大象传媒

My name is Gwladys. I was born in April 1924 at Pentre Gardens, Grangetown, Cardiff. I went to Court Road School in Cathays High School. I was starting my final year when war was declared in 1939. We had to carry our gas masks to school every day and go to the Air Raid Shelters during raids. The final exam of my O levels - German - was in the shelter during a heavy raid on the Docks. With my elder sister I joined a First Aid Post and was taught basic First Aid, but on the night of the Blitz on Cardiff in January 1941, I was staying with a friend near Victoria Park. There was a lot of damage in Grangetown and many casualties. The small park outside our house had had its railings removed, together with railings in front of most houses to be melted down for us in munitions. The gardens then became the base for a Barrage Balloon, which may have protected our immediate area. After I left school I became a trainee draughtsman at the Electricity Department in the Hayes. I also attended the Technical College in Cathays Park and I remember putting sand bags on incendiary bombs near the War Memorial in a raid during a lecture.

My family had been Merchant Navy engineers for generations and my brother also became one. I joined the Wrens in 1943 and after going to Mill Hill for pre-training was drafted to HMS Tormentor - a landing craft base on the Hamble River/Southampton Water. I became a Chart Corrector - making alterations and amendments of Wrecks, Minefields and Swept Channels etc on the Master Charts at the base, which were copied onto the charts used by the individual craft. One flotillo made secret journeys at night to take soundings in preparation for the D-day Landings, on the French Coast. This was in the winter of 1943. My future husband took part in all of these. The information was used to plan the assault on Normany and the subsequent building of the Mulberry Harbour which enabled the troops to receive vital supplies afterwards. The other craft were used to transport British and American troops to Normandy on D-Day. I stayed at Tormentor until 1946 and was then demobbed.

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