大象传媒

Wartime Memories
By Kitty Calcutt

War Starts

I was on leave from Bart鈥檚 Hospital in London when war broke out. Of course we all knew that it was a possibility but were still hoping that a miracle might happen. We heard that war would be declared on Germany if they didn鈥檛 stop annexing their neighbours in Europe.
I was back in Cheltenham with Mother and hoping for 2 wonderful weeks doing nothing. I had been in training for 3 years and just taken my hospital final exams that we had to pass before taking the state final (S.R.N.) in the autumn.
The deadline was not met and the dreaded statement was read out on the midday news on the radio to say that the war had started. Our hearts went into our boots but we had to do something. I phoned London and was told to continue my leave and I would be told where to go by the end of it. Mother was the senior officer of one of the Women鈥檚 divisions of the St John鈥檚 Ambulance, which at the time ran the civil ambulances of the town. She had to sleep at the ambulance HQ several times a week but was also told to continue as normal. This reprieve lasted a few days. We went for walks with her dogs and carried on as a normal holiday with lovely weather.
Then a phone call came to say that a train load of evacuees was coming from Birmingham all from old people鈥檚 homes and were to be taken up to Salterly Grange on Leckhampton Hill by a fleet of ambulances and cars. This was an isolation hospital for TB patients on top of the hill but had been closed and out of use for a period of several years.
I went down to Malvern Road station with Mother to help and we were allocated two old ladies to transport. Some of the St John men helped getting them into the ambulance. One was simply enormous and couldn鈥檛 move at all. She must have weighed at least 20 stone.
When we arrived at Salterly Grange, of course, all the staff had been hastily recruited and were overwhelmed. They asked us to get our people into bed. Well, we had to ask for help and this lady was finally rolled off the stretcher she had been lying on all the way from Birmingham. She sighed and thanked us for the relief of being in a bed and said, 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e been lying on wire netting鈥�. She had. She had been put on a stretcher which had had the canvas removed and wire netting put in its place for use in case of gas attacks in which case it would have been easier to decontaminate than canvas.
The poor lady had the marks of the wire all over her back. I often think about her even now, many years on, but I never saw her again as I was recalled back to work.
Bart鈥檚 Hospital had been completely re-organised. Accidents and emergencies only were being treated in London and the main bulk of the patients had to join all the 鈥淪taff in training鈥� at Hill End 鈥� an evacuated mental hospital, which we took over at St Albans.
I can still remember the amazing change from the city of London. We were out in the country instead of the city, with fresh air and extensive gardens. There were no patients yet, but a lot of cleaning up to be done. Some of the original staff from the mental hospital remained to help us, but their outlook on nursing wasn鈥檛 the same as ours. I remember one ward sister saying that all illnesses originated in the brain!
All windows were blocked to 6 inches of opening. All main doors locked. The bathrooms had removable taps and side rooms had no handles on the inside of the doors. Added to this, all windows had to have black out. Somebody鈥檚 good idea was to have three sheets of 3 ply to cover the window with ropes attached to lift them to hang horizontal in the daytime and drop at night. This was a very clumsy idea and caused some bruising if done in a hurry.
We had loads of equipment delivered which wasn鈥檛 quite applicable. The first was a load of children鈥檚 bedpans. Another, surgical instruments which were too big to go in the dishes they were meant to be sterilised in. But, on the whole, we got going and by October were getting patients ferried out to us from London.
There were funny moments when the press came and wanted to have photographs of us selling poppies to patients for November 11th. The only patients we had were rejects from the army who were not fit enough for call up and accident victims who had fallen off the back of army lorries or epileptics. We dressed them up with crutches and slings and I have the photograph, which they took, to prove it.
Eventually things settled down. Some of us went round the local houses buying old bikes so that we could get out when off duty. Then we had more patients straight from units stationed in our area. They were still accident or sickness, no war casualties.
All staff in training was now stationed at Hill End. I was in the set that had almost finished training, having taken the hospital final exam. We took the state final (S.R.N.) in the autumn. Luckily I passed, so was transferred back to London.
What a change.
Wards on the 4th floor were closed and the beds left made up in case of emergency. Also, the ground floor was the same, because of air attack. Only the 1st and 2nd floors and, of course, outpatients were working.
I was put on night duty and the windows were hung with heavy black curtains. There were strict orders not to go behind them. Any patients that were fit to move, were taken out to Hill End every morning to leave space for new ones to be admitted.
December came and with it the bombing started. One night a paper warehouse was hit near us, and the air was full of little burning bits of paper in a firestorm. The buildings of the hospital had flat roofs. All male staff not on other duty were up there with stirrup pumps putting out and preventing fires. Off duty doctors, students, porters and cleaners all did this job. Extra doctors were in casualty and so were nurses.
At the end of December there was the bad night, I think it was the 29th December when we were in the centre of a ring of fires. This was the night when St Paul鈥檚 was badly hit and the whole road past the hospital was clogged with hosepipes leading to the Thames which was at low tide and about a mile away.
I still have the letter that I sent to my mother to reassure her I was alright:

Bart鈥檚, Monday.
Darling 鈥� Just to let you know that we are quite alright here. The hospital had a good many incendiary bombs last night, but all put out without damage. Masses of fires all around us and we had to evacuate one block at 3 am and sent over 100 patients out to the country by converted buses. There is only one road open away from here but we are in no danger as the fires all around are under control.
Don鈥檛 try to ring up anywhere in London as the central telegraph office has been hit and hardly anything except terribly urgent things can get through.
I have not seen the morning papers, if any, so don鈥檛 know what they say. But, I repeat, we are alright. Though we were minus lights and gas last night and water is very short.
Cheerio Darling 鈥� This is war and we certainly are doing something anyway.
All love darling. I hope the parcel gets to you alright.
Love Kitty.

