10

The Story of a Caribbean Nurse

Trinidad, as you know, is the width and the length of the Atlantic Ocean away from Europe. But what we called ‘the war in Europe’ brought enemy activity from all over the world. Trinidad was then a British colony and loyal to the British crown, so England's war was also our war.

We were not bombed; we were short of some food but had plenty of others. We had few clothes in the shops. When I went to New York, right after the War in November, I had only a pair of sandals to wear—but I bought shoes in New York!

Great Britain had not made plans for a war, but the Germans had for a long time. They had spies positioned all over the world to keep them well-informed from early on. Trinidad, which was always a mixture of all races of people, was full of spies. I knew one or two at our Country Club and around the place, before they were apprehended and removed!

The Germans had filtered submarines throughout the south Atlantic as well as the north. They were our principal anxiety. The Island was full of servicemen. We had a Fleet Air Arm Station (the flying branch of the Navy) teaching young men to be Navigators. You may know that the smaller aircraft were catapulted off the warships. Attached to this station was a lovely small vessel, H.M.S. ‘Corsair’, used at sea as a practice target. I have forgotten the name of the type of aircraft at that station but I could always recognize their particular drone overhead.

Then there was another station, H.M.S. ‘Benbow’, for the officers and crews of a large fleet of Motor Torpedo Boats (‘M.T.Bs’). I danced with many of those officers! The Americans had a complex building of offices for their administration. They took over patrolling the seas around the island seeking out submarines. They also had small ‘look-out’ stations on the coasts and points of Trinidad. They also had an enormous permanent camp for the aircraft that went on patrol and all sorts of personnel.

At one of our popular bathing bays, a U.S. naval base was set up which was unseen to us but was very large. After the war, they stayed on and used it to launch the early trial of unmanned satellites. We were allowed access to the beach on a separate path (the Americans swam on the other side) and, in return for using our holiday area, they built us a beautiful club house on the hill. We were permitted to use it all throughout the war.

At first, I was not married, and a friend and I took a Red Cross First Aid Course, then a Nursing Course. We were very keen to get high marks. My first volunteer job was to visit a huge temporarily arranged ward of English sailors and cheer them up. Their ship had been sunk off Africa and they had saved one lifeboat full of men whilst the others held on outside or were tied on. They were attacked by dogfish (a kind of shark) and could only splash and kick to protect them. They managed to pick up a floating old raft and towed so that everybody alive had a rest of sorts. The sun burned down on them and by the time they ended up in Trinidad they only had a little rain water left. If you look at an Atlas, you can see how many, many miles those men travelled and survived. They were amongst hundreds of other such cases.

Wally had his own small office in Port of Spain near the harbour, and Trinidad Leasehold Limited set him up with staff. He was responsible for arranging the collection of shipping that sailed out of Trinidad in convoy to protect each other. He also controlled the limited fuel oil supplies that had to be rationed out, considering the distance the ship had to travel before its next destination. No sooner had the convoy gone out, without fail one or two vessels were sunk and back came the survivors. Wally saw these men into specially set aside buildings to house them. Some poor men came back three and four times.

My next job was to serve a hot meal to the Maltese crew of the sunk ship. They could not speak English but were so polite and grateful. Then I had a severe bout of malaria and went to bed for weeks!

I saw a ship sink. I was on holiday with friends on the north coast. The house we were in looked across the sea from a cliff. My friend and I went swimming. We were quite alone; long white sands and a clear blue sea. We could look across to the island of Tobago. It looked so near and beautiful. We went back to the house to dress, leaving a lone cargo ship on the horizon, coming between Tobago and us. Sometimes, they did this and joined the convoy at the end of the Channel.

After my shower, I went to hang the wet bathing suits in the verandah and the same ship, as I was watching, had its bow thrown up high above the sea and then its stern came up the same way at the opposite end. It had broken in half in the middle. Those in the engine room would have been killed instantly. Later on in the evening, we saw the survivors (they were Greek) waiting in the school room for a bus and the big life boat was tied to the little wooden jetty. Whilst Helen (my friend) and I had been swimming we were sharing the clear blue sea with a German submarine close by. In Port of Spain there was also an enormous office block housing the censorship staff who were mostly young women and spoke several languages.

