ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

I joined the army in India during World War Two. I worked in the Officer’s shop, as everything was rationed then, so after a year I joined the army. I worked for three years in army headquarters in Calcutta, firstly as a civilian and then as a uniformed soldier. I joined the army in the late 40s, and worked under Sister May. Her husband was a jockey and so was her son, so she used to know all the ways in which people could lose weight.

Three years later I became a sergeant and got my three stripes. There were a lot of women in the army at the time, but I didn’t work alongside men initially. At army HQ I was in charge of record-keeping for my unit, and I was in charge of the female staff in my platoon.

At the end of the war we were asked what type of trade we wanted to take up, and I loved working with hair so I got training as a hairdresser. The army paid for me to take a six month course, and I became a hairdresser in Calcutta, my home city. I got the best of all worlds. Although everything was rationed, in the army you were able to get most things, and I got a trade from being in the army as well. Later on, after my marriage, I came to live in Northern Ireland in 1955.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.