Jean Brodie's very good war!

LACW Jean Brodie's Service Record - World War 2.

Jean Brodie was born on 30th October, 1922 in Edinburgh. She was the youngest daughter of John and Alwine Brodie. She had one brother and two sisters. They lived in the Murrayfield area of the city. She left school at the age of 14 and took up a position as a junior typist.

When conscription for unmarried women was introduced in 1941, Jean enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Airforce (W.A.A.F.) She was 19 years old and had never left home before. We know that she was stationed for most of the war in R.A.F. Lossiemouth, in the north of Scotland, which was opened in 1939, initially as a training unit before being taken over by Bomber Command in 1940. Between 1930 and 1945 it was home to a number of units operating in anti-shipping roles, including a successful raid against a German warship. Her service number was 1555209 a number she could reel off for years after the war was over.

Jean was enrolled in the Pay Corps department and moved up the ranks to become a Leading Aircraft Woman (LACW) ( she was always good with figures). She was very proud of her promotion, even although she harboured a secret ambition to become a driver on the base (one that was not fulfilled at the time)

I think it would be fair to say that Jean enjoyed her time in WAAF in Lossiemouth. It sounds like it was a very busy base and the war provided her with opportunities to leave the confines of home and to meet new people. She seemed to relish the communal living and the social life - I am sure there would have been regular dances and the opportunity to meet some young servicemen! In her own words - she would tell her children in later years that, "She had a very good war."

In 1946 she was stationed for a while in RAF Pitreavie in Fife (photograph) before being discharged. She then returned home and took up her position as a junior shorthand typist in the firm she had previously worked in That too must have been a difficult adjustment to make after the experiences of the last few years.

Even although the war years had included a period of isolation in hospital due to her suffering from Diphtheria and there must have been anxiety about the progress of the war, she often looked back fondly over her years in the WAAF.