大象传媒

In the WRENS
PEGGY STOKER

(WRENS: D-Day, VE Day and service abroad)

This is an edited version of an interview with Peggy Stoker by Georgina White on 17th May 2004. The original recording and a full transcript are held in the Wessex Film and Sound Archive, ref. BAHS 120. 漏 Basingstoke Talking History.

WAR DECLARATION
The Sunday morning war was declared my mother and father, being publicans, were down in the bar prior to the pub opening at twelve o鈥檆lock and immediately the air raid siren started up. I was only just over fourteen and I became really hysterical and started to scream and my father promptly cuffed me round the ears and said 鈥楽hut up鈥�. And that was the start of the Phoney War. I鈥檇 just started work in Bentalls at Kingston on Thames and it was a beautiful summer, and we kept saying 鈥榃hat War? There鈥檚 no War鈥�. There was no fighting anywhere as far as I know.

AIR RAIDS
Then we had the bombing and we had to go into the Air raid shelters My mother and father made beds for us in the Pub Cellar, and my brother and I used to sleep under the concrete stairs going down into the cellar. One night I woke up and there was this thing lying on top of me and I couldn鈥檛 move. And my nose felt as if it had been broken. Eventually I came to completely and it was my brother. He鈥檇 heard a bomb coming down and he threw himself on top of me. He was only sixteen himself. The bomb was just around in the next road and it hit the local cinema, The Regal at Kingston.

WAR WORK AND THE WRENS
I went into a factory that made canisters for gas masks and I stayed there until I was about sixteen and then I went and helped to make incendiary bombs at Leyland鈥檚 at Kingston, and I remained there until I joined the WRENS. I was called up in December 1942 and was stationed at a big block of flats at Notting Hill Gate. Now these flats were for the drivers and motorcyclists that did messenger service at the Admiralty and they were the absolute epitome. They became little Gods and we had to wait on them, and clean their cabins, and do all that kind of stuff. Following that I was stationed at Richmond, which was a fourpenny bus ride from where I lived.

Then I was stationed at Folkestone and loved it there and I really felt that I was part of the War effort. I was there until I was sent to Malta in 1944. I was in hospital for three months and then in Naval stores, which supplies everything that is necessary to run an establishment, apart from victualing and clothes. Just prior to D-Day we had lots of Americans, Canadians and Polish service people and quite honestly we had a whale of a time. We were feted wherever we went because there weren鈥檛 very many service women there. But we weren鈥檛 allowed to go on leave as it was a restricted area unless we were on official business, either to leave Folkestone or go into Folkestone. The beaches had big barricades and barbed wire and some kind of anti tank devices and they did leave just a tiny patch for the Wrens to sunbathe, but it was a very, very minute patch. Sometimes we did get very, very bored but personally it was a good war. We did get just a little bit blas茅 at times but we worked hard. We had to work very, very hard as we were doing the same work as the men and we were expected to be on our toes all the time. I can remember being Duty Wren and in the middle of the night and somebody would come up from the Regulating Office and tap me on the shoulder to say 鈥榊ou鈥檙e wanted downstairs.鈥� So I鈥檇 put my bell bottoms over the top of my pyjamas and go down. There would be a young man with a peaked naval cap at a jaunty angle, with his white polo necked jumper under his naval jacket. I don鈥檛 know what they came for but I think they were extremely hush hush. I鈥檇 go along the corridor to the Regulating Office, which was an enormous place, and one of the duty men would give me a cup of what they called Chi, Chi, which is a Naval expression for hot chocolate. We enjoyed ourselves and we used to work extremely hard too. We had to be very very careful what we said and who we spoke to. We used to have this daft Security Officer and he used to wander up and down the streets and could suddenly sidle up to you and say, 鈥淗ow many people are you working with?鈥� They were actually shelling us from Calais, actually shelling Folkestone, and these convoys used to go up and down. We spent many nights in big cellars underneath the hotel at HMS Allenby as they didn鈥檛 have air raid shelters, and of course we had the Doodlebugs as well.

