大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Bill Ross of the 鈥楢ction Desk 鈥� Sheffield鈥� Team on behalf of Doctor Ivy Oates, and has been added to the site with the author鈥檚 permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.
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However, who was the orderly officer on V.J. night? You can have three guesses and be right the first time, I was. Everybody was celebrating, the men were all drunk, and fireworks were going off all over the place. I was in Casualty, one soldier came in, drunk as a coot, slipped over on鈥�.well, he wouldn鈥檛 do anything that anybody said. He slipped on the floor, so I said to the orderlies, 鈥淪it on him,鈥� which they did very readily; they descended on him, and so, I got on my knees and stitched up his hand. I learned something that I wasn鈥檛 quite sure of before, namely, what a wonderful anaesthetic alcohol is. He got up, very merrily, and said, 鈥淚鈥檒l come and take you out tomorrow,鈥� which of course, delighted the orderlies very much.

V.J. Day actually meant that our war had finished. There was some talk of sending me to Japan, but there was one problem which neither the army nor the navy could solve: on a ship, only a Captain had a cabin to himself. What would they do with one woman? Now, the mind boggles. They didn鈥檛 know, so they decided that I wouldn鈥檛 go. When I learned how long the land remained radioactive, I鈥檓 glad I did not go. Of course, so many men, there were so many people in the Far East, they could not come back straight away, and it took another year, or even two years before everybody returned home. So, we were left there, of course, the hospital still had to be run. We were still working, and I got pregnant and had my oldest son who was born in 46, in September, in Dilhali Military Hospital, for which he has never forgiven me. 鈥淥f all the places to be born,鈥� he said, 鈥渨hy did I have to be born in Dilhali?鈥� which is a beautiful station, I can tell you, a beautiful station, but never mind. You know, you can never be right with your children all the time, can you?

So, by the time we came home, at Easter 47, after we鈥檇 had the coldest winter, 46-47, we came back from the tropics to the cold. But of course, everybody came to Southampton, to pick us up, but mainly to see the baby. My husband got a hundred and twenty pounds, and a suit of clothes. I got eighty pounds and six pounds in lieu of a suit of clothes, and in July, I was out of the army. If I had been in for two more months, I would have served for five years. Having served five years in active service, I would have come out as a Major, but as I hadn鈥檛 quite done it, I came out as a Captain.

In conclusion, there are some things I can say about India that would give an idea of the local colour. There was the Divhali Festival; an Indian Regiment invited us to the Divhali Festival. It鈥檚 a lovely festival that they have in Hindu. It鈥檚 where they have little lights, they make little tiny lamps with bits of clay, anything, put a little wick and oil in, then light it. Then they put the little lamps along the windowsills, and over the doors and along the wall. So, they have got these twinkling lights everywhere, and they have a feast. It鈥檚 a great celebration, a lovely festival. And this unit invited us to go.

Well, of course, naturally, we went, and when you鈥檙e invited out to a meal, when you get there, you expect to see a table with cakes and cutlery on it, don鈥檛 you? Forget it! All we saw were strips of matting down the long hall; parallel strips of matting. We realised that we were to sit on the floor, cross-legged. Was I glad I was wearing trousers? Because some of the nurses had got skirts on. We had to sit opposite each other with the matting in the middle. And then, 鈥榩lates鈥� did you say? Banana leaves! Banana leaves cut into squares; they were clean, they had been washed. We all got a square of banana leaf. Then, one of the orderlies comes along with an enormous bowl of rice. A dollop of rice on each banana leaf, then the curry comes along on top of that. Indians of course, eat with their fingers, but as a concession to Westerners, not knowing these things, we all got a spoon. After that, we got the sweet, and then, we got the banana leaf, but that was folded into a bag, like the old sweet bag, you know, twisted round, and a thorn stuck in the side, which stopped it from coming open. And you got your sweet rice in that. I thought, 鈥淲hat a brilliant idea, no washing up, a wonderful lot of compost, and, it seemed to me they鈥檇 got it made you know. That was a great experience, and they have lovely customs in India, like putting garlands round you to celebrate things, and we would go round the wards and in each ward, an Indian would come and put a great garland of flowers round your neck. By the time you鈥檇 been to three or four wards, you鈥檇 look like a walking grave with all these piles of flowers. They are wonderful people and have wonderful customs, and the lovely thing about living among people with different cultures is you understand how they think and how they look at life. That broadens your own ideas of ideas, and of how life appears to them.

I always think Hinduism is such a tolerant religion, because in both Islam and Christianity, if you make a mess of one life, you go to hell, according to religion. But in Hinduism, you don鈥檛; you鈥檙e reborn, but in a lower status because you have to suffer for your sins. But, if you live a good life in that, you are reborn into a better one. So you can redeem yourself in Hinduism, whereas you can鈥檛 in Islam and Christianity. And don鈥檛 you think that鈥檚 a nice tolerant attitude? There鈥檚 a lot of good things in Hinduism, and as I say, these are the kind of things you learn. People have said to me, 鈥淲ere you glad that you went in the army?鈥� Well, I don鈥檛 think in wartime, that you have much of a choice. I remember being in the operating theatre in Hull one time, and someone asked the surgeon if he was going to join up. He said no, and referred to someone who had made a lot of money during the First World War, and 鈥溾�︹��..I鈥檓 going to make a lot of money in this one.鈥� I remember feeling revolted by that. That people can think of making money while other people were giving their lives for their country. So, when I volunteered to go into the army, I had no doubt. However, I do realise that if I had stayed in this country and specialised in paediatrics, I would probably have been a consultant and made much more money, and perhaps[s some people would say, have achieved more. But I don鈥檛 know if I would have been a better person.

You see, all these philosophical points, you only have to think about when the occasion occurs, and the only other thing I would like to say is, how wonderful the Indian troops were that fought with us. They were promised that if they fought with us against the Japs, everybody knows about the Sieks etc. but there were thousands of other regiments that fought for us against the Japs. We said, 鈥淚f you鈥檒l help us, if you come in with us, against the Japs, you will get independence at the end of the war. And they are the people that fought for Indian Independence. There were Indians who side with the Japs, because the Japs said, 鈥淚f you come and side with us to beat the British, we鈥檒l turn them out, you鈥檒l get independence. Anybody who believed that from a Jap, wanted their brains testing. They treated Asian prisoners worse than white prisoners. They despised Asians, so they certainly weren鈥檛 going to fight for them to give then their country back. This upsets me when they say Chandra Bose was a freedom fighter to free India. He did not free India. The people that freed India were the men who fought for us. As for Chandra Bose, there鈥檚 a statue of him in Calcutta and I wouldn鈥檛 mind putting a bomb under it if I鈥檇 got one. No, but it鈥檚 not right. The people that sided with the Japs were not really fighting for Indian independence. How could anybody, knowing how the Japs behaved, think the Japs were going to fight for India then give them India? How could they?

Dr. Ivy Oates.

Parts 1 - 4 of this story can be found at:

A3890153
A3890207
A3890225
A4181339

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