"Tradition and transformation": Recent scholarship in Canadian nursing history

Journal of Canadian Studies, Fall 1999 by Quiney, Linda

The publication of Nobody Ever Wins a War, the Second World War diaries of a Canadian nurse is all the more notable because of their serendipitous discovery. The diaries were recovered from obscurity inside the trunk of nurse Ella Mae Bongard by her son Eric Scott, eight years after her death at age 95. They recount Bongard's experiences with the American Army Nursing Corps from her embarkation in New York in August 1917, through her arrival at a British Base Hospital near the town of Etretat, France and the time spent nursing there, until her return home in February 1919. The editor notes the irony of "a Canadian in the US Army, serving at a British hospital, in France" (ii). The diaries offer stories of personal experiences and observations on topics ranging from the climate, the accommodations and the camaraderie of the wartime nursing experience; they provide a warm and honest view of a young woman's first experience of a wider world in the early twentieth century. Yet, they also offer glimpses into the horrors of the war, the terrible destruction of young men, both allies and enemies, and the back-breaking work and mind-numbing atmosphere of wartime hospital nursing. Nurse Bongard's words reveal the emotional struggle of these unworldly young women, as they come to terms with the courage of the men, accepting the destruction of their bodies in order to satisfy the needs of distant military leaders, no matter how much less glorious the cause than it had once seemed. She also speaks of the delicate balance of relationships between nurses, doctors and patients, at both the personal and professional levels. The editor has generously provided the volume with photographs taken by his mother during her service, as well as mementoes of religious services, social events, base magazines and news clippings. These all contribute to the vitality of Ella Mae Bongard's commentary.

Nobody Ever Wins a War is one of only a few published personal recollections of Canadian nurses in the First World War.2 The careful and sensitive editing of this brief volume barely 70 pages, transmits the war, with its ravages and horrors, across eight decades, with the immediacy of an eyewitness camera. Nurse Bongard's words speak to the strength and professionalism of these young women, their humanity in the tears they shed for the bravery of a dying boy, and the laughter in the preparations for a Christmas concert. While such a volume necessarily records the thoughts and impressions of one woman, it opens a window into the wider experience of military and wartime nursing and is a contribution to the greater understanding of the history of nursing.

Canadian publications like Nobody Ever Wins a War are all the more notable because of their rarity. By contrast British interest in the war has continued unabated over 80 years, with contributions to women's history growing steadily over the past two decades, much of it fuelled by the wealth of archival material preserved in Britain's Imperial War Museum. Eileen Crofton's The Women of Royaumont. A Scottish Women's Hospital on the Western Front, is a recent contribution to the history of British women's medical service during the Great War. Its unexpected references to Canadian women's contributions to the allied war effort direct attention to possible areas of Canadian research.