Father and daughter tied by great wars
Medicine Hat First World War veteran John Plummer had no notion when he first signed up in 1914 to go off to war in the 3rd CMR that his decision would inextricably entwine his fate with that of his eldest daughter June Plummer Newton, a future Second World War veteran.
“He seemed kind of scholarly,” remembers granddaughter Joanne Whitelaw. “He read a lot, and he really liked to go for long walks and enjoy nature. He was a very thoughtful, gentle kind of guy. But he had another side — I understand he served as a drill sergeant for part of the war.”
Whitelaw says her grandfather seldom spoke of the war with his children and grandchildren, but often shared his stories with wife Maisie Goldie.
Whitelaw recalls Maisie telling her of one life-altering experience her grandfather had in the war.
“During one of the battles he stepped on a mine in Flanders,” recalls Whitelaw. “As a result he lost three toes and had a laceration on his leg. The doctors actually wanted to amputate his foot at first.
“At the time he went into the hospital it was a nurse named June who said, ‘Please don’t do that. I want to try the saline compresses first.’ They had no antibiotics at the time, and she worked to keep infection away around the clock and, in the end, was able to save his foot.”
Plummer never forgot this extraordinary act of kindness, and when his eldest daughter was born he named her June in honour of the nurse. Young June Plummer would take this story to heart and decide to become a nurse herself when she got older. It was a decision her parents fully supported, helping her move from Medicine Hat after high school to study at the prestigious Royal Jubilee Hospital School of Nursing in Victoria.
When the Second World War broke out it was a foregone conclusion June would enlist with the Canadian Army Medical Corps, says Whitelaw. She first travelled to Basingstoke in England to serve at No.1 Neurological and Plastic Surgery Hospital.
Here she dealt with men horribly mangled and burned, often suffering from severe PTSD. From there she shipped off to Naples to serve as a triage nurse near the front lines for the invasion of Italy with the No. 15 CGH Hospital at Caserta.
Of that time, Plummer Newton later recalled “the horrific wounds, burns and missing limbs, as well as malaria. The nurses applied saline dressings for 24 hours each day. All the patients and staff had yellow faces from the drug they were required to take for yellow fever.”
June would return to England to finish out the war and eventually marry Neil Newton upon her return to Canada. She continued to serve as a nurse in civilian life.
In her golden years, June would often wear her old uniform and speak to groups about her wartime experiences. She died in 2015 at the age of 96.
“The war was not something she wanted to bury and forget,” Whitelaw says. “She was focusing more on the positive that came out of the war. She wanted to remember the soldiers, but she also wanted to remember the good times, and not always be dwelling on the bad things. She was a very special lady.”