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September 3rd 1939.
War is declared against Germany.

I was 21 in August and had already completed 2 ½ years General Nurse training at the City General Hospital, Plymouth in preparation for the SRM exams. I worked a 60 hour week, salary £22 per annum, board and lodging and uniform.

There were no air raid shelters in the hospital, and we were told in the event of air raids, we should place patients under their beds and place washing bowls over their heads.

Despite the long hours and studying, I still found time to enjoy off-duty life dancing on Plymouth Hoe and at the many dance venues in the city, and met Servicemen of all nationalities and Service.

I passed my SRM exam in May, just after Dunkirk, and soon after the air raids on the city commenced. I was never afraid of death from the bombing, only the fear of being maimed and unable to continue nursing.

I commenced midwifery training in December 1940, and on March 20th 1941, following a visit from the King and Queen to the city, Plymouth had the heaviest raid. I was with a patient in a side ward, she was about to give birth, when a bomb dropped on the children’s ward and down the centre of the maternity ward. I delivered a baby boy by torch light almost at the edge of the bomb crater; we were all covered in rubble, plaster and dirt. Many children, patients and 3 nurses were killed.

I pass my midwifery exam.

In April 1942, I join Queen Alexandra’s Royal Nursing Service as a Nursing Sister and work at R.N. Hospital, Stonehouse and R.N.A. Hospital, Newton Abbot; the hospital was converted from the old workhouse.

October 23rd 1943 - I set sail with 6 other Naval Sisters on the ‘S.S. Strathmore’ from Liverpool bound for Ceylon. There was a huge convoy of troop ships and merchant vessels protected by a Royal Naval destroyer.

We were the first convoy to pass through Gibraltar since the war started and were heavily bombed by German aircraft, losing many ships. We eventually reached Bombay.
After an escapade in the forbidden part of Bombay with another sister and two Naval officers we embarked on the ‘S.S. Maticina’, trailed by Japanese submarines, eventually reaching Colombo on December 21st 1943.

I remember Christmas Day 1943; I nursed a severely burnt young sailor. There was no Burns Unit at the Hospital — RNA Hospital (part of Colombo General Hospital, Cinnamon Garden) and the poor lad had to be nursed in a bathroom in a bath of saline water.

March 1944 - The ‘SS Khediie Ismair’ is torpedoed off Colombo and 44 Army Nursing Sisters are lost. I volunteer to work at the 58th Indian Army General Hospital at Kandy until Army Nursing replacements arrive from England; a completely different type of administration and patients, compared to the Navy.

May 1944 - I am given a Rail Warrant and told to make my way to the North of Ceylon, across the Gulf of Ihannan by boat and then by train to Bangalore to sick quarter ‘HMS Garuda’, Fleet Air Arm Station, S India.
Interesting work, and I become an active member of the ships Concert Party ‘The Garuddalums.’ (I play the part of Prince Charming in Xmas pantomime, ‘Cinderella’)

May 1945 - VE Day in Europe, limited celebrations in the camp, as fighting is still going on in Burma and the Pacific.

August 18th 1945 - VJ Day. The war is finally over. Wild celebrations in the camp.

January 1946 - 3-day train journey to Bombay. Eventually sail on the ‘SS Georgia’ from Bombay to Liverpool. Arrive home in February.

June 1946 - I got married to a Naval officer. Sadly the marriage ended in divorce in 1949.

August 1946 - Demobbed from the Navy.

In conclusion, I had an exciting war, I tried to give my patients the very best of treatment and loving care. I gained valuable nursing experience, loved working with fellow nurses and doctors, I worked hard and played hard off duty, with time for romance, and visited many interesting places in Ceylon and India.

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