Description
Object description
British civilian nurse worked at Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, GB, 1940-1945; served as nursing sister with Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service aboard HMHS Maine during Korean War, 1950-1951
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Bristol, GB, 1923-1939: family; education. Recollections of period as nurse at Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, GB, 1940-1945: nursing training; German Air Force attacks on Bristol; treatment of surgical cases from bomb injuries; bomb damage to hospital; nurses' work regime; payment for lost and broken property; status of consultants and matrons; strict supervision of nurses; admission of tramps; smallpox cases in hospital; special wing for fever cases and danger money payments; effect of arrival of antibiotics, 1942; reasons for joining Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, 1947. Aspects of period as nurse with Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service aboard HMHS Maine in Mediterranean and Far East, 1949-1940: joining ship, Malta, 1949; role of ship at Hong Kong evacuating sick during international tension with People's Republic of China, 1949.
REEL 2 Continues: origin of Maine class hospital ships; living conditions on board. Recollections of period as nursing sister aboard HMHS Maine during Korean War, 1950-1951: role of ship evacuating wounded United Nations personnel from Pusan, South Korea to Sasebo, Japan; handling of casualties; maggots in wounds; use of penicillin; level of work on board; high temperatures in lower deck wards; conditions in officer's ward; weather conditions; issue of rum; lack of chaplain to administer to dying patients; problem with American personnels' refusal to have sea burials; evacuation of corpses to Japan; rations demanded by American personnel; comfort bags from American Red Cross; fight in ward between 1st Bn Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and American patients; dealing with casualties from HMS Jamaica; dealing with maggots in wounds.
REEL 3 Continues: psychological cases and one patient who jumped overboard; battle fatigue patients; American soldier who shot himself in feet and had to have both legs amputated; surgeons who operated ashore; leave period in Kyoto, Japan; visit to US Navy hospital ship and contrasting conditions aboard; reaction to Randolph Churchill writing article condemning state of HMHS Maine; incident of Maltese sailors putting sand in engines to stop ship sailing for Korea; distinguishing marks of hospital ships; status as junior sister; question of gratitude and presents from patients.