PERSONAL ACCOUNTS BY MEMBERS OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA'S IMPERIAL MILITARY NURSING SERVICE and TERRITORIAL ARMY NURSING SERVICE
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CROWN COPYRIGHT: THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES: WO222/189, ITEM 1G
EGYPT and BENGHAZ 1943
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CROWN COPYRIGHT: THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES: WO222/189, ITEM 1G
EGYPT and BENGHAZ 1943
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Continuing Matron Cocking's account
Previous page
On December 9th 1942, I left Ahwaz and turned my face towards Egypt, not realizing I was about to commence one of the most interesting and happy years of my life in the Service. The journey was a varied on. The desert road across to Busra being impassable owing to heavy rains, I went as far as Kharumpar by rail, travelling in what closely resembled a cattle-truck! There I spent the night in a transit camp, squelching my way through pouring rain and thick mud to my tent. Next morning, at 6 a.m., I was taken to a barge laden with Indian troops, bound for Busra. There were no seats, so I sat on a box with Socks at my feet; he was very happy, being fed with Chupattis, a kind of Indian unleavened bread! We arrived at our destination at 3 p.m. From here I went to Baghdad by train (a most comfortable one this time!) having picked up three others in the Service travelling in the same direction. Two days in Baghdad, then a 17-hour journey across the Syrian desert by the famous Nairn Coach, arriving at Damascus about 9 a.m. Breakfast at an hotel, a much needed wash and brush up and we were on the road again. This time we went by car across the north Palestine, skirting the beautiful Lake of Galilee, to Haifa. We spent the night at an hotel, entraining for Cairo the next day. Arrived there, we stayed for a few days at 63 General Hospital. I reported to the Chief Principal Matron and received orders to proceed to 58 General Hospital almost immediately.
58 General Hospital was then functioning as a half-hutted, half-tented desert hospital, seven miles out of Ismailia. Arriving only a few days before Xmas, I was at once caught up in the whirl of preparation and festivities. On January 2nd 1943, we received orders to close down the hospital and prepare to go ‘into the Blue’. The O.C. went first, followed next day by the Second-in-Command. We waited, and on January 15th, nine Sisters and myself proceeded with the remaining Medical Officers and the Company to Alexandria. The Assistant Matron, with the remaining eighteen Sisters were sent to be attached pro temp to 27 General Hospital. After a fortnight in Alexandria, staying in the Sisters Mess at No.8 General Hospital, we embarked on a Hospital Ship, arriving at Benghazi two days later.
I had seen a few ancient ruins by this time, but the shell of Benghazi was the first modern one I had encountered. There was scarcely an undamaged building standing, but the hospital buildings, shared by an R.A.F. Hospital and ourselves were untouched. We lived in one wing of the hospital to start with, as the bungalows we occupied later were then unfit for habitation, having been badly knocked about. The place was filthy and the Sisters started straight away to clean it up. Unluckily, two of them dropped a marble table top on to their feet, breaking some bones; but after a few days they were getting about quite nicely in plaster and walking-irons.
Two days after we landed we heard that the freight-ship carrying all our equipment had been torpedoed. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and a minute quantity was salvaged later. Owing to this catastrophe, we were unable to receive patients for about a month. We spent the time cleaning the wards, helping to whitewash our bungalows and in collecting odd furniture for hospital use and for our Mess. In all this we were greatly helped by outside Units, who were more than good to us. The 4th Indian Division was there at the time and invited us to watch their Street Fighting School from a roof. It looked most realistic and real firearms were used, although no one could get hurt unless he was careless. For instance, one Indian threw a grenade into a doorway, then looked round the door to see how it was getting on! He was lucky to escape with slight injuries.
All this time the convoys were going up to Tunisia. (Weeks later, we saw them returning, their task accomplished). The men seemed surprised to see us as they passed, which rather surprised us. They cheered and waved every time they saw us, and we were offered so many lifts whenever we walked abroad, that we began to fear we must all look lame!
After five weeks, we opened up the hospital with the minimum of equipment and the convoys of sick and wounded started to arrive by sea. We worked partly in buildings, partly in tents. It was now growing warmer so we had no great anxiety over heating arrangements, but the sanitary conditions gave much food for thought. The Red Cross were marvellous in supplying us with requisites for the men, most of whom came to us with no toilet accessories whatever. I remember once, when we received over 100 ship-wreck survivors, they came to be with supplies before I even knew that the men were coming in.
