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FROM BALL GOWNS TO CAMOFLAGE

I first came to Cambridge age seventeen I went to work with my sister making ball gowns until the war came then her husband was called up and she followed in round the camps. I went to do voluntary work with the W.I. and was guided to make camouflage nets. We had strips of yellow green and brown and we had to join them together I never ever came to the end of one of those nets. After that I got a job in the war office in St regis house on Chesterton road taking and writing down phone messages I remember noticing how many poor cows had been killed in the bombing
My future husband was a mechanic and was asked to go and help at Marshall’s airfield working on the planes to keep them flying ‘ one day after he had finished one the pilot asked him if he’d like a ride, so up he went, after a few mins the fog came down and the pilot couldn’t get back so Frank (my future husband) suggested they got lower and he would try to find a landmark, he recognised the Newmarket road and the plane landed safely. Meanwhile back at the war office I received a message to say one of Marshall’s planes had gone missing, luckily it all ended up ok

This story was submitted to the People's War Site by Paula Dolan of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Cambridgeshire Story Gatherer Team on behalf of Jessie Davis and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions

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