NLM logo

Pictures of NursingPictures of Nursing

Pictures of NursingPictures of Nursing

Digital Gallery Explore

Nurses: On the Go

What do we see when we look closely?

Examine this artist's impression of Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) nurses in transit. The JRCS began training nurses in 1890 at the Red Cross Hospital in Tokyo on a model influenced by western methods of teaching.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.

    • Q1Can you find any references to the Japanese army?
    • A1A flatbed truck, probably requisitioned by the Japanese army, is being used to transport nurses to the battlefield.
    • Q2Can you spot any differences between these Red Cross nurses and other hospital nurses?
    • A2Unlike other hospital nurses in Japan, Red Cross nurses were given authority and full autonomy in the development of their nursing practice.
    • Q3Can you identify any 'nurse soldiers'?
    • A3Nurse soldiers, the equivalent of paramedics, helped Japanese Red Cross nurses look after the wounded on the battlefields.
Eleven female Japanese nurses and two Japanese soldiers inside a Red Cross truck.
1 2 3

戰線ノ花 (Flowers at the front) Japanese Red Cross nurses portrayed as beautiful patriots, ca. 1930s

    • Q1Can you find any references to the Japanese army?
    • A1A flatbed truck, probably requisitioned by the Japanese army, is being used to transport nurses to the battlefield.
    • Q2Can you spot any differences between these Red Cross nurses and other hospital nurses?
    • A2Unlike other hospital nurses in Japan, Red Cross nurses were given authority and full autonomy in the development of their nursing practice.
    • Q3Can you identify any 'nurse soldiers'?
    • A3Nurse soldiers, the equivalent of paramedics, helped Japanese Red Cross nurses look after the wounded on the battlefields.
  • 1Can you find any references to the Japanese army?
  • 2Can you spot any differences between these Red Cross nurses and other hospital nurses?
  • 3Can you identify any 'nurse soldiers'?

Choose another postcard from Nurses: On the Go

  • A White female nurse sitting on top of a donkey and smiling at the viewer.
  • Two White female nurses in a motorcycle with sidecar. Both wear white uniforms under their cloaks.
  • Two White female nurses and a male orderly, tend to a soldier, two orderlies arrive in ambulance.
  • White female nurse in blue, standing holding a bike, looking at viewer.
  • A White female with Red Cross armband riding a horse and carrying a satchel bag over her shoulder.
  • An ambulance drives next to barbed wire, in the background is a woman wrapped in a cloak.
  • Florence Nightingale's ambulance carriage, parked outside of a stone church.
  • A White female nurse in white squats next to a White patient on a stretcher next to an airplane.
  • A White female nurse in dark military overcoat standing next to an automobile, looking at the viewer.