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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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ATS and London life (The women's armed territorial service)

by sarahbateson

Contributed by听
sarahbateson
People in story:听
Irene New and Rose Kathleen Yardley
Location of story:听
Marlborough House, London
Background to story:听
Civilian Force
Article ID:听
A4119707
Contributed on:听
26 May 2005

The first bombs fell when I was 21. Later, I (Irene) was in the ATS for 3 and half years and that as fun. I was based at Middle Wallop. We mainy had the Americans there until June 6th, and they were a very lively bunch, as you can imagine.

I (Rose) was in London all through the Blitz. I was a telephone engineer in Shepherds Bush. I was called out to the first bomb that fell in Chiswick High Street but we could do anything because all the cables were destroyed so we were there til three o'clock in the morning before we were sent home.

You just carried on as you could. But when you went to work in the morning you didn't look for who was there but for who wasn't.

(Irene) Somehow with food, our parents seemd to make it go round. I remember having home cooked fish and chips. We always had to watch when we went out. We'd be in the cinema, The Odeon, Leicester Square, when ZOOM over the top, and you'd be sitting there! We just sat there and held on to each other!

I think the worst bit was watching the skies. They were so red with the fires a the time. Dreadful. You could see it for miles and to witness it, knowing you couldn't do anything about it, was awful.

On VE Day, I was in my ATS uniform, and there was this very tall soldier and he bent over and gave me a great big kiss on the cheek. We were all dancing around.

(Rose) We walked down from Trafalgar Square to Marlborough House and sat outside. Every one was dancing in the fountains!

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Auxiliary Territorial Service Category
London Category
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