大象传媒

The wards had to be tidied and put in order, but the Chindits 鈥� members of the Allied commando forces in Burma 鈥� had had enough. They had been through terrible experiences in the jungle behind Japanese lines.

Riddled by jungle sores, yellow through the effects of malaria, and weak with dysentery, they were in no mood to be ordered about.

Shropshire nurse Lt Peggy Tench (now Fletcher) was ordered to take charge. What happened next was to make a lasting impression on her.

鈥榃e were in basha huts outside Dacca, in Eastern Bengal as it was then. I was given two wards, and there must have been about 60 Chindits. We were very stretched at that time,鈥� said Mrs Peggy Fletcher.

鈥榊ou gave an order and they weren鈥檛 even looking at you. I started to say that we had to get the ward straight. They just looked through you. I did not know what to do. They had been through so much鈥�; I said, 鈥渋f you won鈥檛 do it, I must鈥�.

I rolled up my sleeves and started to make their beds. I was very polite and very nice, and would talk to them a little bit. They stood back and watched me make the beds. I washed the lockers. I just did it; I said I shall stay even if it takes me 24 hours.鈥� Then I saw the ones from the other hut looking at me.

Slowly, each patient went to his own bed and made it and tidied it up. I could not believe it. I thanked them very much. I said 鈥渨e won鈥檛 have strict rules here because there is no punishment I can mete out to you which can compare with what you have been through.鈥�

It was inspirational on my part. It鈥檚 one of those things I shall take with me to the end. I had no more trouble with those Chindits. Sometimes they would tell me of their exploits.鈥�

For Mrs Fletcher, her three years on active service as a wartime nurse was an adventure and a test which was to change her outlook on life. She has the comparatively rare distinction of being a woman awarded the Burma Star.

Often working in Spartan conditions, she came up against exotic diseases of the jungle, ferocious insects, deadly snakes and, when there was a push in Burma, train and plane loads of wounded soldiers which would leave the nursing staff working round the clock. One time she worked in a small, smallpox isolation hospital in the jungle.

鈥業 have very fulfilling memories. I was a very different person when I went out, to when I came back. My experiences made me realise what鈥檚 important in life.鈥� As a child she was brought up by her grandparents at Wyke, near Much Wenlock. She trained as a civilian nurse, but then when the war came she switched to Queen Alexandria鈥檚 Imperial Military Nursing Service.

鈥業 saw one of our ex-nurses come in her QA uniform and she looked so wonderful with her grey and red, I was determined that鈥檚 what I wanted to do, and I was always anxious to travel.鈥�

She was sent to India, which was at that time under threat by Japanese advancing through Burma. 鈥業 was very excited about it, but with a kind of apprehension. I knew it was a tremendous adventure.鈥�

Her grey and red uniform was swapped for a tropical uniform and she got down to work. Her first real experience of seeing wounded soldiers from the front was when she joined an ambulance train, which would pick up the wounded and distribute them to hospitals. 鈥業 had to treat them on the train. It was very difficult. At some stations there was a lot of anti-British feeling. They would refuse you water and you could not get fresh dressings.

Occasionally we had incidents when a brick came through a window. It was a very difficult, demanding job, and it taught me a great deal.鈥�

Soon she was posted closer to the front, serving in Assam and Eastern Bengal. When the fighting flared up during the battles for Kohima and Imphal in 1944, patients swelled the hospital within three days from 500 to 1,500 with no extra staff to cope. 鈥榊ou worked 18 hours a day and slept when you could. Very often you had no medication. You used to boil old sheets and tear them up to make bandages. The Americans were stationed quite near Dacca, where I was then and I can remember bartering my whisky 鈥� I didn鈥檛 drink it 鈥� for hypodermic needles from the American medical people.鈥�

Had the war continued she would have gone on to Singapore. But two events intervened 鈥� the atomic bomb was dropped and she met army officer Bill Fletcher, who was to become her husband.

Today one of her prized possessions is a Chindit badge. 鈥楢n old Chindit gave it to me, because he knew I had nursed the Chindits, of which I鈥檓 very proud. Being in charge of two wards taught me a great deal about war and cruelty. I don鈥檛 think we realise what those men did out there. Those were very brave men who went behind the Japanese lines. No prisoners were taken by the Japanese. They were tortured and shot.鈥�

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Becky Barugh of the 大象传媒 Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Peggy Fletcher and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Fletcher fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

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