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"This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Joanne Burgess on behalf of Mary and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."

Nursing.

During the war I was a nurse. I was not a professional nurse, I had no training, we just learned on the job. I was looking for work and heard that there was a shortage of nurses and volunteered.

Dancing Germans

I was based at Seacroft hospital in Leeds and there were German patients there as well as British. The Germans were frightened boys, called up, like our lads. Across the road from the hospital there was a pub and the nurses and patients would drink there together. We also had dances at the hospital and everyone joined in nurses and patients whether they were British or Germans. The Germans danced just like our lads, they were just ordinary men who did not want to fight anymore than our lads did.

Locked out.

Sometimes I would get locked out of the nursing home on a night when I had stayed out late. We normally managed to climb through the window but one time Matron saw us and she was not pleased. Next morning she told us off and said ‘I have never known staff like you’ to me and my friend.. But, just because there was a war on does not mean we could not enjoy ourselves.

The Geordie Lad

However nursing was also a sad job at times, we held the patients hands and sometimes you knew they were dying but we did our best. When a warship docked we were on call. The day Britain invaded Germany, ships were landing all the time full of wounded men. They would land at Hull or somewhere on the coast, then a train would bring them to Leeds. There were many times when I stayed up all night to nurse the wounded. There was one time a patient died and it upset me. A Geordie lad was brought in and had lost his arm and leg. I was originally from Newcastle and so it touched me more to see him. We sent for his parents who travelled through the night to get there. We held his hand and comforted him, but sadly he died before his parents arrived. It upset me a lot but you had to move on and get on with things.

Mice in the hospital.

I also worked at Meanwood hospital and this was overrun by mice at one time. The mice were more of a threat than the Germans, they were more real. I used to ask the soldiers to stay up with me in the kitchen when I was on the night shift, because I did not like the mice and beetles that were there. There was a place called Capitol Dance Hall in Meanwood and we would also go there, everyone enjoyed a drink.

Blackpool.

We tried to overlook the war and enjoy ourselves. The first week in August people would go to Blackpool. During that week it was like the fight was over and the dancing began.
Nursing during the war was an experience I would not have missed.

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