Nurse or not? The Voluntary Aid Detachment and Australian Army Medical Women’s Service during the Second World War

Some 8500 women served in the Australian Army with the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) and then the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service (AAMWS) during the Second World War. Their story has often been omitted from histories of Australia in the war, largely because of difficulties in differentiating the servicewomen working in an auxiliary service to support nursing staff from the Australian Army Nursing Service. 

While clear distinctions existed, such as their training, technical acumen, uniform, and the power of military hierarchy, many women serving in the VAD/AAMWS came to assume – and were often expected to assume – the role of nurse trainees in military hospitals.

Image: The Duke of Gloucester inspecting a parade of VAD/AAMWS, 1945 (Australian Army Museum of Western Australia).