Description
Object description
British nurse served with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit attached to French Fourth Army and Free French Forces in France, Middle East and North Africa, 2/1940-4/1942; petty officer served with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB and Egypt, 1942-1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in France, 1913-1938: childhood; education; background to being placed in orphanage, 1927; comparison of French and English methods of nursing training; anecdote about Florence Nightingale; description of nursing training in hospitals in Paris; amusing story of orange; identifying medicines by smell; comparison of French private and state hospitals and opinion of treatment; question of hygiene; reasons for return to GB; personal and professional benefits of travelling.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as nanny in GB, 1938-1939: employment as nanny and evacuation to Burford Priory, Burford; role and status as nanny; daily duties and accommodation; memories of Munich Crisis, 9/1938; role in evacuation of children from East End of London to Gloucestershire, 9/1939; opinion of Londoners sense of humour; attitude of parents to evacuation of children; opinion of evacuation planning; placing children and problem of splitting up families; declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; joining Civil Nursing Reserve in London and role in preparing ambulance train. Recollections of period as nurse with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in GB and France, 1939-1940: reasons for joining unit; opinion of Lady Mary Spears; pay and uniforms.
REEL 3 Continues: social background of nurses; arrival in Paris, 2/1940; daily life in Paris and attitude of Parisians to war; move of unit to Saint-Jean-de-Bassel, Lorraine and attachment to French Fourth Army; opinion of medical equipment and surgical facilities; mattress sterilizer; composition of unit; housing of hospital in convent; medical supplies; making own dressings; treatment of wounded; problem with lack of drugs; methods of treating wounds; proximity to front line; use of cupping in surgery.
REEL 4 Continues: accommodation; amusing story of latrines; move into hutted accommodation and use of furnishings from abandoned houses; memories of French chef; reaction to death of fiancée in Royal Air Force; problem of communication and lack of war news; question of treating German wounded and their attitude towards nurses; belief in Allied victory. Recollections of period as nurse with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in France, 5/1940-6/1940: atmosphere of confusion; problem with transport; abandoning of medical equipment and personal effects; personal hygiene; sleeping arrangements; memories of wounded British airmen.
REEL 5 Continues: description of refugees and conditions; strafing by German aircraft; providing medical assistance for refugees; question of obtaining food; arrival in Bordeaux and attitude of civilians; media coverage of unit; voyage to GB, 6/1940; opinion of press on arrival in Plymouth, GB, 26/6/1940; unit morale during retreat; story of presence of traitor in unit; story of French soldiers unaware of armistice; problem of communications and loss of contact with French Fourth Army.
REEL 6 Continues: further memories of retreat; protection recieved from French troops and care of wounded; reaction to leaving France; incident of French civilian population mistaking unit for liberating troops; use of vehicles and transportation; personal hygiene; obtaining petrol from French Red Cross vehicles; problem of obtaining food; arrival in Bordeaux and story of abandoned meal; sight of British embassy staff preparing to leave; return voyage from Arcachon France to Plymouth, GB including transferring from HMS Galatea to MV Ettrick at Saint-Jean-de-Luz; accommodation onboard MV Ettrick and problem of overcrowding.
REEL 7 Continues: seasickness; presence of King Zog I of Albania on board MV Ettrick; arrival at Plymouth and opinion of press coverage of 'lost unit', 26/6/1940. Aspects of period as nurse with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit in GB, 6/1940-2/1941: leave in London; reasons for creation of Free French Forces; illness of friend; temporary disbandment of unit; story of father bringing Very Importance Person (VIP) back from France; return to France and question of traitor in unit; danger of situation in France and return to GB; transfer to camp hospital at Aldershot; meeting with Free French and Foreign Legion troops.
REEL 8 Continues: background to unit reforming; question of money and equipment; role of Lady Mary Spears and help from American British War Relief Society; description of operating and sterlizing equipment; visit by King George VI; opinion of American and Quaker volunteers. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Otranto from GB to Egypt, 3/1941-5/1941: nature of voyage and problem of illness aboard ship; shore leave in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and participation in entertaining troops.
REEL 9 Continues: shore leave in Durban, South Africa; amusing story of dog; communication with home; question of apartheid system and examples of discrimination; description of uniforms; arrival in Suez Canal and sight of mirage. Recollections of period as nurse with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit attached to Free French Forces in Middle East, 5/1941-1/1942: move to hospital at Sarafand, Palestine; accommodation and living conditions; story of snake; sanitary facilities and sleeping arrangements; problems with sun; use of mosquito nets; problem of sandfly fever; attitude to alcohol and smoking.
