Voluntary Aid Detachment Ambulance Driver, World War One.
Women did not restrict their contribution to the home front. The Voluntary Aid Detachment, for instance, was made up of middle-class women, trained by the St. John's Ambulance for a short period before being sent overseas. There they performed some of the nurses' functions and drove medical vehicles. Their presence recalled the older nursing tradition of volunteer and in expert service. As such it antagonized many of Canada's professionally trained nurses who also served overseas. Whatever the fears of the nursing profession, Canadians as a whole and the VADs as a group believed the Detachment to be a valuable contribution to women's war effort. As such it helped to demonstrate, to some at least, that women deserved the franchise.
