Military Welfare History Network
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milwelfhist.bsky.social
Military Welfare History Network
@milwelfhist.bsky.social
MWHN is an interdisciplinary, all-career-stages networking & dissemination platform for military welfare, care & medical history researchers, projects, journals & charities. Coordinated by @paulhuddie.bsky.social

Visit: https://militarywelfarehistory.com
Pinned
Call for Statements of Interest - open now!

In 2026 the MWHN, in partnership with the JMVHR, will produce its second special issue. With the theme of 'Medical welfare and care of military communities: a collection of historical studies'. Full details attached #histmed #histnursing #milwelfhist
Reposted by Military Welfare History Network
www.youtube.com/live/oGZ2ObV...

Great talk by Eamonn yesterday!

Recording is available on our channel.
Eamonn O'Keeffe: Searching for Shadrach Byfield, a Disabled Veteran of the War of 1812
YouTube video by History Symposium
www.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
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Here's my latest blog post: The Festive Sack Was Positively Bulging in Italy 1944. It's a light-hearted look at a British Army Xmas panto based on a script from Kew. If you prefer the Brylcreem boys, part 2 covers an RAF show.

matteatonmedia.substack.com/p/the-festiv...
#skystorians #milwelfhist
December 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM
New Affiliate: we are very happy to announce that the Joining Forces-UB project has become the newest affiliate of the MWHN. We look forward to working with them and promoting their excellent research. Find out more at militarywelfarehistory.com/affiliates/ #milwelfhist
December 18, 2025 at 4:50 PM
New Members: we welcome @eldrclaire.bsky.social of the University of Leeds and indepdent scholar Victoria O'Sullivan to the Network #milwelfhist
December 18, 2025 at 9:59 AM
New Members: we are ery happy to welcome Didier Bouns, Dr Ronald R. Krebs and Riku Kauhanen of the University of Birmingham, University of Minnesota and University of Turku #milwelfhist
December 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
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In just over a week, our last livestream of the year with @1812andallthat.bsky.social speaking on one of the best known privates of the War of 1812, Shadrach Byfield!

www.historysymposium.com/eamonn-okeefe/
December 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM
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Pleased to announce we are celebrating a new leadership agreement for the Returning Solider Network with a 1-day symposium focusing on 'Forgotten Veterans', at Birmingham Newman University in April. Here is the CfP!
December 12, 2025 at 8:08 AM
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Porters during the Cameroon campaign. All too often forgotten in both the history and the memory of the Global Great War.
December 11, 2025 at 2:14 PM
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I'm happy to share that I will be presenting at the March 2026 Society for Military History conference in Arlington, VA. My paper is "'Better Soldiers Through Better Knowledge': Army Talks, the GI Roundtable Series, and the Pedagogical Front in the European Theater". @smh-historians.bsky.social
December 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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#HistNursing Advent day 12 - in St Mihiel American cemetery in France there are 13 nurses buried. The experiences of American nurses in WW1 was very different to the the imperial nurses & I’ve not researched them many served with Red Cross theworldwar.org/exhibitions/se…
December 11, 2025 at 6:29 PM
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Quietly nursing a sore head after the London IC day at HMS Belfast! Quite a week. You can read latest blog post here:
open.substack.com/pub/matteato...
The Show Must Go On
But first, a short intermission...
open.substack.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Military Welfare History Network
NZ had 6 or 7 nurses trained as nurse anaesthetists which started near the end of the war. So many medical anaesthetists were being killed dashing about. The American nurses led the way but sadly when the NZANS returned they were forbidden to use their skills -1 did for sure in NZ sister Davies
December 5, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Military Welfare History Network
Day6 #His Advent Calendar -when NZANS 1st joined up for WW1 they were not issued identity discs- many nurses had their own made from local coins. This belonged to Blanche Huddleston who was a nurse anaesthetic. The discs came in after the loss of 10 nurse on the Marquette.
December 5, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Congrats Nataie. We'd love to hear more. Sex = welfare.

Join more scholars doing similar research around the world via the Military Welfare History Network #milwelfhist
I'm honored that my article, "Policing Venereal Disease at Fort Huachuca, 1941-1945," published in the Journal of Military History, won the 2025 Nupur Chaudhuri First Article Prize from the Coordinating Council for Women in History.
December 5, 2025 at 7:24 AM
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Author's Corner with Jonathan S. Jones, *Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America's First Opioid Crisis*: thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/11/10/t... @JMU @UNC_Press
The Author’s Corner with Jonathan S. Jones
Jonathan S. Jones is Assistant Professor of History at James Madison University. This interview is based on his new book, Opium Slavery: Civil War Veterans and America’s First Opioid Crisis (…
thewayofimprovement.blog
November 11, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Military Welfare History Network
@illinoispress.bsky.social is running a #BlackFriday sale on all their books, including mine! Get your copy of Constructing Disability after the Great War: Blind Veterans in the Progressive Era using the code FRIDAY50 from now until November 30th! www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
Constructing Disability after the Great War
www.press.uillinois.edu
November 29, 2025 at 5:55 PM
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Excited to be heading to Erfurt with COLVET colleagues. for this great workshop. I'll be giving a keynote tomorrow evening on 'The Great War of Movement: Thinking Critically about Mobility, Displacement, Coercion and Consent in the French Empire's First World War'. Danke @florianwagner.bsky.social
November 30, 2025 at 7:28 AM
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It was wonderful to present with the COLVET project team yesterday at the Society of History of War on provision for colonial veterans in the French and Italian empires and British ruled India.
November 28, 2025 at 8:07 AM
New Members. We are very happy to welcome Tiago Rocha e Melo, Dr Ana Catarina Pinho and the Revd Dr Peter Howson to the Network. Their respective research on ancient Rome, colonial Portugal and British military chaplaincy are great additions #milwelfhist
November 25, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Well done Matt. Keep up the good work! Entertainment = welfare #milwelfhist
This week's blog post looks at how Indian troops were entertained whilst serving in Italy during the Second World War. Suffice it to say, things could have been improved.
#skystorians

open.substack.com/pub/matteato...
November 23, 2025 at 8:41 PM
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Many years ago, I helped set up The Returning Soldier Network, but circumstances meant that I had to step away for a few years as I tried to find secure work. Yesterday, I returned back into the fold as one of the project leads! So watch this space, plans are brewing... @milwelfhist.bsky.social
Who We Are
The Returning Soldier Network was established in 2018 to bring together researchers looking at the figure of the returning soldier from the ancient world to the modern day. The group includes acade…
returningsoldier.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:48 AM
2026 MWHN Conference - call for papers!

Join us in Romania next June to discuss all things military welfare and civil society. Deadline: 28 Feb 2026.

CfP attached and full details at militarywelfarehistory.com/2026-confere... #milwelfhist #civilsociety #charity #philanthropy @vahs.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 8:51 PM
2026 MWHN Conference - call for papers!

Join us in Romania next June to discuss all things military welfare and civil society. Deadline: 28 Feb 2026.

CfP attached and full details at militarywelfarehistory.com/2026-confere... #milwelfhist #civilsociety #charity #philanthropy @vahs.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 8:44 PM