大象传媒

My mother is now 83 years old, rather frail but with the memory of an elephant. Her story begins in July 1939 on her 18th birthday when she decided to join the TA as she wanted a bit of excitement in her life - my mother was was about to get more than she bargained for!

A week after war was declared there was a knock on my grandparents door, a letter was given to my grandfather with call up papers, my grandmother was totally confused as two of her sons, my Uncle Bill and Uncle Fred, were already in the Navy and RAF respectively and my Uncle Charles was only 16, it took about 5 mins of arguing with the courier before my grandparents looked at the name on the call up papers.....Yes it was Mother. Two days later a young ATS officer called at the house and dropped off my mother's uniform; this was about 5 sizes too wide and 3 sizes too long. My grandmother's sister was visiting from Sheffield for a few days and was to spend those few days altering and sewing my mother's dress and work uniform so she wouldn't show up the family! My mother had never been away from home before and was the cossetted and spoiled youngest daughter of 9 brothers and sisters so the Army came as rather a shock to say the least - I believe Mother's first posting was to a barn somewhere in Richmond which she shared with a number of other young ladies, a few hens and goodness knows how many different insects. Her stories, told to my brother, sister and I, have caused many a smile too numerous to tell here.

I need now to move on a couple of years to 1942 the year my mother was 21. 21 and she could do what she dreamed of from being a small girl, she could go abroad! In 1942 my mother was in the RASC and was posted to Palestine, her and 5 other ATS, they were to relieve soldiers to allow them to go to the front, originally it was 12 ATS to relieve 6 soldiers but ended up with 6 ATS to relieve 12! Does that sound typical or what? Mother boarded a ship in the South of England, sailed around the West of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope and landed in Durbin where the 6 ATS disembarked for a quick stopover. Fortunately for them they were held up in Durbin and were unable to reboard the ship - I say fortunately as the ship was torpedoed in the Indian Ocean and was badly damaged, to be honest I think it might even have sunk. Whew I wipe the sweat from my brow for very selfish reasons - I wouldnt have been born! Eventually mother and her colleagues arrived in Haifa to start their duties. She tells me they lived on marmalade sandwiches for about a month as none of them could manage the local concoctions served up to them.

Again mother has many tales to tell but today I have only given the barest details. Mother not only went abroad but she also met my father there - he was in the RAF and based in the Middle East too. My mother returned to blighty early in 1944 an engaged lady and my parents married in December 1944. My father had to return abroad, this time to Italy but Mother had to work as part of the war effort. As she had been in the RASC the powers that be decided a railway signal box was the same as army signals, so Mother saw out the war in signal boxes up and down the North East until the day peace was declared in 1945. If anyone wishes to know more of my Mother's stories please contact me at my email address.

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