This Is Your Life: Mary Hawkins

Mary HAWKINS MBE (1911-2002)

The final edition of This Is Your Life to be produced by the BBC

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Mary Hawkins, nurse, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre, having been led to believe she was there to watch a film about Hungary.

Mary, who grew up in Plymouth, began her nursing career as a tuberculosis specialist at the Hawkmoor Sanatorium in Devon in 1942. During the Second World War, she was stationed with the Free French forces in North Africa and was later awarded the Croix de Guerre for her work setting up advanced mobile casualty stations while under fire in Italy.

After the war, she worked briefly with the Red Cross before joining the Save the Children Fund, working tirelessly in various war zones of the world, including Lebanon, dealing with the aftermath of the first Arab-Israeli war, South Korea, establishing a children's hospital for refugees of the Korean War, and Hungary, setting up a reception centre to care for refugee children as they escaped the Communist invasion.

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