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MY AUNT’S WAR.
Born in 1910, Norah Taylor trained as a volunteer first aider and ambulance driver in Coventry and drove through the blitz when the city was razed. They put vick up their noses to stop the smoke stench of oily rags, burning to deter enemy planes. Norah and a co-driver made numerous journeys in the blackout with shaded headlamps, through air-raids and fires from Coventry to Birmingham with injured people often with the moon as bright as day. During the worst night on one of their missions, a bomb detroyed the road just behind their truck. The water supply ran out and it had to be ferried in by lorry from other regions. They were on duty through the night until six am. after working all day. The house next door to her billet was sliced off like bacon leaving stairs, pictures and part walls suspended.
There were good times too like forces dances. After one of these Norah descended from the bus home into the blackout and slipped into a full roadside ditch. She felt her bone snap and had to wait until someone came along to haul her out and pick-a-back her home. One of her jobs was to ‘chase’ the manufacturers of aircraft components in factories all over the country, because the RAF were desperately short of planes and pilots. She lectured on the importance of full production and encouraged mostly women work-force. This after the death of her baby and Captain husband.

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