Page 15 - QARANC Vol 18 No 2 2020

very deep sense of added responsibility and more work, yet also comes pride in a task that is well worthwhile, that of training our future State Registered Nurses’.
We learn from Gazette number 6 that the first other ranks were posted overseas. Private M McAloney headed the list of 22 QAs posted to MELF (Middle East Land Forces). The specific posting location is not given, but there were military hospitals in Tripoli, Fayid and Benghazi amongst others.
In Gazette number 7, the first Class 3 examination successes are recorded. Some 42 privates headed by Private I Bartlett are listed as passing their Nursing Orderly Class 3 examinations in May 1951.
Gazette 6 contained accounts of sporting events. Special mention is made of QA officers and other ranks competing together against the WRAC in the Southern Command swimming trials. Both officers and other ranks are reported as acquitting themselves with zeal and determination, and they managed to win the inter-unit Medley relay race by a narrow margin. The author of the article hoped that the training facilities and sports successes in 1951 would encourage all ranks to join in more competitive sport.
Gazette number 8 reports that QA other ranks became much more active in many endeavours, over and above their commitment to the nursing care of their patients. Catterick Branch reported that all ranks took part in a pageant describing the history of women in the Army from the days of Boudicca to the present day (1951). Another feature of the pageant was to present the notable part that women played in the care of wounded in wartime. The lead role of Florence Nightingale was performed by Lance Corporal E Short with four other junior ranks taking roles to support Florence Nightgale. QA officers took parts of QAIMNS sisters, with Lieutenant A Trimble ‘looking very attractive wearing the original bonnet belonging to Dame Sidney Jane Browne’.
This report of the pageant shows how very quickly and easily other ranks had been integrated and indeed assimilated into the QAs. The Gazette also reported in the same edition that 25 other ranks had been posted to the British Military Hospital in Iserlohn; these were the first to be posted to Europe, and they were quickly followed by a draft to Hamburg. The ‘girls’ (as they were described in the article!) declared that they were favourably
impressed with their new life in the Army and were determined to make a success of their training to become State Registered Nurses.
The first list of other rank promotions appeared in Gazette number 8. According to the author of the article, these young ladies were not the first to be promoted, but no list of previous promotions was available. Private E Woods therefore holds the distinction of being the first QA named in the Gazette on her promotion to Lance Corporal on 5 September 1951. We should remember that she and those promoted with her had been in the Army for less than a year. Another list details those who passed the Nursing Orderly examinations, with Corporal M Carey gaining a distinction in her Class 1 examination. A long list of postings follows on from examination successes with 28 being posted to BAOR and two returning home from the Middle East to be taken on strength of the Depot and Training Establishment (no reason is given).
By 1952, it was clear that training for SRN was continuing well and it was reported that 38 military hospitals (15 in UK and 23 overseas) had been approved by the GNC as training schools (a number that seems difficult
The Gazette QARANC Association 13
Inauguration parade at Queen Alexandra Camp from Gazette Number 4