Page 53 - QARANC The Gazette Spring 2023

The Gazette QARANC Association 53
enjoyed her military service and had many stories to tell but there were two highlights. The first was the excitement of being in Nepal when Edmund Hilary conquered Mount Everest in 1953 and having the opportunity to meet and talk with his famous sherpa, Tensing. The second was being invited to the farewell dinner for Field Marshall, The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, in France in 1958.
On retirement, Madge moved in with her parents to care for them in their old age. She loved to travel and had taken advantage of this during her military service. This continued well into her retirement when she travelled long distance to Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and further afield.
In her 90s she was still boarding the first bus that came along and, using her bus pass, hopping off wherever the notion took her.
Madge had caught malaria when serving in India which sometimes reared its ugly head. On one occasion when she was admitted to hospital, she made it her business to teach the nurses how ‘things should be done.’ Her family reported her as being ‘Army through and through.’ They said it had shaped her and that she was organised, efficient, fearless, and determined. Laughing, they said that she was always right, did not suffer fools gladly but always had a twinkle in her eye.
On her 100th birthday, The Lord Lieutenant of
On one occasion when
she was admitted to hospital, she made it her business
to teach the nurses how ‘things should be done’.
Lanarkshire and the Provost of Biggar presented Madge with flowers and praised her life of ‘service, bravery and commitment.’ The Provost said Madge was ‘without doubt an inspiration to anyone who meets her.’
Madge died at the age of 103 years in a care home. Her funeral was held at Mortonhall Crematorium, Edinburgh and was well attended despite the constraints of Covid-19. Both the florist and undertaker spoke with great affection about her and wanted it to be recorded how loved, admired and respected she had been throughout her hometown and how well organised she had been.
She had made the initial arrangements for her own funeral 35 years ago. She is survived by her brother Eric and many nieces and nephews.
Madge had been a highly respected member of the Scottish Branch of the QA Association after retiring from the Corps. She rarely missed an event. Whenever the QA Gazette was published, she would say to anyone who would listen that she did not like reading obituaries because “we should look forward in life and not back”, and “no one was to bother writing” hers. This may be the first time we have ignored the instructions of a senior officer...
Sheila Jones Branch Secretary
OBITUARY
Marjorie Gibson-Saxty
‘One of the last of a great generation’
Marjorie Gibson-Saxty (nee Tanner) died on 9 December 2022, aged 105. Her family believe that will have been one of the oldest survivors of the Second World War and had served in both France and India.
Marjorie, who was born on 18 October 1917, was working as a children’s nurse in London at the outbreak of the War, having started her general nursing training at Lewisham Hospital. Some of the nurses and trainees were sent to the river hospitals outside Dartford to supplement the few QAs available and they nursed casualties following the evacuation from Dunkirk.
She returned to London to nurse
civilian casualties during the Blitz and joined the QAs in 1944, training at Betws-y-Coed for the expected landings in France. Her unit was sent to France by landing craft immediately after D-Day, landing at Arromanches. They established a 1,000- bed tent hospital outside Bayeux and moved with the army through Normandy.
Marjorie returned to the UK in Autumn 1944 and
to Goodwood prior to a posting to India, to prepare for an expected invasion of Japan.
She was de-mobbed in December 1946 and returned to the UK and civilian life having married a major (James Gibson-Saxty) in the Indian Army.
Marjorie was presented with the Legion d’Honneur on her 100th birthday by a representative of the French embassy, who had been a child in Arromanches at the liberation of France. She was still receiving cards from current French school children thanking her and her companions for their role in 1944, although she always said that there were no heroics
or bravery involved – “we just did what we were asked to do”.
Her daughter, Mary Jones, notes: “She died peacefully in Norwich of old age, probably one of the very last of her generation. Mum remained a member of the QARANC Association until very recently and was always delighted to receive a plant and card on her birthday!”