The only way out was under St John鈥檚 Gate to the North and ambulances were called in the middle of the night to take any patient who was fit enough to travel. All these ambulances had been adapted for carrying victims of gas attacks which had come at the end of the 1914-18 war. They were very uncomfortable to lie on but all that was available. Their beds were taken by the night casualties.
The one I remember best was the man in charge of the toilets at the Bank Underground Station who had bad injuries. I remember he was in danger of loosing his leg. Most of the others casualties were men who were waiting to go in to the toilet
In the morning we heard tales of the chaos amongst the people who had spent the night with their families in the underground trying to sleep. The bomb had found the opening of the stairs to the underground and exploded at the bottom in the men鈥檚 toilets. All the platforms had been provided with 3 tier bunks and local residents came down when it got dark, bringing bedding and their own food. They all had to go home in the daytime and were glad of some fresh air.
During this time the nurse鈥檚 home was not considered safe, so day staff slept in the basement carrying their bedding down every evening. They had a very uncomfortable time as the ventilation was very bad and the makeshift beds very crowded. We were luckier as there was a bridge way from the top floor of the nurses home to the top floor of the wards, which had beds made up but not occupied so we were told to take our bedding and sleep over there in the day.

Further Training

When time came for me to leave Bart鈥檚, I started at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and did midwifery for 6 months in the hospital followed by another 6 months at Reading on District Nursing. I enjoyed this time quite a lot. It was quite a new experience, going into people鈥檚 homes. Most babies were home births and only the trainee nurse went when we were first called. They then had to send someone (usually the husband) to phone for the trained midwife when things were coming towards delivery. Very much more friendly atmosphere and I enjoyed it a lot. We used to be able to buy broken biscuits from the shops at half price. These were all good 鈥楬untley & Palmers鈥� because of their local factory. In the spring we had bunches of radishes to chew as we cycled around Reading at all hours of the day and night on bicycles.
What next? 鈥� Well, I had been raised from army families on both sides and I felt awfully guilty when I asked my mother what she felt about me joining the army as a reserve. Bless her, she encouraged me. So, I sent in my application. While I was waiting for a posting, the Nursing Home at Pitchcome, which Auntie Maudie had started, asked me to go to them for 2 weeks to let their Nursing Sister have a holiday. So, I had a short interlude there. At that time it was strictly vegetarian and staff and residents sat down to lunches together. I remember vividly going into the dining room one day, there were plates laid out ready with a poached egg in the middle of all except mine. Vegetables and salad to help yourself and Maudie took the lid off a small tin of very lonesome 鈥榩ink meat鈥� and said 鈥淟et me see, you are a meat eater aren鈥檛 you?鈥� I felt about 2 inches high and wished I was under the table.
All residents and staff were lovely and at that time both my grandmother and Aunt Sis were residents. Sis had a fractured hip and as at that time nobody had heard of replacements, she kept to her room and hopped from bed to chair and back. She was a strict vegetarian. She grew grass on a tray on her windowsill, cut it when big enough and ate it in sandwiches. Grandmother, it was my job to put her to bed at night. The first time I think she was very embarrassed, she said 鈥淜itty dear, you will think me very old fashioned, I have a pair of knickers鈥� and she had. She had 2 separate legs of knickers, each threaded with a piece of tape and tied around her waist. I do wish I had had the cheek to ask her for a pair for the museum.
I had a few more weeks holiday before my orders came through to report to St Hugh鈥檚 College in Oxford which had been turned into an orthopaedic hospital for spinal injuries. Apparently they made a point of sending new recruits near their home. I shared a room with 2 other girls, one from Northern Ireland and the other from The South. We had to keep off politics.
While I was working at St Hugh鈥檚, the scientists who were working on the production of penicillin were only a couple of streets away. They used this very precious new drug in our hospital and it had fantastic results on patients with septic wounds. The orderlies had to collect all the urine from the patients it was used on, as it could then be reconstituted. The orderlies then had to return the urine in Winchester jars carried back to the scientists for salvaging. Penicillin had to be kept in a fridge and given by injection. This was an item that cropped up again when I was in India.
On the lighter side, one of the walking patients took a list of any others who wanted morning extras at mid morning. They then went to the N.A.A.F.I. to buy what was ordered, coming back with a tray full he shouted 鈥淎ny of you lot want hot 鈥淭arts鈥�?鈥� We always tried to be out of sight at the time.
In November 1943, orders came through for embarkation leave, but we were not told where we were to go. Tropical kit was ordered and camping kit issued. There was 2 weeks leave and Mother was marvellous. She encouraged me to go and geared up her own effort by driving the town ambulances. There was no pay in those days. All drivers were volunteers.
We had to report to Netley Military Hospital. We found ourselves quartered in one huge room. There was no heating and washing was on the veranda with a screen around. We were a group of about 30 S.R.N.s and all had tropical kit so the guess was 鈥淚ndia鈥�.
There was a story about Netley Hospital, that when it was built, so was one in India. Unfortunately the plans got mixed and the wrong one was built in each place. Most of the doors and windows at Netley were on the North side of the building and it was dreadfully cold, especially as we were there in November. The opposite happened to the hospital built in India which had all its windows on the hot South side.
We were issued with khaki postcards and had to fill them in. They were to be posted to our homes after we left. After a few days we thankfully heard that we were on the move. We had joined an all-military train which was gradually filled up. There were no names on the stations so we were not absolutely sure which way we went from the south coast up to Birmingham, then up the East Coast Line and finally ended up at Glasgow! At each station Red Cross or W.R.V.S. were on the platforms with what in army language was 鈥渃har & a wad鈥� (tea & a sandwich, in English). They were very surprised to find a lot of girls on the train.
When we finally got to Glasgow we boarded The 鈥淪trath Eden鈥�, one of the peacetime best liners. Being S.R.N.s we were ranked as junior officers and had the first class cabins. The only change from peacetime was that single beds were each given a top bunk so that we were very comfortable.
In the middle of the night we started moving in open sea. It became pretty rough and not many people appeared for breakfast. However, we soon achieved sea legs and looked around us on the boat as well as the sea.
We discovered we were one of a convoy and had a barrage balloon attached to the rear of every ship to prevent the enemy dive-bombing! We seemed to be going west and after a few days saw seagulls and thought we were nearing America. Some of the convoy then disappeared and we, without seeing land, lost our sense of direction and turned east.
There were 2 destroyers with the convoy which moved about amongst the part of the convoy which was left and were obviously playing sheep dogs looking for enemy submarines.
Christmas was just on us as we saw land again and the chaplain held a service below deck for all ranks and as we came on deck again we discovered we were passing Gibraltar. Gib was blacked out but silhouetted against the Spanish mainland (Gib was British and Spain neutral) so we were thrilled to see the Spanish lights. In fact it turned out on the News Board that we were only the 2nd convoy to go through the Mediterranean since the North African Campaign which had closed it while fighting was threatening all shipping. The news board also told us that one of the convoy ahead had been sunk. Not a happy bit of News and it naturally heightened the tension. We did still have our barrage balloons, so although we did have some alarms we were not attacked.
We arrived at Alexandria on New Years day and all ships in harbour were sounding their sirens and little boats came out to sell fruit and it was wonderful.
On board all this time friendships had blossomed. There was a highland regiment on board and Harry Roy鈥檚 Dance Band. With so few girls on the ship we were vastly out numbered but joined in highland dancing and ballroom. However, we were then told that the ship was going back to England and we nurses and only a few of the men were going down the canal by train. It was very hot after the ship and we tried to open the windows but half the desert found its way in and we choked with the sand all over everything, so we had to accept the heat. It was an amazing sight to see big ships and masts of small ones apparently sailing up the other way when we couldn鈥檛 see water.
At port Tuffic at the southern end of the canal, we girls were put into tents which were enclosed in a high wire fence with a guard on the gate. There were no buildings in sight. We were incensed. However, one girl had been seeing a lot of a young lieutenant and he pitched his tent quite close, but outside our perimeter wire. The very first morning we discovered why the wire was there. The poor man woke to find not only his tent missing but all his belongings (including the camp bed he had been lying on) had vanished as well. They must have lifted him by the corners of the blanket he was lying on and removed the bed from under him.
We had several invitations to improvised dances organised by units that were out of sight, but really quite close by jeep. While camped at the south end of the canal we had several locals to do our washing for us, which was nice, except that it all dried very quickly. It needed damping down so it could be ironed. So, they kept a bowl of water handy and took a mouthful and then spat it out all over the dry garment. Not so good.
After about 10 days we boarded another ship which was much smaller than the Strath Eden and had enclosed decks which was a pity because the weather was much warmer. We stopped at Aden and we were joined by lots of Australians and New Zealanders going home after serving time or being wounded in N Africa. There were 2 NZ young officers going home with guitars which they played in the evenings making the atmosphere quite sentimental. They were all going home and felt very protective of us girls going towards the fighting in Burma. In fact one of them sent me parcels for several months after we landed in India.
The one destroyer used to come up quite close to us and we passengers shouted across. On one occasion it speeded away out of sight and we wondered why (submarine in Indian Ocean?). However, it came back after a few hours with its loud speakers blaring out a popular song (3 little fishes). Not subs, but whales, we discovered. So, relax. It took us about 10 days to arrive at Bombay 鈥淭he Gateway to India鈥�. What happened was that we discovered that Topies were not worn and the line towards the dock was dotted with these uncomfortable and unnecessary hats.

