大象传媒

I was in the ambulance section of the A.R.P. and later in the W.R.N.S. My brother was a fighter pilot in the R.A.F. and my father, who was at the St. Nazaire evacuation. in the Merchant Navy. We hardly met at all during the war.

In the blitz one night one of the girl ambulance drivers was called to an incident in her own road. Her house was not hit but in the confusion her dog got out and refused to leave her. She spent the rest of the night with a German Shepherd as co-driver.

In Prenton, during one raid, most of the garden belonging to two old ladies was lifted into my aunt鈥檚 garden two doors away. When the wardens were finally able to contact the occupants (who had been oblivious to the whole event) they were asked
鈥淚s anything wrong?鈥� My aunt went into the road in a tin hat and a silk nightie

During a raid when the area was showered with incendiaries, one of them stuck in the gutter of our house. Because of the illumination it was causing men were jumping fences and arriving from every side. At the time we had two frightened stray dogs sheltering under the dining room table. Due to the situation of the bomb the men were all shouting instructions and drowning each other with the hoses without making much impression on the bomb. It was all rather chaotic but at least the whole house did not take fire.

My most embarrassing moment in the Wrens was one night when I was asked to collect a Wren from a ship at the landing stage and take her to the Blundellsands Hotel., which was a W.R.N.S. training centre. However, no one thought to mention that is was a homecoming troop ship. They were not yet disembarking and there was no obvious means of access. The ship was lined from bow to stern with very excited troops arriving home who were very interested in the one small Wren who did eventually manage to get on board.

The restrictions of the blackout were always a problem, though we became accustomed to it. When it was finally lifted it was like a door opening to a new life of freedom.

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