大象传媒

Janet Baines (N茅e Ward)
My Service Overseas 1942-1947

I thought it would be interesting to do my bit in something that was worthwhile so, as a qualified physiotherapist and already being a travel-o-holic, I joined the Overseas Physiotherapists Service.

We assembled at Aldershot and in a group of 12; in Red Cross uniform but attached to the army. We had officer status. We embarked on a troop ship at Gourock in Scotland in December 1943. We had no idea where we were heading for.

I was amazed how much kit we were allowed to take. I had a tin trunk and a bedding roll which included a fold up camp bed which survived the four years of my service. We were in a large convoy and sailed into the Atlantic. Luckily only one ship went down and we picked up some of the survivors.

We landed in Algiers in North Africa where we went out to a lovely village on the coast 鈥� Chenua just west of Tipasa, which was an officers鈥� convalescent depot; so you can imagine the welcome we got and made many lifetime friends. After Christmas three of us were posted to Philipville, east of Algiers 鈥� a holiday seaside village. We travelled by train in carriages labelled 鈥淔or 12 horses or 24 men鈥�. We got off at the nearest station inland from Philipville and were picked up by trucks. Unfortunately our arrival was not welcome as they were suffering from the after effects of a big storm, which had blown down the tented hospital. While this was being reconstructed we were billeted in a row of holiday villas on the coast; matron was installed in the Sultan鈥檚 Villa and the rest of us in harem villas! This was a bit of luck as we could bathe when off duty.

All our patients were from the North Africa Campaign and it was our job to get them fit enough to rejoin their units to go over to Italy as North Africa had folded up by then. It was very difficult not to get emotionally involved with our friends or patients鈥� particularly as you knew they were going off into the air or the front line.

After a month the hospital was moved to Algiers where there were four military hospitals 鈥� all tented. We were in Number 95. We were lucky to be able to explore the city at that time as it was off limits later. The Arab quarter, the Kasbah, was most interesting but we did not go unescorted.

One day a group of us went down to bathe leaving our clothes on the beach; when we came out of the water our clothes had all been taken by Arabs 鈥� terrible thieves; they even got into our compound one night and stole everything out of one of the girls鈥� tents. Even her camp bed and she never woke up!

We spent about six months in North Africa and then crossed over to Naples where the battle was raging over Casino. The hospital was in a deserted school and we were in the dormitories 鈥� ten to a room 鈥� surrounded by all our goods and chattels.

The physiotherapy department was in the basement; very dark. We constructed a little oven out of a paraffin stove and a large biscuit tin; and cooked things in it.

A lot of our patients were pretty bad with lost limbs and were waiting for hospital ships to take them home. The hospital was in the slums of Naples near the docks. The street outside was a latrine for that area and they came and squatted to relieve themselves. The local cemetery was full of expensive marble tombs; I think that was one of the things that put me off Catholicism for life.

It was a lovely opportunity for us to be in Naples; with no tourists and our leave centres being Sorrento, Positano and the island of Ischia where we boiled potatoes in the hot springs. We were able to visit Pompeii and Herculanum and were there when Vesuvius erupted and hot lava rained down on our flat roof; I even brought some home.

The battle for Casino raged for a long time and one of our nursing sisters was killed when she was dealing with a casualty in that area. We left Naples by ship for Marseilles; the whole hospital was packed up and I told the men not to include our little biscuit tin oven but to my surprise, during the loading, I saw 鈥淟ittle Beattie鈥� as we called it sitting on top of all the hospital equipment.

We were loaded on to the 鈥淏lue Train鈥� and landed in Ghent in Belgium before crossing the Rhine and taking over an ex German hospital; full of starving patients. Most of the patients were glad to be out of it all but I was spat on by one Luftwaffe pilot who I was treating for leg injuries. The end was now in sight and I spent VE day in Brussels 鈥� sadly spoilt by one of my friends losing a brother on the last day. From Ghent we were posted to Rendsburg on the Kiel Canal. We took over an army barracks which had housed the German army prostitutes - so we had a good lot of cleaning to do.

We were in Rendsburg for a few months looking after the occupation troops. We inherited a whole stable of beautiful horses and my riding career got underway. I had a wonderful grey horse called 鈥淪inbad鈥� and we rode out every morning at 6.00am. One of our jobs was to service tram loads of Belsen skeletons on their way to Sweden to be brought back to life. (NB. My husband to be was one of the first doctors to go into Belsen and he never got over man鈥檚 inhumanity to man and became an agnostic and cynic).

After a few months I was posted to Osnabruck and then down to Munster which had been completely flattened by our bombers; but the ex SS hospital on the outskirts was untouched and we had really good accommodation - I actually had a room to myself. Once again we inherited a stableful of horses and rode out every morning before work. By this time families were coming out to join their husbands; so we had a maternity wing and mixed patients. One day I walked into the duty room of one of the wards and was captivated by a most attractive man with bright blue eyes sitting on the floor. It was literally love at first sight 鈥� crashing of cymbals etc. Guy Baines was head surgeon dying to get home and find a permanent job but they needed him there pro-tem. We got to know one another 鈥� I even had to go fishing with his group to catch him 鈥� we had a lot in common. Neither of us had wanted to marry during the war and so we were a bit older as a result.

Guy was demobbed in 1946 and came home to the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham where he had been the first RSO when it opened in 1936. He was fortunate to get a consultant job straight away.

I was posted down to Klagenfurt in Austria where again I had a wonderful time. Guy came out on holiday in 1947 and asked me to marry him and that was it. We married the following year in my old church on the outskirts of Stafford. I was lucky to find a perfect Mr Right. I only hope he thought so too.

January 2006

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