Because we were bored they tried to make life as pleasant as they possibly could for us and we used to go out 鈥榖oat pulling鈥�. I think there were about five Wrens and an extremely young Sub-Lieutenant, and we rowed round the harbour two or three times. It was quite tame and we persuaded him to go outside the harbour and we were actually boat pulling against the waves, which was more interesting. Then we decided that was a bit tame as well so we started the outboard motor and went out a bit further, which was extremely naughty of us, and then the outboard motor broke down. Now one of the Wrens had an Aldis lamp and she tried to signal back to the harbour but nobody was picking that up and we sat in this boat for a good half an hour, slowly drifting towards Calais. The convoys used to come up and down and of course they used to have armed ships to escort them. Well, this Canadian corvette broke away from the convoy, which was extremely dangerous, and threw us a line and towed us back to just outside the harbour. They couldn鈥檛 take us right into the harbour because the water wasn鈥檛 deep enough. All Hell broke loose afterwards and there was a terrible stink about it because it was putting the convoy and the corvette in jeopardy. After that we weren鈥檛 able to go out boat pulling at all.

When I first went to HMS Allenby my Chief got the idea that I should be in charge of the food store which was right in the depths of the hotel, and from there four of us used to issue food to all the various messes and the galleys. We had exactly the same food as the men but we had our own quarters and our own mess deck, so although we didn鈥檛 have any separate food, it was dished up nicely. The way the food was thrown at the men in the mess decks was terrible but ours was always nicely laid out. Every now and then we鈥檇 take eggs and bacon to a kitchen in the Wrennery part although it was against the law. Occasionally we had some nice meals and there was also a caf茅 called the Shangri La in Folkestone and you could get a good meal there and everybody used to go there to have a hot meal. It was a good war up to a point, apart from the shelling and the bombing.

D DAY
On D-Day itself I was with a soldier from Stoke on Trent in the South Staffordshire Regiment. We were sitting on the cliffs and we just happened to look down and we saw these landing craft go over and of course everything was so hush, hush, we had no inkling of what was going to happen. Of course, the day after that we realised that it was part of the Invasion force. I would imagine there were about twenty at the most, but of course afterwards, when all the troops went over, there were loads and loads, over one hundred.

I was down on the hards, down on the harbour, with some other friends, that evening and when we came back around eleven o鈥檆lock there were hundreds of troops all lining up to go on these landing craft. None of us had any inkling that this was going to happen, it was all extremely hush, hush and it was just after D-Day. I imagine that once we鈥檇 got a foothold on the beaches over the other side these were the follow up troops which were going to carry on the war against the Germans. They were almost blocking the entrance to our to the Hotel and one soldier ran up to me and said 鈥漁h miss, I鈥檓 so frightened I don鈥檛 want to go鈥�. I said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 all right soldier, don鈥檛 worry about it, we鈥檙e coming with you, you鈥檒l be all right, we鈥檙e just going to get our gear.鈥� He seemed a bit reassured. Obviously the same thing must have happened all along the coast, but it was only the one night from Folkestone harbour that that happened.

Then we were decommissioned and as I was the only Wren there they posted me to Dover and I had to come over every day and do my job and then go back to Dover. All the furniture, beds the blankets came under Naval stores so when everybody went all this stuff had to be returned to the dockyards. I used to come over on three ton lorries with a party of men to take it all back. On the very last night our Pay Commander said we were going ashore, but to go ashore was going out to the pub and I was the only WREN there with about eight men of various ranks. I didn鈥檛 drink very much at all and you couldn鈥檛 get sherry or wine. They just put a pint glass of bitter in front of me and I said 鈥淥h I can鈥檛 possibly drink that鈥� and they said 鈥淲ell, you鈥檙e one of the boys and you鈥檝e got to鈥�. I also had half a cupful of Naval Rum and all these drunken sailors escorted this very drunken WREN up to the Railway station through the blackout. They put me on the train for Dover and I got to the Wrennery at about twelve o鈥檆lock to find it was locked. A policeman came round the corner on his bike and said, 鈥淲hat are you up too, then?鈥� I said. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to get in.鈥� He said, 鈥漇tay there,鈥� and he propped me against the wall. He went round the corner and he came back and said, 鈥滷ollow me.鈥� So I followed him and we went round the other side of this place and down some basement steps and there was an old-fashioned sash cord window and he pushed it up and he threw me in. Well, I didn鈥檛 know this place at all, it was right in the basement, and I had to find my cabin and I wandered around that place for about half an hour until I eventually found it. The day after that I was sent home on leave.

