大象传媒

Recorded at Surrey History Centre

for Gladys Newlyn ex ATS W/184369

We arrived at the gates of Buller Barracks one evening for the RASC Association meeting and in the car was Bill Humphries our very kind driver, myself and George Goodrich. A smart young female soldier walked towards us with a gun. We could hear George's sharp intake of breath as he said, "I hope she knows how to use that weapon".

My mind went back to 1943 at Arborfield. As a seasoned ATS Batwoman I knew how to send my officers out absolutely glinting and shining with polishes. But use a gun? However the powers that be decided that females should be subjected to gunfire at close range, we had already been through the gas mask drill.

To say we were scared is absolute rubbish, and the rumour was that live ammo, whatever that was, would be used.

Anyway, a glorious summer afternoon, and we put on clean shoes and a clean shirt, we always looked smart, and reported to the place where the lorries were waiting. Where did we think we were going? We climbed in with jolly banter, which soon subsided after an order from the officer.

Stopping at an area of woodland, very sparsely planted, I thought - where would we hide? We were told to walk between the string markers and just keep walking. Nothing happened for a while, until almost beside us was the first explosion. You can't imagine the screams and yells that came from this bunch of "hardened" girls. We ran and fell into potholes, and collided with trees and bushes as thunder flashes were thrown at us, and the gunfire was so loud and frightening. At the end of the exercise we lined up for the trip back to our billets, and what a sorry sight we were. Laddered stockings, muddy shoes, hats adrift, and because we used a boot lace round our hair, which was then rolled up to keep hair 2 inches above the collar, THAT had all come undone and straggled down our faces. We didn't think of having short hair like today's girls.

"Hitler would have died laughing at us", one Londoner said. There was always one to keep up morale.

It was a pity he didn't, it would have shortened the War by 2 or 3 years.

I was sent to London once, to be interviewed for another job, and in the billet's bathroom, painted in the bath was a line - Ordinary Ranks 5 inches, Officers 8 inches. I soon promoted myself! The question we asked ourselves, as we soaked in 5 inches of water, was, "Would we be any good at a barricade?"

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