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Doreen's Wartime Service: Conscripted into the WRAF

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posted on 2024-06-05, 17:34 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

Doreen served as a WRAF for four years. She was a shorthand typist at RAF Northwood, Middlesex. She worked for two officers- Squadron Leader Eustace and Wing Commander Brown, mainly typing out details of various RAF aircraft, Wellingtons, Spitfires, and Mosquitos. She was sent to work twice at two further stations in Cornwall, one of which was at Lizard Point.

Doreen was conscripted to the service in 1943, aged twenty, after receiving a letter telling her to report to North Acton Recruiting Hall. 'I didn't want to go but you had to go if you were called up. It wasn't a surprise, everyone of that age was being called'. She was given the choice of joining either the ATS or RAF. Two weeks later, she had to begin her service. She doesn't recall receiving any RAF training, but was put straight to work on joining up.

Doreen had already acquired shorthand qualifications at a private school opposite Chalkwell Park, near Southend. Later, she had worked for an insurance company, counting contribution cards. Born a Cockney in a turning off Leman Street, London E1, she and her mother had lived for periods on Canvey Island and in Torquay, close to an aunt and uncle, after her father died.

Northwood was not far from her mother's wartime home in Fulham, allowing her to live on the site during the week and return home at weekends, via a train to Baker Street and then the Underground to complete the journey.

At the base, the accommodation was in dormitories. Doreen remembers mattresses that had to be stacked one on top of each other in the mornings. Food for the WRAFs was 'Just about alright' with a heavy reliance on potatoes and dried egg. Doreen made friends among her comrades. Some of these relationships endured after the war. She kept in touch with her best friend Joyce from Billericay, until Joyce died recently aged 92.

Doreen remembers an occasion when a group of friends decided to go swimming together at Ruislip Lido. A little way from the shore was a large raft. 'I'm not a very good swimmer’, Doreen said, 'but I thought I'd try to get there'. She reached the raft breathless and floundering, unable to return. Luckily 'someone hauled me up and dragged me back to the shore'. There was a good atmosphere among the girls. Doreen says, 'Things were different during the War, people were friendly with each other'.

Back at home, bombing was a danger. In Fulham, her home had a park nearby. Two bombs fell there, smashing their windows. Their house was in a terrace with insufficient space to accommodate an Anderson shelter, so the family used to climb under the table when there was a raid.

History

Item list and details

1. Photo of Doreen, aged twenty, in uniform 2. Medal awarded to Doreen 3. Photo of Doreen in 2023

Person the story/items relate to

Doreen Joan Chatterton

Person who shared the story/items

Doreen Joan Chatterton

Relationship between the subject of the story and its contributor

Contributor described her own experiences (She has just turned 100).

Type of submission

Shared at Hadleigh Library, Essex on 4 November 2023. Organised by Hadleigh Castle u3a.

Record ID

96176 | HAD036