A Letter to Miss Shand

 Davis, Lena Aloa. Letter to Miss Shand. Greece : No 4 Canadian General Hospital , December 26, 1915.

In the letter above we take a step into the life of Canadian nursing sister Lena Aloa Davis as she writes about her time of service in Greece in 1915 at Christmas time. In her letter she recounts the atmosphere at the hospital during the holiday and how there were singers who “marched through the camp singing pretty x-mas carols in the early evening” and even how they had hung up stockings on a tent pole in hops that Santa Claus wouldn’t forget about them while they were away from home. As we read through the letter we get to become witnesses to what Christmas time was like for all of those who were in the camp in Greece. It is clear that the nurses witnessed unimaginable things while they served causing long term psychological conditions, but it is also clear that there were good times and memories for these nurses who served. When remembering their efforts in the war it is important that we not only take note of their service and the things that they had witnessed, but also remember the good times that they had documented when recounting their stories while serving.

Sources:

Rosenthal, L. (2023). “Extremely Depressed with a Hopeless Outlook”: The Experiences of Psychologically Traumatized Nursing Sisters During and After the First World War. War in History, 30(4), 391-407. https://doi-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1177/09683445221133067