大象传媒

An Army Nurse on leave in Jerusalem

Annette Le Page was a nurse who had trained in London. She came from Guernsey, which had been occupied by the Germans, so she was out of contact with her home and family. The following is an extract from the diary which is in the form of the letters which she could not send to her family.

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May 23rd 1942
Hubbard, Margaret Hingston & I set off for our leave with great anticipation, Hubbard & I spent the night in Ismailia 鈥� a friend met us & looked after us. We stayed at the Y.W.C.A where we had dinner & on Sunday morn. (Whitsun) we went for a walk along the canal. The grassy slopes on either side and the flamboyant trees 鈥� with their huge clusters of crimson flowers were a sight to behold. We met Margaret & Kantara & away we went towards Palestine.

June 7th
We have had a wonderful leave. We stayed for the first few days at the Y.W.C.A. at Jerusalem. It was lovely to see hills and green vallies again. We found Jerusalem quite cool.
Padre Masters 鈥� the C of E chaplain of the 16th Gen conducted us around, it was very fortunate for us, because he described everything to us as it was and therefore it was much easier for us to visualise as it was in the time of Our Lord. I liked the hills and valleys thick with corn which was being harvested in the old way by manual labour.
Hubbard & I went by car with a party to the Lake of Galilee via Nazareth. It was absolutely marvellous and it was a great thrill to row in a boat on Galilee.
The last few days we spent laying by the sea at a little place on the coast.

We went back to Jerusalem for our last evening which we spent with 鈥渢hem鈥� 鈥� Miss Johnson and Mary Jack. After which we went to the cinema and took them back to the hospital at the top of Mount Scopus.

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