Looking Back at Service

Heroes Remember

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Looking Back at Service

Transcript

Interviewer: Mrs. Wilson, looking back on your service and that of the Nursing Sisters in general, how would you describe their contribution to Canada's war effort? Well, I certainly hope we helped. I think we had to be there, they needed nurses, our orderlies were very well trained and they did a great job. Interviewer: Did you realize at the time the enormity of what you were doing? I don't think so. Interviewer: You have an appreciation for it now, I suppose. Well yes, I do because it was great experience, we met some very nice people and some of them have remained my friends through the years, and you know, what more can you say than that? Interviewer: How would you say that your service in World War II affected you in later life? Oh, I think it broadened my outlook a little, nurses had a tendency when you trained in a particular hospital to be quite provincial about it, you know, yours was the hospital, you went overseas and you met people from all across the country and they were every bit as good as anybody that had trained in your area.

Description

Ms. Wilson looks back at her service and comments on her appreciation, in hindsight, for her own contribution.

Helen Elizabeth Wilson

Ms. Helen Elizabeth Wilson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1914, and was the only child in her family. After graduating High School in 1931, she waited 2 years to become old enough to enter Nursing training at Winnipeg General Hospital. The training program was for 3 years, ending in 1936. Ms. Wilson joined the Nursing Sisters in December 1939, shortly after Canada declared war. By June 1940, she was shipped overseas to England as a part of No. 5 Canadian General Hospital. Ms. Wilson's unit was shipped to Scotland, then Sicily before she was posted to No. 6 Mobile Hospital back in England. The mobile unit was posted to Normandy in June 1944, and by March 1945 had travelled through Belgium and Holland. In March 1945, Ms. Wilson was posted back to England, and returned to Canada in April 1945.

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