110831-0014 - WWI Red Cross Nurses

A contingent of 22 Japanese Red Cross nurses, two doctors, and officials, in New York on their way to Britain to aid wounded soldiers of WWI.

Photographed at the Astor Hotel on January 12, 1915 (Taisho 4), the day before their departure on the White Star liner Megantic.

The mission was headed by Dr. Jiro Suzuki (鈴木次郎, front row, right), medical chief of the Japanese Red Cross Association.

Between February 1 and the mission’s end on December 31 in 1915, the Japanese Red Cross contingent treated approximately 661 patients. (第一次世界大戦救護)

Japan’s humane treatment of Japanese and Russian sick and wounded during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), gained Japanese Red Cross nurses a prestigious international reputation.