Panel 7

  1. Panel – NURSES OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK RED CROSS
    …………IN GREAT BRITAIN 1939–1945
  2. Panel – Assistance to compatriots
  3. Panel – Nursing Department and nursing courses
  4. Panel – S.R.N. – State Registered Nurse
  5. Panel – Location of Czechoslovak nurses
  6. Panel – CRC nurse uniforms
  7. Panel – Components of the uniform of Emília Součková
  8. Panel – Medical expeditions
  9. Panel – Marie Rechtová
  10. Panel – Period Press


Components of the uniform of Emília Součková

Emílie Součková was an auxiliary nurse of the CRC in exile. She was born as Součková on November 15, 1908 in Holešín. After leaving the burgher school, she extended her qualification to courses in girls‘ education and home economics – sewing, cooking and child care. In February 1939, she went to England, where she worked as an assistant in an English family. After an appeal to the Czechoslovaks on the English radio in September 1939, she applied at the Czechoslovak Embassy. She attended the first Czechoslovak nursing course and then the BRC course with excellent results. From January 1941 to March 1942, she worked as a auxiliary nurse in St. Charles Hospital in London. She was later transferred to the CRC outpatient clinic, where she worked for a year at the URL department and then for a few months in the dental office. From March 1943 until her return to Czechoslovakia in August 1945, she was assigned as a school nurse at the Czechoslovak State School in Malpas, Wales. She was later promoted to head nurse. After the war, she worked in a children’s home in Liběchov near Mělník and married, taking the name Pekařová. All depicted parts come from the author’s private collection.

Illustration:

  • Badge of CRC auxiliary nurses. CZECHOSLOVAK (RED CROSS) AUX. (Auxiliary) NURSE.
  • Dark blue dress storm cap – type ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service). The group discussing the form of a dress uniform also considered the design of the ATS hat.***CHECK AČK Finally, the honorary chair Hana Benešová, on whom the decision was left, chose this cap design.
  • Detail of sleeve badges: “Homemakers” CZECHOSLOVAKIA and the Red Cross. The nurses also sewed the same on the tunic of their dress uniforms.
  • Dark blue overcoat.
  • The nurse received one red narrow service stripe on the left sleeve after one year of service. After five years of service, there was supposed to be one red wider service stripe.
  • Label of the overcoat manufacturer. The company Austin Reed of Regent Street started sewing CRC dress uniforms in 1944.
  • Bakelite buttons of CRC dress uniforms. The buttons were modeled after the American Red Cross, which differed only in the grid background and the word AMERICAN instead of CZECHOSLOVAK.