大象传媒

In August 1941 I was not quite 17 yrs. I gave a false age and I enlisted in the ATS. I trained at Pontefract and then on to Devizes for Radar Training. Then on to a firing camp in North Wales, then finally home for leave. I burst into tears when I saw Dad waiting for me at the station. Shortly after I enlisted my younger sister enlisted. She was only 15 and I rather think she could be the youngest recruit into the ATS. Shortly after that the youngest of our three brothers enlisted in the RAF.

My sister and I eventually came together on a gun site when we radar operators, and there we met our lifelong friend Kay Wood (later Shepherd). My sister Evelyn, afectionately known as Elsie and Kay were inseparable and became known as the terrible twins. Sadly Kay died last year and is dreadfully missed.

My brother caused us some anxiety in 1943. He was shot down after a raid on the continent but was passed via the underground finally to Gibraltar. He brought some bananas back with him and we raffled one for which we received 32/6 which we sent to the Red Cross and they informed us that a pair of surgical scissors had been purchased. AT one time my brother was stationed near to us and every weekend that he was free he used to hitch hike to our camp on Saturday night and return on Sunday.

Sadly he was lost returning from a mission to Norway on 31 December 1944.

In the meantime our father was having his troubles. Because Elsie and I were at a Grammar School and receeived a small payment to help with travle payments, we were classified as TRUANTS. So dad was taken to Court and fined, but he always said that he was very proud of his "little girls" and we felt very proud and privileged to to be able to fight for our King and Country.

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