Arrival in Bombay.

The Gateway to India was very impressive and we were allowed to land. All our tropical kit was still in trunks in the hold of the ship, so we were very warm. A small group of nurses decided to land and kept together. It wasn鈥檛 long before we were picked up by some RAF officers who asked us to lunch at the Cricket Club. It was an eye-opener! All the ladies there had the most beautiful saris. All colours, with coloured borders. We didn鈥檛 see the cricket. Then they showed us a little of Bombay. My impression of this whirlwind tour was pavements covered with red spit. There was a wonderful waterfront and the Gateway itself was magnificent. I remember being told about the Towers of Silence, which was where they put the bodies of dead people so that the birds (vultures) can remove all flesh. Then the family bury the bones for the limited length of time in the fields near home, after which the field is ploughed over as land is very precious. I also discovered Bombay Duck was fish.
The next day, most of the regiments were gone and it was our turn to leave on the train.
Our trunks had been taken to the station and we had to claim them and then go to our allotted carriage. The compartments had 4 or 6 bunks, a washroom and a loo. There were windows that had netting outside the glass. The upper bunks folded up during the day. Our trunks were hoisted onto the heads of porters and placed in separate compartments so we were still in grey suits we had been wearing on the voyage. Outside we had a strange escort of children on either side who were all holding out hands and stroking stomachs saying 鈥淣o Mama, no Papa, no flipping breakfast!鈥�. In the middle of the crowd of children was a white haired very thin old man who was saying just the same!! We threw a few annas and they fought. There was a dining car on the train, but no corridor, so we were told to divide into 2 groups and one group to stay behind till the next stop and then change over. Apparently the compartment would be cleaned out by thieves if left empty.
Stations, when we stopped, were always crowded. Many had men with trays on their heads with hot food 鈥� not for us 鈥� the food was carried at one end of the tray and a fuel container and spare fuel at the other end. The fuel looked suspiciously like dung, but I don鈥檛 know its origin.
I think we were on the train 2 or 3 days. Always when the train started from a station, people climbed on top and stood on the steps and hung onto the door handles. Both were equally dangerous, but the only way for local people who couldn鈥檛 afford travelling. Luckily there were few bridges, but it was rather scary.
The scenery was mostly a repetition of small groups of dwellings and their fields, with raised banks on top of which were dirt roads suitable for bullock carts. Bullock carts were the main means of travel and usually travelled several together in a long line.

