Nursing Memorial Appeal

Time to thank them

Eric says thank you to Ethel & her chums on BBC Midlands Today

TIME TO THANK THEM was our promotional theme when fundraising for the memorial dedicated on 4 June 2018 to all the nurses during the two World Wars who died in service.  Ethel Lote, now in her late 90s, is one of the last surviving nurses who cared for wounded soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, the biggest military evacuation in history.  Here she is with our Royal Patron at the dedication ceremony.

l to r: Margaret Brealey, VAD RN; HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO, Royal Patron; Ethel Lote; Major James Salt

BBC Midlands Today featured another big thank you on 23 January 2020, when they televised Eric Nolan’s gratitude to Ethel and all the nurses at Burntwood Military Hospital in Staffordshire in 1940, on behalf of his father, Frank, and the other wounded men.  Frank, particularly, was a miracle story, having already been given the last rites, but recovered with the love and care he received from Ethel and her colleagues.

Eric says “thank you” to Ethel

Ethel was just a teenaged trainee nurse then, and says poignantly: “Nearly all my friends have gone now, so to find someone who knew all about that time really is wonderful”.

Ethel shares her memorabilia with Eric, including our dedication programme

As well as meeting in Ethel’s home, both she and Eric returned to the site of Burntwood Military Hospital, 80 years after those extraordinary events, in an emotional reunion of memories.

Eric and Ethel revisit the site of Burntwood Military Hospital