Australian and New Zealand Forces in Vietnam 1962 - 1972 MH16976

The Royal New Zealand Nursing Corps (RNZNC) is a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

. The corps was initially formed in 1915 from civilian nurses who volunteered for service during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and who were granted honorary officer ranks. A Nursing Reserve had been formed as part of the New Zealand Medical Corps on 14 May 1908. Today, the corps is an officer-only corps that consists of commissioned officers who are employed for their specialist skills and knowledge as registered nurses, the corps works in conjunction with the

Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps The Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps (RNZAMC) is a corps of the New Zealand Army, the land branch of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF). The Medical Corps provides for the medical needs of soldiers, such as diagnosing and treating diseases ...

and the

Royal New Zealand Dental Corps The Royal New Zealand Dental Corps (RNZDC) is a corps of the New Zealand Army. The corps was initially formed on 7 November 1915 as the ''New Zealand Dental Corps'' under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hunter, as part of New Zealand's ...

to promote "health and disease prevention" and to provide "care for the wounded and sick". Nursing Officers in the New Zealand Army can be employed broadly in primary health,

perioperative The perioperative period is the time period of a patient's surgical procedure. It commonly includes ward admission, anesthesia, surgery, and recovery. Perioperative may refer to the three phases of surgery: preoperative, intraoperative, and posto ...

, surgical or emergency settings, which can see RNZNC personnel providing health services in a garrison health centre, in a civilian practice, or deployed on operations. Up until 1945, the corps was a part-time only formation with personnel being called up for full time service during times of war only. However, since then the RNZNC has developed into a corps of both Regular and Reserve personnel. Throughout the corps' history, personnel have been deployed to various operational theatres. Aside from service during World War I and World War II, the corps has deployed personnel support to operations during the Vietnam War, and more recently to peacekeeping operations such as those in Bosnia and Somalia in the 1990s, the 1991 Gulf War, the East Timor intervention, Bougainville, Iraq and Afghanistan.

New Zealand Nurses: Boer War

New Zealand Nurses: Samoan Expeditionary Forces 1914

*Bertha Grace Nurse *Fanny Wislon *Vida Mary Katie MacLean *Louise Alexa McNie *Evelyn Gertrude Brooke *Louise Elizabeth Brandon *Ida Grace Willis

Matrons-in-Chief 1915–1957

*MiC Hester Maclean RRC 7 August 1910 – 9 November 1923 *MiC Jessie Bicknell ARRC 10 November 1923 – 31 March 1931 *MiC Fanny Wilson RRC 7 May 1931 – 4 July 1933 *MiC Ida Grace Willis OBE, ARRC, ED 5 July 1933 – 22 February 1946 *MiC Eva C, Mackay OBE, RRC, ED 23 February 1946 – 14 August 1954 *MiC Doris I. Brown (Milne) RRC, ED 15 August 1954 – 31 December 1957

Principals Matrons 1958–1977

*PM Christina McDonald RRC 1 April 1958 – 21 August 1964 *PM Mary W. Wilson RRC 22 August 1964 – 29 April 1970 *PM Lois Jones ARRC 29 April 1970 – 17 May 1977

Lieutenant Colonels 1977–1991

*Lt Col Helen J. Macann RRC 18 May 1977 – 14 July 1983 *Lt Col Noeline J. Taylor ARRC 14 July 1983 – 1 March 1985 *Lt Col THursa M. Kennedy RRC 1 March 1985 – 3 June 1991

Chief Nursing Officer 1991–Current

*Lt Col Daphne M. Shaw RRC 1 July 1991 – 1 January 1997 *Lt Col Diane S. Swap MNZM 2 January 1997 – 23 June 2002 *Lt Col Gerar P. Wood CStJ 24 June 2002 – 12 December 2007 *Lt Col Maree K. Sheard 13 December 2007 – 10 December 2012 *Lt Col Lee M. Turner 10 December 2012– *Lt Col Michelle Williams

New Zealand Nurses: Boer War

New Zealand Nurses: Samoan Expeditionary Forces 1914

Matrons-in-Chief 1915–1957

Principals Matrons 1958–1977

Lieutenant Colonels 1977–1991

Chief Nursing Officer 1991–Current

Order of precedence

References

Further reading