大象传媒

Before the war I was an accounts clerk working for an insurance company.

On the day war started my sister and I was on holiday at Land's End. On that day, yes there'd been threats before; so we didn't take it very seriously. We were walking down a country lane; there was no one else around. A farmer came along, 'Do you know we're at war' he said. Well what the blazes do you do, I mean should we carry on with our holiday, or go home? We were at Land's End so we decided to at least have a look. Afterwards we went back to Falmouth and had a day there. We cut our holiday short and went home. At that time it looked like it would be a false war, nothing was happening, no planes, no bombs nothing.

Anyway a little later when the Germans had got their act together it all changed, and London really copped it, especially down in the dock area. There were firewatchers just looking at what was happening, from high vantagepoints around London, looking out for bombs that hadn't exploded. They would tell the authorities their estimated position, who would then summon a disposal crew, to defuse and remove the bomb. They were the really brave ones.

My father built an air raid shelter in the garden, under a big tree. What would happen it the tree was hit and fell onto the shelter I don't really know. Generally it was safe enough, except one time when a bomb dropped in the next road. I think it hit a shelter whilst the mother was in the house getting drinks for her children - it killed the children.

At the time we were living on the outskirts of London on one of the highest points, so we could see easily a great part of London, the attacks, the smoke, and the fires Occasionally a bomb would drop close and the local buses would bump over the fire engine water pipes, swerving crazily to avoid as much of the debris as possible.

I and the other girls in our office decided to join up, and we joined the Red Cross. We took our exams and then had to do 72 hours in a hospital, as part of the training. I remember the ward sister. Nothing was out of place there, everything was spotless, germs wouldn't dare to exist when she was around, and she scared the daylights out of me.

I got engaged and my boy joined up, he was on one of Mountbatten's ships that was blown up. The first I heard was a radio report that the ship had been destroyed. The announcement said she had been torpedoed and the next of kin were being informed. I was scared stiff, and certainly didn't sleep at all that night. Anyway he appeared soon after, thank goodness. He was given three weeks 'Survivors' leave.

Soon after I went to the Admiralty offices, after telling my boss I wasn't feeling very well and taking sick leave. I joined up as a signaller and waited and waited, for, I think, several months. I'd given up my job, and the waiting wasn't funny at all. I so wanted to help; all my friends had gone to war. I complained to the Admiralty, and they said they hadn't places for a signaller, but would I like to become a cinema projectionist. This was a job I'd never heard of. In fact it was a new branch. I knew nothing about cinemas, I very rarely went, and hadn't a clue what to expect. They said it was quite all right it didn't matter, and that I would be given the necessary training. I joined up at Hampstead where we were taught how to salute, everyone in sight, and pledge allegiance to anyone! We got our uniforms and a few days later on a day off, went down into the West End. There was an officer, so we both saluted, as we drew abreast he burst out laughing, he was a Merchant Navy officer, we didn't know you don't salute them!

One time in the barracks we had to get up and help with the dishes. My job was to load the lift but I was in a hurry to get ready to go on parade. I called up the lift shaft that the lift was coming, but it didn't. There was an almighty crash. In the basement was a great pile of broken crockery. An officer joined us and asked as to who had loaded the lift, I was confined to barracks, the officer was very angry. Our pay wasn't very good so I thought it would take years to pay for that lot. A lift engineer came and said it wasn't my fault, a faulty lift, thank goodness, I got away with it, just.

My friend and I went down to the Tatler Cinema in London and there a man taught us how to work the projector equipment. I remember we had examinations about batteries and dynamos electricity and all sorts of things, which, until that time, I knew nothing about. I soon learnt. I thought my friend would easily pass, and was very surprised when I passed as well. We had become cinema operators.

We fiddled our draft details so that we would both be sent somewhere together. We went to Dunnoon in Scotland. That was where the School of Asdics, the Americans called it Sonar, was based. They specialised in underwater search for submarines, mines and things. A land based barracks, but run like a ship, bugles blowing all over the place, you know what I mean, everyone standing to attention every few minutes, constant marching, and a lot of discipline. It was a school for sailors drawn from different ships, to train to become specialist ratings using Asdic equipment. Our job was to put on the films that would help to teach them. Of course we learnt a bit about Asdic searching at the same time, not as much as the trainees, but quite a lot. A bat sends out sonar clicks and if it gets it back then there's something in the way. Under a ship, a pulse goes out, if it hits anything solid the equipment registers and it shows on a screen.

