County of Brant Public Library Digital Collections

Mary Miller Photo

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Photographs

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This is a black and white photograph of Mary Miller circa 1940 in her Canadian Army Medical Corps uniform. She is standing outdoors in front of a wooden fence, with a field and trees in the background. Mary Miller was the seventh of eight children of Franklin and Ella Miller.

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She was born in 1916 in Burford, Brant, Ontario. She worked as a physiotherapist at the Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario, in particular, treating polio patients. In 1939 or 1940, she enlisted as a nurse in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. She served overseas (possibly in August 1942), treating men at the front in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Holland during the Second World War. Her medical knowledge and experience assisted her in the field, as she provided exercises to convalescing soldiers. In July 1945, she returned to Canada, and continued working as a physiotherapist. For her military service, she was awarded the France & Germany Star, Defence Medal, and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and Clasp. Mary passed away in 1991.

The Canadian Army Medical Corps typically served one thousand patients at a time. The Nursing Sisters who served in these units came to be nicknamed the “bluebirds” or “blue Angels,” because of their blue uniforms and white veils.

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