Queen Alexandra Nursing Corps: WWII

"My Grandmother, Anne Heery (née Coyle) was a matron in field hospitals in Africa during WWII. She served as a member of the Queen Alexandra Nursing Corps in Kenya, Egypt, South Africa & Madagascar. During her service she took care of Italian POW's and had her portrait painted by at least two of them (one dated 22 November 1944). We don't know very much about these men or of her time in service as she did not like speaking about it but she kept a photo album that is held with great pride by us now. One of the portraits hangs in my hallway. Irish members of the British military are often erased from history, for obvious reasons. Thankfully that is changing but when we think of military personnel we automatically think of those men on the front. We rarely think of or acknowledge the women who patched those men up and kept the fight going from just behind (sometimes literally) the front. My Granny was one of them & I believe she deserves to be remembered (she obviously made quite an impression on at least two of her patients!)"