Ruth Echo Littlejohn Genealogy and Family History Notes




Ruth & "Carlo"
Arcola 1917
Thanks to Fern for the above photo.


Thanks to Irene for the above photo.


Thanks to Fern for the above photo.

McIlrath: Thomas & Ruth

Ruth finished high school in Arcola and trained in the nursing profession in Winnipeg General Hospital where she worked for a few years before going to Vancouver General. From there she enlisted in the Medical Corps. and went overseas in 1943. She was on the 'Lady Nelson' Hospital Ship eight months and then transferred to Military Hospital in England and from Italy to Holland, where she was when the war finished. She returned to Canada in 1946. She was supervisor in Shaughnessy Hospital, Vancouver for several years until promoted to Supervisor of Nursing Services. She took an early retirement in September 1978. She married Thomas McIlrath in July 1951 and they live in Burnaby. They have no family.
"Poet's Corner"
Excerpts from page 731


Albert Littlejohn, Melrose apts., has received, word that his daughter. Captain Matron Ruth E. Littlejohn, R.C.A.M.C., with No. 1 Canadian General Hospital, Nijmegen, Holland, has been awarded the Canadain Red Cross Medal, Second Class. The award was included in a recent official list of awards and honors to Canadian Army personnel.

Matron Littlejobn is a former resident of the Arcola district and of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. She saw army nursing service on the west coast in the earlywar days, had eight months' service on board the Lady Nelson, Canadian hospital ship, and eight months with an advanced field hospital in Italy. Matron Littlejohn was transferred from England to head the nursing staff at Nijmegen a short while after the Canadian Army swept into Germany.

A graduate of the Winnipeg General hospital school of nursing, Matron Littlejohn was nursing at the Vancouver General hospital when she enlisted in the R.C.A.M.C. as a nursing sister. It was after her service aboard the Lady Nelson and a short stay at Nanaimo Military hospital that she was promoted to a captaincy. She proceeded overseas in June 1944, as assistant matron with No. 24 Canadian General hospital and transferred to No. 15 C.G.H. as matron in Italy.
The Winnipeg Tribune
Jan 17 1946
Page 10

Ruth (Littlejohn) McIlrath

Graduated from: Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Year: 1936

Military History:

Service: RCAMC

Rank: N/S Captain (Matron)

Served: 1 June 1942 to September 1946

When war broke out in 1939, No. 5 Canadian General Hospital mobilized in Military District No. 10 at Winnipeg. They recruited all the senior nurses from our hospital. In a week or so I was in charge of the maternity department. I was the most experienced person in that department and that wasn't very experienced! When I was told I had to give the obstetrical lectures, I attempted to join the RCAF but was never called. Finally I discovered all remaining positions were frozen and I would not be able to join the service so I resigned and took a position at Vancouver General Hospital.

One day Major Stewart was visiting a patient there. He recognized our cap; our school had a very distinctive cap and he asked if there were any more WGH graduates. He said that No. 16 Canadian General Hospital was recruiting nurses. I wouldn't change my day off so Agnes Frazer and Edith Rourke went to No. 11 Military District in Victoria to apply. They entered my name and the final result was Agnes and I were accepted and, for medical reasons, Edith Rourke was not.

Lt. N/S Ruth (Littlejohn) McIlrath, Arcola, Saskatchewan, quartermaster Captain Fred Chapman, Toronto, Ontario and Lt. N/S Agnes Frazer, Hemiota, Manitoba, aboard hospital ship No. 46 (Lady Nelson)

While I was stationed at Vernon Military Hospital I had a call from Miss Rossiter. There was a requirement for army nurses to staff the new hospital ship Lady Nelson. They gave her certain criteria, they would live in very close quarters so they had be very good friends and they had to be resourceful.

They needed an answer right away. Miss Rossiter said Agnes had told her she would go if I would go. What did I know about ships, I was from the prairie but I said if Agnes goes I will go. We had to catch the train out of Vernon at 4:00 PM and leave from Vancouver the next morning. We were given leave before reporting to Halifax. We were several days in Halifax. The Lady Nelson didn't sail right away; there were inspections, an inauguration and a trial run out of Halifax.

The Lady Nelson, No. 46 as it was known, was Canada's first hospital ship. No. 46 could accommodate more than 500 sick, wounded and convalescent patients in specially constructed swinging berths. There was an operating room, a portable X-ray unit, a modern sterilizing room, a room for minor dressings, a dispensary, a large room for hospital stores, diet kitchens, offices and 12 wards. Meals for ambulatory patients were served in the main salon, which could seat 150 at a time.

A company of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps served aboard and a civilian naval crew handled the ship, whose movements are directed from department of national defence. The ships captain was Capt. George W. Welch of Halifax. The Officer commanding RCAMC personnel aboard was Lieut. Col. A. H. Taylor, M.C., of Goderich, Ontario, a veteran of World War I. Under his command were nine medical officers, 14 nursing sisters (selected to represent every province) and 60 other ranks.

The Lady Nelson was a small ship, made for the Mediterranean. The first crossing in May 1943 was a rough one, many did not show up for meals.

We didn't take any patients with us on the first trip. On return we loaded to half capacity, many were Canadian soldiers waiting to be invalided home. Some were Dieppe casualties. They had old wounds, lung diseases etc. We had a few operations; there were treatments and casts to be changed and burns to be debrided.

Most of our trips were between April and July. We used the time going over to restock our supplies

One of our trips was to Algiers. We had a few hours leave and three of us nurses went ashore to sightsee, leaving one nurse, Yolanda Carr, and a doctor, Major Mavety, 2 i/c, on board. We went to a special bank to change our money and went shopping. We hadn't been away very long when we heard the most awful explosion. The munitions ship tied up next to the Lady Nelson had exploded. Glass shattered in the shops and people ran screaming.

