大象传媒

[ "This story was submitted to the People's War site by Emma from Cedars Upper School on behalf of Doreen Purnell and has been added to the site with her permission. Doreen Purnell fully understands the site's terms and conditions".]
I volunteered when I was 18. They asked me what trade I wanted to do. I was a wireless operator. It was 1944 and it was 10 months training. This was 3 months in Blackpool, 3 months in Staffordshire, which was Compton Bassett. The last four months were in Cheaddle. In Blackpool we were billetted in Guest Houses. We then went to Compton Bassett, this was lovely and very different from Blackpool.
There were rows of desks. Two people had to sit at a desk. You used a reciever and knobs, we had to listen to German morse codes. It went slow,I actually got one when I was there.
When we were at Chicksands, I joined the Y service, listening to the broadcasting. We used to take down coded messages from abroad, forwarded to Bletchley Park. I didn't know what Bletchley Park was. We were the main contact to Germany and vice versa all done by teleprinter. If the connection broke down then we would use morse code.
One night I was asleep, I woke to see Rosserta, the nun in a legend in Chicksands priory. I could have been dreaming, I'm still not sure.
After, my friend and I thought we'd go to Germany. I was 21 and I had got my posting but my friend had to wait for her parent's consent, only being 20.
In Germany I ended up at Bad Eilsen, the air head-quarters for the R.A.F. I went to work in the signals office as a teleprinter. I was there till 1947. We lived in a hotel in Germany. It was quite an experience, where German people were working in the airforce against their country.
We had a club we could go there and we went quite often.

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