大象传媒

- this is the beginning of Part 2- a continuation of Jeanne Lindley's anecdote-

Village Boarding School

The school I was going to when the war commenced was St. Alban School situated in Hertfordshire. It was a single sex boarding school for girls.

As you would imagine, my Secondary School in Hertfordshire tried to continue as it normally would 鈥� 鈥榯he war was no excuse to escape education鈥�, my Headmistress used to say.

Though at one point our French teacher left and I had to take up the responsibility of teaching French to the students. The teacher from France had gone back home as she had maybe had a clash of conscience.

Our school also regularly had to accept other girls who had been evacuated from London for security reasons. Once our school received a girl鈥檚 grammar school from London, these girls were years older than us, street wise, and politically informed. I remember our teachers trying to segregate us from them as they felt we might be polluted from their 鈥榗lued-up鈥� thinking.

I remained in school until three years to the end of the war.

Death of a loved one

One of my brothers had signed up as a conscript, previously working in a repertory as an actor while in Liverpool.

He was a bright and intelligent man, and the army quickly distinguished him as one who would be pivotal to their air fights with the Luffwafe 鈥楪ermany air force鈥� in Malta. At that time, there were tales that a soldier could not live 3 months in that district of Malta; it was where the bloodiest and most brutal fighting was taking place.

Lindley鈥檚 brother unfortunately followed the plight of these accounts, and was fired down while acting as a rear bomber in the RAF formation as he tried supporting his fellow pilots who were been fired at. His right wing got hit by a missile and burst into flames, the fire was epidemically spreading to other sections of his plane and in a state of panic he tried to make an emergency landing. Carrying out an emergency landing would have been near impossible, as an emergency preparatory training had not been taught at the British air academies. The basic manoeuvre was being waived as these pilots were rushed into war.

On the day my family heard that my brother was lost, I was not at home, I cannot remember exactly where I was at that time, I should have been at school but not too sure. Apparently it was my mum and my sister at home.

My brother had not expected to live for more than 3 months, and beforehand he had sent a warning letter as a way of imparting his anticipation of death to my mum.

I don鈥檛 know if my mum took it badly immediately when he did died because I was hardly ever around but I am sure she took it to heart even if she did not show it. This was 1941.

Don鈥檛 ask if I was hurt.

His funeral was at St. Alban Abbey; none of our family was allowed to see his body.

Again don鈥檛 ask why.

False and Demeaning Accusations

One of my other brothers had become a pacifist before the war, so he had not felt it right to sign up. Since our town was so small, everyone knew. Some even openly claimed that the Belgian Family from down the streets were spies. I could not believe it; one of my brothers had died for the Allied cause, and, at no time during the war did Belgium communicate allegiance to the Axis.

The only thought she could recollect about when Belgium鈥檚 loyalty was questioned was when the Belgium head monarch 鈥� King Leopold, was believed to have committed treachery by betraying the Belgians, handing the key to the country over to the Germans without much resilience. King Leopold was later acquitted of this act of cowardice by Sir Roger keys, the Admiral of the navy fleet who was with him at the time.

I believed King Leopold; my father also had close associations with the ruling on Leopold鈥檚 case.

Nevertheless this gave no reason for the village鈥檚 racial dislike to my family and me. I believed the community wrath towards my family was because the villagers were looking at someone to point the finger at.

Radlette had been occupied with women, whose husbands had gone to war, and of course would have been harboured with malignant gossip since there was nothing doing. The distresses of the war could have that effect on people鈥� bedevil their thinking.

There were indeed many reasons for high racial tensions in England; Sir Oswald Mosley 鈥� a prominent figure in the circle of politics had since taken advantage of the high unemployment at that time to manipulatingly (sic) feed his agendas to the public. I also felt the unerring wave of his moustache was an epitome of the man鈥檚 character.

The British National Party also had a strong presence at that time, hence being conducive to the racial upsurge.

I really do not blame the residents for their ignorance but only pitied them at the time; some even believed we were actually spies even though our family had lived in that village for a considerable amount of time before the war.

Our family was eventually threatened with eviction by the village committee, at one point on the verge of being thrown out of our home. This would have meant my sister, sister-in-law and parent鈥檚 five grandchildren becoming homeless. I forgot to mention but my father was away in Belgium and could not do anything, as he was assisting the Belgian high council over the case involving King Leopold.

Our large family did feel vulnerable and isolated at that period.

We were saved from eviction by the timely intervention of Lord Halifax of the home office; my father who was highly regarded at that time; on hearing what was happening in England called the Home Office and was able to get Lord Halifax to save us from the verge of homelessness.

