´óÏó´«Ã½

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Elizabeth Perez of Stockport Libraries on behalf of Edna Stafford and has been added to the site with her husband Bill Stafford's permission. Bill Stafford fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

"Being a "table tennis fiend", I soon found the Malcolm Club and some of us spent practically every lunch break at the Club. I met other players amongst them being the person who was to become my husband. Bill was the R.A.F. station's hairdresser and he had arrived at Bad Eilsen from Brussels. The Barber's shop was owned by Herr Voigt, one of the most respected Germans in the village and he had his large house close by. Prior to the R.A.F. taking over Bad Eilsen, the German Air Force had occupied it, and it was not long before Luftwaffe uniforms were being found, hidden under gravestones and in other places. Some small weapons were even found in the stream. Part of the shop was fitted as the Ladies Salon with 5 cubicles, and the other part was fitted out as the Gents, with 3 chairs and basins. At one time cigarettes were sold across the counter. A German girl, Edith, was introduced and she managed the W.A.A.F. hairdressing under the supervision of Bill. She spoke a little English and with W.A.A.Fs. going into the shop fairly often, she soon picked up the language.

I remember that there were some German female cleaners to the camp, but my German was extremely limited, just enough to get by. Herr Voigt and his family surrendered their house to the W.A.A.F., and the house which they lived in was shared by officers of the RAF Regiment. He also had his married daughter and her two young children living with himself and his wife. His son-in-law was a pilot in the German Air Force. One evening he invited Bill and me to his home. Fritz, the son-in-law was home and spoke English, so he and I found ourselves talking together whilst Bill was conversing with the rest of the family, assisted by Fritz when Herr Voigt had some difficulty. It was a pleasant evening, and I realised that German families had suffered in just the same way as a result of our bombs falling on them, as we had done in England. Learning languages, or rather "picking them up" came easily to Bill, as Herr Voigt and Edith used to talk to him in German all day, and very soon he was able to understand them. Over the weeks we paid many visits to them and they took a great deal of interest in us. Their house was about 100 yards from our billet, so we used to see them quite a lot when going to and fro.

We often used to walk through the woods to Buckeburg where the Schloss was about 3 miles away. Although used as a service billet, at one time it had been the home of a Prince. The entrance to the Schloss was through a massive granite archway over which had been carved the figures of two lions. This led to a bridge, which spanned a lake of considerable length. It was a very pretty lake, overhung by trees of various species, with water lilies here and there enhancing the picturesque effect. The Palace had an air of mystery about it because branching off the main hallway and corridor there were little dark passages. Sometimes stone steps led down before coming to a room, whilst on other occasions there would be a flight of twisting stone steps which quite often led to a further passage. Often when climbing these steps one could look through the small windows and view the grounds below, it was very interesting

Our offices at Bad Eilsen had previously been occupied by members of the German Luftwaffe. In fact Bad Eilsen had been the Headquarters of the Luftwaffe. A Board Meeting happened to be in progress when it was disturbed by the appearance of the Advance party of the R.A.F. Regt.
I was told that hundreds of S.S. troops fled into the surrounding woods and countryside, a number of them hiding their uniforms under the memorial stones in the Churchyard. Several weapons were found in the lake in the grounds, and some of the British servicemen managed to salvage souvenirs. After searching for several weeks, quite an amount of ammunition was unearthed, some from drains, pipes, chimneys, and even between bricks.

The H.Q. was now know as B.A.F.O. (British Air Forces of Occupation) of which the Administrative part was at Buckeburg. It was here that Elsie worked and was billeted. Air Chief Marshall Sir Sholto Douglas was in Command of all Air Forces in Germany at that time and on arriving I was directed to the Intelligence Section. There were two of us, plus a W.A.A.F. Corporal ,Margaret, and when we were shown into the office of the Chief Intelligence Officer we were surprised to see that it was none other that G/Capt. Humphreys. After a few months Margaret left to be released and I found myself being the chief typist for the Section as well as the C.I.O's personal typist. It was very interesting work. G/Capt. Humphreys had certainly changed for the better as he was considerate in that when he wanted me to work past the standard hours, he would enquire as to whether I had had anything to eat and if not, then to go, and come back later on.

