Page 20 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

18 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Mrs Mada Clare QAIMNS 100th Birthday Celebrations (abridged)
On Sunday 23 June 2013, a lady of some vigour and vitality was celebrating her 100th birthday at Seckford Hall in Woodbridge, Suffolk, surrounded by her family and friends. However, this was no ordinary lady, but someone very special to our Corps who served as a nursing officer in Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) throughout WW2, part of a long and distinguished nursing career. Mrs Mada Clare’s story is a remarkable one and this was evident during these celebrations as she recounted her experiences to those around her who were held in her enthral.
Doris Mada Laight (known as Mada) was born in Acle, Norfolk, on 23 June 1913.
Mada qualified as a staff nurse in 1937 and continued to work at the East Suffolk Hospital until the outbreak of war in September 1939. Mada volunteered for military service and throughout WW2 she served as a sister in the rank of Lieutenant in QAIMNS.
Thus, it was that Mada and a group of assembled nurses were first sent to Preston where they were instructed to buy a list of equipment including a camp bed and other camping gear from local ironmongers.
Soon the nurses were on a troop train to Southampton and boarded a ship to Cherbourg with the British Expeditionary Force. They were located in a chateau at Le Grand Luce, near Le Mans, where they set up No 9 Hospital Group. Whilst there, Mada took the chance to learn conversational French with ‘Madame Arnold’.
The nurses had quarters in the attics of the chateau but the patients were mainly cared for
in tents in the grounds. It was
a bitter winter and nursing rounds were conducted with lanterns, thermometers being held in paste jars of antiseptic and a military cough mixture supplied. Suddenly
all the staff was ordered to pack immediately to return directly to Cherbourg. The evacuation
at Dunkirk was underway.
Remaining troops and nurses were put into small ships and boats and under some fire were brought back to Southampton. Overcast weather and a foggy haze helped the escape.
Back on English soil, the nurses were given passes and told to return home, but this respite did not last for long. All this time, war was continuing in North Africa. The nurses were transferred to the Shaftesbury Military Hospital, Dorset, prior to preparing for deployment to Africa and the desert. Given a pass to London, Mada and her colleagues were measured up for their tropical uniform in Harrods! She soon found herself in Egypt facing the challenges of nursing in that environment. It was an interesting and fulfilling time, Mada even getting the chance to visit and enter the tomb of Tutankhamen.
Mada was at the Battle of Caen (Casualty Clearing Station) and when it was over she and three other Sisters were invited to go for a meal with General O’Connor, who commanded VIII Corps in Normandy. Mada followed the fighting through France, working either in a Field Hospital or in the Casualty Clearing Station. She continued into Belgium, then Holland and was near Arnham when the Battle of Arnham raged in September 1944. She was given a section of camouflaged parachute by a wounded soldier. From here she continued into Berlin and then led a team of nurses at Bergen-Belsen, the Nazi concentration camp, where they cared for survivors.
After these harrowing experiences,
Mada was posted to Potsdam to prepare with her fellow Sisters a Surgical Theatre in case it was needed for members attending the Potsdam Conference (July - August 1945). Mada and her colleagues were housed in the same road as Churchill, Stalin and Truman.
Following her leave, Mada returned to Germany and was stationed near Spandau. The building adjacent to the military prison had now become the hospital. This was formerly used as a hostel by the Hitler Youth. The walls were decorated with numerous murals illustrating the Hitler Youth Movement that was most disquieting. One night, Mada was called to attend a soldier who was having difficulty breathing. Hurrying to his aid, but with no equipment available, she tried to open his airway with a spoon. The soldier died in her arms. Subsequently, after brandy and bed it was decided that respite was called for and Mada was sent to a convalescent hospital for a few days. It was whilst there that she came across a Canadian Officer and an English Officer who had been previous patients. They took Mada into Berlin and she was able to enter Hitler’s bunker and the Chancellery. Mada has a photograph showing her standing by Hitler’s staff car outside the Chancellery with the Canadian Officer.
Mada was also present at the Victory Parade through Berlin, 21 July 1945. Then from Spandau she was sent back to England to be de-mobbed, she had to provide a list of all her military property and was dismissed with a £70
de-mob clothing allowance! Mada’s wartime service was over but ‘By the King’s Order the name of Sister (Miss) D.M.Laight, Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service, was published in the London Gazette on 4 April, 1946. As mentioned