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Work of VADs

The VADs working under the Joint War Organisation performed a variety of duties.

VAD Nurses with Service men on the terrace of a JWO Convalescent Home

VAD staffing a Mobile Unit, which gave First Aid and help to civilians during the Blitz

Woman ambulance driver getting into a JWO ambulance

At the outbreak of war, thousands of VADs were called on to serve overseas with the Armed Forces. About 4,500 served with the medical services of the Army, 1,500 with the Navy and about 200 with the Air Force.
At home VADs worked in military hospitals. Their work included general nursing duties and administering first aid, as well as clerical and kitchen duties. In addition, VADs trained to become masseuses, dental assistants, dispensers, operating-room assistants, laboratory assistants, radiographers, transfusion orderlies and clerical workers for medical specialists.
The JWO administered auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes in Britain throughout the War. A lot of VAD service was performed in these homes and hospitals.

VAD nurses running a First Aid Post during the Blitz

Contents of a ‘Comforts’ bag sent to a recovering Service man or woman by the JWO

‘Hospital Train’ by E Dunbar (courtesy of the Imperial War Museum). There is a British Red Cross and a St. John Ambulance nurse in the foreground

As most men were military service, women VADs took on roles such as ambulance drivers and welfare officers. They also helped with Civil Defence Services, working in First Aid Posts and running Mobile Units during the Blitz.
Many also volunteered for the Central Hospital Supply Services and Hospital Stores and Comforts, producing articles for prisoners of war, soft toys for children in the War Organisation’s residential nurseries, and collecting and distributing reading material.
VADs also helped with the transport of casualties via ambulance or train. The War Organisation provided four ambulance trains which were staffed with VADs who carried out duties from cooking, cleaning working in the dispensary and nursing.