Japanese nurses served in World War I in France

[No one]

Dear Gordon Craig,

 

You wrote in another message that "Collecting articles to nurses is one of my main focuses.  Not just military nurses but nurses in general who served in hospitals for the war wounded."

 

I don't know if you know, but Japanese nurses served in World War I in France.

 

Here are some articles:

 

Médecins de la Grande Guerre - Les infirmières japonaises au chevet des soldats hospitalisés à Paris et à Netley. (1914-1918.be)

 

L’hôpital japonais de Paris (1915-1916) - Hôpitauxmilitairesguerre1418 - Santé Guerre (overblog.com)

 

Mission de la Croix-Rouge Japonaise, Hôpital, no 4 bis: infirmieres avec pansements de visite - Digital Collections - National Library of Medicine (nih.gov)

 

Hôpital de la croix rouge japonaise Banque d'images noir et blanc - Alamy (alamyimages.fr)

 

Mission de la Croix Rouge Japonaise, Hopital Bénévole 4 bis, Inauguration de l'hopital avril 1915:

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[Gordon Craig]

No one,

Thanks for drawing my attention to this, and other sources, on nurses from Japan serving in WWI.  I will read it with interest.  I have a small collection of Japanese medals, several from the Japanese Red Cross, and I find this thread very interesting.

Regards,

Gordon

[No one]

Dear Gordon Craig,

 

You are welcome. It's a very interesting story.

 

A few years back there was a documentary on this topic on NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

I found a short biography of two nurses at the Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing.

 

特別・企画展 | 日本赤十字看護大学史料室 (redcross-nursing-history.jp)

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

Edited April 20, 2024 by No one

[Gordon Craig]

Interesting listing of Japanese nurses who had been awarded the Florence Nightingale medal.  Thanks for posting them.  I have bid on a Florence Nightingale medal a few times but never successfully.

Regards,

 

Gordon 

[TracA]

No One,

 

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I will have to visit the website.

 

All the best,

 

Tracy

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

Miss Ume Yuasa also got a medal in 1915 from the "Société Franco-Japonaise de Paris".

 

 

- The Franco-Japanese Society was founded on September 16, 1900 in Paris; its head office was located at the Hôtel des Sociétés Savantes, 28, rue Serpente in Paris.
Émile Bertin was the 1st President and co-founder with Émile Guimet, the Vice-President, of the Franco-Japanese Society of Paris in 1900, which he chaired for more than twenty years, until his death.

The Honorary President was Mr. Boissonnade de Fontarabie, former Legal Advisor to the Japanese Government.

Statutes: Purpose (excerpt) - "Article 1: The Franco-Japanese Society of Paris is a center where all the questions that Japanese people are concerned with in any capacity: artists, industrialists, traders, amateurs and scholars are addressed. It promotes the development of social relations between the French and the Japanese, by offering French residents and travelers in Japan, and Japanese in France, the assistance they need for their studies and business."

 

Louis-Émile Bertin - Wikipedia

Émile Étienne Guimet - Wikipedia

Guimet Museum - Wikipedia

Gustave Boissonade - Wikipedia

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

Thank you for your interest in this article.

 

I found two articles at GALLICA (Bibliothèque Nationale de France / 'National Library of France'; BnF):

 

The first:

 

 

-pages 128~130 "Inauguration de l'Ambulance Japonaise":

 

Bulletin de la Société franco-japonaise de Paris | 1914-07-01 | Gallica (bnf.fr)

 

 

The second:

 

 

-pages 77~81 "Depart de Paris de l'Ambulance de la Croix Rouge Japonaise"

 

Bulletin de la Société franco-japonaise de Paris | 1916-01-01 | Gallica (bnf.fr)

 

Two extracts from the text:

 

(1 "Legion of Honnor officer", 3 "Legion of Honnor knight" and 20 "Epidemic Medal (for the Ministry of War)"

 

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[No one]

Dear Gentlemen,

 

This is the "médaille des épidemies". France - Épidémies (medailles1914-1918.fr)

 

It's possible that the Japanese nurses were among the first to acquire it.

 

I quote "(le premier contingent de médailles date de 1915) / (the first contingent of medals dates from 1915)".

 

Yours sincerely,

No one

[Gordon Craig]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

In English translation of the above document.

Regards,

Gordon

 

Epidemics Medal under the Ministry of War

It was initially created in March 1885 to reward dedication during epidemics. It was in April 1892 that the Ministry of War received authorization to award it to soldiers and personnel who had particularly distinguished themselves during epidemics affecting the army. This would be the case during the First World War, its award rewarding all those, French and foreign, military or civilian personnel, who had invested themselves in favor of sick or wounded soldiers between 1914 (the first contingent of medals dates from 1915) and the beginning of the 1920s... The model of the Ministry of War has an obverse identical (effigy of the winged Republic by the engraver Hubert Ponscarme, surrounded by the words "French Republic" ) to that of the Ministries of the Interior (including the specific model for Algeria ) , Colonies and Hygiene . The reverse bears the words "Ministry of War and Devotion - Epidemics" surrounding a central cartouche surmounted by a caduceus and a palm. This cartouche is intended to receive (specific embossed strike) the name of the recipient and the year of award . With a module of 27mm, this medal has 4 levels (bronze, silver, vermeil and gold) and it is suspended from a 30mm wide tricolor ribbon bearing a rosette for the 2 highest levels. It was issued with a diploma. There is also an award lower than the bronze level, the testimony of satisfaction, which does not include a medal.

Diploma for a silver medal awarded in May 1918 to a nurse. The reason for the award completes the information found in the official journal as proven by this extract from the Official Journal of June 6, 1918 :

Vermilion rung , reverse

Vermilion rung , has verses

An example of the (blue) case for the silver-gilt medal

Details of the award (JO of June 23, 1917 ) "Mr. Paul BERTOYE, 2nd class assistant physician at the complementary hospital 22 in Villers-Cotterêts".

Another example (JO of October 21, 1919) "Mrs. Adèle Marie BUFFA, née LACAZE, director of auxiliary hospital no. 105 in Montauban".

Silver echelon , reverse. Title block assignment: Mr. G. RAFFIER 191 5 ( OJ of December 8, 1915 ) "Mr. Gaston RAFFIER, first-class medical aide-major of the colonial troops. French military medical mission in Serbia" .

Bronze echelon , reverse. Title block assignment: Mr. P. GUIRAL 191 7 (details of the attribution not found in the Official Journal)

An example of the (green) case for the silver medal

An example of the red case) for the bronze medal

[No one]

Dear Gordon Craig,

 

Thank you for this additional information and for the time spent researching.

 

Yours sincerely,

No one