Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), North West Europe, 1942-1945

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), North West Europe, 1942-1945

(Provincial Archives of Alberta Photo)

RCAMC Alligator ambulance, transporting wounded during the Battle of the Scheldt, Netherlands, 1944.

(New Brunswick Military History Museum Collection, Author Photos)

The badge of the RCAMC consists of the rod of Asclepius (a serpent entwined around a staff) surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves, surmounted by the Royal Crown, with the name "Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps" on a scroll below. There are two versions of RCAMC badges. The snake faces to the left for male staff (King's crown), and to the right (Queen's crown) for female staff.

Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC)

No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Field Transfusion Units

No. 3, 9, 10, 11, and 16 Field Dressing Stations

No. 1 Mobile Hygiene Laboratory

No. 1 Advanced Depot Medical Stores

No. 14 Field Hygiene Section

No. 4 Field Surgical Unit

No. 6 Casualty Clearing Station

A Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) is a military medical facility behind the front lines that is used to treat wounded soldiers. A CCS would usually be located just beyond the range of enemy artillery and often near transportation facilities (e.g., a railway). The CCS receives battlefield casualties from regimental aid posts located in the combat zone. Casualties that cannot be adequately treated in the CCS are stabilized there before being transported to a field hospital or military hospital.

RCAMC, Mediterranean Theatre, 1943-1945

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599960)

Nursing Sisters of No. 15 General Hospital, (1200 beds), Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, El Arrouch, Algeria, 15 July 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205979)

Nursing Sister D. Mick reading patient's chart during rounds of a ward at No. 15 General Hospital, RCAMC, "Cork Forest" [Forêt de liège] in Phillippeville, Algeria in August 1943.

The staff of No. 15 General Hospital disembarked at Philippeville on 11 July 1943. On the 13th, an advance party proceeded to the site selected for the hospital near El Arrouch, approximately 21 miles inland from Philippeville. The remaining personnel followed within a few days, except the nursing sisters, who were left behind to await the provision of accommodation. Equipment and stores were unloaded at Bone, and reached the unit with little delay. The site at El Arrouch was anything but ideal. On a steep slope, in an undulating valley about six miles long by four miles wide, it was exposed throughout the day to the direct rays of the tropical sun. The soil was clay, so that in the rainy season poor drainage and deep mud could be anticipated. Malaria of the malignant type was prevalent in the area. The distance from No. 1 Canadian Convalescent Depot and No. 1 Canadian Reinforcement Depot, both located along the coast near Philippeville, was unsatisfactory from the administrative standpoint. The commanding officer was strongly of the opinion that his unit had been located most disadvantageously, as it appeared to him that there were almost ideal hospital sites potentially available along the coast. This was passed on to Lieutenant-General McNaughton, then visiting North Africa, who took the matter up with senior British officers during a conference held at Headquarters Tunis District on 17 July. He was promised that the situation would be reviewed. Unfortunately no alternative site was ever found.

