Collection search - Kerr, Gaetane - Interview

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY / UNIVERSITÉ CONCORDIA: ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

1990-0416

Sound

3 of 3

1985-04-11

Lisa Weintraub (Interviewer)

Interview by Lisa Weintraub of Gaetane Kerr about her experiences during World War II as a Canadian Army Nurse. Kerr recalls her enlistment in 1942 and her subsequent deployment to England where she worked for three years at a British military hospital outside London treating badly wounded survivors from the Dieppe Raid. In 1944 Ker was fransferred to an Allied military hospital in Antwerp, Belgium where constant bombardment and heavy combat often resulted in 500 wounded Axis and Allied troops treated at the hospital daily. Kerr remembers how young Allied soldiers, badly wounded themsleves, would comfort young German soldiers awaiting surgery. "They were only boys". Also discussed is Kerr's next transfer to the 88th British General Hospital in Holland and her return to Belgium at war's end to care for wounded German prisoners of war. Throughout the interview, Kerr reflects on how war affects people both positively and negatively and concludes with her views on war today.

English

Open

with written permission of copyright owner : no donor restrictions~Copyright owner for some material in this accession is Lisa Weintraub.