Army Girls
The Secrets And Stories Of Military Service From The Final Few Women Who Fought In World War II
Many women were in their element during the Second World War, enjoying opportunities that they would never have encountered in peacetime. Tessa Dunlop has done a splendid job of bringing their recollections to life. She interviewed 17 of the surviving female veterans about joining up and helping the
Allied cause. Many found the British Army to be an escape from a life of drudgery, including Grace Taylor. She explains, “I lied about my age and signed up early. My mum was dead and I was in domestic service and I thought I might see my boyfriend again if I joined the ATS [Auxiliary Territorial Service].”
Meanwhile, Olivia Jordan, who came from a wealthy family, served in the French Army because she could speak the language fluently. She was stranded in France when the Germans moved in, and she was expected to make her own way home. Her father’s response on her arrival in England – “Oh, we knew you’d get back all right” – shows the confidence he had in her resilient nature.
Courting took on a new sense of urgency, as men were sent off to fight, and the flying bombs known as doodlebugs were dropping over England. Penny Bailey recalls, “Just beside our Nissen huts they’d park the army ambulances so when we’d been on a date, we’d get in one and have a kiss and a cuddle!”
Dunlop provides us with a glimpse of the lives of young women from all classes who joined up for various reasons – loyalty, paid employment and adventure. This vivid insight into the different experiences of women at war will illuminate the research of any family historians with servicewomen ancestors.
Tessa Dunlop Headline, 368 pages, £20