesex University who is under taking a dissertation. The focus question is:

How would replacing conventional dressings to Topical Negative Pressure therapy in a role 3 facility in Afghanistan benefit blast/IED related injuries?

The student nurse would like to hear from anyone who might be able to help confirm the names of some of the wound dressings (ie Mepilix, etc) that they are currently using in Camp Bastion or the NATO hospitals in Kandahar instead of TNP.





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My PTSD assistance dog, Lynne, and I have written a book about how she helps me with my military Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I talk about my time in the QAs and the coping strategies I now use to be in my best health.

Along the way, I have had help from various military charities, such as Help for Heroes and The Not Forgotten Association and royalties from this book will go to them and other charities like Bravehound, who paired me with my four-legged best friend.

I talk openly about the death of my son by suicide and the help I got from psychotherapy and counselling and grief charities like The Compassionate Friends.

The author, Damien Lewis, said of Lynne:

"A powerful account of what one dog means to one man on his road to recovery. Both heart-warming and life-affirming. Bravo Chris and Lynne. Bravo Bravehound."

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This beautiful QARANC Poppy Pin Badge is available from the Royal British Legion Poppy Shop.




For those searching military records, for information on a former nurse of the QAIMNS, QARANC, Royal Red Cross, VAD and other nursing organisations or other military Corps and Regiments, please try Genes Reunited where you can search for ancestors from military records, census, birth, marriages and death certificates as well as over 673 million family trees. At GenesReunited it is free to build your family tree online and is one of the quickest and easiest ways to discover your family history and accessing army service records.

More Information.




Another genealogy website which gives you access to military records and allows you to build a family tree is Find My Past which has a free trial.







A readers dad, Arthur Newman, was in the British Navy as a diver and towards or just after WWII he was diving off Crete and one of his boots was hit by a limpet mine. He nearly lost his life and was admitted to hospital and later transferred to Alexandria. Below are two photos of her father who spoke little of his wartime experiences but did say that he was ironically operated on by a German surgeon. Her mum always told her that her dad was sent from Crete to the Alexandria Hospital of which she thinks that the photo below is from with injured men. If you can help confirm please get in touch.






A reader is trying to research a story he is writing about a World War II B-17 tailgunner who crash landed in Germany and was taken to a hospital in Germany he says was entirely staffed by British personnel who were captured at Dunkerque (Dunkirk). As best he could remember, it was spelled Obernafeld and he thinks it was near Leipzig. If anyone can help with further information such as the correct name and location of this hospital then please contact us.


The photo below is a medal belonging to Ivy Florence Bussell who was born in Dorset in 1906. She was a member of the QAIMNSR, who served extensively during WW2 after training at the Middlesex Hospital. Sister Ivy Florence Bussell was also a recipient of the Royal Red Cross 2nd medal and several WW2 medals which were The 1939-45 Star, The Pacific Star, a clasp for the Burma Star, The Defence Medal and the War Medal. She lost everything when she was evacuated out of Singapore when the Japanesse invaded in 1942. Sister Bussell had an article in the British Journal of Nursing published in February 1942 writing about her time on the troop ships. This unidentified bronze medal has a red ribbon and depicts a nursing sister holding a patient above a cross or could be a depiction of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion? Her great niece would like to learn more information about this medal:





An ex nurse is compiling two books on Scotlands service personnel in the First and Second World Wars and is eager to find as many images as possible, chiefly photographs, but artworks of any and all descriptions including army nursing. The books will be published by The History Press and the royalties from one volume will be donated to the Erskine Hospital for service personnel.

Images of personnel in combat, images of Army nurses and images of a hospital train would be very welcome, but he would also like to include as wide a range of material as possible, including medical activity, camp life, parades, canteen entertainment: anything that portrays Scottish men and women serving their country; this may well include images of personnel in training, action, barracks etc. in the years immediately before and after 1914-18 and 1939-45 as context material. If you have any images which you would be willing to share he would be extremely grateful and will add a suitable acknowledgment credit for any images.


