大象传媒

ATS Auxiliary Territorial Service 鈥� Mrs Graham (during the War Mrs Graham was Cpl Ashdown)

After they had VE Day victory over Europe Day and Japan I came home on one of the first drafts October 1945 from Naples on what was called the Medlock group my train through Italy, Switzerland we were not allowed to get off the train it did stop at Milan at 4.30 in the morning and we got off and I rushed down to Milan Cathedral to see the stain glass windows we didn鈥檛 get very much food on route because people didn鈥檛 know we were coming when we eventually came through France I had to stay in a transit camp in Paris and sleep on the floor and was amazed to find that we were expected to pay to go to the toilet we crossed the Straights of Dover on the troop ship and had to go above deck and wear lifejackets because of floating mines and the weather was stormy we could see the mines washed up on the shore. No one expected our arrival at Dover and we had to go on a train to London and no one expected us there, we had no bedding and they wanted me to stay more than one night but I asked to go home so I was sent to Reading and Winston Churchill鈥檚 daughter, Lady Mary Churchill demobbed me I was given threepence a day for behaving myself and a small paper ration card because tea and soap was still rationed I went home in the clothes I stood up in I was allowed to take my kitbag I was asked if I was a volunteer or conscript, I was a volunteer I was asked to hand in my overcoat but I was never issued with an overcoat because they didn鈥檛 have one small enough I had a mackintosh a raincoat with a lining which I was allowed to keep and also kept two pairs of pyjamas and the two shirts I鈥檇 been issued with and a tie and two pair of shoes which were supplied by Dolcis and I was given a railway warrant so I didn鈥檛 have to pay my fair back home. That was October 1945.

Medals

While serving in Italy people who had served more than 6 months in a certain theatre of war had the appropriate decoration for me it was the Italy Star. I was also mentioned in despatches and had an Oval Medal sent to me by registered post which had my name inscribed on the outer rim and it said for efficient service. I had been told that medals for women were quite rare and quite valuable. For being mentioned in despatches one is awarded a small silver oakleaf which is sewn onto the appropriate medal ribbon, my medals were for long service and war service and Italy and Defence Medal,1939-1945 Star. There was only one person left that I know of from my unit and I visit her once a year she is in a residential home at Fourmarks near Alton in Hampshire, so we often talk over old memories.

Before the war started my company were to have a parade at the drill hall when Lady June Pepper was going to visit us. Our company Commander went to Southhampton and collected uniforms for half of our company and they stood in front rank and we were issued with button sticks we were also told to have our skirts 14 inches from the ground our hair 1 inch above the collar, jewellery would not be worn and we were not to use a lot of make up, we were issued with button sticks made of brass this was a long piece of metal with a slit in the centre, about 10鈥� long and it could be fitted behind the brass buttons on the uniform while they were being cleaned with metal polish. Our pay at that time was 9 shillings a day but when I went on leave it had to be noted in what was known as part two orders, on one occasion this was not done and it could not be done in retrospect ,my pay was stopped they said I'd been overpaid and I was only allowed enough money for boot polish and metal polish and I wasn鈥檛 very happy about that. At one time I was billeted in the New Forest in Hampshire at Burleigh which is near Brockenhurst, at Burleigh Manor Hotel which stood in 64 acres of ground, every morning we would have complaints from the local farmers because there pigs had fallen down slip trenches. The local farmers had what is known as commoners rights, if they had lived there certain length of time their pigs, small black and white animals could feed on beech must which fell from the beech trees in the new forest, they also had bells on their cows, but when the war came they had to take the bells of the cows and the farmers complained the cows would not come home to be milked because they had the daylight saving act instead of altering the clocks by one hour for summertime they altered it by two hours which caused a lot of trouble because their cows didn鈥檛 have bells on and didn鈥檛 come back to the farms. I went riding there on a threequarter bred forest pony called Polly and if the farmer who owned her was out the village policeman would come and saddle Polly for me, the first time I went out Polly led me into the forest and then on to the common where the gorse had been burnt off and there was a circle of Officers learning map reading I tried to control Polly but a small electric van came down a narrow lane and she bolted she was threequarter bred and frightened of things, and when I wrote home to my father he said I should have looked to see which side the Ivy grew on the trees that would have been on the north side and I would have known how to get back home. Whilst staying at Burleigh Manor Hotel the meet was held their with the fox hounds and Huntsmen and the officers batsman took round the stirrup cup to the people who were hunting, later when it was a bank holiday in the summer they had a cattle show with cattle, they had trotting ponies drawing little carriages with two dalmation dogs tied at the rear of the carriages, but when we had the hunt the huntsmen sounded off on their huntsmen horn and the hounds immediately dashed into the lake the hotel stood in 64 acres of ground and had a big lake, I only saw that happen once. From the Burleigh Manor Hotel we went to play hockey and managed to knock the teeth out of the gentleman who stood in goal for us, Mr Chipchase the Schoolmaster. We went to grounds where there was a house owned by the man who had the car company in Oxford and they had big flowerbeds with polyanthus a foot high all colours and in the hall was stained glass windows and it said gather ye roses while you may for tomorrow is another day. They had put on the stairs plywood and wood to protect the stairs and the woodwork from the troops who were living at the house at the time. One night while I was stationed at Botlet in the beginning of the war we had an airaid a on the way back to camp and I was caught at a place called Wycome in Hampshire and dived into a ditch with a few more people, and could not get back to camp for 6 hours got a swollen face the camp doctor was not available I was sent to Netley Hospital they X ayed my head on the first floor and pulled out all my top teeth I was left without an army denture for 6 months, they stopped making dentures. For the womens services but when I went to Oxford I managed to find a lady dentist who made me a set of teeth for 拢6.10. Eventually when I got my army denture it was made on a khachi vulcanite slate with teeth like tomb stones and a little bit of bright pink along the front of the plate I had entered into my AB64 which was the name of our pension book and had to be produced at kit inspection. If a person had glasses that fitted under their gasmask with frames that had black pieces on the sides to fit onto the gasmask that had to be entered into the paybook, and the AB64 was produced every week when I collected my 9 shillings, but we were paid ration allowance and had ration cards if we went on leave. That was what I mentioned previously when it was part two ordered, put in part two orders. They also produced a newspaper every week as well, I鈥檝e forgotten the name of the newspaper we had what they call an Enza company, (entertainment for the troops), some of those Enza people were on board the troopship when I left Gourock. I kept cuttings from the Portsmouth Evening News and anything else that I thought was of interest, cards, various cards from functions I attended and quite a few people who have since looked at the books have recognised themselves in some of the photographs.

