A 102-year-old World War Two veteran who helped care for survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp has been awarded the freedom of Harrogate.
Sheila Pantin joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, at just 17, despite her father’s initial objections.
She served as a driver and physical training instructor during the war, stationed in Belgium when news broke of Germany’s surrender in May 1945.
She recalled the celebrations that followed, describing “a lovely, lovely day” in Brussels filled with joy and relief among soldiers of many nationalities.
Soon afterwards, Sheila was sent to Bergen-Belsen, near Hanover in Germany, where she was assigned to care for women and children who had survived the horrors of the camp.
Recalling the moment she arrived, Sheila said:
“It smelled terrible - rotting bodies."
Many of those she helped were malnourished, ill and terrified. She worked to restore their health and dignity, cleaning them, finding clothes and teaching them basic skills like sewing and using cutlery.
Determined to lift their spirits, she also taught English through song.
She said:
“I thought the best way was to sing, so I got them singing hymns.”
By Christmas that year, she had decorated a tree and organised presents for the children.
After being demobbed in York in 1946, Sheila trained as a secondary school PE teacher.
Following her husband’s death, she joined the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service, spending more than a decade supporting soldiers and their families in Northern Ireland, Germany, Belize and Hong Kong.
Having lived in Harrogate since 1983, Sheila received the Freedom of the Town at a council meeting this week.
Mayor Chris Aldred praised her “remarkable service” in the ATS and her “impossibly difficult work” at Belsen, adding:
“We loudly applaud and commend your service to the many you have helped and thank you most sincerely.”
The recognition marks the first time the new Harrogate Town Council has awarded the honour.
Sheila said she felt “a bit overwhelmed” but deeply grateful:
“I don’t know what they are going to expect of me, but I’m willing.”
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