Diane Tyler, who is now aged 89, joined as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment, organised by the British Red Cross Society for first aid and nursing) in 1938 at the tender age of 18 to train up to help out during the Second World War. She was posted out into Germany and France, also at Dunkirk during that famous evacuation, when she accompanied her patients back to Britain in the hospital ships.
This cape is special because it is a most carefully preserved example of its kind. Each nurse received the soldier’s 
badges when they died as mementoes, and they sewed them on the inside of their capes (the red side) as a very private gesture. This particular cape shows badges from English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Polish soldiers, and probably some more that haven’t been recognised, but one of them is Diane’s Princess Mary Nursing Corp badge.
Because the cape is still in such good condition, and considered the best example seen, the family have donated it to the Medical Military Museum at Aldershot, where it will be brought out on display for special exhibitions, otherwise suitably stored to expertly preserve it for future generations to remember.
Alison took photographs of this cape before it was passed on to the Museum, so that there was photographic evidence of it being worn by Jan, Diane’s daughter, even if it is inside out!
Tags: Armitice Day, Dunkirk, hospital ships, Medical Military Museum at Aldershot, mementoes, nurses, nursing capes, Princess Mary Nursing Corp, second world war, soldier's badges, VADs
Lovely to see the past put into picture!
So many memories must be in that one cape!
Teresa, x
This, like other nursing sister’s capes, is a remarkable piece of social, nursing and military history. As Alison has said, no two are identical and they represent the personal experiences of nursing staff across the British armed forces of the Second World War. As a lifetime collector of the formation signs (colloquially known as “flashes”) sewn on the cape, I was fascinated by its first public viewing for decades. I asked Alison if she could ask Diane Tyler if, as the owner, she would be prepared for me – the collector – to see some high definition images of the cape. Thanks to kindness and help of three ladies, Alison, Diane and her daughter, I have those images. Each time I look at them I’ll be reminded of Diane Tyler and her experiences in the Second World War in caring for the wounded and dying.
My sincere thanks you all. I’m very grateful for the trouble that you took on my behalf.