大象传媒

These experiences are written on behalf on Mrs Ballantyne who is 82 and not able to use the internet.

Mrs Blantyres war service started in Bristol where she joined the ARP and served as a secretary in the main control centre during the Blitz. By 1942 life was getting boring with the lessening of the attacks and she joined the WREN's (Womens Royal Navy) and was trained in communications in Scotland. She then returned to work in The Citadel behind the Old Admiralty building in White Hall, London where she met Churchill during a visit.
Later in 1942 she was transferred to Gibraltar travelling over on a fast passenger ferry the Ulster Monarch which had originally plied the sealanes from Ireland to Scotland. The previous convoy had been badly damaged by bombing and 12 WRENs killed so a single ship making a dash was considered safer. While on Malta she met her husband John Ballantyre who was a surgeon working with the RAMC. He had been trained at St Mary's Hospital before the war and went on after the war to become an eminent ENT Surgeon.John Was the son of the Rev. John Ballantyne who was rector of Essex Church, Kensington from 1934 until his retirement.They are still happily married over 60 years later and living in Holland Park, West London.

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