Before the unit could function at all, a tented hospital had to be erected literally from the ground up. There had been a minimum of preparatory work: a central road had been excavated; water, derived from the main Philippeville source, had been piped in and a 7200 gallon storage tank erected; a second tank was in the course of construction; one cookhouse had been entirely completed, two others partially; of the cement floors required, only one had been laid. The British construction plans called for a wide dispersal of single hospital tents, which the unit considered impracticable with the existing sanitary facilities and in the absence of roads. New plans had consequently to be prepared on the spot. Nevertheless, by dint of strenuous efforts in temperatures that hovered around the 100 degree mark, it proved possible to accept patients on 24 July, only 12 days after the unit landed in North Africa. Much of the work to be done was an engineering responsibility, and beyond the capacity of unit personnel. Inevitably, therefore, it was some considerable time after the first patients arrived before all facilities desirable in a hospital became available. Electricity, supplied by a generator of a nearby British hospital, came into limited use on 27 July. The operating room was completed on the 28th, but the cement floor was of such poor quality that it had subsequently to be re-laid. Laboratory and x-ray facilities were not in full operation until 8 August. Electric lighting became available throughout the hospital only on the 17th. It was ten days later, after repeated complaints to higher authority, before the installation of a proper drainage system was begun. It was still later before the remaining engineer projects were under-taken, notably a road system. Despite these construction difficulties and the ravages of a severe wind storm or "sirocco", which early in August blew down half the tents, the hospital handled a large number of patients from 24 July onwards. Every effort was made to have all Canadians arriving in the area admitted directly. The difficulty was to secure advance information as to the number of Canadian patients aboard ambulance trains reaching Philippeville from the forward hospital area in Tunisia. As a result, many Canadians were admitted initially to a British hospital and later transferred; conversely, many British patients were admitted to the Canadian installation. It was not until the latter part of August, when some hospital ships began to dock at Philippeville, that this situation materially improved. On 31 July there were 347 patients on hand, of which only 61 were Canadian. On 31 August the total number of patients was 1013, and on the previous day alone 220 Canadians had been admitted, mostly malaria convalescents transferred on the hospitalship Dorsetshire from No. 5 General Hospital (600 beds). Altogether, from the date of its opening to 31 August, No. 15 admitted a total of 2226 patients, of which 1386 were Canadian.*Despite the initial forebodings, malaria did not in fact prove a serious menace either to the efficient functioning of the hospital or to the health of the staff and patients. This was due primarily to the introduction of efficient control measures. In addition to the normal personal precautions insisted upon, some dozen members of the unit, assisted by more than three times that number of Arabs, were permanently employed in locating and destroying mosquito breeding areas. Although there were numerous malaria patients in hospital, the number of cases among unit personnel was negligible.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3210384)

Personnel of a Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) evacuating "casualties" during a training exercise with the Home Guard, Lingfield, England, 16 June 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3210390)

Private H. Roach, a simulated casualty, receives treatment in the operating theatre of No. 5 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Lingfield, England, June 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3582891)

RCAMC Captain conducting a medical examination in Canada, 2-11 September 1942.

RCAMC NW Europe, 1944-1945

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397090)

Wounded Canadian soldiers awaiting transfer to a Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC.) on D-Day, Courseulles-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3205135)

North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment ambulance jeep being loaded onto an amphibious Buffalo AFV as the 8th Brigade embarks for a bridgehead, 11 Oct 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524434)

Private H. Hackett of the 18th Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), offers a drink to Sapper K.J. Pratt, Bourgtheroulde, France, 26 August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524807)

Captain Earl Bourbonnais giving plasma to casualty, assisted by Sergeant T.F. McFeat and Private J. Viner, 9 C.I.B., 23 Field Ambulance, Basly, France, 27 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3226396)

Ambulance delivering a wounded soldier of Le Régiment de la Chaudière to the 14th Light Field Ambulance unit, RAMC, 8 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3226397)

Ambulance delivering a wounded soldier of Le Régiment de la Chaudière to the 14th Light Field Ambulance unit, RAMC, 8 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, PA-177595)

Wounded soliders are loaded into a field ambulance at Keppeln, Germany, 27 Feb 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397098)

Personnel of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) loading a casualty into a Willys MB ambulance jeep, and a Ram Kangaroo APC in the background, Sonsbeck, Germany, 6 March 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397653)

Portable water filter is being tested by Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) members, Falaise, France, 16 August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194286)

Anesthetist Captain Shirley Fleming, No. 20 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), Leavesden, England, July 1944

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599972)

Minor surgery taking place at No. 6 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), England, 11 October 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3592050)

Injured paratroopers of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion recuperating at No. 11 Canadian General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), Taplow, England, June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599971)

Nursing Sisters of No. 6 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), England, 11 October 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3524623)

Nursing sisters of No.5 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), led by Captain M.M. Kellough, taking part in an Easter church parade, Oss, Netherlands, 1 April 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599961)

Nursing Sisters outside the operating room tent of No.2 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), England, November 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395934)

Nursing Sisters of No. 14 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, who survived the sinking of S.S. Santa Elena, landing at Naples, Italy, 8 November 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599965)

Nursing Sister Elaine Wright, No. 1 General Hospital, (600 beds), Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Andria, Italy, February 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3206360)

Nursing Sister Constance Browne of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) sitting in a jeep, Leonforte, Italy, 7 August 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397094)

