The Only All Female Regiment In The World!

I joined The ATS in early '42.I lied about my age like lots of girls as I was only 17 and a half.I spent the next 4 years worrying in case I was found out and sent to The Glasshouse !I wanted to be a driver but Winston wanted girls to go to London to take over Searchlight from the men. I went to London from Inverness, never been out of Scotland before and I was very homesick but only for a short time .
I was in London for 3 and a half years .The searchlight site was in the middle of the countryside, called Diamond's End,near Peter's Green,Herts.We stayed in wooden huts with no toilets,no electric ity , 12 operators , a cook and an orderly.
The searchlight work was difficult. I was on signals ,one girl would be on rotation , one on elevator. As long as they held on to my signal they were fine .
We've never lost touch altho there are only 5 of us now and Ive visited the field where we worked more than once. I was the person who illuminated the " V " sign on St Paul's on VE night !
I've written down my memoirs of this time for my children and grandchildren.The Imperial War Museum and The Royal Artillery Museum have a copy.

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