Leaving the Hospital on a Pass and Dating

Heroes Remember

Leaving the Hospital on a Pass and Dating

Transcript

I was in Paris when Armistice was decided, on a leave, first leave I had in a couple of years and I had to come back, I didn't really know about it until almost Brussels, and then came into, so I mean, Bruges had just gone wild, so we walked from the station back to the hotel, not that mattered, we could walk any place, and then the next morning at the hospital, we said, "Well, anybody that can walk can have a pass," any of the boys. Well I remember this poor fella, he had the worse athlete feet that I had ever seen in my life, and that poor guy, and he came up and wanted a pass, and I said no, I can't give you a pass, really," and he came up again and I thought, "Why not, you've been through hell, if you can get out, go, here's your pass, go." And we had just gave them the free, town, and we just sent the ambulances around, the crews around, and they all got drunk of course, and hauled them all in and brought them back and put them to bed, they mighten be in the right ward or anything, but we got them sorted out. But they deserved it. they deserved to celebrate. And so we all survived all right. But in there, when we first went up there, that was when the big push came back in ‘44, just before Christmas in ‘44. The Ardennes movement? Yeah, and then we were there for the Leopold and the Scheldt and all that racket you see, that was all in our area. Weren't allowed to go out on a date, you know, you had to go to the matron and say, "Well I have a date tonight." No place to go, but anyway "Well, now has your escort got a, carry a pistol?" "Yes." "Have you got a jeep?" "Yes". "A driver?" "Yeah." So I mean, what was the point, you couldn't go any place anyway, there was no place to go, I mean we were surrounded.

Description

Mrs. Page talks about the patients in the hospital at the end of the war.

Nancy de Boise Page

Mrs. Page was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. Her father was a doctor and her mother a nurse. Mrs. Page recalls going to the hospital with her father when she was young and knowing early on that nursing was her calling. She trained at the Royal Victoria in Montreal and in 1942 joined the army as a Nursing Sister. She served overseas in England, France and Belgium loving every moment she was able to help the soldiers. Following the war Mrs. Page returned to Queen Mary's Veterans Hospital in Montreal to continue nursing Canadian Veterans.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:32
Person Interviewed:: Nancy de Boise Page
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Northwest Europe
Branch:: Army
Occupation:: Nursing Sister

Language selection

Leaving the Hospital on a Pass and Dating

Heroes Remember