VE DAY
On VE Day I went home to Kingston with Mum and Dad, and my brother, who was also on leave, and I didn鈥檛 go back that night. The next morning the trains were in chaos and it took me ages to get back to Tilbury Dockyard, and when I arrived my chief said to me, 鈥淲rens officer wants to see you,鈥� and I thought 鈥淐rikey, I鈥檓 for it now.鈥� I鈥檇 been out all night without permission, and I walked the whole length of the Dockyard quaking in my shoes. When I got to her office she put her hand on my head she said, 鈥淗arolp, you鈥檙e going overseas. Get a taxi, go and collect all your gear, and go home.鈥�

SERVICE ABROAD
I think it was 14 days embarkation leave, and I went back that same afternoon. My Mother and Father said, 鈥淭hey haven鈥檛 thrown you out just because you were out all night, have they?鈥� and I said, 鈥淣o, I鈥檓 going abroad.鈥� 鈥淥h no, you won鈥檛 go abroad, the war鈥檚 all over now.鈥� But I did, I went to the overseas drafting depot at Cheyney Walk in Chelsea and we were kitted out with our white uniforms. I think there were twelve WRENS and a WREN officer, and in the middle of the night we got on this boat. Being the last passengers to get on the boat started to move and we were told that because we didn鈥檛 get to bed until about three o鈥檆lock in the morning, we didn鈥檛 have to get up for breakfast if we didn鈥檛 want to. Anyway, we were in bunks the same as in the Navy establishments and around 8 o鈥檆lock in the morning there was a terrible pounding noise. So one or two of the WRENS got up and went up to see what was going on. They came back and said, 鈥淵ou want to come and see this?鈥� and there were 300 Welsh Guards doing PE on the decks. Can you imagine, there were 300 Welsh Guards and just twelve WRENS? They were all going out to Haifa in Palestine because of the trouble between the Jews and Arabs and we were supposed to get off at Malta, which was the first port of call. As we passed through the Straits of Gibraltar they flashed a message out to the ship saying, 鈥淧roceed straight to Haifa,鈥� so we passed Malta and went to Haifa where the troops got off, and the next port of call was Alexandria in Egypt. There was a Wrennery at Alexandria and it was three weeks before a boat was due to go back to Malta so they didn鈥檛 know what to do with us, because we didn鈥檛 have a job or anything. They showed us all around the Catacombs in Alex and then they gave us a marine driver and a great big lorry with seats each side and we went right up through El Alamein. We got off at El Alamein, and right up to Mercamatrue, which was a beautiful place, it had lovely silver sand beaches and it was like being on holiday. When we went into the sea, all the seabed was covered with bullets from the aircraft dog fights. There was a very small Army place there that had a lot of very sullen German prisoners of War who glared at us, but they were very, very pleased to see us and we had moonlight bathing parties and it was really very nice. Then we came back from Alexandria to Malta on a ship Batory and later on many, many years later on, it was discovered that the Batory was a Russian spy ship

When we went out on the SS Vollandam to Alex, we had fresh fruit we hadn鈥檛 tasted for ages, and there was a lovely big shop where we could buy all kinds of things we hadn鈥檛 had for ages. But on the Batory it was awful, the meat was grey and it was the complete opposite of going out. I had ten months in Malta, which I loved, and when I came home I met my husband who had also been in the Navy. But he did convoy duties, all the Atlantic and the bad ones to Russia. He had a terrible War and they say when he was demobbed he was like a little old man because the weather was so appalling. Three minutes in that sea and you鈥檙e dead; it was so cold.

So that was my War.

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