By April, the remainder of our Sisters joined us, together with our new O.C., Col. Paterson, Col. Holmes returning to Egypt. A few weeks after this, we ceased to receive convoys and the usual ‘rumours’ began flying around that we should soon be again on the move. Soon the rumours became a certainty and, one day, we were told to pack up. That afternoon, as I wrestled with the Red Cross equipment, our Dental Officer and one of the Sisters came to me and shyly announced their wish to get married next morning. Official permission had, of course, already been granted, and the wedding had been planned to take place in Alexandria, to which the prospective bride had already received Posting-Orders, to take place at the expiration of sick leave. Now, they were forced to change their plans. They had their wedding in our own little home-made Church, decorated with the flowers that grew in profusion and were ours for the plucking. After the ceremony, they were drawn to the Mess in a beflowered ‘ghari’ by a string of officers, led by the Area Commander and the A.D.M.S., our own Colonel and Company Officer acting as postillions. Somebody had just had a cake sent out from home (Australia) so there was even a wedding-cake! She left for Egypt a week later, he came on with us.
Most of us were in Benghazi four months and I, for one, shall find it hard to forget. The countryside with its carpet of flowers, blue, red and gold, stretching for miles on either side, the blue lagoon where we bathed, the gold of the wattle trees, the little white homesteads planted by Mussolini (built exactly to a pattern, as he would have liked all men to be). All so peaceful, till one noticed the wrecks of cars, tanks, lorries and aeroplanes at intervals upon the wayside, grim reminders of the reason for our being there.
There is another reason why we shall not forget Benghazi. It is because of the help and comradeship so freely offered to us by the men of all ranks in the Units amongst who we worked. We reached Tripoli early in June and were attached pro temp to No.48 General Hospital. Except for lecturing and examining the Orderlies, there was not much for us to do during our period of waiting. Towards the end of our stay, as convoys started coming in to 48 General Hospital, our Sisters were able to lend a hand there.
His Majesty, King George VI paid a visit to Tripoli while we were there, and we were present when he inspected 48 General Hospital. His visit meant a great deal to everyone, especially the men. At the same time, we were greatly relieved to hear that he had arrived home again in safety. Towards the end of July, our men left for Sicily. One week later, we embarked on a Hospital ship and followed them.
Previous page
On December 9th 1942, I left Ahwaz and turned my face towards Egypt, not realizing I was about to commence one of the most interesting and happy years of my life in the Service. The journey was a varied on. The desert road across to Busra being impassable owing to heavy rains, I went as far as Kharumpar by rail, travelling in what closely resembled a cattle-truck! There I spent the night in a transit camp, squelching my way through pouring rain and thick mud to my tent. Next morning, at 6 a.m., I was taken to a barge laden with Indian troops, bound for Busra. There were no seats, so I sat on a box with Socks at my feet; he was very happy, being fed with Chupattis, a kind of Indian unleavened bread! We arrived at our destination at 3 p.m. From here I went to Baghdad by train (a most comfortable one this time!) having picked up three others in the Service travelling in the same direction. Two days in Baghdad, then a 17-hour journey across the Syrian desert by the famous Nairn Coach, arriving at Damascus about 9 a.m. Breakfast at an hotel, a much needed wash and brush up and we were on the road again. This time we went by car across the north Palestine, skirting the beautiful Lake of Galilee, to Haifa. We spent the night at an hotel, entraining for Cairo the next day. Arrived there, we stayed for a few days at 63 General Hospital. I reported to the Chief Principal Matron and received orders to proceed to 58 General Hospital almost immediately.
58 General Hospital was then functioning as a half-hutted, half-tented desert hospital, seven miles out of Ismailia. Arriving only a few days before Xmas, I was at once caught up in the whirl of preparation and festivities. On January 2nd 1943, we received orders to close down the hospital and prepare to go ‘into the Blue’. The O.C. went first, followed next day by the Second-in-Command. We waited, and on January 15th, nine Sisters and myself proceeded with the remaining Medical Officers and the Company to Alexandria. The Assistant Matron, with the remaining eighteen Sisters were sent to be attached pro temp to 27 General Hospital. After a fortnight in Alexandria, staying in the Sisters Mess at No.8 General Hospital, we embarked on a Hospital Ship, arriving at Benghazi two days later.
