大象传媒

This story has been written to the 大象传媒 People's War site by a CSV Storygatherer on behalf of Daphne Ley. The story has been added to the site with her permission and Daphne fully understands the terms and conditions of the site.

Story 1

In 1942 I was so keen to join the services that I put my age up a year to be able to enlist. So in December 1942 I was on my way to RAF Innsworth in Gloucester, to be kitted out before being sent to Morecambe for basic drill training and discussing future trade training. The bomb plotting or balloon operator which I had opted for were out, as women were no longer allowed to enter these trades.

Eventually, some of were sent to Moreton in Marsh, and for a while I was a receptionist in the officers mess. Moreton in Marsh was way out in the country, sirens were never heard of until one evening. We could not believe we even had sirens in Moreton in Marsh, we had been trained in preparation for such an event. We all made our way to Number Four site air raid shelter, carrying our gas masks, clothing we needed on our arms and running to get to the shelter. We had a red headed CPL cook, running and puffing followed by her little dog, which she had been allowed to have on camp. To get into the shelter we had to bend over to allow us to get in. As the CPL was about to enter, she screamed that she had been hit. No one had heard anything and we couldn鈥檛 understand it. Eventually we discovered that in a panic the little dog had bitten her bottom. This all happened at about 10pm, and we were all doubled up with laughter so no one heard the all clear, which apparently went off at 11pm. The sergeant in charge of our billet had to send someone to make us go back to our quarters at 6am the following morning.

Story 2

I was on duty in the admin office at Moreton in Marsh, this was prior to going on an admin training course at RAF Hawkinge. Our WAAF quarters were 2 miles from the main RAF camp so for us girls it meant a cycle ride to the camp. It was 8am in the morning and half way to the main camp when we saw one our RAF Wellington Bomber planes sitting right across the road, it hadn鈥檛 crashed, just missed the runway.

Our main concern was not to be too late for work, I parked my cycle against the hedge and nipped through a gap. I raced to the office, only to be met by an irate WAAF sergeant, with a 鈥渨hy are you late? 鈥淭here is a plane across the road鈥�, I said, obviously she did not believe me and threatened to charge me. Three other girls arrived soon after and told her the same as I had. She still could not believe it, she had been in her office since 7am so the incident had happened during that time. Sergeant went to check this out for herself and on her return had the grace to apologise to us girls for not believing us.

Story 3

My great friend, Sgt Mary Williams was a catering N.C.O at RAF Colerne, just outside of Bath, it was the first Christmas after hostilities had ceased in 1945.

I had moved around quite a lot and was by now a CPL admin, I had been posted to Amport, near Andover and had only two days of for Christmas. Mary got permission for me to stay at her camp for those two days. I arrived Christmas Eve afternoon, and met Mary who was busy getting food ready for Christmas day lunch for personnel who were on duty over the two days. Unbeknown to me, there was a small P.O.W camp about two miles away, she had spoken to the officer in charge and had permission to take some of the food to the P.O.W camp, but had been told that the RAF camp must not go short at all. During the Christmas Eve evening, a jeep was laid on to take us to the P.O.W camp.

The gates were unlocked, we drove in, some prisoners waiting to unload the Christmas fare. We were escorted to their dining area, where about 30-40 young prisoners were all seated around the table - they were expecting us. Mary and I and our driver joined them, and a very touching carol service commenced. The singing was mainly in German with a few sung in English. It was indeed very moving, those young German boys no more wanted war than we did.

On our departure, after about 45 minutes, Mary and I were presented with some raffia slippers, made by the boys. A very moving experience that I shall never forget.

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