- Contributed by听
- Ipswich Museum
- People in story:听
- Betty and Ruby Spall
- Location of story:听
- Insworth Lane, Gloucester
- Background to story:听
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:听
- A3321389
- Contributed on:听
- 24 November 2004
Our first training camp was at Innsworth Lane. I was 20 and Ruby my sister was 18. This was in 1941.
The training consisted of 鈥渟quare bashing鈥 and learning how to be a good WAAF.
We then wanted to become nurses and went to Holton, Bucks and this took two years. We lived in huts of 32 women. Conditions were basic; a boiler had to be stoked to keep us warm. We both became Lance Corporals.
We were posted to Wattisham and Kidbrook and worked in medical rooms. We were machine gunned. We looked after pilots after missions.
My sister and I went to Newcastle and looked after girls working on the balloon sites. They experienced very bad conditions, much worse than ours.
We were then stationed at RAF Weeton where we nursed pilots with burn injuries and those who were experiencing trauma after their experiences. This was towards the end of the war.
War ended and we were demobbed in the summer of 1945.
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