World War One Nurses

Uploaded for the Vintage Photos Theme Park theme of: NURSES OR NUNS
November 3 - November 9, 2025.
This is a small photograph pasted into an album given to me by a library patron. It’s not dated but as other photos on the page are dated 1916, I assume this one is from the same year.
I believe these nurses would only be working in the United States, but could be wrong about that.
In the next few years more men died of the “Spanish Flu” in the States than were killed in the war - but there’s no way of knowing how many of these young women nurses also lost their lives.
I’ve always assumed, without looking too closely, that they were in a sort of boat - especially made for a parade. I can now see that what they are holding is made of fabric (see-through on the left) but I still think it’s meant to represent a boat. Or perhaps the message was added later?
Those years (during World War 1) were heavily flooded with war propaganda - so posters, parades, movies, etc. were hugely present in cities and small towns across the country.
This album’s photographs are largely from New Jersey and New York, although there’s no location indicated on this page.