'We civilian nurses worked hard - for no recognition'.

Byline: Lisa Jones

THEY never knew what horrendous injuries they would be faced with when the wounded arrived home - but members of South Wales' Civil Nursing Reserve worked tirelessly throughout World War II.

And today one of their ranks is calling for some form of recognition for the thousands of women across the nation who dedicated themselves to caring for the Armed Forces' many injured.

Because, despite the Government's acknowledgment of the contribution of thousands of other civilian workers since the end of hostilities in 1945, Betty Barker says the civil nursing force remains forgotten.

The 91-year-old worked for the duration of the war at Whitchurch Hospital, coping with more than 100 men to a ward and as many as 500 casualties a day with a nursing staff of around 12.

The miner's daughter was just 22 when she started as a staff nurse at the Cardiff hospital in 1940, travelling from Abertridwr each day and earning a guinea a week.

The widow, of Maesycwmmer, Caerphilly, said: "It was an emergency military hospital, but we were civilian nurses.

"We would keep the badly injured from the convoys that came in. We were the main hospital in Wales so we had the brunt of it.

"You didn't know what you would have. You would take a boot off and sometimes toes would come off.

"We were busy all day. I've nursed dying soldiers. Many of them died in my arms.

"We worked hard and have had no recognition."

Tina Donnelly, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Wales, agreed that the civil nursing reserves should be honoured for their wartime work.

She told the Echo: "Anyone who serves in a capacity of dealing with the sick and wounded should have some recognition.

"Far too often nurses and their self-sacrifice are taken for granted in times of war.

"Not everybody could have done that job. It's a very important chapter in history and I would like to give Mrs Barker a small recognition on behalf of RCN Wales."

A spokesman for the Department of Health said a formal approach for some form of UK-wide recognition would be considered.

A spokesman for the Honours and Appointments Secretariat, which forms part of the Cabinet Office, said honours for civil defence nurses could be covered by the Civil Defence Medal, depending on the exact nature of the work carried out.

OUTSPOKEN BETTY ON: Afghanistan: "Harry Patch (the 111-year-old British Army veteran of World War I who died last month) was right. War is pointless. They are being sent over to Afghanistan and what for? They are giving out posthumous medals but it would be better if they were still alive."

The treatment of war wounded: Believing the past system was better - "Soldiers were nursed in their own hospitals and on their own wards, not like they are today in civilian hospitals."

Modern hospitals: "We never had ward infections like they have now. We used to have our own cleaners who loved the wards as much as we did.

"They use contractors in today's hospitals, so they don't care.

"The wards in my time were spotless and we never had any infected wounds because we used to flush them out with Sulphonamides. We didn't have Penicillin. Sometimes we would change dressings three times a day.

"Anybody not able to feed themselves would be fed - not like in hospitals today with some of the stories you hear."

CAPTION(S):

Betty Barker from Maesycwmmer who was a civil nursing reserve during World War II. Inset, pictured in 1942