Article
ID: CBB591798079

Posted to Germany: Early Cold War Canadian Military Policy and Its Impact on One Family’s Experience (2022)

unapi
Patients Imperialism Colonialism Cold War Soldiers Health care Military policy Hospitals and clinics Medicine and the military; medicine in war 20th century, late Germany

In the summer of 1954, military surgeon Major Robert Elliott was posted to the British Military Hospital in Iserlohn, Germany, to provide medical care to Canadian soldiers, members of the 5,500-strong Canadian Brigade that had earlier been stationed there as part of Canada’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Like many other military families, Elliott’s family had to remain behind until suitable accommodation for them could be found. Based on the letters that Elliott wrote home to his wife during their eight-month separation, this article provides a glimpse of how both old and new Canadian military policies during the early Cold War period had an impact on his work and his family. The Canadian government’s decision to place the Brigade under British control reflected, in part, the long-standing attachment to Britain, but Elliott was often frustrated with how imperial/colonial relations played out in the hospital setting. And the military’s initial reluctance to officially allow dependents to join their loved ones overseas, a new phenomenon in Canadian military life, undoubtedly contributed to his confusion and anxiety over when family quarters would finally be finished.

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Authors & Contributors
Bickford, Andrew
Farquharson, Jennifer
Mant, Madeleine
Fitzpatrick, K. Meghan
Street, Alice
Edward Kaplan
Journals
Medical History
History of Psychiatry
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin Canadienne d'Histoire de la Medecine
Llull: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Publishers
Duke University Press
Cornell University Press
UBC Press
Stanford University Press
Routledge
Brepols
Concepts
Medicine and the military; medicine in war
Health care
Hospitals and clinics
Soldiers
Patients
Medicine and society
People
Manuel I, King of Portugal
Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Sir
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
21st century
Ancient
Places
United States
Labrador (Canada)
Newfoundland (Canada)
Soviet Union
Commonwealth countries
Papua New Guinea
Institutions
United States National Security Council
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; Partial Test Ban Treaty; Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
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