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When I left school I went into service - we had to more or less, and when War came, the people I worked for, moved away to live near relatives.

So eventually I had to join up. I remember, I was near the Aerodrome in Yelverton and I couldn’t work in a factory because I suffered from skin trouble and asthma so I had to go into one of the services. I chose the Army and did my training at Newton Abbot. I then went up to Knightsbridge and was posted from there to Essex where I remained for most of the time. It was quite an experience really!

Of course you had to mix with crowds in the barracks, no sheets or anything and then they would have us out on the Square for drill. Some of the Sergeants would bellow at us because we were girls.

Anyway, I was working in the Sergeants Mess as a Waitress. We had to get up mornings and go and lay their tables, help get their breakfasts, that sort of thing. There were cooks and more Orderlies and would serve breakfast.

Sometimes the men were nice and sometimes they weren’t. We would then help to clear up and go back to our barrack room and make up our own beds - do a bit more cleaning and then go back up and get ready to prepare lunch. In the afternoon we would get an hour’s break and then we would return to the Mess to prepare for tea. I recall a few experiences because some of the Sergeants could be quite rude. One Sergeant reported me to the RSN, he said I was rude to him - but he asked for it because he was a horrible sort of man. He always carried his ground sheet around whilst chasing us girls. He was a really horrible type and I was so rude to him that he reported me. So of course, I had to go down to the RSN’s office and I was told that I could be put on a charge. The Officer I was up before said, ‘you have been rude to an NCO’ I replied, ‘Yes! And I will be rude to him again.’ Luckily he was a very nice Officer and I was just given a warning. On another occasion, I threatened to pour hot soup over another Officers head because he was so nasty to me but it was all in a days work really.

I remember this other girl and she was always running off from the Army and they would have to go and fetch her back. Frances, she was called and one day they told her she had to go the main office and go up on a charge. And they asked me to go with her, as she had to have to other privates with her. I decided to tell her that I was on a charge as well, so had to go with her, but I was really her escort and the only thing was, she wasn’t allowed to keep her hat on - but we did, and had to salute. So many different experiences!

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