大象传媒

Pearl used to work for the Land Army and her Husband Horace worked on the Farms during World War II. In December they will have been married for 60 years.

Pearl:
I was in the Land Army, from about 1942; I was about 19 years old. My father had just come back from Dunkirk. As he came back I was called up. My Dad did everything, mechanic, chauffeur, undertaker; any job he could do it. He worked for Bonham鈥檚 in Northampton. He got called up in the first wave of soldiers for the war, he was sent to France. I think that was the beginning of the end for him though. He didn鈥檛 like water, not like ordinary baths or anything but seas and lakes he always stayed away from them, but of course in Dunkirk he was up to his chest in water and they only had their trousers on because the Germans were chasing them. Course then I got called up with the 19s and I told him I was going in the army, I wanted to be in the ATS and my Dad said you鈥檙e not going in the women鈥檚 army I鈥檝e seen enough of them. So I had to opt for the next best thing and I went into the Land Army.

I went to Wilby Castle for a month鈥檚 training, then went to Quentin Green for a few weeks but I was eventually stationed at Daventry in Northampton. I was only there for 2 or 3 years and left because of health reasons, from there I couldn鈥檛 do normal work so I went into the munitions factories. Once the war ended I went on the sewing machines making army coats and things, we were still doing war work.

In the Land Army we did all sorts of jobs, we were general workers we could do anything, field work, milking the cows, tractor work and the on job I hated was harnessing a cart horse. He was the most awkward animal I鈥檇 ever met. To put his collar on you see you had to climb up and stand on a box, twist the harness up and over the horses head and twist it back round but he would stand really rigid with his legs apart, and I thought to myself, 鈥榊ou Blighter!鈥� The chap that was training me said 鈥淒on鈥檛 loose your temper with him because he鈥檚 worse, You have to humour him鈥� I said, 鈥淚鈥檒l humour the devil鈥�. We did have some fun with them though but they were awkward those cart horses.

Then we went up to Daventry and I did everything up there. We were with Mr Tebbutt at Welton Grange, he was a gentleman farmer, and he used to say to us 鈥淚f it鈥檚 too much for you girls you come in鈥�. We used to play on it though and say 鈥淲ell, we are a bit tired鈥� so we would go into the barn and his housekeeper would bring us a great big jug of hot cocoa and that used to go down like nectar. Course you see milk and everything was rationed, you were only aloud half a pint a day and you couldn鈥檛 use that as milk but once we went onto farming the milk came straight from the cow.

We had to bike just less than five miles in the morning before we started work and the same back in the evenings. We were just under the five-mile mark; if you went over you could have a lift in the van. The hills in Daventry though were up and down, up and down so it was hard work and we weren鈥檛 wearing normal clothes, we had dungarees on. It was hard work but we made the best of every job we did.

I used to like harvesting, I think it was the best job but in the winter it was really cold. I used to hate hoeing; we had a great big field of corn that I swear went on for miles. I had a young girl with me, she was a London girl and was born very late in life and she was very posh. She said 鈥淥h my, you have to do this?鈥� and I said 鈥淵es, you have to do this, you have to do it day and day and day鈥�. Anyway by the time she got used to it and got used to my ways we got on really well and had lots of fun. But that hoeing was a god-forsaking job, you used to be so cold and bored and we had to have our overcoats on to keep us warm as the wind whipped across the fields and our hands got so cold. We couldn鈥檛 knit when we got home.

The mixed farming was the most interesting, well I didn鈥檛 do much milking, I didn鈥檛 get on with the cows much, I didn鈥檛 like them I was a bit weary of them when they stuck their legs out, I thought they were trying to trip me over.

I was still in war work when I left the Army but I think the most memorial days of the war was in the Land Army as we used to make the best of a bad job. There was nothing there that, well you can鈥檛 compare; even a jug of cocoa made with milk was luxury. But when I did leave I could live at home whereas in the army I lived in the Land Army Hostel.

