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This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Annie Keane of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ on behalf of Vera Roe and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Life on the farm
I was 20 when the war started and was living in West Norwood. I volunteered to be a Fire Warden at night, but only did this twice. I then volunteered for the Land Army and I got sent to a farm near Cheddar Gorge. I had to work on a threshing machine with another girl from London. It was really primitive, we had to build these huge hay ricks. We had to work physically very hard, usually 7 days a week. We often had an officer coming round and checking on us. We both left after a year, we were exhausted. We were both city girls, we didn’t really see anybody down there and found it pretty isolating.

Life in the WAAF
I had to join one of the other services, so I chose the WAAF. I just fancied it. I came back home first and then went to Insworth, Gloucestershire, then Weston-Super-Mare, Penarth in Wales then Henlow in Bedfordshire. I particularly liked it at Weston-Super-Mare where we had nice times, I remember doing PE on the beach, we also went to Morecombe for square bashing. We were billeted with a grim landlady there who had a big Grandfather clock downstairs, she was convinced that we used to kick it.

In Henlow, I worked Pay Accounts which is what I’d been doing before the war. One day we had a session when all the airmen were allowed to come and look at their books. One handsome Corporal, asked me to go to the pictures with him. He also gave me a bar of chocolate, which we didn’t very get often. His name was Henry, he was an Instructor and Electrical Engineer. We stayed together and he eventually became my husband.

I remember we had to march every day, from the camp where we were staying to the big camp where we were working. They were quite strict, I got put on a charge once because my hair was too long, I had to do jankers — extra duties. We regularly had to go to FFI (Free from Infection) to get our hair checked. We used to get 21 shillings a fortnight, but there wasn’t much to spend it on.

My next posting was to Lymeswold in Leicestershire, that was a bomber training camp. The war felt closer to us there. I remember that a group of us used to get taken in a lorry to the American dances which were really good fun and we loved their ice-cream.

Coming back home
When I came home to visit everything was really dark. It was pitch black and we weren’t allowed to carry torches I remember I used to have to walk from Stockwell to West Norwood because the buses weren’t running during the air raids.

I came home on compassionate leave once because a landmine had dropped in our road. Luckily my family was safe, but all our windows were blown out, furniture damaged and pictures blown off the walls. In a way we just got used to it, it became a way of life.

Life after the war
My husband and I got married after the war 1945, we went to our wedding at Brixton registry office on a tram. Things were really hard after the war as well.

I stay in touch with people who used to be in the WAAF, my friend and I belong to a WAAF association club in Sidcup, we meet once a month and have speakers and go on trips.

I feel that our pensions are not adequate, considering what we all went through and what we did, we’re not respected or valued in this society and life is still a struggle.

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