Secunderabad

We arrived very tired and eager to find out where we were. Each of us had a room with washroom at the back, all built in 2 long lines facing each other. A veranda gave shade and we also discovered was well known to the local population who arrived offering all sorts of things for us to buy. Fruit and materials to be made up for us to wear as we only had uniform.
On arrival we had been told there was no senior staff for the hospital, but they would be coming soon. With no matron or senior staff, and therefore no patients, we had time to settle in. So had the regiments also in the area, who hurriedly put on dances and we had dresses made by our visitors who sat on the veranda and turned out very good ones without any patterns, just our drawings. It didn鈥檛 last long.
We had quite a lot of equipment delivered - Beds, bedding, lockers and electric bulbs. We justified our existence by putting them all in their places. The next morning it had all gone. Panic stations. The military police disappeared into the town to find as much of it as could be found. It was a salutary eye opener and the matron and sisters and doctors, when they arrived, were not pleased. We got a collective bad name and were told that 鈥渙ther rank dances鈥� were out of bounds except in uniform and even that was frowned upon.
We were told that we would all be posted. Those who had not behaved according to the rules would be posted either up to the front (i.e. nearer the fighting) or to an Indian hospital. All this seemed very strange as in the England we had left, there were no such rules. You did what you wanted when not on duty. However, there was time before postings could be arranged, even for matrons, so life went on.
Patients arrived and doctors came and we had an efficient hospital in action very quickly. Most of the patients had been at several other hospitals since they had their wounds and were awaiting being sent home to England.
Secunderabad was the modern Indian city and Hyderabad the established Old City. The Nizam was the Indian chief.
One of the doctors asked me to go with him to see Hyderabad as a Birthday outing. It was a lovely day out, hot of course. By this time it was mid March. My impression was that most of the women wore bells around their ankles. The answer was that most of the women were dancers. The shops didn鈥檛 have anything of value visible in their windows. We were in one shop when the word was shouted 鈥淪he鈥檚 coming鈥�. Suddenly everything was vanishing behind the scene and we only had time to find out why and get out of the shop. 鈥楽he鈥� was a lady (Indian) who was the Nizam鈥檚 wife and never paid for anything and therefore was not too popular in town.
We were now awaiting being split up. Anyone with extra training, more than general, was sent to a special unit. Those who asked to go forward towards Burma also got it. Those who had supposedly disgraced themselves, were OK, I think they were perfectly happy.
The train again took 2 of us, Irene & myself, on our travels. We had both done orthopaedics and were travelling to Camilla in the south of Bengal. The journey took us through Calcutta, which was where we changed to a train going east to Camilla where the HQ 14th army was stationed.

3 B.M.N.S.U.

That was our destination and stood for British Mobile Neuro-Surgical Unit. Number 3 Neurosurgical Unit had been in action for some time and had been at Oxford Hospital where I started.
The train was the same as all the others, but stopped when we reached the Bramaputra River where we transferred to a steamer. This was crowded with local people and only a few English or army who were travelling east. The reason was that all available flying space was full of troops or goods for the regiments. There were no bridges over the river. It is huge 鈥� so wide that if the boat was near the East side, going south, the West side was not visible. I can鈥檛 remember how long we were on the boat. I think about 2 hours going South, but that was with the current not against it. The land was very flat only about 4 feet above the river level so no wonder it floods so frequently. There were small settlements at intervals. We saw jute crops growing.
We arrived at the station and it was getting dark but there were no lights in the train carriages as they had all been 鈥榥icked鈥�. We had to rely on any torch we happened to have.
We were met at Camilla Station by 2 jeeps with local drivers and taken with our tin trunks and bedrolls to our new home. This consisted of the bungalow that had been requisitioned from the chief of railway for the area and made the centre of our patch. Another small building was our dining room. There was also our own accommodation, which was built with a scaffolding of bamboo, with mats of split and plaited bamboo tied to the posts to make walls. The floor was made the same way and made squeaking noises when walked on. The floor was about 2 foot off the field floor to stop live visitors such as snakes getting up the 2 steps.
We had camp beds and full-length mosquito nets (very important). There was one electric bulb so that was luxury. Rats ran around after dark but, although they played with anything left out, I don鈥檛 remember anyone getting bitten. There was a small washroom at the back. These small rooms were built in pairs which was nice for company.
There were 3 square tanks of water in our area, all of which had multiple uses. One was used for swimming & washing bodies and clothes, cars & animals. It also waited for scraps of thrown food from the hospital kitchen. Another was a little better and I think was mostly used to wash food and veg. The third had turtles occupying it, though they were not always on show, and it was nice to sit by. Vultures sat on the top of the hospital cookhouse. There was never anything left over as all that had to be thrown away was always salvaged by the birds before it hit the water.
The British staff consisted of one major in charge, 2 or 3 surgeons , a senior sister and a moveable number of QAs, mostly from the same Oxford neurosurgical hospital. Also, I had known 2 of them from Bart鈥檚. We had our domestic staff of cooks, beasties, water carriers and cleaners who worked for us by bringing bath water for our canvas baths and cleaned rooms and did laundry, one between 2 of us. They attempted to keep us on the straight and narrow. They were very possessive and felt very responsible for us.
Patients came straight as possible to us after injury, mostly by air. The officers were accommodated on the veranda of the original bungalow and two of the bedrooms. Other ranks had a spacious permanent building. Non-English other ranks were in a newly built long ward. They were African as well as Indian which we found tricky as they didn鈥檛 always get on with each other.
There were sweepers on all the wards to clean the floor and bedpans. Beasties helped with the food. Again the situation was tricky as religious beliefs meant that only certain people were able to help feed others. There were a lot of differences, including the diets. We had to keep 6 spoons locked in a drawer in the office and hand them out and count them back if we had a number of people that couldn鈥檛 feed themselves.
All our patients had head injuries. Some could talk and some couldn鈥檛. Some needed operations, so the rest of the bungalow was the theatre and recovery rooms. Head operations mean first shaving heads. This was a very delicate operation because the cut of the hair seemed to be closely tied to religion. Ghurkhas had to have a small piece of long hair left as they believed they were lifted up to heaven by it when they died. Sikhs were not allowed to have any hair cut at all without permission from their religious leaders. The English didn鈥檛 get a choice.
Our one and only fridge (running on batteries) was only provided because we had the only supply of penicillin, which was very new and had to be kept cold. Nothing else was allowed in this valuable piece of equipment.
Horrors! One day it failed!
We sent for R.E.M.E. to mend it. They came and said they would have to take it away so they gutted it. They never returned it and from then on we had a supply of lumps of ice which came from that being supplied to photographic people at HQ. It was delivered to us from Calcutta by air daily. Why all this happened was never explained.
Two other units were attached to us, one for eye injuries and the other for burns. They were loosely attached for accommodation, but had their own staff specialists.
The burns unit had a really bad type of burn which began to show up rather frequently. It occurred when oil of whatever kind was labled Taille. My spelling may not be correct, but they were all labled at HQ and were all the same. The staff at HQ being non-English just picked up the first can they found. Now this oil was used for many things, spraying walls against mosquitoes, filling cars, stopping flies in latrines and it was a gamble which kind you got. Sometimes the wrong one was put into the latrines which was when it used to cause an explosion if a cigarette was dropped in it.

