A girl from 609 Battery, ATS

My name was Faith Rosa Warwick and I lived with my mother in Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire. On 19 August 1942, I was 19 and I received a letter telling me to report on 22 August for an interview for war work. The offered me all three services to join or the land army. I chose the ATS and in less than a month was told to report to Northampton on 18th September.

Arriving there, all us new recruits were herded on to buses and taken to a barracks. I sat next to a girl from Norwich called Connie Arnoup and we stayed together for 3 years. We were given our uniforms, all vaccinations and we were then given a choice of what we wanted to do in the army. Connie and I decided to go into the Royal Artillery, Ack Ack, they called it, as it would be an operational role. After two weeks in Northampton, we were taken to a place near Reading called Arborfield. There, our battery called 609 Bty was formed.

We had a month there learning all about planes, both ours and the German's. We also had to learn how a Predictor worked, Height Finder, Plotter etc. Then there was teaching us how to march and salute properly. We had some real laughs learning to march.

After this they sent us to Weybourne in Norfolk and we had to put all we had learned into practice. I was No2 on the Predictor, which was a Vickers model. My job was to find out how far ahead of the enemy plane to fire the shell. This was after the rest of the team had found out the height, speed, etc. It would be no good firing right at it or the plane would be gone before the shell hit. When I yelled Lateral Steady the officer gave the order to fire. We used to fire at a red flag trailed behind a small plane while we were at Weybourne. They say the pilots of those planes were terrified in case us rookies hit them instead of the red flag.

I remember we came home for Christmas and then the four sections of our 609 Bty were sent to Dumbarton in Scotland. We were to try and guard the Clyde boatyards. Sections 1 and 2 were stationed on the same site; 3 and 4 about six or eight miles away. We used to get one 24 hour pass and one evening pass every ten days. We were operational at the command post for 24 hours every other day. When our section stood down, the other took over and we did other jobs around the camp. Could be guard duty on the gate, fire duty or cook house duty. We hated the spud bashing but when you did this job, you got your evening pass and could go out of camp.

From Dunbarton, we went to Dunfermline. I spent my 21st birthday here. Connie and I had a 24 hour pass and we went ice-skating and dancing. Smashing! From there we went to Helensburgh. I must say the Scots people were wonderful to us. It was half fare on the buses up there and if you went for a meal in a restaurant, they never charged the full price. We found it different when we came down to England. One woman up there gave Connie and I a gramaphone and about 20 records. This was carted with us to every camp we went to and we played those old 78s every night.

Our first place in England was a village near Cheltenham. Then we were moved near Bristol to a place called Filton. From there we went to Torpoint in Cornwall. We were there to help guard Plymouth which was just across the boatyards of Devonport. We saw alot of action there. We'd hear the call-out in the middle of the night and we'd put our great-coats over our blue and white striped pyjamas, stick our tin hats on top of all our hair curlers and run like hell for the command post. The cooks had to get up to make us cups of cocoa when the raids were over. We used to go on the ferry across from Torpoint to Devonport and walk into Plymouth on our 24 hour passes. We would sleep at the YWCA. I remember Woolworths being a normal shop one week and when we went ten days later, it was a tent with it's name above it.

We had our own band on camp and our own concert party. I was a member of this and used to sing abit then. Every week we had a dance in the NAAFI on camp. We had some really happy days and we looked out for each other.

We went to Weymouth next and then on to Portland Bill. It was here our Bty was disbanded. The year would be 1944 or early 45. The Germans weren't sending over many planes then - it was Doodlebugs aimed at London so were weren't needed anymore. Connie and I were sent to Sherborne in Dorset and we had to leave the R.A's and go into the R.A.O.C. We lived in requisitioned houses there, unlike our old tin huts. We were sent to work at the Depot and then Connie was parted from me and sent to Nottingham. This was a big blow as we had been pals for such a long time. They then moved me from the Depot to Ransome House office. It was whilst I was at Sherborne that peace was declared and soon after I met my husband to be, Denis White. He had been posted there after coming home from serving in the army in North Africa, Egypt and Italy.

We were both posted to Aldershot and were married there on February 16th 1946. I hated my time there as they put us girls on sorting out dead soldiers clothing. Apart from this, some of my best years were spent in the Army. We were one big happy family in 609 Bty. At the time this is written by my grandson, I am 82 years old now, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Here are some names I remember from 609 Bty and where they originally came from:

Vera Downing - Birmingham
Corporal Looney - Gravesend
Eva Ashwell - Eaton Socon
Connie Arnoup - Norwich
Sergeant Pocock - Lyme Regis
Muriel Taylor - Castleton
Winnie Orton - Wellingborough
Winnie Braybrook - Buckhust Hill, Essex
Gina Angel - Ely
Gerry Burden - Warwick
Also Mary Mitchell, who was in the ROAC

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