Ordanance depot I worked all day and all night I was in charge of the seventh position switchboard and and when asked why the commander couldn鈥檛 get what he wanted on the telephone I told him it needed to be doubled to 14 positions in the daytime. After coming off night duty I went to work in the sheds which had doors open at each end for the trains to run right through and be packed with spares for tanks, I helped to pack the spares and when we came off night duty we were supposed to go to sleep but unless we got properly dressed and got up we missed our meals. By properly dressed it didn鈥檛 mean putting slacks on over pyjamas it meant getting up and dressing properly for lunch it was too cold too sleep there, we were in Nissan huts and there was a lot of condensation that streamed down the walls down the corrugated iron and we only had what was called a tortoise stove in the centre and we were not allowed to light it until 5 o鈥檆lock and it was too cold too sleep. While there troops were sent at Christmas on emergency leave because they ran out of water people who lived in the London and Birmingham area were allowed to go on leave but I lived outside of Portsmouth so I had to go on duty on the exchange all day and all night because there weren鈥檛 enough people in the middle of the day. Someone came around with a large metal army teapot and we always carried our mugs, knife, fork and spoon with us and I thought how lovely the tea is going to be separate from the milk today, but unfortunately it contained beer. One day I went behind the serving area in the NAAFI and I read the NAAFI recipe for making tea and it was a tablespoonful of tea to a gallon of water we relied on what was known as the NAAFI for odd cakes and things cause everything was rationed but while travelling on the train to get back to camp it was often stop in the middle of nowhere if there was afraid and everything was blacked out and it was difficult to know exactly where I was because the names of places were also blacked out in case the Germans came and I had a recurring nightmare I would wake up in the night thinking I wasn鈥檛 going to get back to camp in time, because anyone who was late was put on a charge. But one day when I was at Bicester Ordanance depot we went to Oxford and an ordinary engine was used on the train as far as Amhurst Farm and from Amhurst Farm a war department engine was used to get back to Bicester Ordanance depot and the driver went to fast and stood the engine on its nose. So afterwards they put on a speed limit and they also had to separate the men from the girls in separate carriages because of certain trouble.

They helped Tito and I watched Tito鈥檚 900 march through Bari and they had the red star on the uniform and that what was left of Tito鈥檚 army and the 37th Military mission from England did the drop-in and I flew back with one of the pilot鈥檚 and he let me sit in the co-pilot鈥檚 seat and the planes that we used for the troops then were called Dakotas and they put George on (George was an automatic pilot) and they wanted to try to loop the loop but I asked them not too, they had bucket seats which were used for the parachutists . For a time when I was at Salcey we went out to a secret location and I was with the Airborne Division, General Browning鈥檚 people First Airborne Division, we had all the foreign divisions in between Norwegian, Canadians, Americans. Americans dropped with 2 parachute and then we formed (after we lost people in the first airborn division) we formed six airborne divisions one day General Browning came to the telephone exchange and looked round the door and said you could do with some comforts here, he gave Captain Snowball the camp Commandant a blank cheque and we went into Salisbury and bought coloured material for curtains, cushions, tea service and the officers would come to the telephone exchange and have cups of tea and it was a real home from home. And they use to chase me round and round the building with the soda cyphon.

At Bulford they would jump from the balcony in the garrison gym, they had to practice their jumping first of all in the gym learning how to fall and relax on a mat and then they would have four people in a basket and jump from a balloon. Anyone who didn鈥檛 jump properly sometimes they would come straight down without the parachute opening and that was called a roman candle. One day it was very hot and the girls on the exchange and myself decided to go and swim in the little river at Netheravon but all of a sudden all the bushes started waggling, the men had been dropped and they wriggled forward with their camouflage so we didn鈥檛 go swimming anymore. The boys wanted to put me in a container, (they would drop containers with parachutes, and the containers had arms in them, they also had tiny little motorbikes that they could ride with handlebars folded down and saddle folded down) afterwards the bikes were made in peace time and coloured dark red and called Corgis, so I bought myself a Corgi and passed my motorbike test on the Corgi after the war had finished.

General Browning鈥檚 wife was called Daphne Du Maurier the authoress and she would sometimes come to visit him from Cornwall.

Everyone with the Airborne Division was very go lucky as they thought they were here today and gone tomorrow. They found when they had to jump in North Africa the air was rarer and our parachuters jumped from a greater height than some of the other people. The Ameicans I鈥檓 told used two parachutes, but I didn鈥檛 see that, we lost a lot of good people.

Afterwards in peace time there was only one person I found at Kodak House a Mr Eason in the Finance Division and he had been in Holland when they had one bridge too far.

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