Hero nurse who cared for troops dies at 103
A NURSE who cared for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Dunkirk has died at the age of 103.
Hilda Richards was just 23 when she started treating soldiers with horrific burns following the Second World War troop evacuation.
She remembered the servicemen being brought in to Liverpool’s Alder Hey hospital on stretchers with appalling injuries, their uniforms torn to shreds.
Hilda, who lived in a care home inWrexham, died at the town’s Maelor Hospital after being admitted two months ago.
Care home manager Cindy Clutton said: “We’re heartbroken to lose Hilda who was hugely popular with residents and staff.”
Whisky
Speaking on her 103rd birthday last November, great-grandmother Hilda said: “Looking after gravely wounded soldiers was an awful job but one I was privileged to do. It was so sad, as the state many were in was horrible, especially the burns.”
However, she said the secret to her long life was a taste of whisky to start the day.
She added: “I always had a tot of Bell’s in my morning cup of tea.”
Hilda retired as a school nurse in the 80s and travelled the world with husband Trevor.
She had three sons, Derek, Clive, and Ralph, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Cindy added: “She was a wonderful woman who lived a full and incredible life.
“She had a remarkable memory and could recall in vivid detail what she and fellow nurses went through before, during and after the war.
“It’s hard to imagine what she went through.”