91热爆

This story was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer (Jane Barnes) on behalf of Miss F Deterville and has been added to the site with her permission. Miss F Deterville fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was born in St Lucia and went to Trinidad to finish my education. While I was in Trinidad at the end of my studies in 1944, I was approached by three female army officers from England, who wanted to know if I and some of my fellow students wanted to volunteer to join the army in England.

I said that I would volunteer to "fight for my mother country". Myself and a number of other girls from the School in Trinidad, therefore volunteered for the English army in 1944.

We were taken to New York and sailed for England on the Queen Elizabeth. While on the journey over the Glenn Miller band was on board and they asked me to sing with them on a concert to be held that evening. I was due to sing that night, but we had a submarine warning and we had to go to lifeboat stations and keep very quiet in case the submarine attacked us.

We arrived in Scotland and I was struck, while travelling from Scotland to London, to see houses with chimneys. I had never seen a chimney in my life!

I did my service in the ATS Pay Corps and was based for my basic training in Sidcup in Kent. Basic training lasted for a month and we were taught to slow march. I can still do it to this day.

We lived in a mansion called "Foxbury" in Chistlehurst in Kent. We ate powdered milk and eggs etc. I was responsible for the army pay section and everyday the bombs (V1 Doodlebugs) were dropping in and around us.

We were taught how to use the Burroughes machine, a type of early computer/ calculator to ensure that we could do the payroll quicker, due to the extensive bombing all around us. Sidcup in Kent was en route for London and as a result sustained a lot of bombing.

When we first arrived we were invited to Whitehall to meet the Duke of Devonshire.
We had tea at Downing Street. We were thanked for volunteering for the army and our photographs were taken. Copies of these photographs are in the Imperial war Museum in London. (Ref no: D21361 / D21366/ D21372). As a group of West Indian Women Volunteers we were also introduced to Sir John Jarvis, who entertained us in his garden.

When I got married all of my friends from the army formed a guard of honour. I left the army in 1945 when I got married and moved to live in London. I am a veteran of WW2 and I got my medal after the war.

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