Voluntary Aid Detachment

We knew her originally as an actress and then a suffragette.

But in the Bookbinder of Jericho and now in this book, The German Ward, She's working as a VAD, a Voluntary Aid Detachment, in a Taples army base camp in France during World War I.

So I'd like you to start by telling us what was a VAD? Was it the same as a nurse? No.

So a VAD is an assistant nurse, essentially.

So, you know, a VAD did the work of a personal carer in a nursing home, for instance.

That's the sort of work that they were asked to do.

if they were in the nursing section of the VAD.

They might also work in YMCA huts and entertainments or all sorts of things, but they supported the war effort and they were usually in war hospitals or war base, army bases.