大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from the 大象传媒 Southern Counties on behalf of Joan Patricia Shannon with her permission. Joan Patricia Shannon fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

In 1940 when the war had already started, I was 21 and I volunteered to join the land army. If I hadn鈥檛 chosen to do this, I would have been obliged to work in a factory or take a conscription into the regular services.

Having joined the Land Army, I was sent to work on the Lord Cowdray Estate in Midhurst, West Sussex. I was pleased to go there as I didn鈥檛 really want to work on a farm. Lord Cowdray was in the Army and serving in France, where he was shot and wounded. I recall he only had the use of one arm.

I was at Cowdray for two years in the agricultural department, double digging ditches and planting vegetables. I lived on the estate for a while, and then I commuted home each day to Bognor where I lived with my mother Janet Ryan. Bognor was flooded with Canadian service men. They were based locally and sometimes their behaviour was a little wild!

I remember one day at Cowdray a lone German bomber flew over and dropped a bomb on the greenhouses. We had to lay down under the windows which were called "luffas", to take cover. I was working there with another lady who was half Spanish and we were so frightened when the bomb fell. Luckily, no-one was killed, except the lovely cat that we used to feed.

I remember one day I was up a ladder collecting fruit from a tree in my breaches, singing at the top of my voice, when a photographer took my photograph. It was for propaganda purposes. There were some elderly chaps who worked with us on the estate, and they were kind and helpful, although I felt a few of them did resent us a little. I was such hard work digging ditches, and it was so physical.

One day I was homeward bound on the train when the train suddenly stopped. Bombs were raining down around the train. The barrage of bombs eventually stopped, and we continued our journey, petrified. I also remember one day there was a raid, and I ran through the streets to get back home to the safety of the Morrison shelter in our front room. Even the buses had blackout curtains on them. Sometimes there would be accidents involving cars at night, caused by their reflectors.

After about two years at the Cowdray Estate, I was transferred to greenhouses in West Worthing where we grew flowers for Covent Garden market. Here, I did much the same as I did at Cowdray Estate, but not quite so much digging thankfully. It was hard work though. We would box up tomatoes and load them onto the train to go to the market.

Then came the Battle of Britain. The sky was awash with aircraft and the noise was horrendous and terrifying. Aircraft were taking off from Tangmere Airfield in West Sussex. The German aircraft had a very distinctive sound and I could tell when they were overhead.

I enjoyed working in the Land Army, although I was sometimes frightened. My mother was pleased that I had stayed local. I was in the Land Army for three years in total and came out just before the end of the war.

We all played a part during the war.

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