I had seen a few ancient ruins by this time, but the shell of Benghazi was the first modern one I had encountered. There was scarcely an undamaged building standing, but the hospital buildings, shared by an R.A.F. Hospital and ourselves were untouched. We lived in one wing of the hospital to start with, as the bungalows we occupied later were then unfit for habitation, having been badly knocked about. The place was filthy and the Sisters started straight away to clean it up. Unluckily, two of them dropped a marble table top on to their feet, breaking some bones; but after a few days they were getting about quite nicely in plaster and walking-irons.
Two days after we landed we heard that the freight-ship carrying all our equipment had been torpedoed. Fortunately, no lives were lost, and a minute quantity was salvaged later. Owing to this catastrophe, we were unable to receive patients for about a month. We spent the time cleaning the wards, helping to whitewash our bungalows and in collecting odd furniture for hospital use and for our Mess. In all this we were greatly helped by outside Units, who were more than good to us. The 4th Indian Division was there at the time and invited us to watch their Street Fighting School from a roof. It looked most realistic and real firearms were used, although no one could get hurt unless he was careless. For instance, one Indian threw a grenade into a doorway, then looked round the door to see how it was getting on! He was lucky to escape with slight injuries.
All this time the convoys were going up to Tunisia. (Weeks later, we saw them returning, their task accomplished). The men seemed surprised to see us as they passed, which rather surprised us. They cheered and waved every time they saw us, and we were offered so many lifts whenever we walked abroad, that we began to fear we must all look lame!
After five weeks, we opened up the hospital with the minimum of equipment and the convoys of sick and wounded started to arrive by sea. We worked partly in buildings, partly in tents. It was now growing warmer so we had no great anxiety over heating arrangements, but the sanitary conditions gave much food for thought. The Red Cross were marvellous in supplying us with requisites for the men, most of whom came to us with no toilet accessories whatever. I remember once, when we received over 100 ship-wreck survivors, they came to be with supplies before I even knew that the men were coming in.
By April, the remainder of our Sisters joined us, together with our new O.C., Col. Paterson, Col. Holmes returning to Egypt. A few weeks after this, we ceased to receive convoys and the usual ‘rumours’ began flying around that we should soon be again on the move. Soon the rumours became a certainty and, one day, we were told to pack up. That afternoon, as I wrestled with the Red Cross equipment, our Dental Officer and one of the Sisters came to me and shyly announced their wish to get married next morning. Official permission had, of course, already been granted, and the wedding had been planned to take place in Alexandria, to which the prospective bride had already received Posting-Orders, to take place at the expiration of sick leave. Now, they were forced to change their plans. They had their wedding in our own little home-made Church, decorated with the flowers that grew in profusion and were ours for the plucking. After the ceremony, they were drawn to the Mess in a beflowered ‘ghari’ by a string of officers, led by the Area Commander and the A.D.M.S., our own Colonel and Company Officer acting as postillions. Somebody had just had a cake sent out from home (Australia) so there was even a wedding-cake! She left for Egypt a week later, he came on with us.
Most of us were in Benghazi four months and I, for one, shall find it hard to forget. The countryside with its carpet of flowers, blue, red and gold, stretching for miles on either side, the blue lagoon where we bathed, the gold of the wattle trees, the little white homesteads planted by Mussolini (built exactly to a pattern, as he would have liked all men to be). All so peaceful, till one noticed the wrecks of cars, tanks, lorries and aeroplanes at intervals upon the wayside, grim reminders of the reason for our being there.
There is another reason why we shall not forget Benghazi. It is because of the help and comradeship so freely offered to us by the men of all ranks in the Units amongst who we worked. We reached Tripoli early in June and were attached pro temp to No.48 General Hospital. Except for lecturing and examining the Orderlies, there was not much for us to do during our period of waiting. Towards the end of our stay, as convoys started coming in to 48 General Hospital, our Sisters were able to lend a hand there.
His Majesty, King George VI paid a visit to Tripoli while we were there, and we were present when he inspected 48 General Hospital. His visit meant a great deal to everyone, especially the men. At the same time, we were greatly relieved to hear that he had arrived home again in safety. Towards the end of July, our men left for Sicily. One week later, we embarked on a Hospital ship and followed them.