The pressure from the neighbourhood also probably forced my brother to join the war 鈥� remember he was a pacifist before this; or it could have been his wife because as soon as he got married he said he enlisted.

He claimed he joined the army, but later we were able to ascertain that he may have being working as a S.O.E- special operations executive, or publicly known as an agent- the 大象传媒 have already documented his efforts in the war.

He had always lied to us saying he had being in the army, but we managed to guess he had become a secret agent when he suddenly came home during the war affected with jaundice and two pips on his uniform. He told us he had been in Austria but it was widely known at that time that their had been a Jaundice outbreak in France. He later told us he had been dropped in France and had made contact with the Maquis - a faction of the French resistance Army.

Oxford University

I happened to get a place at Oxford University after finishing at St. Alban鈥檚 high school; and yes I did scurry around the Christ Church private forestry and met many a crazed scholar. Lindley studied languages at St. Anne鈥檚 College concentrating on the Italian and French language.

I met my late husband in Oxford. Then he was learning theology. He convinced me to change my subject orientation to theology. He advised me that a language degree was a bit inhibiting when looking for a job.

I tried changing but was not allowed by the head panel of theology. I was annoyed and therefore decided to part ways with oxford after spending only one and a half years there.

She spent 4 terms in Oxford, at a particular time even working with the trade unionists!

Joyriding Americanos in Oxford

When the United States pledged allegiance to the British, there was a download of some American military police to Oxford, primarily to act as supporters of the home guard and subsequently instil confidence into the people of Oxford.

One drink and that was it. That was the only way you could describe the American soldiers鈥� presence in Oxford. They were a threat to girls, not in a dangerous way but in a happy, blissful, huggable drunken way with their frivolous chitchat not helped by their accents.

She claimed this was down to prohibition or the lasting effect of it.

I doubt they had many conquests, but I did enjoy having the Americans around since I could buy a Philip-Morris cigarette at cost price. These cigarettes did no good to my chances of developing cancer, but they were pleasurable to smoke.

Time at Bletchley

While I had nothing doing in Oxford given that I had just left St. Anne鈥檚 and could not find a job, The Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S) approached me.

The A.T.S were the Women鈥檚 Army in Great Britain, started during the 2nd world war. The initiative was to free up more men currently still working on the home front for active military action overseas. There had being a shortage of British troops fighting against Hitler鈥檚 regime as many came home injured.

You would think it would be difficult for someone in his or her youth now to imagine what an A.T.S looked like- it was simple. Well, visualise a woman in army uniform and you would discern what an A.T.S looked like.

After passing a couple of aptitude tests given mainly in the form of crossword puzzles I was recruited for Bletchley Park. I was going to act as an A.T.S log reader.

It was very tough at Bletchley, and at that time there still hung the chauvinist cloud. This meant that ladies would have to work as understudies to men. Jeanne was no exception although she worked on the most important project- cracking of German codes.

She worked with the first programmable computer, which was used to decode the German ciphers.

Jeanne believed that the efforts to document Bletchley on TV have been good, but some films have shown 鈥榳ilful imagination鈥� 鈥� the stories about Enigma have been ludicrous.

Jeanne remembered having to work all night at Bletchley; there were shifts at ungodly hours. She found her time in Bletchley Park, tough and nerve wrecking. No information known was allowed to be revealed, most importantly to other departments at Bletchley but also the public. This was due to the high security measures at that time.

The departments at Bletchley worked as a jigsaw puzzle, every department was a part of the puzzle and only the top official was allowed to have the entire picture of what was going on. Remember Bletchley Park even received top orders from Churchill, making Bletchley a prescient target for German spies.

The 46th regiment

During my time in Bletchley Park, my Fianc茅 happened to join the 46th regiment of the Durham Light Infantry after finishing at Oxford.

During a certain epoch, there were unconfirmed reports that the 46th regiment had been wiped out. I was inconsolable; I thought I had lost my fianc茅. It was a difficult period for me because I did not know of his whereabouts or receive any letters from him.

I tried to find out what had happened to my fianc茅 through contacts I knew at Bletchley, but no one was prepared to give out any information, as there was a chance it would lead to their expulsion or even a prison sentence on grounds of confidentiality.

I was to find out several months later that my fianc茅 was still alive; this news came to me days after the Italy was sacked. I received an anonymous and vaguely printed telegram but I knew it was from him.

Later he told me that the reason the 46th regiment mission was esoteric was because the Allies commander-in-chief thought it best to spring a surprise attack on the Italians - which Churchill described as the 鈥榮oft underbelly of Europe鈥�, in order to penetrate decisively.

