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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Mary Thersa Bradbury and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."
I wrote my original story for a child, but I wanted to add things in.

In was in hospital for most of the war — Bradley Wood Sanatorium, in Huddersfield. I saw quite a lot of action because we were close to the ICI plant. Most of the staff slept in and Mr. Bladrey was our hero.

We had a wonderful school teacher who would read out all the newspaper to everyone. We had a big map in the classroom with all the zones on it. The nursing staff were foreign, the Senior Sister was possibly Austrian. We used to think she was a spy. The radio was always on in the ward and when the King or the Prime Minister came on, she always used to come in to listen. It was a silly idea, but thats why we thought she was a spy.

The children who could get up had to go around the hospital grounds and pick the middle leaves from Foxgloves for digitals. We also always had to go blackberrying for the war effort. We had to have our legs wrapped in cardboard to protect them. The soldiers billeted in our area used to practice in the woods. We thought they were frightening at first, but later we thought they were there to protect us.

Everyone was always knitting for the war effort. But I couldn’t even cast-on!

We had visitors twice a week. My grandma knew a lady with a sweet shop and she would always bring sweets with her. But in hospital, we were only allowed 1 sweet a day, except on your birthday, when you could have 3.

I came out of hospital in 1944.

My auntie was a weaver in Huddersfield. During the war, all the mills went over to military clothing and blankets. You could get ‘piece-ends’, which made wonderful blankets and pegged rugs. My auntie had to move into munitions, building and mending aircraft. She had to wear a big brace and a turban.

Both of my auntie’s brothers were at Dunkirk. One of them had to swim underwater to avoid the bombardment. But it damaged both his ears and he spent the rest of the war on the Isle of Man as a Prison Guard. My oldest cousin was in the Parachute Regiment. He was captured very early on and spent most the war in one of the Stalag war camps. He died at 39. They said it was because the severe malnutrition had destroyed his immune system. His father, Uncle Tom, was in the First World War. He had lied about his age to get in to the army. He won a military medal. After the First World War, he joined the Territorials so he was one of the first to be called up in the Second World War. He was at Dunkirk, but he would never discuss the war.

Our neighbour, Rosie Ramsden and her husband had a son (John who was in the forces) and a daughter. Neither of them could read or write and they were very poor. But Rosie and my grandma were addicted to snuff and were friends. Nearly at the end of the war, one morning Rosie came staggering and leaning on the wall. Grandma went to her. She had a telegram in hand, but she couldn’t read it. My grandma had to take it from her and read it to her. John had been killed in action. At a later time, a con man went round to Rosie’s house and said he had known John. He managed to get half of Rosie’s pension!

My Auntie Myra was in the TATs. She got married in Otley to Uncle Mack. He was at the Normandy landings where his leg was shattered by friendly fire. He was taken out by stretcher to a field hospital. He had an horrendous journey home back to England. The surgeon tried to save his leg by packing it with ice. But they had to amputate and he had a very short stump which still bothered him until he died at 68. But he was very courageous. He got a job. The family were desperate. My Auntie Myra went to the British Legion for help, but the interview panel completely humiliated her. She left with no money and broken hearted. The British Limbless Ex-Servicemen Association ended up helping and supported them. Uncle Mack always wanted to work, but he had so many problems.

We had another neighbour whose husband got killed in the war. She had two children who were 2 and 4 at the time. When she found out, she was like a zombie. She completely lost the will to live and ended with pneumonia. Within weeks of him dying, she died. She just gave up.

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