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How did you become
involved?
"
I'm Mildred Brett. I
was born June the 13th , 1923. I
can never thank St. John enough for the start
they gave me and if there had not been a war,
my life would have been very different.
My story starts in
the mid-thirties when we knew what it was
to be very hungry and cold. The main thing
when we were young was to reach the age of
fourteen so we could earn a few shillings
to help out. "
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What
work did you do?
"
I started work at the
George Hotel —I worked from 6am in the
morning until 11pm at night. I was given one
hour off during the day. I sat in a kitchen
with a rip-rip floor, in an ordinary chair and
in the evening the Mistress used to come down
and say, ‘Here's some oranges. Peel them
very thin.' And
how many did I do? Enough for a hundred pounds
of jam.
 When I was nearly 17, the
Mistress came down into the kitchen. She said,
‘it's time you did some war work.' I
was flabbergasted.
She said, ‘I've seen
the Superintendent of the St. John Ambulance
just for a minute. I've told her that you're
coming on a Thursday night.'
Well, it was like
being let out of heaven, because I'd got my
brain, my photographic memory and all, and
of course when I went, there were some nice
people. Oh, I was in my element. I was learning!
I had the book, and I learned it all the way
through, and the index and everything. "
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Any special memories?
 "
A new world opened to
me when I went making hospital beds, taking
temperatures, changing draw sheets and learning
First Aid. Unbeknown
to me, the Superintendent had gone home and
told her sister, ‘I think
I've found a born nurse.
She only works at the George Hotel but I am
going to do everything in my power to get
her into nursing.'
The first I heard about
it was when a letter arrived for me to report
to the Southampton Hospital in the year 1941.
The morning I arrived there
had been some heavy bombing in the city, docks,
and the railway station. I got into a taxi
to get to the hospital.
The driver asked,
‘Have you come to replace the nurses
that were killed in the nurses' home last
night?' As we drove to the hospital I could
see large craters in the road."
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What
happened next?
"
After a year in Southampton,
I was transferred to Oxford . This was an ‘Emergency Medical Services Hospital', meaning
a block in a civilian hospital was taken over
during the war by the military. We had a fair
percentage of Italian prisoners and I nursed
6 German pilots.  These
were the happiest years of my 42 years nursing,
especially for the comradeship. I shall be
ever grateful to my St. John Superintendent
who saw in me the nurse I did not know about."
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FACTS
Before the war around 40% of the UK’s
work force worked in manufacturing. Because
so many men went to fight, women began to take
on jobs traditionally held by men. After the
war, many were dismissed as men returned to
the work place. Nevertheless, the experiences
of those who had done a 'man’s job’
during the war began to change attitudes to
women working.
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FACTS
The British Red Cross and St John Ambulance trained their members
and the public in First Aid and Home Nursing,
and other subjects like Child Care. Home Nursing
training was vital before the National Health
Service started after the War. Treatment by
trained doctors and nurses was very expensive
and most people could not afford it. Find out
more about First
Aid and Home Nursing.
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FACTS
As a port, Southampton was a target for the
Luftwaffe, or German Air Force. Up to the summer
of 1941 it suffered 50 bombing raids. In just
three days in September over 2,200 bombs fell. Find out more about the Bombing of UK Cities.
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