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In 1940 the Royal Navy requisitioned all the hotels and a few mansion houses to be used as offices and sleeping quarters for personnel. I volunteered for the WRNS in 1941 and was assigned to HMS Warren where I served in the Communication Branch of Combined Operations. We worked in a large hotel, part of which was a mansion which housed the Admiral and his staff (Hollywood).
Our office received signals by phone, teleprinter and through W/T operators. We received signals which had to be decoded and ‘Top Secret’ signals were decoded by WRNS officers. The messages were typed and duplicated on a machine and were then sent to the appropriate offices.
We worked in watches (shifts). Nights were from 22.00 — 08.00 and on this watch we had to put up the flags at sunrise. They were taken down by the watch at sunset. One morning at 07.00 an aircraft carrier (HMS Thane) was signalling to our base and I went up onto the flat roof with a W/T operator. However, the carrier was too near the shore, going too fast and unable to stop in time. She ran aground in front of our base, having missed the deep channel, and had to be pulled off by 2 tugs when the tide rose. No damage was done, fortunately.
In June 1943, the planning began for the D. Day and our small town was packed with many famous people, including the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, General Dwight Eisenhower, and many more. Lord Mountbatten had decided to take the conference out of London to the relative peace and quiet of Ayrshire.
In 1944 I was sent to HMS Faraway (in Glen Blair which later became Red Cross House) at the south end of the town where I worked in the office of FOCT Flag Officer Carrier Training, Fleet Air Arm. Although I was doing the same kind of work I found it just as interesting, especially as by this time the planning for D. Day was complete.
As the war neared its end we had a wireless installed to hear the news bulletins. I was on duty when the announcement came that the war in Europe was over. What a feeling of relief!
When the war finally came to an end we said goodbye to lots of good friends although I still hear from some of them to this day. I was de-mobbed at the end of 1945, so ending my naval career.
I was so proud to have served my country.

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