The colour blue

A few days ago I posted a photograph of my great-aunt Lily in her uniform as a first world war auxiliary nurse. Some kind person who saw the photograph on Blipfoto has now sent me a copy of another photograph showing Lily together with her nursing colleagues and their patients outside the auxiliary hospital. Isn't Blipfoto amazing!

In the photograph Lily is standing against the stone gatepost on the left. We are used to seeing WWI photographs in sombre sepia tones but the scene was in fact a very colourful one. The nurses' uniforms were blue with a white apron, collar and hat. Many of the soldiers are wearing a uniform of 'hospital blues', sky blue trousers and jacket with broad white lapels, and a white shirt and bright red tie.

It seemed appropriate to set the photograph against a background of blue forget-me-nots. Forget-me-not flowers have a special meaning in Newfoundland and Labrador where they are worn as symbols of remembrance, as we do with red poppies. Before joining Canada in 1949, Newfoundlanders traditionally observed Memorial Day on July 1st each year. This date was chosen as a reminder of the hundreds of casualties suffered by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment on July 1, 1916 at Beaumont-Hamel, France during the Battle of the Somme.