South Yorkshire Times, February 19th, 1944
Hickleton Girl Commended
An unexpected adventure on a Lakeland holiday when she joined in a search for a crashed R.A.F. plane and by administering first aid treatment, saved the life of the pilot, is recalled by a letter of appreciation from the Air Ministry received recently by a Hickleton nurse, Miss Hilda Haller, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Haller.
Miss Haller was on vacation in August when a plane was seen to crash on the slopes of Green Gable. Reaching it entailed a ten-miles, two hours, journey. The pilot was found on a nearby rock and Miss Haller tended his injuries before he was moved down the mountain side. Following a letter of thanks from the pilot’s Commanding Officer, Miss Haller received a letter from the Under-Secretary of State for air which states “I am commanded by the Air Ministry to inform you that their attention has been drawn to your meritorious conduct when an R.A.F. plane came down on Green Gable on August 9th. They learn that under most difficult conditions you rendered skilled nursing aid which saved the life of an R.A.F. officer. The council wish me to convey an expression of their warm appreciation and to than you.”
Miss Haller has four years nursing experience and is at present a staff fever nurse at Cuddington Hospital, Surrey. Her engagement was recently announced to Mr. Godfrey Paul Armstrong B.A. B.Sc., of London, elder son of the Governor of Madras. They met when Mr. Armstrong was admitted to hospital with scarlet fever. He was among the party who brought in the pilot injured in the plane crash. Miss Haller’s father is employed on Lord Halifax’s Hickleton estate.