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{
    "localId": "2661860",
    "label": "MacDonald, Ida Mildred",
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    "id": "2661860",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "MacDonald, Ida Mildred",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2661860",
    "collections": [
        "Records of the American National Red Cross",
        "Historical Nurse Files"
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    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2661860",
    "naId": 2661860,
    "coverageEndDate": {
        "day": 22,
        "logicalDate": "1945-10-22",
        "month": 10,
        "year": 1945
    },
    "coverageStartDate": {
        "day": 31,
        "logicalDate": "1941-12-31",
        "month": 12,
        "year": 1941
    },
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{
    "seq": 21,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
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    "ocrText": "H\na\na\nMi\nJune 23, 1943\nMiss Ida B. MacDonald\nVolunteer Special Services\nNational Headquarters\nAmerican Red Cross\nMy dear Miss MacDonald:\nAs the months go by and we know that we cannot predict any date when Red\nCross nurses will be laying aside uniforms and going back to civilian\ndress, I find that there are some principles connected with the wearing\nof a uniform which I do not think you have thought about, enough so that\nyou believe they are of real importance. To me they are very important,\nand that is why I am writing you about our Red Cross nurse's uniform today.\nI confess that I have been shocked and hurt at certain large gatherings I\nhave attended where Army, Navy, and Red Cross nurses were together, at the\nlack of meticulous observation of Red Cross nurse úniform regulations in\ncontrast to the Army and Navy.\nA nurse's uniform stands in theeyes of the public for certain qualities\ninseparable from an ideal nurse. A Red Cross nurse's uniform stands for\nthese qualities and also for those inseparable from war nursing. Briefly,\nthis--so great a desire to help the wounded fighting men that one is will-\nRed Cross is as you know semi-governmental. The President of the United\ning to undergo great danger and hardship in order to do SÓ. The American\nStates is our Red Cross President and we act under his orders. Our Red\nI\nCross nurse's uniform, therefore, worn only in time of war, stands for our\ngovernment in a similar manner to that worn by Army and Navy nurses. It\nmeans that those who wear it conform to a pattern of service set down by\nis\nduty, courage, that kind of patience which results in unrelenting persis-\nsuperior officers. Honor, integrity, obedience, unselfish devotion to\ntence in our efforts to relieve our patients, the best possible use of\nour intelligence sometimes hard to exercise under the discipline inseparable\n5\nfrom war; all these qualities are associated with the Red Cross nurse's\nuniform. It is a symbol of them. It is an identification of us with the\n2\ngreat army of Red Cross nurses who went before us and who have left us a\n3\nheritage too precious to be talked about very much."
}