In the hostel there was about 40 girls from all classes, there were some from the best parts and some from the rough parts but we were all on the same level, no one was treated individually. Once the key was turned at night if you weren鈥檛 in the hostel you were locked out. There were two of us that were the tallest girls in the hostel, there was me and Ida, she was a London girl. Lights out was at ten o鈥檆lock and one night I said, 鈥淐an you hear that rapping at that window?鈥� 鈥淵es鈥� She said, 鈥淲ho鈥檚 missing?鈥� It was little Betty, and Ida had to hold my waist and I had to get through the window and put my arms around Betty鈥檚 waist. How we got her in I don鈥檛 know, I said, 鈥淲here鈥檝e you been?鈥� she said, 鈥淚鈥檝e been courting鈥�. There were a lot of them that used to get locked out.

We used to mix with the garage boys as we called them, like Horace, they delivered the petrol and paraffin to the farms, without those chaps we couldn鈥檛 work.

Horace:
I worked for the war Agriculture Company. I was only 15 when the war started so too young to be called up. At 16 I worked and lived on the farm. I went to the next door farm and got 10 bob a week, then I went to the stables but I didn鈥檛 like it much and I went on to the driving as I was old enough to drive and delivered all sorts of fuel to all the farms. We used to have harvests going day and night in the good weather so we had to keep them topped up.

I remember once I had to deliver some petrol to someone who鈥檇 run out. I came down Weedon Hill and there was this airforce fella standing on the corner, waiting for a lift or something and in front of me was a Queen Mary, which was a 60ft trailer they used to put paces on. He was going down the hill and decided to stop and pick this lad up and I put my foot on the breaks and they didn鈥檛 work, I hadn鈥檛 any breaks. So I put my lights all on and blew my hooter and there was another trailer coming the other way so I thought I鈥檇 have to go onto the trailer but at the last minute there was a gap and we got through. That was a scary moment, the lad with me was a bit shaky afterwards. If we had of connected there would have been a big flame with all the petrol I was carrying.

We also went to the prison of war camp each night and that was after we did a days work, we did about 80 hours a week or something but we had to go and fill them up too. One night I was filling up a tractor across these fields, and two fields down there was a bombing range where the airforce used to practice bombing on a target. And eventually filled up the tractor and was trying to get out and there was this he bang and I thought they had dropped a bomb but it was the crankshaft that broke on the van splitting the engine in two.

Where I live with my mum and dad we had 3 London office girls billeted on us, then we had a young soldiers wife and a little baby, then we had a railway man, a signal man. There was about 10 or 11 of us. When they went we had two polish lads who鈥檇 escaped from Poland, we had them until they found a house. Then we ended up with four or five land girls billeted with us. 鈥淗e was in heaven鈥� Pearl says, 鈥淗is whole face lit up and I thought hello he鈥檚 got land army girls billeted with him, they used to pull his leg good and proper鈥�.

Round about 1940 I looked out the window to the next farm to us and I could see a mate of mine plowing so I nipped over and joined him, but all of a sudden we looked up and there was a German plane. We didn鈥檛 know what he was going to do but he left. He must have been taking pictures or something of the station and the tunnel as some months after they came over and dropped bombs. They didn鈥檛 hit the railway and they didn鈥檛 hit the tunnel they only killed a sheep and a badger. That night my Dad was coming back from the pub and he saw the German plane overhead and dived right into a bed of nettles. I remember going to the pub on a night-time, there were always all sorts there, Americans, Land Army girls and all sorts. It was only a little room but we鈥檇 all stand around the piano until they closed at 10.

The most memorial moment I think though was when I met Pearl, I had gone to the hostel to meet another girl and Pearl answered the door and said she鈥檇 gone home because she didn鈥檛 feel well. 鈥淚 thought what a shame she鈥檚 gone home鈥� Pearl said 鈥� I鈥檒l tell you what I鈥檒l put my coat on and I鈥檒l come out with you. I don鈥檛 know why I said it but I felt so sorry for him, I was even engaged to a sailor at the time鈥�. I was a good-looking chap that鈥檚 why!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.