大象传媒

My name is Mrs Dorothy Tabb, nee Bowerman. I was living at my home in Silverton, Devon when I joined the Land Army in 1941.

At first I worked for a local farmer, Robert Wellington. He owned a market garden. Later I was transferred to Okehampton ad joined 40 other girls. We stayed in a hostel and went to different farms in the area doing field work.

It was quite pleasant in the Summer but our fingers used to freeze in the winter picking kale and brussel sprouts etc.

After a while I was sent to Torrington in North Devon. We worked in gangs on the surrounding fields, hoeing potatoes and riddling potatoes. On wet days we sat in pig pens sorting the good potatoes from the bad. The good ones were sent to Plymouth.

I was next sent back to Okehampton. This time my best friend Bea and I were billetted out to a farm labourers' cottage. While I was working on the farm one day I was on a threshing machine. The men were throwing bales of hay to me. Suddenly I slipped and my foot went into the blades. I was fortunate that the farmer saw what had happened and quickly turned off the machine. My foot was badly wrenched and I was in a lot of pain. It was lucky that I had on thick boots or it would have been a lot worse. I was sent home on sick leave.

After I recovered I went to Bridgewater to an Accounts office fot the army. Later I went to the Records office in Exeter.

My boyfriend, Cyril Tabb from Enniscaven in Cornwall joined the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1939. He went to Lahore in India and Basra and Bagdad in Iraq. He was wounded and captured in North Africa and spent 18 months in Italy getting treatment for his wounds before being sent to a POW camp in Germany. He was released in 1945.

Soon after he came home we married on May 17th 1945 at St. Mary's church, Silverton.

We went to Cornwall to live and although he suffered over the years with shrapnal in his legs we were married for 51 years. He died suddenly from his war wounds on our wedding anniversary in 1996.

I still live in Cornwall and my best friend is Bea who lives in Devon and was my Land Army pal.

Looking back there were good times and bad times but everyone was in the same boat. People just got on with it and there was a great feeling of comradeship everywhere.

Dot Tabb

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