From the Land Army to the WAAF by Vera Roe

This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Annie Keane of the BBC on behalf of Vera Roe and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Life on the farm
I was 20 when the war started and was living in West Norwood. I volunteered to be a Fire Warden at night, but only did this twice. I then volunteered for the Land Army and I got sent to a farm near Cheddar Gorge. I had to work on a threshing machine with another girl from London. It was really primitive, we had to build these huge hay ricks. We had to work physically very hard, usually 7 days a week. We often had an officer coming round and checking on us. We both left after a year, we were exhausted. We were both city girls, we didn’t really see anybody down there and found it pretty isolating.

Life in the WAAF
I had to join one of the other services, so I chose the WAAF. I just fancied it. I came back home first and then went to Insworth, Gloucestershire, then Weston-Super-Mare, Penarth in Wales then Henlow in Bedfordshire. I particularly liked it at Weston-Super-Mare where we had nice times, I remember doing PE on the beach, we also went to Morecombe for square bashing. We were billeted with a grim landlady there who had a big Grandfather clock downstairs, she was convinced that we used to kick it.

In Henlow, I worked Pay Accounts which is what I’d been doing before the war. One day we had a session when all the airmen were allowed to come and look at their books. One handsome Corporal, asked me to go to the pictures with him. He also gave me a bar of chocolate, which we didn’t very get often. His name was Henry, he was an Instructor and Electrical Engineer. We stayed together and he eventually became my husband.

I remember we had to march every day, from the camp where we were staying to the big camp where we were working. They were quite strict, I got put on a charge once because my hair was too long, I had to do jankers — extra duties. We regularly had to go to FFI (Free from Infection) to get our hair checked. We used to get 21 shillings a fortnight, but there wasn’t much to spend it on.

My next posting was to Lymeswold in Leicestershire, that was a bomber training camp. The war felt closer to us there. I remember that a group of us used to get taken in a lorry to the American dances which were really good fun and we loved their ice-cream.

Coming back home
When I came home to visit everything was really dark. It was pitch black and we weren’t allowed to carry torches I remember I used to have to walk from Stockwell to West Norwood because the buses weren’t running during the air raids.

I came home on compassionate leave once because a landmine had dropped in our road. Luckily my family was safe, but all our windows were blown out, furniture damaged and pictures blown off the walls. In a way we just got used to it, it became a way of life.

Life after the war
My husband and I got married after the war 1945, we went to our wedding at Brixton registry office on a tram. Things were really hard after the war as well.

I stay in touch with people who used to be in the WAAF, my friend and I belong to a WAAF association club in Sidcup, we meet once a month and have speakers and go on trips.

I feel that our pensions are not adequate, considering what we all went through and what we did, we’re not respected or valued in this society and life is still a struggle.

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