DONALDSON (PETTY), Gertrude

War
1st World War
Date of Birth
Date Attested
Attested at
Toronto, Ontario
Original Unit
No. 1 Canadian General Hospital - Canadian Army Medical Corp
Rank
Lieutenant
Date of Death
Age at Death
26 years 11 months
Cemetery
Hensall Union Cemetery - Ontario - Canada
Cenotaph
Hensall Cenotaph
Biographical Summary

RANK:                                Nursing Sister (Lieutenant)
MEDICAL UNIT:             No. I Canadian General Hospital,
                                             Canadian Army Medical Corps
RESIDENCE:                     Hensall – Ontario 
DATE OF BIRTH:            August 14, 1892
                                             Sarnia - Ontario
DATE OF DEATH:           July 29, 1919                        26 years     11 months
CEMETERY:                     Hensall Union Cemetery – Hensall – 
                                             County of Huron – Ontario 
HUSBAND:                        Lieutenant John Milton Donaldson – Brandon - Manitoba
PARENTS:                         Mr. and Mrs. George C. Petty – Hensall – Ontario
Occupation:                        Nurse                                    Religion:     Church of England
Enlistment:                         Toronto – February 2, 1916
Enlistment Age:                 23 years     5 months
“Gertie” was a bright and engaging young woman. Following her schooling she trained as a nurse in Stratford and graduated in 1914.
Upon her arrival in England on April 11, 1916, Nursing Sister Petty was posted to the Ontario Military Hospital bases in Orpington in London. She then transferred to Moore Barracks Hospital based in Shorncliffe on June 19, 1916 and a month later was back at the Ontario Military Hospital. Then in early August he was transferred to the The Duke of Connaught’s Canadian Red Cross Hospital based in Taplow, Berkshire. By month end she was back at the Ontario Military Hospital. By the middle of March 1917, Nursing Sister Petty had been posted to the Canadian Army Medical Corps Depot bases at Westenhangor in Kent and on March 18, 1917 she was posted to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital based at Shorncliffe. Early in November of 1917 she was posted to the Canadian Army Medical Corps Depot. In the middle of that month she was on command to No. 16 Canadian General Hospital in Orpington, London.
Nursing Sister Petty returned to Canada on the S.S. Saxonia in November 1917 and was the nurse in charge of the wounded soldiers on that trip.
Nursing Sister Petty then resigned her position and was struck off strength from the Canadian Army Medical Corps on December 14, 1917.
“Gertie” was married to Lieutenant John Milton Donaldson who was from Brandon, Manitoba. They were married in St. Paul’s Church in Toronto. They then moved west to begin their life together.
While she was a nursing sister “Gertie” had contacted tuberculosis and became very ill. The treatment at that time was to be in a sanitarium and the last facility she was a patient in was in Gravenhurst in Ontario. While there she very much wanted to come home to the family farm in Hensall and she and her husband John came back to the farm with a nurse.
She and her husband were at the family farm at the time of her death on July 29, 1919.