A Brandon nurse in the Great War

A Brandon nurse made a notable contribution in the First World War: the Great War. We citizens today are fortunate we can know about and remember her life and service. Documents from the war have been preserved. The Manitoba Historical Society on its website highlights her biography as a “Memorable Manitoban.” An account of her and her brother’s wartime service — including her letters sent home — appears in a recent edition of the Canadian Legion magazine. And she is remembered by her name on a building and a street in Brandon.

Sarah Persis Johnson was born in Ireland in 1886. When she was 12, her family immigrated to Canada and settled on a farm at Beresford, southwest of Brandon.

Johnson — who went by her middle name, Persis — became a nurse. She graduated from the school of nursing at the Brandon General Hospital and did further studies in Chicago. She was the assistant matron at the hospital when the Great War broke out in 1914.

In the war, women could serve as nursing sisters and Johnson volunteered with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Johnson worked in war hospitals in England and field hospitals and clearing stations in France.

About 3,000 Canadian nursing sisters served during the Great War. Nursing sisters had the rank of lieutenant and received the same pay as men of that rank. Canada was the first country among the Allies to institute that equality. Wartime nursing was tough and dangerous work, but there were always willing volunteers.

“Now I hope all this won’t make you worry,” Johnson wrote to her family back home, “for you can rest assured I’d rather be where I am than anywhere. And bombs etc. don’t bother us at all – they often fall around but often fall wide of the mark and I think it is not intentional when they hit hospitals.”

Towards the end of the war, Johnson was the matron at the No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in northeast France, receiving wounded soldiers from the battle front. As the front advanced, the clearing station followed right behind, using whatever facilities were available. The clearing station stayed busy even after the war ended, caring for the injured and those suffering from the Spanish flu.

“Owing to the serious nature of the cases received, the death rate has been high,” Johnson wrote in the clearing station’s official war diary on Oct. 30, 1918. She recorded that nursing sisters also helped the local civilian population. “A number of French civilian women and children patients who are being cared for in a building nearby by the 14th Can Fld Ambulance are being visited by our sisters twice daily or as often as necessary.”

In November 1918, the clearing station set up in a convent. “This large building had been used by the Germans on their advance in 1914 and again in their retreat in 1918,” was the description in the Canadian war diary. “The good nuns had thoroughly cleaned the place and stacked the German beds and mattresses … The convent made an excellent hospital – good kitchens, baths, laundry and numerous large rooms.”

At the end of the war, Johnson was one of four staff members chosen to represent the clearing station in the Canadian victory march into Mons, Belgium.

For her exemplary wartime service, Johnson was awarded the Royal Red Cross, Second Class. This medal was presented to military nurses; the first was awarded in 1883 to Florence Nightingale.

Home in Brandon after the war, Johnson was honoured again on Oct. 10, 1919 when Edward, Prince of Wales, visited the city. After alighting from his special train, the prince first met with Great War veterans. He then honoured five individuals at a public event at city hall. The location was Eighth and Princess — across from the hotel named after him, the Prince Edward.

“Prince Decorates Four Fighting Men, One Nurse,” the Brandon Sun headline announced. “Investiture in Front of City Hall Witnessed by Thousands.” At the ceremony, the prince awarded Johnson the Royal Red Cross, First Class.

Johnson resumed her civilian career and received more accolades during a long life of service. She died in 1974 at the age of 88. Johnson’s concern for others was illustrated in a letter in the final year of the war.

“Our soldiers are splendid and the salt of the earth,” Johnson wrote to her family back in Beresford. “I do hope you will all be kind and patient and charitable to those who return for we all owe them a debt we can never repay.”

In 1923, S. Persis Johnson married Robert Darrach. Together they became a Brandon philanthropic power couple. The two of them are commemorated by Darrach Hall at Brandon University and by Darrach Avenue and Darrach Bay.