We had been instructed to return immediately to our ship if there was an emergency. We decided we better get back to the ship as fast as we could.

We were miles from the dock, in dress uniform with high collars, hats and purses. It was a very hot, as only North Africa can be, and there was no way back but to walk. We tried to get down to the water front and found, much to our dismay that the streets ran zigzag horizontally, not straight down. It meant we had to walk miles to go a mile.

When we finally got down to the waterfront, we found our ship was gone. She had put out to harbour for safety, but we felt that we simply had to get out to her.

We finally found the commander of the port, Commander Douglas, an American. He said we couldn't go out to our ship, there was no way we could get aboard if we did get there, there was no companionway on that ship. We wouldn't take no for an answer. He finally said that he did have a small yacht but we'd never be able to board the Lady Nelson. He asked if there was a steel ladder on the outside. We assured him there was (there wasn't) and begged him to take us out. Commander Douglas finally said we would go out and have a look but assured us it was impossible for us to board the ship. When we finally got close enough to the Lady Nelson for us to board, we spotted the ladder. It was rope.

I was the first one up, I got my foot on the rung of the ladder and reached the top - it wasn't easy. The other two followed. The ship had been badly damaged inside. Every partition was down, everything had been broken. When we walked into what had been the dining room, I wish you could have seen the look of astonishment on the doctor's face. "What are you doing here, how did you ever get here?" "We haven't climbed up ladders on the farms for nothing," I said. "We've been up lots of ladders before."

It turned out that we were the only ones of the whole ship that got back. All the other staff was waiting on shore when we came in to dock that evening to unload the explosion casualties.

The whole interior of the ship was just devastated. All the medicine cupboards were blown off the wall, bottles were broken. The quartermaster had got boxes of supplies and intravenous equipment up on the deck. He had them set down in the aisle. The one nurse, Lindy Carr and Doctor Mavety just went down the aisles dressing burns and starting IV's from the panniers - boxes of supplies - set down strategically earlier by the QM, Captain Chapman.

On board were 80 to 100 casualties from the dock explosion - most of them with severe burns. We were out there with very little equipment to work with but worked hard taking care of the injured. We were finally allowed to get to the dock about 8:30 that night and delivered our patients to ambulances. They were then moved to civilian hospitals in Algiers. There was the rest of our crew including our matron, waiting to get on the ship.

The next morning we loaded more than 500 military casualties and sailed, as scheduled, for England.

I came off the ship in December 1943 and was assigned to Nanaimo Military Hospital until June 1944. There I was promoted to captain. Edna Rossiter was matron.

Excerpts from The Military Nurses of Canada
http://www.addison.bc.ca/military_nurses/story.htm


Ruth Littlejohn & Thomas McIlrath
Thanks to Eileen for the above photo.

McIlrath, Ruth Echo (nee Littlejohn)

N/S, Captain Matron, RCAMC born June 2, 1913 at Arcola, Saskatchewan to Albert and Ella Littlejohn. Predeceased by her parents, husband Thomas McIlrath Jr., sisters and brother-in-law Myrtle and Hazael Wood, Fledda and Arthur Marsh of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, and nephew Lorne Marsh of Chapleau, Ontario. Ruth leaves to mourn; niece Fern Irwin of Toronto, Ontario, nephew Glenn (Wendy) Wood of Lakefield, Ontario, and niece Marie Marsh of Chapleau, Ontario, greatnephews Scott (Heather) Wood of Moncton, New Brunswick, Dean (Roxann) Wood of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Kent (Donna) Wood of Montreal, Quebec, Brian (Marcie) Marsh of Sudbury, Ontario, Keith (Sally) Marsh of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Christopher (Leslie) Marsh of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, Alan (Lynn) Marsh of Schreiber, Ontario, and Gary (Judy) Marsh of Chapleau, Ontario. Also left to mourn are great-great-nieces and nephews. Ruth graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing in 1936 and worked in Winnipeg area hospitals until 1939. After attempting to enlist the RCAF and discovering her position had been frozen and she would not be able to enlist, she and her classmate and close friend Agnes Ballard (nee Fraser) resigned and left for Vancouver and took positions at the Vancouver General Hospital. With the Second World War continuing, Ruth and her friend Agnes enlisted in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) on June 1, 1942. After several postings to military hospitals in B.C. she and Agnes were selected to serve on the first sailing of the Lady Nelson Hospital Ship. Other postings included 24 CGH Windsor, N.S., 15 CGH Italy and England, and 1 CGH Nijmegen Holland. In 1946 Ruth was in charge of closing several military hospitals in Western Canada. October 1946 saw Ruth discharged from the RCAMC. Shortly after her discharge, Major Rossiter asked Ruth to join her at Shaughnessy Military Hospital. Miss Rossiter later retired and Ruth became Director of Nursing Services at Shaughnessy hospital and retired from that position in 1976. The family would like to thank the many friends who contributed so much to her comfort over the years. Her final months were enhanced by the care of doctors and nurses at the Burnaby Hospital and in her final weeks the special care given by the staff at St. James Cottage Hospice. A private interment service has been held, with a memorial service to be held at 2:00 p.m. on September 21, 2001 at the Canadian Memorial United Church, 1806-W15th Avenue, Vancouver B.C. Friends, colleagues, veterans, and ex service people are invited to attend the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family request donations to be made to the St. James Cottage Hospice, 329 Powell Street, Vancouver, B.C., or a charity of your choice.
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, September 15, 2001
Page G 6

More About Ruth Echo Littlejohn:
Burial: Unknown, Unknown
Family: No children

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