REEL 10 Continues: move to Daraa, Syria; problem of poisoned wells; story of nuns; relations between Free French, Vichy French and Arabs; night-time treatment of wounded; question of treating British wounded; taking cover from machine gun fire under trucks; problem of flies; methods of surgery and lack of basic drugs; use of disinfectant powder packed into wounds; types of wounds encountered; burial of dead; move Damascus, Syria and accommodation in convent; presence of maggots in wounds; attitude to treatment of Vichy French wounded; story of French officer and pistol.
REEL 11 Continues: question of treatment Vichy French wounded; recreational activities and social life; care and cleaning of uniforms; attitude of Arabs; problem of sandfly fever and treatment; unit move to Beirut, Lebanon; opinion of accommodation; problem of black beetles, bed bugs and rats; conditions for wounded; story of paralysed officer; move to hospital in convent and opinion of conditions; story of German nuns; chaplains; treatment of wounded; Christmas party, 25/12/1941.
REEL 12 Continues: Recollections of period as nurse with Hadfield-Spears Ambulance Unit attached to Free French Forces in North Africa, 1/1942-4/1942: journey through Sinai Desert, Egypt; clothing and uniforms worn including desert boots and headscarves; meeting South African nurses; camping at Halfaya Pass, Egypt; problem of minefields; sleeping arrangements and medical facilities; move to Beach Hospital, near Tobruk, Libya; problem of salted wells; use of veils during sand storms; case of being mistaken for Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) troop; attitude of British Army staff to nurses; question of treatment of German wounded; move to Timimi, Libya; use of painted sheets for Red Cross symbol; sight of British columns retreating from Tobruk, Libya; opinion of rations.
REEL 13 Continues: obtaining provision from front line NAFFI store; attending party on naval yacht; story of taking convalescent wounded for nature walks and sending specimens to Kew Gardens in cigarette tins; death of orderly in bombing raid and memorial service; attitude to conscientious objectors in unit; communication with home including use of airgraphs; amusing story of negligee; reasons for return to GB.
REEL 14 Continues: Aspects of return to GB, 4/1942: voyage from Egypt to GB; shore leave and recreational activities during voyage including visit to Table Mountain, South Africa; Italian prisoners of war singing opera; story of accidental shooting of British NCO; problems with rough sea; question of being Mentioned in Dispatches (MID); reason for receiving bombed out relief money; attitude to press coverage; duties as lecturer in factories in GB on role of front line surgical units.
REEL 15 Continues: Recollections of period as petty officer with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1942-1943: problem wearing glasses; general duties and training at Women's Royal Naval Service Depot, Mill Hill and HMS Drake; attitude to discipline; training in administrative role; amusing story of squad drill; bomb damage in Plymouth and smell of bodies in buildings; drafting to HMS Heron, Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton and nature of duties; amusing story of lavatories; overseas drafting and issue of white tropical uniform.
REEL 16 Continues: question of wearing French medal ribbon. Aspects of voyage from GB to Egypt via South Africa, 1943: role in charge of draft; amusing story of cake; attitude to apartheid system experienced during shore leave in Durban, South Africa; problem of relations with Auxiliary Territorial Service personnel aboard troop ship to Suez, Egypt; opinion of rations; arrival in Alexandria, Egypt. Recollections of period as petty officer with Women's Royal Naval Service in Alexandria, Egypt, 1943-1944: accommodation in convent; prevention of insect bites using newspapers.
REEL 17 Continues: story of Wren caught stealing mail; accommodation in Alexandria and killing bed-bugs with blow-lamps; question of leave; story of racial incident; effects of contracting diphtheria including loss of voice and paralysis; sick leave in Jerusalem, Palestine; being declared unfit for duty; dance aboard HMS Penelope; question of medal awards and promotion. Aspects of period as Petty Officer with Women's Royal Naval Service in GB, 1944-1945: nature of duties in charge of motor transport unit at Devonport; VE Day, 8/5/1945; drafting to Marine Cadet Training Depot and problem of different drill practises.
REEL 18 Continues: attitude of Royal Marines to naval officers; friend receiving Member of the British Empire (MBE) award; story of being refused promotion and post-war reunion; amusing story of demobilisation at Plymouth, 1945. Aspects of period with Women's Voluntary Service (WVS) at RAF El Adem, Egypt, 1947: use of German prisoners of war as servants; story of visit to Tobruk, Libya; role in organising dances; story of desert flowers.
REEL 19 Continues: use of desert flowers on war graves. Aspects of period as British Red Cross nurse in Germany and Austria, 1948: attitude of Germans; description of conditions in Germany, 1948; problem of food shortages; visit to Mohne Dam; daily routine in Vienna, Austria; question of multi-national control and attitude towards Soviets.
REEL 20 Continues: question of helping refugees. Aspects of period as British Red Cross during Malayan Emergency: attitude to mutilation of wounded; story of death of officer; reading to patients over hospital radio; visit by Lady Edwina Mountbatten.