The general lay-out around us

The town of Camilla was about a mile away and there were always some bicycle rickshaws waiting for a job. Excellent slacks and jackets could be made overnight and always seemed to fit, but you had to produce a garment for them to copy. Materials could also be bought as the locals wore saris or the men lungis (just wrapped around and tucked in).
Fruit & veg could be bought. Bananas of amazing sizes and colours. Large, dull red, and tiny yellow ones with pips. The trick was to ask your beastie to buy them for you as the price was very different even if you gave him a cut. The town celebrated a harvest festival while we were there and the whole town went mad. Coloured powders were at the front of every little shop, in shallow dishes. People put their hands in these and slapped them on everyone. Their clothing started white for everybody, so the greatest number of hand marks showed your popularity.
We had an elephant for a ride that day. I never did discover who organised it but 4 of us were sitting high. I think they didn鈥檛 trust the crowd. In front of us was one of the Gods going for a week鈥檚 holiday. There was the figure sitting in a covered raised compartment on the top of a cart pulled by men. On the ground were people throwing fruit and veg up to the God and on the cart were others throwing bits back down again. It was all very messy but great fun.
In the hot weather Camilla was very humid and we were sweating profusely. So, one way to feel better was to go for a quick drive up the only tarmac road in the area. There were occasionally one or two jeeps available that could be used after work by the staff at HQ. We got much relief from the heat because of the speed of the air which was wonderful.
The road consisted of tarmac only in a one car wide strip down the middle. on the sides were bullock tracks which were uneven and gravelled. The priority rules were supposed to be: ambulances always had the centre. After that, in order, Jeeps, light goods vehicles and heavy lorries. As often as not it turned into: 鈥淚鈥檓 the biggest, you get out of my way鈥�. This was more easily remembered.

Ann Maliantovich

One day a girl joined us called Ann Maliantovich. She claimed she was the only Russian in the British army. She and her family were White Russians and had fled to Paris just before the war and so were safe.
She had relations in England and came over to visit them. Then she over-stayed and got caught over here and couldn鈥檛 get back to Paris. She did her nursing training and then joined the army. She was posted to 3 B.M.N.S.U. and was like a breath of fresh air. She was given the job of ordering our meals and trying to think of something fresh to do with them. We had one day used up all the sugar ration for the week in one exotic pudding.
Ann took the Red Cross gramophones to get them mended in Calcutta, flying with it from the local grass airstrip in a Dakota aircraft. It was easier to go to Calcutta by air and no cost as it had come forward full of supplies for the troops in the area and going back empty. People had to return to us from Calcutta by boat & train. On the boat she had become friendly with one of the officers (David Calcutt) also posted to Camilla and she brought him along to be introduced. I was very friendly with Ann and naturally saw quite a lot of David too.
When, subsequently, Ann went on 2 weeks leave, I continued to see him and we used to sit on the bed in my room talking. I learned a lot about his family and knew the area of Headington, outside Oxford, where he came from. I had started my nursing training at the Wingfield Orthopaedic Hospital which was almost in the next road. This, and the fact that he was from a family of 4 brothers brought us together. In fact, after a while, we were seeing a lot of each other and became engaged. My beastie took on the post of chaperone. It was his idea to come and sit outside on the step to my room when David was there to see that we behaved ourselves.

2 weeks holiday

The unit tried to give everybody a 2-week break annually. I had an aunt (my mother鈥檚 sister) and her two girls in Kashmir. Her husband was a prisoner of the Japs, but at the time was 鈥榩osted missing鈥�, so her money was stopped until the powers that be knew what had happened. No money, so of course she had to take a job. In the winter she had become deputy to the job of running a hotel in Rawalpindi. It had a summer subsidiary in Kashmir and she asked me to go there which was wonderful.
I travelled by train right across India. Unfortunately I couldn鈥檛 get to see any of the places we passed through and got to Rawalpindi. The hotel there organised a taxi for 3 other officers and myself to go to Gulmarg for this was the way to get there. It was the end of the monsoon season so we had to go the long way round as the usual road had disappeared into the river.
There were DAK bungalows on route for us to over-night in that provided shelter and someone to provide food - at a price. One part of the road, even on this route, had disappeared down the hill. We had to wait in the hot sun while it was made safe for us to walk over and then the taxi slowly inched over safely too.
On arrival in Gulmarg, we found it was only a Summer Resort and had only a footpath to it. All our luggage had to be carried up by porters and any small children were carried up in baskets on the backs of porters. The only wheeled traffic in Gulmarg were bicycles and wheelbarrows. Everybody who didn鈥檛 want to walk had to ride horses!
I had a wonderful reception from my Aunt Taff and her two daughters, who had spent most of their lives in India. Their brother was left in England at boarding school. He spent most of his holidays with friends and with my mother. They now knew that their father was a P.O.W. with the Japs and had their allowances restored, but had become used to having a job at the hotel and organised riding picnics at hidden valleys in the area around Gulmarg. I had never ridden a horse in my life and was scared, so one of the girls always escorted me at the tail of the group.
The time went very fast. We had a trip on the local lake and saw all the water plants and tomatoes grown on floating islands. There were also some houses half buried in the side of the hill with a grass field for a roof, sloping to throw off the winter snows.
The trip back had no hitches. I stopped in Calcutta long enough to get a dress ordered for a future wedding. The unit gave me good welcome. This takes the dates to autumn and the war was beginning to go our way.