Then we got married and after that Wally did more volunteer work for the Red Cross and the other bodies and worked for wartime charities.

Vocabulary

1. Colony: A settlement; (here) a territory that has a foreign sovereign. During the First World War, India was a British colony.
2. Apprehended: Arrested ahead of committing a crime
3. Catapulted: Launched off aircraft carriers
4. Drone: An indistinct monotonous sound of a bee or a machine; buzz
5. Patrolling: Guarding a place by being on the move around the site
6. Bow: The front section of a boat or ship
7. Stern: The rear part of a ship or boat
8. Censorship: The act of screening texts and broadcast material to rule out the possibility of publishing something that goes against established laws.

Reading Comprehension

1. Why did Trinidad participate in the World War?
2. How far is Trinidad from Europe?
3. Why were the Germans ahead of the British in terms of war plans?
4. Describe the American efforts in the Caribbean.
5. Which part of the text tells us that the Americans were allies of the British?
6. Describe the plight of the group of patients that the author first attended to.

Language: Subject–verb Agreement

Study the following sentences:

• The island was full of servicemen.
• Trinidad, which was always a mixture of all races of people, was full of spies.

In the first sentence, the singular verb ‘was’ agrees with its singular subject ‘The island'.

In the second sentence, the singular verb ‘was’ agrees with its singular subject ‘Trinidad’, although they are separated by ‘which was always a mixture of all races of people’. So you can observe that a verb always agrees with its subject. The verb must agree with the subject in number and person. The basic principle is: singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. For example:

• My brother is a doctor.
• My sisters are teachers.

Study some of the important guidelines of subject-verb agreement:

1. Two or more singular subjects joined by ‘and’ take a plural verb:
   • Oil and water do not mix.
   • A car and a bike are the popular means of transportation.
2. If two singular subjects are joined with—‘as well as’, ‘in addition to’, ‘besides’, ‘not’, ‘with’, ‘along with’, ‘together with’—the verb agrees with the first subject:
   • The owner as well as his servants is honest.
   • Diseases in addition to poverty and illiteracy pose a big challenge in slums.
   • You not he have been fined.
   • The teacher with/along with his students was present in the programme.
   • The leader together with his friends is going to prison.
3. When two subjects are joined with ‘not only—but also’ the verb agrees with the latter subject:
   • Not only the students but also the teacher was asked to give a presentation.
   • Not only the master but also his attendants were also praised.
4. Two singular subjects connected with—‘or’, ‘nor’, ‘either–or’, ‘neither–nor’—take a singular verb. For example:
   • Neither Joy nor Sam is available.
   • Either Vandana or Jyoti is helping today with stage decorations.
5. The expressions, ‘many a’, ‘a great deal of’, ‘one of the + (plural noun)’, ‘the number of’, ‘a majority of’, ‘pair of’ take a singular verb:
   • A great deal of patience is required to do this job.
   • One of the boys has broken the flask.
   • The number of books on this subject is very small.
6. The pronouns, ‘anyone’, ‘anybody’, ‘everyone’, ‘everybody’, ‘someone’, ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, ‘each’, ‘every’, ‘neither’, and ‘either’, are singular and take a singular verb:
   • Does anyone else want to come?
   • Everybody has done his or her homework.
   • Someone has left her book.
   • Each of these shops is doing good business.
   • Every boy and every girl was given a sweet.
7. Adjectives—‘much’, ‘less’, ‘little’,—are used with uncountable nouns and take a singular verb:
   • Much of the work has been done.
   • It is less of a problem than I had expected.
   • A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Pronunciation

Practise the following tongue twisters loudly and rapidly:

1. I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.
2. Send toast to ten tense stout saints’ ten tall tents.
3. Sheena leads, Sheila needs.
4. Stupid superstition!
5. Seventy seven benevolent elephants.
6. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!
7. Thirty-three thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber on Thursday.
8. Black background, brown background.
9. Green glass globes glow greenly.
10. I wish to wash my Irish wristwatch.

Writing

Study the life of the celebrated English nurse, Florence Nightingale, who came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she looked after the wounded soldiers. Narrate an incident from her life that shows her unbound commitment to her profession.