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FREDA

Freda joined the A.T.S when she was seventeen and a half years old. She lied about her age and pretended she was eighteen years old.

She came from a small village (Shincliffe in County Durham) and was very naive so, as her posting was in Weymouth, it was a very frightening and daunting experience for her. She moved to Bristol where the airports were been bombed - the sound of bombs dropping and guns firing were terrible. Woolworths was bombed in Bristol and built again in a hurry - but there was always a smell of death when you went in.

Freda didn't like flying and worked on the ground, eventually moving to search lights. she always had a fear of being buried alive.

She met her first husband while in the forces, he was a a P.E. instructor and they married on VE Day 1944.

Although Freda describes her time in the Forces as sheer hell and very frightening she made a alot of friends and had many laughs. It was the first time she ever met up with ethnic groups and remembers on hearing that a lesbian had been discharged from the army. She thought it was a religion! She recalls her and other friends rolled up in white lines hoping the officers would think they were crackers and have them discharged. She still retains her sense of humour.

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