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This story was submitted by Helen Hughes of the People's War team in Wales on behalf of Anne Lawrence, and is added to the site with her permission.

I always wanted…even as a child — to join the Navy. When anyone used to say what would you like to do when you leave school — I want to join the Navy…I lived in Derbyshire. I was training as a nurse in London and had a pretty gruelling night duty, gave my notice in went home, back to Derbyshire, went to the recruiting office and within six weeks I was in the Navy. My first base was HMS Roseneath in Scotland, it was a castle in the middle of a lake …from there I went to Inverary castle for a short while…and then I went on a course to Wesley College, Leeds. From there I went to HMS Shrapnel in Southampton. I used to use the teleprinter and do general office duties. I was attached to K squadron, I did all their writing, whatever documentation they wanted doing. Leave passes and railway warrants and unmentionables sailors had to keep in the backs of their paybooks. They were issued to us via sick bay…and they could have two. It was hilarious at times. It was a grubby job. I would go on board landing craft, destroyers, with documents …we were not allowed on any account to go on board an American ship — it was practically a court martial offence. Things were different in those days. If I went on board a British ship — a destroyer say — I would have to speak to the rating on guard “Office of the watch please” and when he came I’d say “Permission to come aboard sir, I have documents for the captain”. “Come aboard, please”. The rating at the top would then escort me either to the bridge and leave me….but if he was in his cabin, the door had to be left open and the guard had to stand outside. Very often the captain would say “will you have a drink, Jenny” — we were all called Jenny. “No sir” — we could accept tea, or coffee….no drinking on duty. He would ring the bell and say “Steward, bring the leading Wren a cup of tea — and have we any biscuits”. We worked long hours…sometimes I’d do two 24 hour watches in a week. Sometimes getting near to D-Day we were a closed city… Southampton was closed and you couldn’t get in or out unless you had a special pass. We used to have visits from Montgomery and the King, Churchill, I was going up the stairs…it was the South Western Hotel…a luxury hotel before the war, where the people joining the big liners would stay. But afterwards when we went, it was a huge place, and now they’re turning it into luxury flats. I had a friend there…Lady Roselle Pierpoint and I was speaking to her on the phone a while ago and she said “Do you remember the cockroaches?” I said “only too well” She was in boats crew….they delivered bodies to the LCTs house in the Channel… and she wrote a book about our life in Southampton.
K-squadron were Landing Craft Tanks…. We lost three over D-day — so I lost 18 members of the crew that I knew. And we had a Destroyer with us…we met these sailors in the Mission to Seaman on the Sunday after church parade. Arranged to meet them again the following weekend. They went out on the 5th of June, they struck a mine on the bottom of Southampton waters….all killed. One of my jobs which I hated was to go to the Post Office with the telegrams. If you were the senior rating on duty your job was to go to the Post Office “your son or husband - Missing” You never sent a telegram which said killed in action. Not the first one. It always said “missing”. We had lots of grades at Southampton - where I was we had the incendiaries….and Southampton is a huge dock — right at the other end the KG5 engraving dock they had the explosives and that’s where we were out of bounds one night. We used that entrance every day but after blackout: Out of bounds and we were coming along, miles away…further away from the dock. Out comes a jeep from the Military Police — “Yes” “You’re under arrest”. They couldn’t do anything with us at night, we had to stay in the guard room…the next morning the Naval Police picked us up, hauled us in front of our Commanding Officer and I can see her now. She was sitting at her desk, she was a lovely person Third Officer Griffiths…she came from West Wales…and she looked up “Oh, not you three again!”.

I went into my office one day and there was a big box of Mars bars …..48 Mars bars and there was my Petty Officer saying, “where have you been? An extremely large American came brought you these”…I said “I haven’t been anywhere”. But as I cycled past I often used to chat to them as they stood guard and he brought me this huge box of 48 Mars bars ….so we shared them out. Then we decided the men that we knew on the Landing Craft who had children, we’d give them some to take home to their children. If the Americans gave us anything — they were very good to us…we used their PX canteen and they would bring us some oranges, bananas which were like gold dust. We were messed from the Americans and when you came from American food to British, the shock was too much! Around D-day they decided the sailors wouldn’t wear their full uniform they’d wear battledress, the same as the soldiers. So you’d go into the office and there’d be sailors in various states of undress. It was hilarious. Outside our quarters we had this barrage balloon known as Percy and standing down the other end of the dock and there was this barrage balloon coming down in flames. It had been shot down by the RAF….at dusk they would go to various heights this had been shot down by one of the Spitfires flying over. Our fighter cover came from Tangmere…we had fighter cover from Spitfires and Hurricanes. Percy came down in flames….tbey gave us another one….but it wasn’t the same.

If we were at a loose end…and it was bitterly cold in the winter of 1944 ..”how about going over the services club, find ourselves a couple of matelots….” We’d walk in “no sailors tonight, we’ll have to make do with the army!” They were the Royal Engineers…we worked with them because they were responsible for loading the LCTs — and before D-day they were sleeping practically on the quayside. We were under American control…and most of our forces, I think they went to Juno. They were just massacred as they left the Landing Craft. You could hear a British battalion coming….by their boots and the Sgt Major shouting the orders….but the Americans were very lacksadaisical just strolled aboard. Their crack troops, Marines, they were very good.

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