The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units were during World War I and World War II .

Men and women could volunteer to become volunteers in the voluntary aid detachments (VADs). Over time, both the detachments (groups of people) and the volunteers themselves came to be known as VADs. The 1910 regulations for the composition of a VAD were: Women: one commandant (man or woman) one quartermaster (man or woman)

Initially trained in providing meals and nursing the wounded, the number of V.A.D. workers swelled with the start of World War I to 40,000 members across 1,800 detachments. They provided a variety of crucial wartime services including nursing assistants, ambulance drivers, chefs and administration roles.

90,000 ordinary men and women volunteered with the Red Cross during WW1 in hospitals, driving ambulances, and more. The Red Cross set up field hospitals, and provided vital medical care to wounded soldiers at home and abroad. Find useful resources for First World War researchers and read more about British Red Cross involvement during WW1.

Over 90,000 volunteers worked for the British Red Cross during the First World War. Known as 'Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs)', they were of vital importance in providing humanitarian aid to naval and military forces during the war at home and abroad.

The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was formed during WWI order to provide additional nursing care for military personnel. Formed in 1909 with the help of the Red Cross and Order of St. John, it quickly grew in response to demand so that by the summer of 1914, there were 2,500 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Britain, with 74,000 volunteer members ...

2024年2月1日 · Recording the service of ambulance drivers, nurses, stretcher bearers, knitters and cooks, the collection is an exceptional source of historical information about non-military activity at this time. Please visit RedCross.org<https://vad.redcross.org.uk/> to search the first tranche of 30,000 cards.

2022年3月15日 · The primary role of a Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) member was that of nursing orderly in hospitals, carrying out menial but essential tasks - scrubbing floors, sweeping, dusting and cleaning bathrooms and other areas, dealing with bedpans, and washing patients.

All voluntary aid detachment members (who themselves came to be known simply as 'VADs') were trained in first aid and nursing. Within twelve months of the scheme's launch, they numbered well over 6,000. Membership grew still further on the outbreak of war in 1914.

2014年5月23日 · By the summer of 1914 there were over 2,500 Voluntary Aid Detachments in Britain. Each individual volunteer was called a ‘Detachment’, or simply a VAD. Of the 90,000 VAD’s who served in World War One, two-thirds were women and girls, mainly from well educated and ‘middle class’ backgrounds.