大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Pennie Hedge, a volunteer for 大象传媒 London, on behalf of Dora Doughty and has been added to the site with her permission. Mrs Doughty fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

When I was 17 陆 I joined the WRNS. I was engaged and my fiancee was going out to Canada to train as a pilot, and he would be gone for 18 months or more. My best friend joined the army. So I went into work one day and the girl on the switchboard said 鈥淒o you know what I鈥檓 going to do at lunchtime Dora, I鈥檓 going to Queen Anne鈥檚 Mansions鈥�, she said 鈥渁nd sign on for the WRNS.鈥� I said 鈥淚鈥檓 coming with you.鈥� And we did.

We wanted to be writers. But when we went in for our interviews the officer said 鈥淲ell all I鈥檝e got at the moment is cooks, officers cooks, officers stewards or stewards.鈥� I said 鈥淥fficer鈥檚 steward鈥� and when I went back to my friend 鈥� we didn鈥檛 go into see her together - Pam said 鈥淲hat did you say鈥�, 鈥淥fficer鈥檚 Steward鈥�, I said. 鈥淪o did I,鈥� she said.

We were both about 17 陆 then, but we didn鈥檛 go for a couple of months. We had to have medicals and that. But when I got home that night I said to my mother, 鈥淢um, I鈥檝e joined the WRNS.鈥� She was so upset. Now I can imagine what she must have felt. I think she didn鈥檛 want to lose me. In fact I was better off down there because I didn鈥檛 get bombed or anything. But they had the doodlebugs up in London. But I never experienced any doodlebugs or anything because I was stationed down at Portland, Dorset, and we didn鈥檛 have anything down there.

I wouldn鈥檛 have missed it for anything. The company, the girls. This is why I joined up, because I was quite a lively person, and all my friends were getting called up. The company was really fabulous. A lovely life.

I had three officers to look after and we used to have to make their beds, press their suits if they wanted us to, and keep their rooms tidy. And serve in the wardroom. Our officers used to put their shoes outside the door and we had to clean them. But when the Yanks came, they didn鈥檛 know anything about this, but they were told that if they left their shoes outside the room we would take them, clean them and put them back. All these chaps came in and I can remember one cabin with six officers and I noticed after a couple of mornings that there were only five pairs of shoes there, and I knew who the officers were, I knew who hadn鈥檛 left their shoes out. It was a Lieutenant Commander. So I went in and collected them.

When I was serving that night in the wardroom, this officer drawled 鈥淗ey, did you take my shoes?鈥� (he came from down South). And I said, 鈥淵es sir, we have to clean your shoes.鈥� And he said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 you ever touch my shoes again. That鈥檚 a job for blacks.鈥� So I said 鈥淚 have to, it鈥檚 my job.鈥� 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 do it鈥� he said. 鈥淐ome up to my cabin,鈥� he said afterwards, 鈥淚 have something for you.鈥� 鈥淥h, all right,鈥� I said. So I went up and under his bunk he pulled out a great big case and in it he had make-up and nylons. And he said 鈥淣ow what would you like?鈥� And this is for nothing, I mean, they were alright, we didn鈥檛 have any problems with them. I could take my pick. But he said, 鈥淣ow don鈥檛 forget, you don鈥檛 clean my shoes.鈥�

It was an experience, meeting all these chaps. And they used to have parties in the wardroom. No women there, only us, and my best friend was the wine steward, and as I didn鈥檛 used to drink, (I didn鈥檛 get drunk or anything like that) I used to go to help her. They were real gentlemen. Oh, and before the Americans came, one of my regulars was a New Zealander. He was smashing and he used to call me Blossom. And it was Christmas and he said to me 鈥淏lossom come up to my room, I want to show you a map of where I live鈥� So I when I went up to make his bed, he was in there, so he said 鈥淐ome here Blossom鈥� and he got this map of NZ, and he said 鈥淎s its Christmas, how about giving us a kiss.鈥� I shot out that cabin like a scalded cat.

D Day preparations

We knew something was up because all our leave was cancelled. Anyway we noticed that all the American army were arriving in Weymouth. Just walking down the High Street, it was packed solid with them. And then, at the base where I was, they got rid of all our sailors and all the American sailors came in with the officers. I was an officers鈥� steward. And where we used to have one officer in a cabin, all these bunks were put in so there were about 6 in one cabin 鈥� the rooms were called cabins 鈥� and it was packed solid. They were going to evacuate us WRNS because it was all Americans, but they didn鈥檛.

In Weymouth the bay was absolutely full of landing craft. It was all fenced off. But on the night that D Day started In the early hours of the morning, all of a sudden we heard this roaring, we all jumped out of bed, looked out and there were planes going across with gliders as well. That was it, and we went back to sleep. And in the morning, everyone had gone, all the Americans, all the boats, everything, the place was deserted. We were excited because we thought that maybe the war would end soon. You don鈥檛 have fear when you鈥檙e 18 or 19 I don鈥檛 think. Of course we didn鈥檛 actually know what had happened. It wasn鈥檛 until lunchtime in the mess, that they announced that D Day had begun. It was a sigh of relief in a way, because you thought that maybe now things were packing up.

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