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This story was submitted to the People's War website by a volunteer from AWLHRG on behalf of Mary Ryan and has been added to this site with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

Marriage in North Africa — A QA nurse's story.

I finished my training to become a trained nurse in 1941 and then I worked as a staff nurse in Dorking Hospital, Surrey. We were having a New Year's Eve party in the Nurses' Home and I asked an Army Captain that I was friendly with at that time. He turned up with about 10 other officers and brought crates of beer with them. They were stationed near Dorking and were awaiting orders to go overseas in the near future. I was introduced to another officer, Anthony, and we got on well so from that evening onwards we used to meet often. He took me to meet his parents in Harpenden, Herts, and soon afterwards we got engaged. This was in March 1942. I knew he was going on an overseas posting so I did not get married at that time. As it happened, his convoy moved early in May on a long journey all round the Cape of South Africa and up to Egypt to join the 8th Army. I did not see him again until 1943, a year later.

On the move with the QAIMNS/R

In the meantime I joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Nursing Service during the summer of 1942 and was sent to Benenden School, Kent, which was set up as a hospital. There were no patients there then. After about four weeks we were ordered to have our cases packed ready for a train journey at 5pm. We ended up at Gourock on the Clyde and the liners were awaiting our arrival. It took about 3 days before we moved into the Atlantic Ocean. It was December and the seas were very rough. We had a storm that lasted for three days with several casualties on board with broken limbs. The life rafts came unstuck and were moving about in all directions. One day I asked one of the ship's officers where we were going but of course he could not tell me. He advised me to get up at 6am on a certain morning and sure enough we were going through the Straits of Gibraltar.

Alarm!

The Mediterranean was full of German U-boats . We had one more night on board lying in our uniforms and we did not get much sleep. The bells started ringing about midnight so it was up to our lifeboats thinking this was the end. After about an hour the all-clear sounded and we returned to our cabins. We heard later that one ship in the convoy had been sunk.

Algiers and maggots!

Next morning we arrived in Algiers where a hospital had been set up with doctors and orderlies. We were very busy looking after all the casualties, lots of soldiers who were severly burnt in tanks. They were covered in plaster of paris all over, with openings for the face, fingers, toes etc. I was with a doctor one day who was opening up the plaster on a patient and a large clump of maggots appeared! The healing was wonderful! As they were long- term cases these patients were flown back to England. We heard later that they made a great recovery and the maggots really saved them. Anthony, my fiancé, knew I was in NorthAfrica and when he was given a week's leave he just turned up one day at the hospital. The matron gave me some time off and we were able to meet most days.
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A fright in the night

I was moved further up the coast to Bône (now Annaba) and the hospital there was completely tented and right under a mountain. It was a bit scary going from one tent to another at night as jackals came down from the mountain to raid the dustbins and we had to be escorted by an orderly. One night an arab came into my tent as I lay asleep. The other occupant was out and he wrapped up all her clothes and took her camp bed and was just about to get under the barbed wire when he was spotted by the guards and he dropped the bundle and got away. Luckily she got all her belongings back.

Marriage

Anthony was able to get a posting to Douera in the Algiers area and he wanted us to get married there. In the end I agreed . I applied for a week's leave from the Bône hospital. The Padre said he would take me to the airstrip from where a plane left daily. I had no papers or ticket to board and so I just joined the queue of soldiers. As the pilot was checking the passengers he saw me and noted that I was not on his list. He asked me why I wanted to go to Algiers. I said I was going to get married there. Everyone was staring at me. Eventually, the pilot (an American) agreed to take me even though I did not have a ticket — so it was a free flight. Our marriage took place in August 1943, in a French church as I am a Roman Catholic and all went well.

The Wedding

The day of the wedding was one of the busiest I can remember. The telex from Jerusalem only arrived 3 hours before the time fixed for the civil ceremony and Anthony managed to get a French stamp for it just as the officials of the Préfecture were departing for lunch(perhaps of 3 hours duration). It was a close shave indeed!
The dual ceremony (Mairie and Church) went without a hitch and was attended by several American officers and by a British contingent. I brought a witness from my hospital. There had been no time to arrange a proper reception and the American Mess Staff, with whom Anthony worked at the time, were disappointed not to have been able to produce some decent food for the occasion. The drinks consisted of Algerian Champagne.
We spent a very enjoyable 6 days in beautiful weather,driving down to the beach at Sidi Ferruch in the morning, having lunch in a restaurant in the woods nearby and bathing in the warm sea. The French family was charming. I managed to get a seat on a DC3( Bucket seats) and that was the end of a most blissful honeymoon. We did not meet again until Spring of 1944.

Italy

When the fighting moved to Italy I was sent to a hospital at Barletta on the Adriatic coast. We had lots of patients from Yugoslavia at that time. I remember that they wanted their bread cut in chunks( not slices) as they were used to eating out in the woodlands and rough countryside. They used to throw their bread around but no-one understood what they were saying!

A Meeting with the Pope

The fighting in Italy moved further north and in January 1945,when I had some leave, I met Anthony in Rome. We went to the Vatican and had an audience with Pope Pious X11. We all lined up and he spoke to some people and shook hands with others. I shook his hand.

The last months of the war in Europe

From Barletta I moved to a former nursing home in Loreta, south of Ancona,and all went well there. I arranged to meet Anthony at Bologna as he was on leave. I arrived by train and he came by jeep from Millstadt, Austria. We stayed at a Leave Hotel on the Wörthersee, Austria. The war was coming to an end and as I was a married sister I could apply for release, which I did. Anthony had to stay on for longer.

This was the end of my Army Nursing and I went to Ireland for a long rest!

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