Evacuation of wounded by Douglas Dakota aircraft, France, 16 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191691)

Nursing sisters of No. 10 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, having a cup of tea upon arriving at Arromanches, France, 23 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3391694)

An ambulance jeep of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), Vaucelles, France, 20 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194289)

Nursing sisters of No. 10 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Arromanches, France, 23 July 1944,

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3382765)

Warrant Officer Mary E. Macdonald (centre) at work in operating room of No. 12 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Bruges, Belgium, 10 December 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599970)

Nursing sister sterilizing instruments in the operating room of No.6 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), England, 11 October 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3599968)

Nursing sister storing supplies, No.6 Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), England, 11 October 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3579992)

The first nursing sisters of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) to land in France after D-Day, 17 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194288)

Nursing Sisters of No. 10 General Hospital, RCAMC, Normandy, France, 23 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3201221)

Red Cross nurses giving cigarettes and reading materials to convalescing Canadian soldiers at No. 8 General Hospital, (600 beds), Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Bayeux, France, 25 August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395922)

Nursing sisters of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.) examining the wreckage of a German tank in the Normandy bridgehead, France, 17 July 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3198847)

Staff of the Neuropsychiatric Wing, No. 10 General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Bayeux, France, 2 August 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4233321)

Her Majesty's Hospital Ship Letitia arriving at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, ca 1944.  The Royal Canadian Navy had two hospital ships, the Letitia and the Lady Nelson. Both were staffed by Army Nursing Sisters.  The RCN Nursing Sisters served on naval bases on both coasts of Canada, in Newfoundland, and at HMCS Niobe, Scotland.

This was the second HMHS Letitia, an ocean liner built in Scotland for service with the Anchor-Donaldson Line. At the start of the Second World War in September 1939, the British Admiralty requisitioned the ship for service and had it converted to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. She was withdrawn from this service in 1941 to become a troop ship. HMHS Letitia was badly damaged in 1943. After being repaired, HMHS Letitia was used as a hospital ship in Canada. She carried 200 medical personnel and had the capacity for 1,000 patients. She was returned to civilian service in 1946 after the end of the war.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3397091)

Canadian soldiers who were wounded in the Normandy beachhead being carried off a Landing Ship Tank (LST), Southampton, England, 8 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3203237)

Wounded Canadian soldiers awaiting evacuation to a Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) in the Normandy beachhead, France, 6 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 397090)

Wounded Canadian soldiers awaiting evacuation to a Casualty Clearing Station of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) on D-Day, Courseulles-sur-Mer, in the Normandy beachhead, France, 6 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395947)

Pte. F. Madore with Nursing Sister M.F. Giles waiting for an air-evacuation from an RCAF Spitfire fighter base, Normandy, France, 16 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3395950)

Lieutenant B. Rankin, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), administering a blood transfusion to a wounded soldier, Montreuil, France, 10 September 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3192198)

Lance-Corporal W.J. Curtis of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) bandages the burnt leg of a French boy whose brother looks on, Boissons, France, 19 June 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3514986)

CWAC Lieutenant Marie Arnott (left) discussing a convoy route with Sergeant Jean Metcalfe, both of No. 3 Section, Motor Ambulance Convoy, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (RCASC), Farnborough, England, 12 January 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3194344)

Privates G.M. Godere and H. Couture administering tetanus anti-toxin to Private W.R. Van Horne of the Calgary Highlanders at the Casualty Clearing Post of the 18th Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), near the causeway between Beveland and Walcheren, Netherlands, 1 November 1944.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3578045)

Doctors with patient, No. 1  Field Dressing Station, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), England, 8 June 1943.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3191797)

H.M. Queen Elizabeth, (the Queen Mother) accompanied by Matron Agnes C. Neill, talking with personnel of No. 15 Canadian General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC), Bramshott, England, 17 March 1941.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo MIKAN No. 3720932)

Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) visiting wounded Private R.J. Savoy of the North Shore Regiment, 1944.

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Post-war RCAMC

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 4976245)

Germany. Sergeant David Laurie, a member of the 1st Field Ambulance, RCAMC, on exercise in 1960.