大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a volunteer from 大象传媒 Radio Berkshire on behalf of Evelyn Tucker and has been added to the site with her permission. Evelyn Tucker fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

I was working at Huntley and Palmers in Reading. Coming home one evening I went across to the recruiting office and joined up. I did my initial training at Aldermaster, which was for three weeks. I was scrubbing the step and the sergeant informed me that that was the same step that Mary Churchill had scrubbed the week before.

From there I went to Yorkshire and did 6 weeks signals training. From there I went to the holding Unit in London. Form there I went to Sailsbury, the headquarters of Southern Command. The signals office was based in the grounds of Wilton House. One evening on night duty we were told not to change into slacks as we did usually, until given the order. We discovered afterwards that Churchill, Eisenhower and the King were visiting Wiltshire House and might visit the Signals Office. Unfortunately they didn鈥檛 come to see us but did go to the telephone exchange.

After a couple of years I was posted to Plymouth, which has a force 135, which were going to liberate the Channel Islands. I discovered all my friends were being posted over seas so I asked to rejoin my old unit.

We were sent to a holding Unit near Oxford. After a couple of days were woken at dawn and given a hearty breakfast and went by lorry to an air field be boarded on a plane. It was my first time on a plane, and we experienced the worst turbulence as the weather was appalling. Later we arrived in Brussels where we took over the signals office.

While in Brussels we visited a friend in hospital. On our way there we met the lieutenant and his batman, he offered to take us to see our friend and drove us along the Atlantic wall, which Hitler had built along the coast.

We visited our friend and weren鈥檛 sure how we would get back to Brussels. We went into what we thought was an army barracks, but turned out to be a prison. We left there and began walking back along the main road with the hope of hitching a lift. Along came this big black car, a Laganda I think. The car stopped and three very dashing men got out in long dark coats and trilby hats and took us back to Brussels. I have no idea who they were, we didn鈥檛 ask.

On VE day we danced in the Grand Place, Brussels teaching University. Students knew how to do the Lambeth Walk and the Palais Glide.

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