大象传媒

I was born in Leicester in 1924 (I am now aged 81 years old in 2005) and I lived with my parents in Knighton.
I was 19 years old in 1943 and volunteered in June of that year to help the war effort.

I joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and wanted to be a driver but they said I wasn鈥檛 good enough so I was posted to an Anti-Aircraft gun site at Water Orton near Birmingham and worked in a big cook house.

During my three years in the forces I was moved around quite a bit and served on the South Coast and in Yorkshire.
I worked in the Sergeants mess and graduated to the officers mess.

I remember one incident in 1944 when I was posted on the Ack Ack site near Mablethorpe.
The guns were there to shoot down the Buzz Bombs as they came over the East Coast.
I think the bombs were aimed at Sheffield 鈥� if the sirens sounded at night the Duty Cook would come and wake us and we had to get up and make a 鈥渂ucket鈥� of cocoa. It wasn鈥檛 really a bucket but that was what it was called.
One night when I was Duty Cook I did not wake up when the sirens sounded, even the guns had started firing and I still did not wake up. When I was finally woken I could not believe that I had slept whilst the guns were firing.
After Mablethorpe I went into the signals.

My experience of the war was generally a good one and to me it was a bit of an adventure.
I was single at the time and enjoyed boyfriends and going dancing.
I was finally de-mobbed in May 1946.
I had already met and married my husband in April 1946. He was still in the RAF until later that year when he was finally demobbed in Derby.

This story was told to Dave Bielby of CSV Action Desk Leicester and submitted to the People鈥檚 War Website by Lisa Reeves of behalf of Margaret Green and was been added with her permission. The author fully understand the sites terms and conditions.

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