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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by a volunteer from Swindon College on behalf of Barbara Graham and has been added to the site with her permission. Barbara fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

I grew up in Swindon and when war broke out I had only just left school and been working for a few weeks. I was son out of work and went to the Labour Exchange, who promptly sent me along to GWR.

I was interviewed by the Works Foreman who considered me suitable for a job. Initially I was given the job of cleaning the British Trains, but as the war went on I was given the task of cleaning the American Troop Trains.

These trains were used to bring back the troops from the Front Line — the men were packed on there like sardines. These trains only had one toilet at each end of the train so by the time the trains reached Swindon they were in an extraordinary mess, and that is putting it mildly.

The work was jolly hard — we had to clean the floors on our hands and knees, wearing gloves and using some red strong smelling carbolic stuff. There was much scrubbing to be done — mops were of no use. All the dirt had to come off. We even used ladders to clean the inside walls and ceilings of the carriages. The windows had to be washed and all the brass handles polished. All the carriages had to be cleaned — and not much time was allowed either.

It was shift work either starting early 6am — 4pm or 4pm till midnight. Rarely did the women do the night shift. It was a very dirty job but in those days we all did what we could to help the war. Helping the war effort was so important.

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