Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item
In the early stages of WWII, Joan Loeber, with her new husband fighting overseas, found herself in charge of Wellington Hospital's men's surgical ward. She recalls those eventful war years in conversation with Jack Perkins.
Loeber explains how people’s planning and dreaming stopped with the war. On December 20th she married a dental Wellington surgeon, Lieutenant Cyril Loeber by Special Licence, who had enlisted for army service and subsequently seconded to the 4th Field Ambulance Section in the First Echelon.
The newly-weds headed south to Christchurch on the ferry so her husband could attend the Burnham Military Training Camp. Loeber describes how they met another couple on the ship "Hector" and Helen [Tremewan] who had married 10 days prior and were also booked in at Warner’s Hotel during training.
Following their husbands’ departure as part of the First Echelon, Loeber returned to Wellington Hospital for work and describes this time as sobering. Staff shortages meant she found herself thrown in the deep end, in the role of ward sister of the men’s surgical, ward 8. The side room of ward 8, Loeber explains, was initially used for ten internees from Somes Island who were a mix of nationalities and used every excuse and trick to stop being sent back. One patient died soon after arriving in the ward which prompted what she describes as an unnecessary interrogation by the Swiss counsel.
Loeber says she saw the effects of people losing sons and brothers as the war progressed. On Anzac Day she received a call requesting a bed for an elderly gentleman who’s only son was fighting in rear guard action in Greece. His daughter-in-law was very worried as the over 80 year-old had not been eating or sleeping. However a few days later the message came through that his son was safe and well in Egypt and he suddenly lit up, pulled her onto the bed and kissed her, much to the amusement of the ward. Loeber says the frail old man left the hospital the following night after regaining his appetite and eating like a horse.
She tells of her brother who had volunteered as an air gunner in Bomber Command and how her family had received a letter to say an air gunner’s life expectancy was three months. Her brother Jim’s time came, and Loeber remembers the feeling of being ‘gutted’. She says the war caused a great strain strain on the public. Loeber retells how her neighbour’s mother had a heart attack during the night, but no doctors were available to assist, so she rang a hospital surgeon who was able to admit her, however she died the next day. Loeber says that these scenarios must have happened all the time due to the shortage of doctors, but no one could do anything about it. She tells of another story involving the sad case of a tug master.
Loeber remembers how a merry and bright Voluntary Aid Detachment group visited Ward 8 to get experience before heading overseas. She says one young woman who was in love with a lieutenant overseas stood out; she was shy but happy and after receiving an engagement ring went to Egypt where they married. The young woman’s husband was Lieutenant Bill Thornton who later became General Sir Leonard Thornton.
She usually worked six days a week from about 7am to 6pm, but sometimes until 10pm. Loeber tells how she found it hard to write letters of interest to her husband, as apart from knitting and movies, she had little time or energy for activities outside of work. She describes how the annual sisters and nurses’ Christmas Eve procession moved their patients to tears. It was a turning point for one car accident victim who had suffered a great deal and taken years to recover. Loeber relates how the man sent her letters for years afterwards and had eventually become a General Manager of a big New Zealand company. Loeber says she has had a lot of job satisfaction from being a hospital ward sister though at times she worked for weeks without a day off.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th1941, Loeber says the glass was removed from doors, buckets of sand were placed in the wards [as fire extinguishers] and staff sisters were not allowed to leave Wellington on their annual leave. Loeber recounts how a suicide patient, whose relatives were Nazi Germany refugees, had tried to disembowel himself. Though he survived the surgery after a great loss of blood, he lingered in recovery before he was eventually discharged. Loeber expresses how helpless they felt letting him go, as although he had become physically stronger, they were unable to help him mentally.
About thirty wounded Japanese prisoners were admitted into the ward and the nurses refused to make their beds because they had heard how the Japanese treated New Zealanders in Japanese POW camps. Lobar remembers them to be extremely arrogant and trying to do everything they could to “be pests”. She acknowledges they would have lost face [in Japanese culture] by becoming POWs in New Zealand, finding the Japanese Colonel a particularly difficult and rude man. In spite of the hard work, Loeber says nursing during the war years would have to be the best working years of her life.