He reported it to be a tough battle contrary to the media reports suggesting otherwise. The Italian troops were thought to be weak, but don鈥檛 forget Hitler sent some of his own troops to reinforce this faltering army.

The 46th regiment carried out beach landings just outside Naples, a place known as Salerno, going through Sandra. My fianc茅 complained that the terrain was hazardous, and restrictive. It was very mountainous which meant you tired quicker and the surface earth was full of aphanites, which are basically very sharp seismic rocks. Walking on these rocks was like a form of acupuncture that you were not expecting, worst of all carried out by a clumsy amateur. The soldier boots offered little protection.

As the 46th regiment advanced towards Rome, massive hindrances lay ahead but the eventual siege at Monte Cassinno monastery spelt the end of the battle as the allies managed to incapacitate the soldiers representing Italy.

V.E day

V.E day was marvellous; I actually heard the victory bulletin at Manor hall in Bletchley Park. I cannot remember the exact details of Churchill speech but what stuck in my mind was one of his Phrases 鈥榖rief rejoicing鈥�

I also had to co-ordinate a group of wrens, although we travelled with a mixed party, which included RAF and Army. We were all kitted up in uniform

I remember travelling from the Bletchley base to London, it was a very uncomfortable journey; we had to sit in a mini-bus fitted with eight benches unconventionally taking the place of cosy seats. The bus looked like a Volkswagen bus- similar to the model hippies normally use for their travels. It should have been spacious but was overcrowded with an overjoyed army.

The mini-bus travelled down the route of the A5 motorway, we went past Stratford-on-Avon and went through a little village called brick laneThe A5 ended at the Edgware road at marble arch, where we got off and headed into central London.

As you can imagine central London was chaotic, 鈥渆veryone was drunk but not drunk鈥� 鈥� there were countless people around, it was difficult to manoeuvre through the crowd, and we never got to where we intended to go, which was the epicentre of the movement. The fact we were dancing and singing also did not help the situation 鈥� this was simply the most extraordinary crowd.

On that day I also managed to catch a rare glimpse of the King, Queen and two princesses on the forecourt of the Victoria memorial, Churchill also came out to the balcony. I kept on singing, humming myself sore and dancing my soles off.

The time was 5 or 6 in the evening and it was still surprisingly full daylight.

When I began to feel tired, I left on my own and was able to hitch hike back to Bletchley. Hitch hiking was common in those days; I just had to show them my pass 鈥� which had imprinted a gigantic bold font 鈥楳ilitary Personnel鈥� to be quickly dispatched wherever I wished.

After V.E day, my fianc茅 was issued with a Certificate Beat Release (CBR), this was a pardon to release any soldier who could offer an important societal service but who was still actively involved in war.

My fianc茅 at that time was trained as a parson. The elderly British statemen considered this an important profession. My fianc茅 was therefore demobilised early.

On the 27th of September 1945, Lindley鈥檚 Fianc茅 became demobbed and went on to join the theological office. They soon got married 鈥� she married at 22 years.

Campaign at Burma

This was one of the Major General鈥檚 statements after having to leave Burma by foot. This spelt the end of the Allied campaign at Burma 鈥� loss
"I claim we got a hell of a beating. We got run out of Burma and it is humiliating as hell. I think we ought to find out why it happened and go back and retake it."

You guessed, it was an American major.

Lindley鈥檚 brother-in law was fighting in Burma, with this critical report came the news that their brother had being lost in battle. He was credited to have lost his life on at the Bridge in Kwai, Burma. My husband did not take his death too well.

I heard the fighting with the Japanese had being very bitter. The Japanese were said to be brave and courageous, and also willing to risk their lives for their country - Just like the 鈥榮uicide bombers or martyr鈥� in Pakistan today.

We all hoped the entire war would end real soon.

More dying troops or Atomic Bomb?

When the decision was taken to use the bomb against Japan, there was an inevitable belief that the war would soon be over. There was 鈥榮hort鈥� rejoicing among the young, though Jeanne鈥檚 dad foresaw the danger of the bomb.

I remember my dad telling me this day would stay as a harsh and constant reminder on the danger of war. He was very appalled at the bombing, finding it very obscene.

The people of our generation took longer to realise the impact the bomb was going to have on our lives 鈥� no qualification required.

I later became a pacifist, eventually going back to Oxford to become a parson.

Jeanne is actually writing her own memoirs of the war, which should offer more detailed narratives. I also again give credit to her remarkable memory.

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