Check It Out: Veterans keep looking forward

By Joan Janzen

It was asked why military men often marry partners from the foreign countries in which they were deployed? The answer: when they finally come home, they get to leave their in-laws thousands of miles away.

As Canadians approach Remembrance Day, they take time to pay tribute to military heroes. One of those was Joan Doree, a military nurse who was born in Saskatoon in 1919 and graduated from St. Paul’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1937. Immediately after graduating, she tried to enlist in the army but wasn’t accepted since the army was looking for experienced nurses. She applied in 1943 and was refused again.

Meanwhile, she worked as a staff nurse in Prelate, Sask. and Lethbridge, AB, and in 1944, at age 25, was finally accepted into the army. She arrived in Liverpool, England, just in time for D-Day when soldiers from Canada landed at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.

There she served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps at the Basingstoke Neurological and Plastic Surgery Hospital in Hampshire, England. The name of the hospital sounds impressive, but the conditions at the burn wards were primitive, supplies were few, and the wounded delivered from the front were many.

The burn unit consisted of huts packed with patients, with only standing room between the rows of cots. Because coal was severely rationed, one bucket-sized stove was the only source of heat. Nevertheless, the patients were grateful to be there. Nurse Doree recalled one soldier comparing the time he spent in the hospital to being wrapped in a cocoon.

She said soldiers helped with other burn patients if they were able, and even the smallest gesture of kindness became a soldier’s treasured memory. The wounded kept pouring in on New Year’s Eve 1945, creating a dismal atmosphere instead of a time of joy and hope for the future. Nurse Doree knew how much Scottish soldiers enjoyed celebrating with a ‘wee dram,’ so she took out a mickey of cheap scotch she had brought along from Canada as an emergency ration. A medical officer contributed two bottles of beer as well as sneaking two double scotch out of the mess bar. This small supply of cheer was divided up amongst forty patients. It was such a small gesture, yet one patient covered in soggy dressings took her hand, kissed it and said, “I’ll never forget this.”

This army nurse never spoke a word about her war experiences. After 70 years of silence, she gave her good friend of 45 years permission to record her wartime memories, which were later posted by CBC. Although seven decades had passed, Nurse Doree cried as she recalled treating a burn patient while he was conscious. When speaking about her patients, she always referred to them as soldier, taking into account the honour due to them for their sacrifice.

Nurse Doree’s friend described her as a fighter for the disadvantaged, sick and for those who cared for them. Her prairie upbringing, an accute sense of right and wrong, and lessons learned as a WWII nurse, combined to make Nurse Doree the woman she lived to be until she died at the age of 97 in 2016. After sharing her memories, she said she was glad that she had taken part in the greatest struggle her generation knew.

A veteran from the First World War expressed similar views. Curley Christian joined the Canadian army and came home as the only surviving quadruple amputee. Both lower legs were removed about five inches below the knee, and both arms were amputated four inches below the elbow.

He was fitted with artificial limbs and designed a prosthetic attachment for writing, which enabled him to write letters to other military amputees and veterans, offering guidance, support and motivation. An article in The Telegram quoted Curley as saying, “If I thought I could grow another set of legs and arms by griping, I would gripe.”

A newspaper clipping told about a letter Curley wrote to a soldier who lost his arms and legs in the Korean War. In the letter, Curley said, “It’s not a question of bravery, but a question of facing the situation. It is a matter of looking forward, not back. Be wary of sympathy, and have patience and a sense of humour. But the greatest secret is to know, and to know for sure, that God will take care of you. What He has done for others, He will do for you.”

It’s a message that resonates throughout the generations of men and women who serve their country and continue to be heroes after they come home.