Description
Ms. Orford describes two interesting trips she had to London. The first was to attend a physiotherapy conference. The second, and the highlight, was to attend a ceremony in which her future brother-in-law received the Military Cross from King George VI at Buckingham Palace.
Elizabeth Orford
Elizabeth Orford was born on April 14, 1923 in Toronto, Ontario. She chose physiotherapy as a career and graduated from the University of Toronto in June, 1943. Ms. Orford interned at the Children's Memorial Hospital, dealing with victims of polio. When asked to join the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, she accepted, enlisting in Montreal. Ms. Orford first served in Canadian military hospitals, dealing with infantry and flight training injuries. She went overseas, and worked in #9 Canadian hospital, Horsham, then moved to #24 Canadian hospital, Horley. There, Ms. Orford treated many amputees and burn victims. After returning home, she worked at the Christie Street Veterans Hospital in Toronto.
Transcript
All the physios in England, all the Canadian physios were invited to go and observe at the Royal Hampton Hospital where they treated all the amputations and we had a wonderful tour and lecture on treating amputations. Even the actor, Herbert Marshall, of the First World War had been there to get his artificial limb so that was a good experience. Well then I had the great privilege of going with my brother-in-law, my future brother-in-law I should say, when he was decorated by King George VI at Buckingham Palace. It was a great thrill and King George of course came out and stood there and had a medal for each of the, a long line of recipients of people, nurses, one or two nurses getting the Royal Red Cross and I don’t think there was a Victoria Cross there that particular day but there were my future brother-in-law was awarded a military cross which was a very high distinction and it was a tremendous thrill for me to see him shake hands with the King