HC Deb 11 February 1920 vol 125 cc69-70W
Brigadier-General CROFT

asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the fact that a great many trained nurses who served as nursing sisters on active service continuously from August, 1914, onwards have now been released from service without any official expression of gratitude for their services; whether he is aware that several cases of nurses who were recommended in the strongest terms by their commanding officers for the Royal Red Cross, First Class, in recognition of exceptional services in the actual war zone, have been passed over, whilst nurses in many cases untrained, and who never left Home duty, have received this honour; and whether, in view of these facts, he will cause inquiry to be made with a view to securing justice to those who have been strongly recommended for this honour.

Mr. CHURCHILL

All trained nurses who served under the War Office as nursing sisters on active service have, on being demobilised, received an official letter conveying thanks for their services. Recommendations for the award of the Royal Red Cross, whether at home or abroad, are in all cases made by the General Officer Commanding under whom the person recommended has served, and so far as I am aware there have been no eases in which nurses serving abroad, who have been so recommended, have not been given the decoration.