An Army Nurse at an American Battle School. BBC Broadcast 25th/26th April 1944

“WHAT WAR MEANS TO ME” - No.13 Tuesday/Wednesday 25th/26th April 1944

Kent Stevenson interviewing Nursing Sister Michelle Carey (who did not want her name mentioned as her parents were living in German-occupied Guernsey)

KENT: And after Nigeria what did you do back in England?
M……..: I went to a head injury hospital — British wounded from North Africa, El Alamein, Tunisia. And then last summer, I went to American Battle School — to their Army Nurse School. [British added in pencil]
KENT: Oh! To an American Army Nurse course here in England [last sentence added in pencil]. Were there any other English girls there?
M……..: No. There was one Canadian girl. The rest were Americans. I don’t know why I was chosen.
KENT: I suppose it wouldn’t by any chance be because you’re very good at your job! It’s alright — you’re not expected to answer that one. Anyway, was it very tough?
M……..: Well, we had to work extremely hard, at a very fast pace. We had very thorough courses of training and we learned identification of enemy aircraft and vehicles. We had very strenuous P.T. - - -
KENT: Physical Training…..
M……..: You know - - - we had to get across a river on a rope, that sort of thing.
KENT: The real thing! And how did you find the Americans?
M……..: Oh. I got on very well with the American girls. At first they seemed very different, but when I got to know them better, I found then very much like us — with the same methods — and the same troubles and grouses.
KENT: Oh, do American girls grouse?
M……..: Well you see, you get a lot of people trained in different hospitals and they have to work together. It’s the same in English hospitals.
KENT: Did you make any special friends?
M……..: Yes, I still write to some of them.
KENT: And has it made you want to visit America?
M……..: Yes. I should rather like to go there on a job. That’s the way you get to know people.
KENT: How would you feel about going out to the Pacific to finish the war?
M……..: Well — frankly — my first anxiety is to get home.
KENT: Yes, I can see that.
M……..: A lot of the girls would like to go to the Pacific.
KENT: British girls?
M……..: Yes. Most of my friends, who were in West Africa with me, volunteered again straight away for overseas, and they’re in India now. They’ll probably go Eastward. But I don’t want to go because of my family.
KENT: Yes, I see. And I’m sure all the listeners will hope that you will be re-united safely.
M……..: I’d like to get back to Belgium and France and finish the job there.
KENT: You would! Well, I’ll wish you luck. The best of luck! And I’ll say thank you for coming along here and speaking to us. Most people have the utmost gratitude for the splendid work done by nurses, xxxx both military and civil, and this was a reminder of what nursing means in war time. So, listeners, this is Kent Stevenson closing the British Broadcasting Corporation’s programme, “What War Means to me”, coming to you from a studio of the B.B.C. London, England.

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