- Contributed by听
- Jeremy Harris
- People in story:听
- Margaret Bird
- Location of story:听
- Egypt
- Background to story:听
- Royal Air Force
- Article ID:听
- A1339391
- Contributed on:听
- 10 October 2003
I had the choice of working in munitions, land army, wrens, the ATS and the air force. I chose the RAF, as my older sister was already serving.
I was trained at RAF Cramwell college. The course lasted about 2 months, I was posted to a highly secret base in Bucks. We worked underground with telecomms systems, made contact with RAF stations all over the world.
My job was to send cipher messages. We worked on a shift basis. Eventually I was posted to the middle east, in Egypt. I served in Cairo, Heliopolis and Ismalia in the canal zone.
I only had typing experience to begin with but I was trained on teleprinters. There were many riots in Cairo, native uprisings because they wanted the British out. We were in the desert and confined to camp.
We did get the chance to visit various camps, collected in armoured vehicles. There I met my husband at an organised dance. I was 21 and we decided to get married so that I could come home with him as he was due to come home before me. We had a service wedding, only my sister was there from my family. We honeymooned in Suez.
2 months later we returned to England on a troop ship. We settled in my husband's home town of Fleetwood.
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