大象传媒

She said that during the war, she had to go to hospital to get her tonsils taken out. She had to stay in overnight for the operation. That night, the biggest air raid in Sunderland occured and people who had been hit were rushed in. Eventually, they ran out of beds so they lined the matresses up along the floor for people to sleep on. The matron went over to her and another girl who were of the same age who was in hospital and said that they had to share a bed. She said 'If you both have got anything in your heads then i'm afraid you'll have to share them also.'
Eventually, the ward got busier so they slept on the floor and helped to bandage people and give them water. The next day the matron said that they couldn't get their tonsils out because the hospital was too full so they got a woman to send for their mam's. The other girls' mam came. Gladys began to get worried and said to the matron 'Can you go and find out if everything is o.k because she should have been here by now, it only takes 10 minutes as she lives in Queens Crescent.' It turned out that the womann had forgotten to go to her mam and everything was o.k. A couple of weeks later, she received a letter that said she could go back to hospital and get the taken out but she didn't want to incase another air raid went off and her gran said it was for the best because it was obviously a sign that they weren't meant to be taken out. To this day, Gladys still has her tonsils!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.