Burma

Our forces were advancing and needed casualty-clearing stations up front. Normally they would have been staffed by doctors and male orderlies. However, Typhus was becoming a problem, spread by ticks. It infected the lungs and many men died from being flown back to hospital in the Camilla area. The idea was that some nurses should be sent forward to nurse them at a medical casualty station till they passed the worst.
We were flown up to Imphal, which had just been liberated, in a Dakota of course. But, going forward, all space was required. All the seats had been removed and we sat where we could on top of everything. We spent one night in a tent and by 7 am the next morning were getting the same Dakota. We were joined by a few others and took off flying over the clouds.
The 鈥榝ew others鈥� were 1 Indian and a few English, all with rifles and looking very anxious. They knew that the forward troops were pushing the Japs back the way they had come. Like us it was their first experience of Burma and fighting. The centre floor space was covered by equipment and provisions of all kinds.
Little bits of the tops of the hills began to appear through the mist and we were told we were flying south. The sun had now appeared and the view was spectacular. By late morning we arrived at Tamu, a clearing in the, now visible, forest.
A jeep met us and joined the very recently made rough road back towards the way we had come. All around was jungle, except for this one rough road. Places were only known by the number on the nearest milestone. I think where we stopped was 64 milestone (from Imphal).
We were allotted a tent with a railed off square in front of it. There was a notice pinned to the netting saying 鈥淗aveldar Thomas鈥� and his regiment. It was rather a nasty shock as it turned out to be his grave.
No white uniforms here! Slacks and shirts and medical. One large tent held diagnosed Typhus patients which we found was a tick infection giving great concern. Almost immediately a convoy of men arrived and had to be given 鈥榖eds鈥�. These were stretchers balanced each on 4 forked sticks, no number, and no diagnoses.
The doctor said first take T.P.R. then sort the highest temperature patients into one tent and give the lot malaria treatment. The trouble was that they didn鈥檛 stay put and there were no numbers on the stretchers. They milled around to be nearer their friends. It was chaos.
Things began to settle down after a few malaria treatments and we began to see who were the really ill patients. In the improvised doctor鈥檚 office it was impossible to keep proper notes and tempers amongst the staff became frayed too. One doctor had the answer. He had two boxes of matches, one for me and one for himself. We exchanged these at a quicker and quicker pace saying da-de-da鈥� , then burst into laughter and the tension broke.
Rations and everything we needed, were supplied by airdrop and had to be salvaged. Once, live chickens were sent down in cages, with parachutes. One of the English girls had been brought up on a farm in North Devon. She knew the best way to kill chickens was to break their necks. The local way was to half cut their throats and let them run around till they died. There was always religious divisions as to who ate what. There was a dreadful time when she took the lot and killed them all cleanly. No body would eat them and of course there was no alternative and a big black mark against us.
We were allowed to keep any parachutes that were torn. As there were no shops, it seemed a good idea to make clothing from them. They seemed thin & light. But, in the steamy heat we discovered that the man-made fabrics they were made from were not a good idea and made us sweat. They were not comfortable at all.
At this CCS we joined up with two English wives trying to get back to their husbands in Burma. They were both lovely and also very useful as interpreters. Close to our site ran the newly made road which had hastily been made to take lorries with supplies. In places it looked very dangerous as there was a bank on one side and a sloping surface followed by a drop on the other. We had just got settled when news came that we were to go further forward, leap frogging the one now in front of us.
All patients were evacuated back to Imphal. All tents came down and were packed into trucks which arrived for them. 3 of the nurses were placed into each of 2 jeeps on top of our possessions, with a driver and one of the Indian bearers sitting beside him. The hood was down because of the heat, which meant that we all got covered with dust. Whatever our race, we all looked the same.
The trees, mostly teak, were loosing some of their leaves. They were huge, at a guess 2 ft x 1 ft in size. They were dry and hard and they cracked as we drove over them. We stopped once and had some sandwiches and were offered tea boiled over an open fire and laced with Ideal (evaporated) milk and rum, but got some that was drinkable in the end.
We passed one stream on reasonably flat ground and a whole unit of army were in the cool water. Suddenly a shout 鈥淲OMEN!鈥� and all turned their backs to us. I hope we didn鈥檛 spoil their swim. We did wave!
At our new medical unit, the routine was much the same, but this time we had a river to cross to get there. The bridge was three trucks (presumably not repairable) with logs crossing the 3 backs, then layers of canvas and stones making the crossing reasonably safe.
We were allotted a tent with a side without a roof to act as a bath and loo. We only had hurricane lamps and had to be careful of our silhouette after dark. Our canvas baths were installed here also. The first time we used it, and every evening afterwards, we got bombarded from above with bits of stick from the monkey population. We must have provided them with a wonderful new game. They laughed a lot.
A convoy of patients was waiting for us as before, that needed sorting, but was easier as there were a few interpreters. The climate was getting warmer with monsoon rain almost stopped and any of the patients who were well enough could go for a swim in the river. We were advised not to!
One day all the men who were well enough vanished. Nobody knew why until about half an hour later when they came back each carrying a fish. Somebody had thrown a grenade into the river up stream and it had killed all the fish which only then needed salvaging. The fish were a great treat to add to rations.
The area in which we were at this time had a lot of trees and undergrowth so it could have been quite a hazard. Little flies sprang up all over the place but, luckily, no bad effects.
We were now near enough to hear gunfire as our troops were attacking. Suddenly we came in contact with the British Press and had a copy each of a photograph they took, complete with small puppy that we had adopted. Unfortunately, the puppy did not survive long as it was probably infected with dysentery.
Another time, a tarpaulin was placed in a small clearing and we had an impromptu dance to a gramophone. I think it was Christmas. The cooks produced amazing ingenuity in coping with rations and even managed to make the dried potato chunks into passable chips on this occasion.
The only contact we had was a weekly letter sent by air home to our families. This was a standard airmail and we were not allowed to say where we were 鈥� most frustrating.

