[3] During the First World War she served in hospitals in Egypt and France and was one of only seven Australian nurses to be awarded the Military Medal for gallantry.

In the Second World War she held a senior post within the Australian Army Medical Women's Service.

In November 1914, Sister Ross-King was posted overseas to serve with 1st Australian General Hospital (1st AGH) in Egypt.

1st AGH was based at Heliopolis, near Cairo, and after service there, Ross-King was posted to an outstation at Suez established as a clearing station for casualties from the Gallipoli Campaign.

[4] During the war Ross-King met and became engaged to Harry Moffitt, an officer in the 53rd Battalion, but he was killed during the Battle of Fromelles in July 1916.

[4] Between the wars, Alice Appleford become involved in the training of Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) personnel in Victoria.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, she enlisted into the VAD and when, in 1942, the Australian Army Medical Women's Service (AAMWS) was formed Appleford was commissioned with the rank of major and appointed senior assistant controller for Victoria responsible for all AAMWS in the state of Victoria.

[12] The citation for the medal concluded: No one who came into contact with Major Appleford could fail to recognize her as a leader of women.