memorial plaque

Report a Mistake

Object Number 19950037-010
Event 1914-1919 First World War
Affiliation --
Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Preston, Edward Carter
Royal Arsenal
Date Made 1918-1920

Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
Category Communication artifacts
Sub-category Personal symbol
Department Arms and Technology
Museum CWM
Earliest 1918/01/31
Latest 1920/12/31
Inscription (obverse/avers): SHE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR KATHERINE MAUD MACDONALD; E.C.P.
Support frame
Materials Bronze, Wood, Glass, Fibre unidentified
Branch Canadian Army Medical Corps
Service Component Canadian Expeditionary Force
Unit No 1 Canadian General Hospital
Person / Institution Subject, Macdonald, Lieutenant Katherine Maude Mary
Measurements Height 23.5 cm, Width 23.5 cm, Thickness 4.0 cm
Related activity Nursing sister

Caption Nursing Sister Katherine Macdonald
Additional Information Katherine Macdonald, a Canadian nurse, was killed in the bombing of a hospital in Étaples, France, on 18 May 1918. She was 31. Her mother kept all the letters, certificates, and photographs that she received after her daughter died to honour her memory. These documents illustrate many of the official and personal ways in which people struggled to justify the tragedy of a death in wartime.
Caption Bombed Hospital
Additional Information Nursing Sister Katherine MacDonald was killed on 19 May 1918 when German aircraft bombed No. 1 Canadian General Hospital at Étaples, France. Medical personnel and patients died in the blast, while others burned to death in their hospital beds. Of the almost 1,200 staff and patients, 66 were killed and 80 wounded.
Caption Medals Project- MacDonald, Katherine Maude Mary
Additional Information
Katherine Maude Mary Macdonald was born in Brantford, Ontario, on 18 January 1893.

A nurse, Macdonald was appointed a nursing sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) on 9 November 1916. She initially served in the military hospital in Military District No. 1, centred in London, Ontario. Macdonald embarked for England with the CAMC draft on 6 April 1917. Arriving on 16 April 1917, she was first posted to No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital (CSH) in Seaford. On 17 October 1917, she was transferred to No. 14 CSH in Eastbourne. Macdonald was reposted to No. 10 CSH on 19 November 1917. Continuing her jumps to and from hospitals, she was attached to No. 14 CSH when No. 10 CSH proceeded to France on 4 December 1917. Macdonald then joined the No. 10 CSH in France on 28 January 1918. On 8 March 1918, she was transferred to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital (CGH), in Étaples. That was to be her last move. Macdonald was killed when bombs hit No. 1 CGH during a German air raid on Allied positions at Étaples on the night of 19 May 1918. She was one of the 53 Canadian nursing sisters who were killed by enemy fire, died from disease, or drowned during the war.

Katherine Maude Mary Macdonald is buried in Étaples Military Cemetery, in France.