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Hospital Carrier Amsterdam


Details of the QAIMNS and RAMC awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services for their actions when the ship sank with patients aboard


The Hospital Carrier Amsterdam was sunk by enemy action off the coast of Normandy on 7th August, 1944. Details of the members of the QAIMNS and their heroic actions are also written about on the Hospital Ships page. Below are the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire awards to the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service personnel, sourced from The National Archives:

Public Record Office (now TNA):WO/373/68 Pt.2

The War Office 13th December 1944.

Most humbly submitted to your Majesty by your Majesty's most humble and most devoted servant, that the awards set out in the enclosed statement be approved, in recognition of gallant and distinguished services.

The most excellent Order of the British Empire.

To be Additional Members of the Military Division of the said Most Excellent Order:-

Sister Miss Elsie Roberts (206427)
Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service.

This nursing officer showed a most valuable example in assisting the evacuation of patients from the wards to the promenade deck of Hospital Carrier "Amsterdam" when the ship was sunk by enemy action off the coast of Normandy on 7th August, 1944. In emergency stations drill she had been shown that her place was officer in charge No.2 water ambulance; she continued, however, to help patients up the deck, after the water ambulance had been lowered and when the ship was actually capsizing. Miss Roberts escaped down the almost horizontal side of the ship just before it sank. Her calmness was an important factor in averting panic and by her aid many patients reached the deck who would otherwise have been trapped in the wards.


Sister Miss Ellen Theresa Hourigan (305029)
Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve.

This nursing officer displayed much courage and a high sense of responsibility for the safety of her patients when Hospital Carrier "Amsterdam" was sunk by enemy action off the coast of Normandy on 7th August, 1944.

She was aware that, in Emergency Stations, she was officer in charge No.4 water ambulance. Nevertheless, Miss Hourigan continued to help her patients to escape to the promenade deck from B deck, of which she was jointly in charge. By her calm example, as well as by helping the more severely wounded patients who were trying to climb the stairs, she reduced the possibility of panic. Miss Hourigan did not leave the ship until after it capsized, when she escaped by scrambling down the almost horizontal starboard side, just before it sank.


Sister Miss Lily McNicholas (246129)
Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve.

On the 7th August, 1944, during the sinking by enemy action of Hospital Carrier "Amsterdam" off the coast of Normandy, Miss McNicholas rendered important service whereby lives were saved which otherwise would have been lost. Well knowing that her place in emergency stations was in No.3 Water Ambulance as officer in charge, she continued to give encouragement and help in bringing patients from her wards on A deck up to the promenade deck. Her patients were admitted to the ship as stretcher cases, but in the grave emergency all, save the quite helpless were obliged to walk. In this distressing situation, Miss McNicholas' presence and her cheerful encouragement was of great value. She left the ship after it had capsized by scrambling down the starboard side which was almost horizontal by that time. Unable to swim, she had much difficulty and felt ill in the water, where she was helped by the Master of the ship and by an officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Shortly afterwards she was rescued by an American cutter. With complete disregard of her own comfort she immediately rendered aid to patients as they were rescued from the sea.



Of note is the citation for:

Lieutenant Oliver Gary, (305170), Royal Army Medical Corps.

Lieutenant Gray displayed great courage and devotion to duty when Hospital Carrier "Amsterdam" was sunk by enemy action off the coast of Normandy on 7th August, 1944. He was in charge of two wards on the lowest deck of the ship and evacuation required great steadiness. Moreover, one ward, through which the ship broke in two 14 minutes after the explosion was under his charge. He superintended the evacuation of patients and did not leave these wards until all living patients had gone. The ship capsized and sank while this officer was standing on her horizontal starboard side in the endeavour to rescue a nursing officer through a port hole of the lower deck in which she had been trapped.


With thanks to Terry Hissey.




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PTSD assistance dog Lynne book


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.

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QARANC Poppy Pin Badge Royal British Legion RBL
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.

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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.






If you would like to contribute any info or photographs then please contact me.




New post apocalyptic military survival thriller

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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Buy the Paperback.


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.








Free Book Operation wrath

Free Book.
The death of the Brotherhood will be avenged.
RAF gunner Jason Harper and a team of Special Air Service operators are enraged after the death of their brothers by a terrorist drone strike. They fly into south-eastern Yemen on a Black-op mission to gather intelligence and avenge the death of their comrades.
Can they infiltrate the Al-Queda insurgents' camp, stay undetected, and call down their own drone missile strike and get home safely?
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Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
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This website is not affiliated or endorsed by The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) or the Ministry of Defence.


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