One day a buzz went round that a ship had been sunk. It was the ship my fianc茅e was on, he was only 21. That was a bad day.

During the day we were with the trainee sailors quite a bit and then in the evenings we put on entertainment films, Betty Grable and other popular films of the time. We only had one machine but it worked.

I remember the training films was very difficult to handle, apart from the actual pictures there was stuff oozing out of the reel which was black, sticky and went everywhere, and of course we weren't allowed to smoke, the film could easily catch fire. The dear old chief projectionist used to smoke, like a chimney, having been in the Navy for twenty odd years, and retired, but they'd brought him back to help out. He always had a fag in his mouth, he taught me to make roll-ups. That was something else I learned. Although I didn't smoke I used to draw my tobacco ration and make roll-ups for him.

Some of the films we showed were of different German aircraft. One other thing I learned was how to aim a gun at a plane.

The boffins designed a metal circle, which was hung up near the screen. There were two metal circles one inside the other. Inside the main circle was a smaller one. The device was positioned so that as we showed the film of a plane it would be somewhere outside the main circle, eventually it would enter the smaller circle, when it did that was where the plane would be in range to be shot down. A clever idea, it taught the students how to recognise, judge the speed, and shoot at the enemy planes, without anyone being in danger.

They were taught un-armed combat, what to do if you had to face a German. A rabbit punch, or fingers up the nose, or in the eyes, that was particularly lethal. Of course I'm too old now, but there was a time when I could easily protect myself.

We also practised shooting in the Drill shed by shooting real bullets into a sand box. I didn't realise at the time, but we were asked to join in these lessons. We were being used as 'bait'. Us girls were there to encourage the boys to come to the lessons and beat us.

It was surprising what I learned just by being a projectionist.

We used to have dances there as well. Sometimes the local girls would join us, but there weren't many girls, and plenty of boys. Well we all had a good time.

There were lots of other nationalities and we used to walk through the barracks with them. They were so worried about what was happening in their own country. It was all right for them, they were being looked after, but their families, were a different matter. On the surface they were all jolly but underneath, was different. Some of the instructors had been through difficult times as well; most of them had seen service on ships working in the thick of battle. Sometimes even the sea had been a problem; waves 40 feet high could cause a lot of damage to a small ship. Others would get washed overboard, and occasionally they'd be washed back, if they were lucky, covered in oil and other unmentionable things that had washed off the ship. All of us tried not to remember too often. All you could do was to wave goodbye and smile; it was so very, very painful. Those chaps were so brave, they really were. I've lived so long, it doesn't seem quite right even now.

My husband wouldn't talk too much about his experiences. The war in Germany had finished and I had the 'fun' watching him walking up the road in 1945, the first steps on his way to the Far East. He was going out to fight the Japanese, and they were tough. Although those two atom bombs killed an awful lot of people, they saved thousands of others. My husband was out there when they were dropped, everything just went, all gone, he couldn't believe it. They had to cross a bridge, everything seemed ok but as soon as the truck started to cross, the bridge just disintegrated. The force of the bomb had weakened the metal. It was horrific, nothing could be thought of as safe.

War is disgusting anyway. You make so many friends and then say goodbye so many, many times.

We were billeted above the galleys, and we would save our spare bread rolls. We put them in a tin that we kept in the wardrobe. One time we couldn't get the lid on, we were in a hurry, or we just forgot to close it, anyway, when we came back the tin was full of cockroaches and not the bread we put in there.

There was a sentry on the stairs up to the boys quarters supposed to stop us chasing them.!! The whole place was run a bit like a school, or maybe even a scout camp. At Christmas there was a dance, I was engaged, and my fianc茅e was away, so I didn't want to go to the dance. I've regretted that ever since. I thought that it I went, someone would want to kiss me, my fianc茅e would hear about it, and he'd be angry. So I sat in the billet just reading a book. Other girls would came to try to persuade me to join them, but I wouldn't - What a twit!

I got a draft down to Liverpool, you really couldn't argue as to where you were sent.
It was only temporary, thank goodness; I replaced a girl who had gone on holiday.
One time I had to climb a metal rung ladder regularly, so they issued me with trousers to stop the boys looking up my skirt. What a laugh. We wore black knickers; we called them 'Passion Killers'. Too true! They had elastic around the legs, so we cut out the elastic, and turned them into 'Frenchies'. We had black woollen stockings, nylons weren't around then. The only time you got nylons was when the Americans were around.

Part Two

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