Marian told her story on the BBC Wales Bus. The following is a transcription based on the interview.

During the Second World War I was an Ambulance Sister with the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, so St. John's Ambulance. I joined when I was 16, but in those days, people, they joined much younger. We were called out when there accidents, manning the First Aid posts three nights a week, helping when the evacuees were sent to Pontarddulais and the youngest patient I had was a ten-day old baby boy.

Swansea was one place we didn't go. But we could see the market roof falling in, we were up in the yard watching Swansea being bombed, but my husband was there because he was a carpenter builder and he came home one day with a little Corgi and a burnt back all the way down and he said, 'I couldn't leave him there,' he said, 'I brought him home.' So we had him.

American soldiers used to stay with us when they had a weekend pass, they used to come and stay because they had nowhere else to go. They were based in Grovesend on the Common and had a black camp and a white camp. It was a hard time but I did what I could for the boys. I had two brothers, one in the Air Force, one in the Army and I wouldn't like to think that they were being refused to stay, so I helped soldiers come to stay with Bed and breakfast for eleven pence a day.

Well my younger brother was in the Air Force, my other brother was in Ireland. We used to see him pretty regular then until he was sent abroad but Wynne was with the Canadian Air Force, he was a Flight Engineer, so we didn't see him very often. But they always tried to get some leave together so they spent a couple of hours together.

The worst memories were evacuating the train with paratroopers. Oh, some of them from the waist down, nothing. They'd been in service, in action and they were injured and had been evacuated back here. They came to Morriston Station, but we couldn't ask where they'd come from. Most of them were from North Wales, so they were asking us, 'Can you write a note to let them know we're back.' That's all we could put, 'Dear Mam, Back in Blighty. Don't worry. Alright ........ Write you later.' And we were dropping them in the post, in the letter boxes.

We would take them to different hospitals. We were going up one drive and I had a notebook and I had to write down how many stretchers, blankets, pillows, whatever I'd used. We get up to the entrance, there was a runner there and he used to take the note and take it back with him. By the time our ambulance was unloaded, we'd go back to the other entrance, our stretchers, blankets, everything we had used was ready to go back.

The patients would ask 'Have you got cigarettes?' I said, 'Sorry, I'm a non-smoker.' And my driver was a non-smoker. There were only little shops on the route so I had said to Peggy, 'Pull up a minute.' She said, 'What's the matter?' I said, 'Nothing the matter, the boys are alright.' So I got out and I ran across the road and I went into this little shop and there were two or three women there and a man behind the counter. So he said, 'What can I do for you?' I said, 'I wondered if you could spare me a packet of cigarettes.' 'No,' he said, 'I've got enough to do to supply my customers.' I said, 'I'm sorry, I'm a non-smoker, but should you like to look out, you'll see why I'm asking.'

So I walked out and I said to Peggy, 'Come on, let's go.' It was a beautiful day, we had the back of the ambulance up. When we come back the second time, you should have seen the packets of cigarettes on the floor of the ambulance. They were watching us coming and throwing them in. But I don't know whether we were the lucky ones or not. It was hard work but we did our best.

In 1951 I was awarded the Service Medal of the Honour and that's worth the world to me.

Sarah Williams

Read other WW2 stories from Pontarddulais