Back to civilisation

I think that we were recalled to 3 Neurosurgical Unit in Calcutta as the Typhus epidemic calmed down. Also, the original unit had been about to disband and go home, after 4 years. I don鈥檛 know what happened to the two wives, but I think that they were able to get back to their husbands. We were flown to Camilla with some patients who were transferred to the local General Hospital.
There was a storm while we were there and the roof of our Basha was peeled of and everything. We got very wet. The locals were called in to plait us a new roof and thatch it and tie it on.
While I was in Burma, I had very little contact with David and wondered what we would feel about each other. He had been flown back to England on a lecture tour for 2 months. In that time he was able to meet my mother. I have always wondered what they thought of each other.
Most of our patients had already gone and the unit was packing up to go home. A few remained and had to be transferred to Secunderabad in the Deccan. This was close to where the original posting was when we had first come out 鈥� back to white uniforms! Red tape in the form of counting all the sheets and knives, forks, spoons etc. recommenced. They still vanished, even when dirty sheets were locked in a special cage and counted back clean. I was suspicious that some were 鈥渂orrowed鈥� from other wards to make up the numbers.
David was now back with the 14th army HQ and got in contact with me through army signals (quite illegal). He moved to Rangoon, as our side were moving rapidly down that way and anticipated the end was approaching and people would be gathering for the signing of the treaty. I promptly asked to be posted to Rangoon and, to my surprise, was given it.
Then, to my horror, his permanent re-pat (repatriation orders) came through and we were going to cross in Calcutta. Signals were again useful. He said he would meet me at the station in Calcutta. Even then I was put on a passenger train, it stopped at every halt and took two days (mail trains were the fast ones). I sat fuming in the train and he on the station.
However, we did meet in the end. Then what to do? Being engaged was nothing to the powers that be, and he was going down to Ceylon to join a boat to England. We had to act quickly.
We went to the top medical man available. He was very sympathetic and said 鈥渨hat I always say is, 鈥榙o something irrevocable鈥欌��. So we did.
We organised for a service to take place in the New Cathedral. I rushed round to the place that was making my dress and it fitted, which was lucky, and mother had the family veil sent out to me. It arrived in time, thank goodness. On paper, the wedding was in the Old Cathedral, St John鈥檚, 12th September 1945. This was on the certificate, but in fact it was the New Cathedral, but old stationary.
Another great spot of luck was that when David went back to his room, he found his younger brother (Pat) had arrived from England. He was a very glamorous young officer and attached to a naval unit in Calcutta. He managed to book a large ground floor room for the reception.
In the 3 days before we had the wedding arranged, David, Pat & I took a look at the Calcutta shops. Pat & David were plagued by offers of girls that they might want to go to bed with 鈥斺�淣ice English girl Sahib?鈥� We were walking along a fairly crowded pavement one time, when one of the young local boys stood in front of us and tried to sell us a cushion cover with a picture of the Taj Mahal. The writing on it did not have the best of spacing. The slogan on the cushion was 鈥淭o my sweet heart鈥� But it was broken by the spires of the Taj so it read 鈥� To my swee ^^ tart鈥�. Pat did not get one and neither did David.
Being September, by now the weather was pleasantly warm. We both had a few friends who just happened to be in Calcutta and invited them along. One of the press photographers who had been in Camilla took a couple of really nice photographs for us and then we led a stream of taxis to the Naval Mess. Traffic speeds in Calcutta were limited to 30 mph as in England. But, nobody had told any of the drivers that they could go slower than that. It was really scary. Ghurkha drivers were always in a hurry and as they are not as tall as the men that the vehicles had originally been designed for, they had to look through the steering wheel. There were a lot of Ghurkha drivers about.
On arrival at the mess, we were surprised to find that all the food we had ordered was still in boxes, sitting on piles of plates. So it was all hands to work. Also, the weather was warm and we were very thirsty. I had a long fruit drink and soon realised that it had a lot of alcohol in it! I made a beeline for food as I realised that I was a little unsteady. The vicar had just arrived at that moment and remarked 鈥淚鈥檝e never seen a bride with such an appetite!鈥�. I found out later that David had made the fruit drink before going to church and put half a bottle of gin in it. Patrick had come in later. He was newly arrived in India and didn鈥檛 realise how the allocation of alcoholic drinks worked, thought none had been put with the fruit drink, and added another half bottle. It was rather an unfortunate thing to happen, but it made for a lively party.
We both contacted our units and were told we couldn鈥檛 expect any answer to our repatriation requests for at least two weeks. We found that the YMCA ran a hostel for married couples and moved in. Meanwhile, it was still a crowded city and we both longed to see something else.
We discovered that if we took a train to Silhet Station, we could book in at a hotel there. It was not far from Darjeeling and at the Southern End of the route from Tibet. We booked for one week and started the next day. The place we went to was Kalimpong.