Carole is writing a history of Military detention in Colchester from 1947 onwards, focusing specifically on what is now the MCTC. Maybe you were a member of staff, a detainee or a member of the forces who escorted someone here? Perhaps you came to visit someone or had some other connection? However small or irrelevant you think your memory might be please contact Carole on: saahera@tiscali.co.uk. or phone 01621 869567. All information will be treated in confidence; your name will only be mentioned if you want it to be


To commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, a reader of Qaranc.co.uk has been commissioned to produce a book of the reminiscences of servicemen and women who served as either National Service or Regular personnel during the sixty years of the Queen’s reign (1952 – 2012). The book will be called Under The Queen’s Colours by The History Press.

The author is looking for people to talk to about their service life, about life here in Britain, and overseas in any of the hot spots around the world that our service personnel found themselves in. She is seeking funny, happy or sad stories; those that teach a lesson or show the mundane. They can be long or short anecdotes. She would like to hear from those in all branches of the military, male and female, National Service or Regular recruit.

The kind of story she would like to hear about might be related to call up, basic training, life in barracks, going overseas, life when posted, family life, leisure time, life in a conflict zone, stories about friends, problems with uniform or superior officers, the highs of service life or the lows. What is it like on a submarine or aircraft carrier, in a Chinook or a tank? How was a gun kept sand free in the desert? Were you in any of the following hot spots: Malaya, Korea, Suez, Cyprus, Kenya, Aden, Borneo, Northern Ireland, Oman, the Falkland Islands, the Gulf Wars, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iraq, or any others not mentioned here?

The author is also looking for photographs to illustrate the stories told. She has to have the book completed by 1 December 2011, so is looking to talk to people over the next few months. This can be done either face to face, by telephone or she can send some questions by post or email to be completed by the recipient.

All those who contribute to the book will be acknowledged inside it, as well as those who assist me with producing it.

To contribute please visit www.pennylegg.com


A new army nursing question concerns the Borneo Confrontation 1962-66. An ex member of the QA (V) came across a reference in "Confrontation the war with Indonesia 1962-66" by Nick Van der Bijl about QA's being deployed forward with the field Ambulances in Borneo in 1965. This reference was to 19 Field Ambulance in Sibu with 2 QA officers who handed over to 15 Field Ambulance with 3 QA officers in July 1966. He also mentions Wars in local hospitals being used but no reference to staffing. Have any readers any information on this deployment or operation. The reader is interested in the Borneo campaign, mainly from a gunner point of view, and is interested in comparing their experience with the Australian nurses who served in Vietnam after reading the great military nursing book Tears on My Pillow about the Australians in Vietnam. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk if you can help with any information.


Does anyone remember the two young nurses who travelled the roads of Malaya early to mid-1950s, treating anybody in need of medical care, friend or foe? A reader of Qaranc.co.uk recalls several jungle soldiers telling stories of these QAs who operated a lot in the Ipoh and the pass over to the east side of the peninsular. They drove an army-type ambulance, stacked with medical supplies. Some people objected to their aiding Min Yuen, and sometimes even bandits, but that was the whole idea of "hearts and minds." Anyway, nobody now seems to have any recollection of them. I think they should have some credit and recognition for their courage and humanity. Please contact Qaranc.co.uk if you can help with any information.


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.






Former Royal Air Force Regiment Gunner Jason Harper witnesses a foreign jet fly over his Aberdeenshire home. It is spilling a strange yellow smoke. Minutes later, his wife, Pippa, telephones him, shouting that she needs him. They then get cut off. He sets straight out, unprepared for the nightmare that unfolds during his journey. Everyone seems to want to kill him.

Along the way, he pairs up with fellow survivor Imogen. But she enjoys killing the living dead far too much. Will she kill Jason in her blood thirst? Or will she hinder his journey through this zombie filled dystopian landscape to find his pregnant wife?

The Fence is the first in this series of post-apocalyptic military survival thrillers from the torturous mind of former British army nurse, now horror and science fiction novel writer, C.G. Buswell.

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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.





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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