大象传媒

I come from Essex, on the Thames Estuary. You could see many a battle up in the air. I remember a farmer had a haystack shelter, where there was a safe place underneath. We were at Linford when we were bombed out. Mother and my brother were in a shelter when it landed and weren't harmed. I was in a shoe factory at the time, and dad was at work. But the bomb lifted the roof and we were homeless. My father had to go to the Magistrate to get a new place to stay, and we moved to Stanford-le-hope.

I think it was then that I became patriotic. I joined up with the WAAF in 1941. We did discipline, fitting us out in uniforms, and square-bashing at Endsworth, Gloucestershire. After that we went all the way up to Morcombe - injections for all sorts of horrible things. There they sorted us out for what we suited for. I was to be a driver. They sent me to Biggleswade in Bedfordshire. I was taught to drive a three ton lorry, how to change a wheel, and how the engine worked. The first thing I remember was using an oil stick.

I was then in Balloon Squadron 928. We were at Landguard Point, Felixstowe, the army, the navy and the RAF. This was just next to where they kept the motor torpedeo boats, that patrolled the North Sea during the night. They made quite a noise. Our Squadron's task was to look after the barrage balloons. We used to help the Merchant Navy ships, which were having a terrible time, and lots were being lost. On the backs of Chevrolets there were winches which tethered small balloons and went on the boats. There were much bigger barrage balloons which went high up to protect against raids.

We repaired the balloons. They used to put a certain amount of air in and someone had to crawl inside (I did this), and from there you could see where the puncture was. Then we'd put a finger on it, and draw a ring around it so they knew where to mend it.

My job entailed lots of driving. We had several sorts of vehicles. I remember picking up an officer to go to Orford. He was off to some secret work, and was rowed across to Orford Island. There was more signaling work at Bawdsey. I would take the pay officer right up to Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Once I rode in a motorbike side-car with a RAF chap down to Dagenham to get some spare parts. Other times it was taking cooking staff to Rendlesham Manor to get vegetables. Or, when there wasn't enough of the Land Army to take the lorry into the cornfields to get strops of corn.

There were barrage balloons all along the coast. I haven't seen anything much about the Balloon Squadrons but we played an important part in the war effort.

Reproduced by Ipswich Museum with Mrs Caine's permission.

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