大象传媒

September 11th 1944 鈥� hurrah! The day had arrived at last when I would be able to waer the khaki uniform I had seen my sister wear since 1938 when she had joined the ATS. I had tried, since I was fourteen to join and I was so afraid that the war would be over before I had a chance to follow in Dad鈥檚 footsteps 鈥� having been raised on his stories of the Great War. Now at 17陆 I was eligible.
I was trained for a month at Pontefract Barracks and I loved every minute 鈥� yes, really! I learned to rise at 6am, wakened by a bugle blowing reveille, I queued for my meals in the cookhouse and learned to salute for my ten shillings per week..
I attended school where I learned the history of the armed forces. I was given three of every item of clothing, including khaki silk directoire knickers, known as 鈥減assion killers.鈥� I was interviewed and tested to see what job I was fitted for. 鈥淒o you fancy cooking?鈥� I was asked. No blooming fear 鈥� I wanted to drive. Very reluctantly I was assigned to the RAOC and eventually learned to drive.
Square bashing (learning to drill and march, to the uninitiated) and enjoyed that too. In fact, if I hadn鈥檛 been so shy, I would have loved to have tried my hand at drilling the squad. During my three years service, whenever there was going to be a parade 鈥� even just to church 鈥� I would be there, craning my head up to get on the front row and, oh, the bliss to march behind a band!
During my time I served in many places in England & Wales, and a year at GHQ in Cairo, doing many jobs from clerking to checking tanks. Oh, I didn鈥檛 pass my driving test after all!

[This story was submitted to the People's War site by Wolverhampton Libraries on behalf of Betty Smallshire and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions]

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