- Contributed by听
- medwaylibraries
- People in story:听
- Ellen Andrews (nee Preston); Wing Commander Victor Durand
- Location of story:听
- Gillingham, Kent; Southampton; Pembrey, Wales; Deal, Kingsdown, Kent
- Background to story:听
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:听
- A3878247
- Contributed on:听
- 10 April 2005
Ellen Andrews (nee Preston) and her sister Catherine - 1940
My Wartime Memories
I left Gillingham in 1939 and lived in Shirley, Southampton until July 1940. I had been working in Edwin Jones Department Store 鈥 a huge building. On 31st.July 1940 I joined the WAAFs and was trained in West Drayton. Whilst on leave in Shirley I witnessed a dreadful night when every shop in Southampton was bombed to the ground.
After training I was posted to Alvaston on a balloon site 鈥 I was only a Clerk GD but I enjoyed the work and the company. I was billeted in a grand old house belonging to Lord Nuffield. All the beautiful fireplaces were covered so that no damage was done to them. From there I was posted to Pembroke Dock as the Clerk to the Transport Officer (boring!) We had some rough times with bombing there, and from there I was posted to Pembrey near Llanelli in Wales, where I lived in a hut on the edge of the airfield 鈥 another balloon centre. My friend took me inside a balloon 鈥 it was huge 鈥 like a ballroom!
I was only there a matter of months when I was posted again to 16 Group Coastal Command in Gillingham and billeted with my parents. I worked for the Senior Medical Officer 鈥 Wing Commander Durand, (later a QC in London,) during the daytime, and I also worked in the OPS room in the tunnel three nights a week.
I met my future husband who was a parade instructor in the Royal Marines at Chatham Barracks. We married in 1941 and I was billeted on him! We lived in a flat in Borough Road, Gillingham. I was occasionally late on parade and had to do 鈥渏ankers鈥, but I didn鈥檛 mind because my husband would be on P.A.D. duty in the barracks on those nights.
Our first son was born on May 1st. 1944 so I was discharged in November 1943. When Maurice was seven months old my husband was transferred to Deal and we moved to Kingsdown where we lived on the edge of the Freedowns. We had lots of scary moments there with shells from France 鈥 one of which landed in our back garden. Luckily it didn鈥檛 completely explode and we found the base of it still embedded in the garden. It was a scary night 鈥 we also had a lot of shrapnel falling from ack ack guns firing at the numerous doodlebugs coming over form France.
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