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 Audrey Harris and has been added to the site with her permission. Miss Harris fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I had a wonderful war. It might sound an awful thing to say, but it鈥檚 true. I was 17 when the war started and I had been working for a year in a big warehouse in St Paul鈥檚 Churchyard. One of our director鈥檚 was a very forward seeing man. In 1938 he鈥檇 taken out a lease on a stately home called Wroxton Abbey north of Banbury, the former home of Lord North, one of our Prime Ministers. And he started to move stock and personnel down there. When the bombing started in 1940, I went down to Wroxton. It was a wonderful life for three years, until I was conscripted into the WAAF.

During that time we all became very independent. We had housekeepers, but a lot of freedom in beautiful countryside. It was an idyllic place for youngsters to grow up in. We sometimes went dancing 4 nights a week, at the local army camps or Banbury Town Hall. If we went into Banbury we had a three mile walk each way!

And then when I was 21 I received a notice to go for my medical in Oxford, and the doctors saw no reason why I shouldn鈥檛 serve in any of the Forces. So I was dragged into the WAAF. I wanted the WRENS, but the WRENS were full and they wanted WAAF, so I did nearly 4 years in the services. I was away from home for virtually 7 years.

I had a lovely time. Terrible thing to say isn鈥檛 it. But I was lucky, I met super people that I鈥檓 still friends with. We formed a group after the war of 8 of the girls I was evacuated with at Wroxton. We still meet, and 5 of us are still going strong. We鈥檝e been friends for 60 odd years. Its marvellous. A lot of inter-marriages went on there. I鈥檝e been to all their weddings, all their christenings and the marriages of the grown-up children.

I was engaged to one fellow. He went to Canada for three years to train as air crew, and when he came back we both realised that we鈥檇 been carried away emotionally when he was posted overseas. And so the engagement was broken off. He eventually married one of my greatest friends, who I still see today. They had three children, and I know all their grandchildren.

One couple were married and the bridegroom was called up into the army a week after their honeymoon and he was killed later in Italy. That was really sad. But apart from that most of us survived.

My life in the WAAF was very exciting in a way because I met so many people. I was only in Training Command, but that meant that every 8 weeks the trainee air crews would change. There were Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and all sorts, and the poor old English fellows took the back seat. Then the Americans arrived and life changed again. And it was great.

When I eventually came home, I couldn鈥檛 settle down. In December1946 I was demobbed, and I had two months demob leave. I started work in February 1947. This was one of the worst winters we ever had: electric light for two hours, heating for two hours, working in virtual darkness most of the time and just trying to carry on. But we survived.

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