Holiday

The train was no different from other trains and only took about 4 hours. The plan was to get a taxi up to the hotel. We had been able to leave our tin trunks at the room in Calcutta and only had a suitcase and a bedroll each.
Yes, there was a taxi, but they couldn鈥檛 take us to Kalimpong as the road was not passable due to the fact that some of it had slid into the river after one of the last storms. He offered to take us to Darjeeling, we could probably get another taxi from there. Half way there, a train passed us coming down the lines as rail and road ran along side each other. One of its wheels was on fire, but nobody seemed to mind. I think it was the brakes.
We did find another taxi, but it was in bits. Lots of them all over the ground. Not to be done out of an unexpected fare, the owner said he would have it ready in two hours. The time we killed by getting lunch, belated, and a short walk around the area. Amazingly, the man was as good as his word and we piled ourselves in after asking the price.
Our route took us through tea plantations and at times hair-raising gradients. In one place we went down a steep hill, under a bridge, turned left and up and over the bridge we just went under! Up a steep hill, we arrived very quickly at our hotel. As we got out of the taxi, it was like magic. The sun came out and in front of us was the world鈥檚 third highest mountain Kanchenjunga, floating above a line of cloud, right across a blue sky. Who could ask for anything more for a honeymoon?
Our bedroom looked out on a large Camellia tree in full flower. The hotel was run by a family of sisters. It was mostly open in Summer time as there was an English school in the area and families could come and stay near the children. Also, the parents could get a break from the heat of Calcutta.
The local population were the nearest to the border of Tibet we had been and there were a lot of Tibetans bringing turquoise and cheese (lovely mixture) to sell. They wore large pieces of turquoise in their ears and thick clothes made from skins with the fur inside. David had been given a film for a wedding present and we carefully chose how to use it all the week.
Butterflies were all over very colourful and always could be found along every hedge. We took pictures of them. The film was very precious. It had been given to him by a jeweller in Calcutta who was serving as an army photographer. There were no films on sale anywhere. We took the best pictures we could, but didn鈥檛 have time in the week to get the film developed, so had to take them back with us to Calcutta undeveloped.
One particularly bright spot was a discovery that a very good friend of mine (Loys) who I first met in Headington, Oxford, where we were both training at the orthopaedic hospital was in the area near Bombay. She had married a Dr Saudek. When he was called up, she volunteered and joined him in the army quarter. She had originally come from Canada to see her English cousins. Loys became a very good friend and we went to Bart鈥檚 together. I vowed to see her as we would have to be repatriated via Dulali, very near Bombay, on our way home. By this time they had a baby boy.
The day came when we had to go back to Calcutta. Another officer was going back as well and it was arranged that we would share a taxi. The other man was married and had been on leave with his family. He had done the trip many times and knew it well.
The road that we had tried to come up was still blocked. In fact, it had disappeared into the river running beside it. We were told that we would have to walk over the break and another taxi would meet us the other side. We piled into the taxi, all 3 of us, me in the middle, and got to the break in the road. Of course, the local people had known about the break and were eagerly awaiting some cash for carrying the luggage. This involved climbing up the high side of the road and the only way to do that was up a very wet waterfall to it鈥檚 top (it was raining hard all the way) so we got soaked and very cold. Before we could get across to the road on the other side, David said he had always wanted to sit under a waterfall and he couldn鈥檛 be any wetter, so he did just that. We, of course, had to pay our impromptu porters while they waited for more victims.
The other officer was very smug. He had a waterproof coat and found himself very much dryer than we were. However, it was not possible for him to get away from me, still in the middle in the taxi. When we got to the station the men took their belongings with them to their changing room and I went to the Ladies. I opened my bedroll and got out dry clothes and afterwards found out that David did the same. Mr know-it-all had allowed his helper to carry it with the end upwards and as it is the shape of a Swiss roll, the water had gone right down the centre and everything was soaked. We didn鈥檛 sit in the same carriage in the train on the way back to Calcutta. We never saw him again.
On reporting to our separate units we were told we might have at least another 2 weeks to wait for a boat home, but we could go back together and would be issued with instructions as soon as possible. During this time we began to realise that our surname was so like the City name that the bearers always had to check up on us and we were kept waiting after ordering a meal. Meals were ordered by name and the names put on the bill. These bills accumulated and were paid at the end of the week. It would be by sea from Bombay and we would go from Dulali family camp which was near Bombay.
We were now free to buy things that we would want when we got back to England. Cutlery was easy to pack. Towels were also a good buy, also rugs. Dressed as civilians we bargained for these sitting on the floor of the market shops. David was very good at Urdu, the universally understood local language, as he had passed an army exam in it when he first arrived in India. This is why we got a lot of what we bought to take home at a very reasonable price. The shop owners thought we were civilians.
David had travelled out there as a territorial Sgt and been promoted to Captain by the time I met him. I like the story that when he had taken the exams for promotion, he found himself in Frontier Force Regiment, as transport officer. Well, that was good, but almost all the transport was mules. No petrol need and no free rides.
Orders came through and the train back to Bombay and the Dulali camp. I contacted Loys and went and saw them at the first opportunity. It was wonderful. They had a bungalow and we had a good natter. We were introduced to the baby. He was standing in his drop-sided cot, walking around saying what sounded like 鈥渂ugger, bugger, bugger鈥�. His parents were very embarrassed. Loys was very insistent that he had not learned it from them.
When I got back to our room in the camp I found the film that we had taken when we honeymooned had vanished. I had intended to get it developed the next day. We never found it and it was no use to anyone else. Sickening.

Going Home

We had almost 2 weeks in camp and then orders for sailing. It was a family ship made over from peacetime 鈥� three tier bunks in every room and strict segregation of sexes. A number of mixed-race wives, some of them very pretty, were a little unsure of their English. I was told by several of them that they came from 鈥渢he Cantoonment of course鈥�. There were also English wives there of course. One had lovely fair hair. She had a sort of stuffing on her head over which she piled her hair. This earned her the nickname of the passionate haystack
If we wanted to be alone with our husbands, we had to make arrangements with their roommates that they wouldn鈥檛 come back within the hour. It was October by now and we could still sit on deck, but there was only one recreation room if it was raining. This time we sailed up the Suez Canal and that was interesting. If you sat down on deck all you could see was sand and no water at all.
As colder weather came, we all wanted to be inside. There were not enough chairs and some people were wanting to read whilst others played cards. So the room was divided in two. We belonged to the card side of the room, but even there, there was a divide 鈥� quiet or noisy 鈥� i.e. Bridge or Snap? The excitement was quite childish but we were going home after years away. We were like naughty children really.
We landed in Liverpool with our travel vouchers for home and warm clothing still in our trunks. David and I were making for Cheltenham, where my mother lived. We had orders posted to us about where we were each to report to after our leave was over. Now was a perfect homecoming and we never stopped talking. Then we went to see David鈥檚 parents at Headington and repeated all the news and finally Tony, David鈥檚 brother, announced that he also was getting married and we had to go to Liverpool for the wedding.
Altogether a very happy ending to our war.

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