大象传媒

"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Connie Ridley and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."
I had just started my nurses training at Leeds Infirmary when they started bringing the injured in to the hospital at the start of the war. So I decided to join up and went to Richmond (Green Howards), where I trained to do dressings and first aid.

Once trained I was transferred to Scarborough. We lived in houses that had been taken over by the military. One night I went to the Olympic Ballroom. Two people had to stay behind in the house to sign in and out. That night it got bombed. One of the planes came down in the garden. I remember feeling very lucky the next day.

After Scarborough, I was moved to Huddersfield. They had nothing. They had a Captain belonging to the Signals, but they had nothing and the medical officer was sick. So, I went in to the sick bay. I was only 19 at the time and the responsibility was thrust on to me. But everything seemed to come naturally. I had to go up Trinity Street and find a suitable house for a medical room, which had been acquisitioned by the military. When I found the ideal house, I reported back. It had been James Mason鈥檚 house. I had to get all the equipment, sick bay, medical room and beds. When the MO came out she said 鈥榖etter see if anyone is sick鈥�!

I was very annoyed. The Captain of the Signals asked if anyone wanted to go abroad. I thought there would be more scope working abroad. But they had to send to my husband, who was in the forces in India, to ask if I could work abroad and he didn鈥檛 agree.

One day, one of the Medical Orderly鈥檚 from Kirkburton came to Huddersfield. There was nothing to do in Kirkburton, so I was sent there. Again, there was no medical room and I had to set it all up. Eventually, I worked with men and women. After my time at Kirkburton, I returned to Scarborough where I remained until the end of the war. I came out in 1946. After the war, I went straight to Pinderfields Hospital. They were still bringing in the injured. I saw some atrocities. One young man was completely burnt from a tank incident. I still feel that I could have done more if I could have gone abroad.

My husband did his full time in the forces and joined the reserves after the war. He has many medals. During the war, he got injured. He didn鈥檛 know that the War Office had informed me of this by letter. He told me it was only a boil. It was only 6 years ago that he actually admitted that it wasn鈥檛 a boil. He always said 鈥淥ne died and One Cried鈥�. This came from one of his experiences in France. There were two snipers down a road; Bill (Connie鈥檚 husband) killed one of them and the other started crying. Bill was on Sword Beach on D-Day, he was in the Anti-tank Artillery. He went back there 6 weeks ago.

I met my husband in the forces. There was 11 of us women would go out to a caf茅. One night a gang of soldiers came in to the caf茅. One would look over, but I wasn鈥檛 interested. Two of the soldiers came over and we got talking, they were posted on Leeds Road. Bill asked me if he could walk me to my billet. I said 鈥淧lease yourself鈥�. Soon after Bill got posted to Germany. I was very upset and went flying down to the train station to see him off. Bill was really please and said 鈥渢hought I would never see you again鈥�. We have stayed together for 57 years.

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