Medical Units

Page 3 – New Zealand Army Nursing Service

First NZANS nurses leave New Zealand, April 1915
First NZANS nurses leave New Zealand, April 1915

See also main article on the New Zealand Army Nursing Service

The New Zealand Army Nursing Service was created in January 1915 to provide nurses for NZEF hospitals. Its nurses served in hospitals in Egypt from June 1915, and 10 were killed when the transport Marquette was sunk in the Aegean Sea in October.

Some nurses remained in the Middle East during the Sinai and Palestine campaigns, while the rest moved with the New Zealand Division to the Western Front in April 1916. Some served in hospitals near the front lines, while others were based in New Zealand hospitals in England or on hospital ships transporting men home.  

Brooch badge

A red cross enclosed within a silver fern, surmounted by a crown. 

Further reading

McNabb, Sherayl, 100 years: New Zealand military nursing: New Zealand Army Nursing Service – Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps; 1915–2015 (Wairoa: the author, 2015)

Rogers, Anna, While you’re away: New Zealand nurses at war, 1899–1948 (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2003)

How to cite this page

'New Zealand Army Nursing Service', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/medical-units/nz-army-nursing-service, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 22-Mar-2017

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