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Image showing Kathleen Drinkwater
Kathleen Drinkwater, RAF

Kathleen Drinkwater

We were all listening to the 11 o'clock news, and they told us that the war had broken out. I think I was 18. The phone rang, and it was a lady where I worked at Willmott Breedons in Tysley. Apparently I was the only one on the phone because my father had a business, he was a butcher in Shirley. She said could you come and do some typing, we've got to take stock of everything and turn over to war work.

I remember when the air raid sirens went off. Even though we lived in Shirley, we still had bombs. There were 2 screaming bombs that came down in Monkspath and all the glass fell out of our shop window! We didn't have a shelter, so we'd put deck chairs up in the hallway and put eiderdowns over them and sit like that. We had a little dog that was scared stiff, so we'd tuck him in under our legs.

One Saturday a friend said she'd love to join the services; I said so would I, so we went to the ATS but they only offered us typing. We went to the WRENS but it was the same. We got to the RAF and she said they were going to train girls for wireless if we would like that, so we said yes please. Going home was a bit difficult. My mother was kind and said she'd have done the same if she was my age, but my father didn't say much; he didn't like it. But, he got used to it.

The wireless operator training was in Shrewsbury, and they sent us to London where we learnt morse slip reading. One morning there was a notice on the board saying they wanted 12 volunteers to go to Gloucester. Two friends and I were accepted, and I loved it there because it's where I met my husband. That was a nice station, it was right up in the Cotswolds. I got married in 1944. My husband met me in London and said he'd got 14 days' leave. I asked him what for, and he said to get married; he was going abroad. We had to get a special licence and my dad put on a lovely reception at a little pub in Solihull. Then he didn't go for 9 months and I used to say "You've made that up!" But suddenly then sent him to Hawaii.

At the station at Whitehall, I worked 3 floors below ground. Winston Churchill was upstairs, but he never came to see us. I thought that was wrong. We were very busy and dedicated. We worked 2 months, 2 afternoons, 2 evenings and 2 nights, and then 48 hours off. There were lines of girls at long desks and the girl who worked the key sat with earphones on in case someone came up. There there would be 2 or 3 girls on typewriters to type the messages. My father was always asking what we did, but I said "I'm sorry we were sworn to secrecy". But I did bring him a little bit of tape once and said "that's what we do, but I can't tell you any more!"

We were frightened when the doodlebugs started. We were off duty in London; all in bed, and suddenly it sounded like a plane was coming down. The sergeant was shouting at us "Down to the cellars, girls!" The next morning we realised it had landed in Regent's Park. I was on a bus once and saw one flying across the sky, and when it stopped it dropped you see. We had 17 girls killed.

I was the one who got the message to say the war was over. I'll never forget it. We'd had a quiet night and we were all feeling ever so tired and this message came up from New Delhi. It said the war was over in Europe" I thought that's a bit daft, so I asked him to repeat it. And he said it again. So I fetched the Flight Sergeant and said there's a man here going mad, he's saying the war is over. She asked him to repeat it, and then everybody went mad! They put our names in a hat to have the rest of the day off, and mine came out!

I caught the bus home and as I got off someone whistled. I turned round and it was my husband! He'd got the day off too. He said come on, they're going mad in London. We pushed our way through the crowds to get to the palace; we got right to the front. There were sailors up lamp posts, and all over the monuments. The king and queen and princesses came out onto the balcony, and we all cheered. We'd got nowhere to go, everywhere was full. You couldn't get into a pub, service club or anywhere. So we went to our little RAF bar and the sergeant said "Hello Brummie! You can have a pint". I don't drink beer, but I did that night!

After the war I had to go back to work. The married ones were sent home first. I went back to Willmott Breedons until my husband came home in 1946. It was very difficult because you couldn't get a house. We went to look at a house that was up for rent in Harrogate, there were 60 couples after it. We saw the landlady and as we came out I said "we'll never get that". And as we were leaving, the landlady said to my husband "Oh you do remind me of Anthony Eden!" Well, I pulled his leg for the rest of his life, I think that's what got us the house!

I still phone my friends and we go over all the silly things we did. We escaped one night! Somone in camp had an illness, scarlet fever I think, so all the girls were confined to camp, but not the men! Anyway, my friend said we've got that dance in Cheltenham, so we got under the fence and hitch-hiked to the dance. Coming back we said "what are we going to do?" So these fellas said get on the Liberty bus and we'll hide you. We got back to our station, took our collars and ties off, and got into bed like that, just in time for the Corporal who came in and said "I know those 2 girls are in here". We kept quiet and so did all the other girls. She never found us.

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