After a few weeks the Sections became so short staffed for shorthand-typists that it was decided to form a "pool" and I found myself in charge as by then my "tapes" had been promulgated in the Station Standing Orders soon after Margaret left. There were 7 typists including myself to cope with 50 officers. Some of them seemed to forget that each one of us could only do one person's work at a time, and became quite annoyed when their respective bells remained unanswered. The position became worse, as every month saw another girl leave, whilst the numbers of officers hardly changed.

The New Year came and with it the new issue of the London Gazette setting out the New Year's Honours. Although I had been told that I was to receive an M.I.D. I was quite thrilled to find my name amongst the many. All service personnel were awarded the 1939 - 1945 War Service Medal and those of us serving in Europe were awarded the France/Germany Star.

Everything was done to make life pleasant and trips were organised on Sundays, the coach being loaded up with plenty of eats. Everyone looked forward to these trips as it meant going somewhere different. I remember that my first trip was to Hanover. It is a very impressive place and where we were taken there was a large lake with an open air restaurant and we sat around listening to a German orchestra. Dances were held every Saturday and as there were many people in the process of being demobilized, there were many parties, and on the whole, life in Bad Eilsen was very happy.

My first trip to Brussels came as a surprise as one morning one of my Officers came into the office and asked me if I wanted to go on a trip to Brussels. Needing no second bidding, I met him a few minutes later and within half an hour we were winging our way over the countryside. He also took two batmen and they were very happy about the trip as it meant that they could visit some friends they had made when they were stationed in Brussels a few months previously. The stay was only short but the two men were kind enough to take me around and I managed to buy a souvenir. It was a day to remember.

Winter came with plenty of snow and one afternoon a party of us went into the hills overlooking Steinbergen, a village some 5 miles from Bad Eilsen to try and do some ski-ing. Trying to ski proved more difficult than it looked and although we had plenty of tumbles and bruises to show for our efforts, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. During the winter the tennis courts were flooded to form an ice-skating rink. Every evening a Y.M.C.A van drew alongside and suitable music was played. Erected round the nets were arc lamps floodlighting the courts. It was very effective and many a pleasant evening was passed. As usual first attempts at ice-skating caused some amusement and although it was bitterly cold only those standing around felt the cold. I was assisted by friends to keep my balance, or try to, but they gave it up as a bad job and left me to get up on my own. I managed to do this but then came the art of returning to the side. Eventually this was managed, all good fun.

In April 1946 we had a visit to the Harz Mountains. This was a holiday resort and service personnel could spend time there without signs of discipline. The scenery was magnificent, especially the view from the peak of the mountain. An aerial railway conveyed one to the top, which we understood was about 2000 feet high and after walking round, one could take some refreshments at an open air café situated on the slope. We were informed that a matter of a few miles over the other side was the Russian border, and we were advised not to venture too far.

My first experience of riding a horse came at Bad Harzburg. About 15 of us set out and being an absolute beginner, the Sgt. Instructor picked me out a horse, which he said was "quite docile". His idea of docility in a horse was certainly different from mine. After a while I suppose the horse thought he had gone slow enough and decided that he would take me for a ride. Having done the ride many times, the horses knew the route. Suddenly one started to gallop and before I knew where I was, I was hanging on and as the horses were doubling up, I found myself riding alongside another horse on the lane. However, there was not far to go to the stables and when I eventually dismounted, I more or less slithered off. Needless to say there were many comments made by the others and we had some laughs about it all. Bill thought it was great fun, so did I - later on!! The next day we went again, but this time I had a different horse. This one was really docile and must have liked looking at the countryside as much as I did. The only time I managed to get a trot out of it was when the Sgt came at the rear and flicked it with the whip. I was the last one to return home and the others were singing "she'll be coming round the mountain…" not very kind of them, but who cared.

After tea that evening there was a grand dance held in the ballroom at the Hotel where we dined. The German orchestra was very good and played some lovely melodies and waltzes. Bill and I danced most dances - very romantic and it was at this dance that the orchestra played a tune, which is now our favourite. We discovered that the melody came from the selection of "The Gypsy Princess" by Kalman. We left Bad Harzburg the following morning and on our way back we stopped at Brunswick and Wuppertal where we had a stroll round the town. Eventually we arrived back at Bad Eilsen in the early evening feeling slightly weary, but all of us happy and the memories of a very enjoyable time spent in the Harz Mountains."

Sadly Edna Stafford passed away on 22 February 2004. Her husband, Bill, has requested that no further messages are left in response to her stories.

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