大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Paul Trainer of Torbay Library Services on behalf of Barbara Wood and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's Terms and Conditions.

I grew up in Battersea, London and in 1942, applied to join the Army. Technically, at 17, I was too young, but as often happened in those days, I fibbed a year onto my age! My good friend at the time, Freda Thompson, the daughter of publicans at Croxley Green, joined up with me (although she actually was 18). My mum was angry at my decision to go and do my bit for the war effort, and threatened to inform the Recruitment Office of my real age. She never carried out her threat, though; I suspect that secretly she was proud of me, although of course very worried for my safety at the same time. It must have been very difficult for her, because my eldest brother and my sister also joined the army, and my younger brother joined the navy. A whole family had marched off to war.

Our first Barracks was at Leicester for initial training where Freda and I were allocated our kit and underwent basic square-bashing. From there we were posted to Devises to be trained to man the AK-AK battery there. I was trained up to be what was called a Predictor and Freda was to be a Spotter. Basically, the Spotter would carry out the initial observation via telescope and relay a signal to the Predictor, who operated a large machine that predicted the range and height of the target. Once on target, the Predictor would then signal the gun operators to fire. The guns we were working with were 3-7 guns, which was the regular size, although when we were later posted to Anglesea we were operating with 4-5 guns. For practice, the guns would fire at targets pulled along by a plane over the Irish Sea.

I was stationed a couple of months each at Devises and Anglesea batteries before I was posted to 545 Battery at Polbethick, near Looe in Cornwall. It was then that I volunteered to become a PT instructor 鈥� although I might not have if I had known hold cold it was going to be at Stirling Castle in Scotland, where I trained! I spent nearly a month training to become an instructor, but the freezing conditions turned out to be worth it when I returned to Polbethick and could enjoy having everyone, including NCOs and officers, jumping to my instructions!

I have very fond memories of my service at Polbethick, partly because we had very decent fellows and officers there, (many of the youngest were subsequently sent off on the Russian convoys) but also because the locals were so friendly to all the army personnel. We would at times need to call house to house to ask for old rags to clean our gunsand people would always be as helpful as possible. More than that, they would often invite us in for a cup of tea or a glass of cider. We and our fellow servicemen from the nearby barrage balloon site were also invited to the regular dances in the village hall. Of course, we didn鈥檛 always make it to the dance; there was a war on after all! I vividly recall one occasion when a lorry had been put into service to take us all to the village hall. I made an undignified sight when I got stuck climbing onto the lorry 鈥� and then the air raid siren went! On another occasion, I took the girls on a cross-country run to Looe, and we came across loads of winkles by the shore. Times were hard and rations were limited, so, ever resourceful, we packed as many as we could into our battle-dress pockets. Unfortunately, however, by the time we got back to barracks, the little creatures had crawled out of the pockets and were all over us. Not a comfortable feeling. And after all that effort, the cook refused to cook them because 鈥渢hey scream鈥�!

I had left someone behind when I joined up 鈥� my boyfriend Albert, or Bill as he was known in his unit on account of there being many other Alberts serving with him. He had not shared my enthusiasm for joining up, unhappy at us being parted and when eventually he received his call-up, he decided that he wanted to marry me. He employed a bit of subterfuge to get me to hear his proposal, however; he informed me that my mother was ill, on the basis of which I was granted compassionate leave. I was both relieved and surprised when I discovered the true reason for me being called away from service and, I鈥檓 happy to report, I accepted his proposal. We married without a penny (everything we needed for the wedding had to be borrowed!) and were immediately separated by our respective war duties. We managed a couple of leave breaks together, but my leave turned permanent when I became pregnant. 3 months into my pregnancy I was discharged. I had served for 2 陆 years and I admit I was disappointed to be leaving but I had new responsibilities now. I lived with Bill鈥檚 parents in East London for the rest of the war, contending with the daily menace of raids and doodlebugs. As things turned out, our daughter was 4 years old before Albert was finally discharged from the army.

My largely happy times at Polbethick had nevertheless often been dangerous; Polbethick Battery did suffer direct attack during which we were caught in machine gun fire and I was at Crownhill Barracks in Plymouth when it suffered heavy bombing. There were other things to be endured; for instance the discipline of army life sometimes seemed unjust. I recall being confined to barracks for 7 days (a punishment we knew as 鈥渏ankers鈥�) after returning late from a 24 hour leave in Plymouth. The genuine reason for my lateness, that I was helping a sick friend, was not accepted as sufficiently mitigating. And I can鈥檛 help feeling disappointed that despite my loyal service I never received a stripe; even though the Predictor held a crucial position on the guns, the stripe always went to the number one. I should have been promoted on the basis of being a PT Instructor, but as I was effectively "doubling-up" my jobs and the officers were keen to keep me on as a Predictor (I had very good eyesight), I had to maintain my position. That鈥檚 just the way it was.

Nevertheless, I can still look back and regard my 2陆 years鈥� service as amongst the best times of my life. I made a nostalgic return to Polbethick about 7 years ago but all I found left were the cookhouse and the concrete foundations of the gun emplacements. It was now a place 鈥渨here sheep may safely graze鈥� 鈥� and there were sheep there to prove it. My friend Freda found love at the barracks and married a Scots soldier; I have since lost touch with her. I have, however, kept in touch with my army days through the British Women鈥檚 Legion, the local branch of which I attend most Tuesdays. At the moment I鈥檓 looking forward to a Veterans鈥� event in a Marquee at Victoria Park in Paignton. It will be a great opportunity to share memories of my days in active service.

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