大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Elizabeth 鈥淟il鈥� Tweedale at the Ballymena Servicemen鈥檚 Association, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was Matt Morrow, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
====

At the start of the war I was 16, and I wasn鈥檛 old enough to join the Air Force. That was 1939. And I joined the NAAFI in Omagh. Lishanally camp, an army camp, and worked in the NAAFI camp for 18 months until I was 18, and then joined the WAAFs. And I was in the WAAFs from 1940 to 1946. And served in many parts of Britain, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and England. And finished the war, I was in Belgium when the war finished. On VE day I was in Brussels.
Very exciting. Everything thrown open to us, everything free, champagne flowing, everything was free. There was lots of things during the war.
We used to stand on the platform in rushes and watch the trains with Prisoners. The Germans had Prisoners taken from Belsen, the Concentration Camp, and they were just like Cattle-wagons. These Prisoners piled into these Cattle-wagons, holding on to things. There was nothing we could do about it. We were there as Liberation troops. But we could see these prisoners being taken, and then we could see what was happening in Auschwitz and Belsen. Afterwards. But we actually seen more on film after the war than we actually did during the war. But it was a very interesting time.

The most memorable was when I was stationed at Killybegs, at Lough Erne. The Coastal Command. I was where the Catalinas and Sunderlands were. I did photographic work. I was belonging to the photographic section. We used to have to go and put the magazines into the cameras in the Catalinas and Sunderlands. The crew brought them back to us, maybe with 500 or 1k exposures in the film. And we had to process those films and reload the magazines, and go back out in dingys. I couldn鈥檛 imagine it now. But we had to go out in dingys in all weathers and climb into the Sunderlands and Catalinas, to put the magazines in the camera.
It was [exciting]. We enjoyed it, but in the Air Force or the Army everybody鈥檚 a team. You work as a team, and if the Sergeant told you to do something you do it. Not like the young ones today, they鈥檇 tell you to do it yourself!

We could be called out at 3 o鈥檆lock in the morning. We were on the alert all the time during the war. I was in until 1946, when the war was over. And you knew exactly, you could arrange something next week. But during the war you were, you had to be ready, to go at any time you were called, to go on duty at any time.
But I enjoyed it. We did enjoy every day. And the companionship and everything was marvellous.

We never had any hardship. Everybody was friendly. Everybody was friendly with everybody else then, not like it is today. I was in billets with 14 girls sleeping, from the south of Ireland, north of Ireland. Nobody said 鈥淲hat religion are you?鈥� or anything else. Everyone did their own thing. And we all went out together and we all slept together and told each other stories. We had a great life.
I鈥檒l be 83 on my birthday, and most of them are gone. I鈥檓 very lucky to still be here. I鈥檒l be 鈥� in February I was 82. Thank god I鈥檓 still here.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.