101-year-old army nurse recalls a life of service
Anzac day is a time to commemorate not only the fallen soldiers, but the women who saved so many lives. Women like former nurse, Anne Leach remind us of every year.
Those who regularly attend the Perth parade through the city often seek out the 101-year-old and approach her afterwards for a photo and a chat. The colourful personality with her well-kept uniform and bright lipstick proudly pins her medals to her uniform each year.
Letitia Anne Sylvie Metzke was born in Meekatharra on June 15, 1914, and when she was 11 her father John moved the family to a farm near Cuballing in the Great Southern.
After training as a nurse for many years, she applied to join the Australian Army Nursing Service and in July 1940 was called up to work at a military hospital in Claremont.
In 1941 she boarded the Aquitania in Fremantle, headed for service in the Middle East with the 2/7th Australian General Hospital. She went on to work in Palestine, Syria and Egypt. She and the many others endured harsh extremes of heat and cold, including the first snow to fall in the Hebron Hills for 40 years, while living in tents with three other nurses.
Heavy rain at one stage meant the nurses went to work in gumboots.
The nurses were kept busy with more than 1000 patients at any one time, with the tally reaching 1527 in August 1941. She retired some years later with the rank of captain.
However, the veteran didn’t quite feel as if she was ever finished. After the tragic death of her husband years on, she not only returned to nursing as a volunteer, she also threw herself into numerous administrative roles during long associations with the Red Cross, Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Returned and Services League.
In 1983 she was awarded the coveted Florence Nightingale Medal by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and received an Order of Australia in 1994.
On Monday, she took her place in the parade again and humbly sang the praises of “Our boys”.
“I would not like Anzac Day to go by without remembering,” she said.
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