QA Officer Medal

Photographs and history of the QA Officer Medal including the QARANC and QAIMNS medals :


Queen Alexandra wanted each of her nurses to have a special badge and ribbon that would identify them as her QA nurses. Though the QA's were formed in 1902 (as the QAIMNS) it was not until 1905 that a ribbon and medal badge were finally decided. This was because her original design choice looked like the Royal Victorian Order. Despite this her original designs were honoured and each QA Officer was awarded the QA badge and ribbon which is still worn by QA Officers to this day on their red capes. The QA badge incorporates the Order of the Dannebrog, the ancient Danish order of Chivalry. The ribbon is of the new QA colours white, red and blue which are also now used for the Corps belt and Tactical Recognition Flash.

Each QA Sister received her QA Medal personally from Queen Alexandra in a special ceremony.

When the QAIMNS became the QARANC the ribbon remained the same colour and the shape of the medal and badge remained the same with the cross in the middle surrounded by the words Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps.

The QA Officers' Cape Medal is now only worn in the traditional ward uniform on ceremonial occasions because the ward uniform has now changed and the medal is no longer worn in the new uniform.



QAIMNSR Medal

Pictured to the left is the QAIMNSR Medal (Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserves Medal) which is characteristic of the large R in the centre. The photo is of Sister Cole who served in the QAIMNS(R) from 1914 to 1919 and was taken prior to her demobilisation. Read more about her service in the QAIMNS First World War page.


A closer photo of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Nursing Service Reserve medal has been kindly sent by the relatives of Nursing Sister Holdgate. Read more about her service in Egypt during World War One on the British Military Hospital Egypt BMH Alexandria page.



There is another example on the Autograph Book World War One page.


If you would like to contribute any info or photographs of the QA Officer Medal then please contact me.


Some QA Officers medals are often available to buy at auction sites like Ebay or at specialist sellers such as the Sally Bosleys Badge Shop at www.sallysbadges.com











Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.






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."

Download.

Buy the Paperback.



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.









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.

Download Now.

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.
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?
Will they all survive to fight another day?
Operation Wrath is a free, fast-paced adventure prequel to the non-stop action The Fence series by military veteran author C.G. Buswell.
Download for free on any device and read today.





This website is not affiliated or endorsed by The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) or the Ministry of Defence.