Obituary: Margaret Ellen Mitchell

Jan 6 2009 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A WOMAN who was honoured for her nursing exploits in the Second World War has died.

Mrs Margaret Ellen Mitchell, 96, retired to live in Liversedge after a career in medicine.

Her greatest exploits came after she landed in Normandy 10 days after D-Day, in 1944 and saw front-line service in France, the Low Countries and Germany.

She was serving with 30 Corps of the Queen Alexandra's Royal Nursing Yeomanry (Volunteer Reserve). As a nursing sister she ran field hospitals attached to the front line.

It was a far cry from the job she had left behind, as a nursing sister at Dewsbury Infirmary.

The nurses found themselves temporarily behind enemy lines. Crossing into Germany via Nijmegen, the corps finally halted in northern Germany near Hanover, as the Allies had agreed that the Russians should lead the final assault on Berlin.

Before returning home to West Yorkshire she spent a short period at the Nazis' concentration camp at Belsen, where former inmates were still being nursed.

She was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her service.