The War Years

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Julie Turner of the ‘Action Desk — Sheffield’ Team on behalf of Mrs. Norah Palmer, and has been added to the site with the author’s permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

My husband, Linton Palmer and I first met at school. We left in the early thirties and were in our twenties when war broke out.

My husband was called up in October 1939. He joined the Northampton Regiment, but left to form a Reconnaissance Unit. He did his training in Scotland from where he left for North Africa, and then through Italy and ended up in Greece. He was wounded in Italy and also lost a lot of his friends in combat.

I too served in the A.T.S. as a cook in the Officers’ Mess. My last year was spent in the Officers’ Mess at ‘Highfields’, Carpenders Park, Nr. Watford. I was fortunate to be there on VE Day and went up to London to celebrate outside Buckingham Palace. My friends and I had our photo taken whilst sitting on one of the lions in Trafalgar Square. We never saw the photograph, as a gentleman in the crowd snapped us — what happened to it we never knew.

VJ came and my husband and I was demobbed in February 1946. We married at Easter the same year. I had not seen him for three years. He came back a different person altogether and for quite a long time afterwards, he had nightmares. He also suffered from continued malaria, which he had caught in Greece. Sadly I lost him last year after a long illness.

We both had some happy memories, but also some very sad ones. We had a son who, thank God, will never have to go to war.

My prayers go out to all the families who are still suffering.

Pr-BR

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