大象传媒

I joined the London Auxiliary Ambulance Corps in London, (Mile End Road, Cannon Street). At 17 I was under age but was accepted as I had been a Red Cross Cadet. I became an ambulance driver during the blitz and took people from London Hospitals which had been bombed, to Essex hospitals. On one occasion I was co-driver (navigating), to a well-known opera singer. It was terrible driving during the blackout with no lights and I couldn鈥檛 see where we were going. We got lost and found ourselves driving over a ploughed field.
My driver was furious with me. We managed to locate where we were, but needed to carry the patients on stretchers across a field and through a hedge to get to the Receiving Centre where we were taking them. Taking the first patient on the stretcher we had to leave the others in the ambulance as they were unable to walk. Fortunately we managed to get help with carrying the rest of them.

On another occasion, I was driving my ambulance taking four patients to a hospital in the North of England. It was a very hot day and one of them said to me, 鈥淲ould you stop at this shop and get us an ice cream as it鈥檚 so hot?鈥� So I stopped, got the ice cream, got back into my ambulance and started to drive away, but found I couldn鈥檛 go forward. In those days the exhaust pipe of the ambulance stuck out of the top, and it had got hooked on a chain supporting a shop awning. I kept trying to pull away to get unhooked and managed to pull away the front of the shop! I was put on a charge for that.

Another time, I鈥檇 been told to take charge of a convoy of ambulances driving down from the North and had been given directions, but somehow got separated and lost the convoy. The motorcyclist went round and round trying to find the others and lead them back to me and eventually he did so.
However, it wasn鈥檛 considered advisable to give me that job again.

I experienced some tragic times also as occurred later when I was transferred and billeted to the North of England and was put on Camp Reception Station. We had to maintain our own ambulances and there were two of us attached to one site. We were billeted to wherever they sent us. One night while we were on CRS we put our ambulances away and locked the shed where the petrol was kept. We were just going off duty but were delayed talking to some patients. All of a sudden there was a lot of noise and people shouting. We looked out of the window and saw a tall, thin man outside going up in flames. He鈥檇 broken into the shed where the petrol was kept and poured it over himself 鈥� he was one of the new intakes. He had come from Singapore, very emaciated, and he couldn鈥檛 face up to his injuries. This was his way out of it. That horrific scene has stayed with me ever since.

Another really gruesome memory was when I was outside Bethnal Green Underground Station. It had been bombed. In the rush of people trying to get out quickly, someone tripped, panic set in and people were scrambling and falling on top of each other. Tragically, many died of suffocation. It was a dreadful scene.

I was at the same location throughout the blitz, but wanted to be sent abroad. I applied, was interviewed, had a driving test in L/H drive and was eventually accepted. So I left the LAAC and joined the British Red Cross and was billeted in Yorkshire. Our Commander was very like the cartoon character, Colonel Blimp! I trained to go to France. The place where we were staying had a large lake in the grounds which froze over and was ideal for skating. The day before I was due to go to France, whilst skating, the ice broke and I fell in. I was the only one of the group to stay behind as I developed pneumonia and was sent home, bitterly disappointed.

However, after convalescence, I met a young doctor who proposed marriage. I was to think it over and meet him under the clock at Victoria Station on my way home on leave, to give him my answer. Having thought it over, I decided against it and went straight home without meeting him 鈥� presumably leaving him standing there.

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