Description
Object description
British storewoman and telephonist served with Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps and Queen Mary's Auxiliary Corps in France, 1917-1919
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of enlistment and training with Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps in GB, 1917: process of volunteering for corps; medical; attitude of mother towards enlistment; basic training at Farnborough; training as storewoman at Aldershot; lectures on hygiene; taking oath to serve the king; drumhead service for personnel leaving for France at Aldershot.
REEL 2 Continues: prior experience of military ceremony; attitude of soldiers and civilians towards Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps. Recollections of period as storewoman and telephonist with Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps and Queen Mary's Auxiliary Corps in France, 1917-1918: journey to France; billets and infestation of lice at Boulogne; train journey to Abbeville; accommodation at Abbeville; living conditions.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of rations; description of general duties in camp; relations with local French civilians at Abbeville; attitude of male military personnel towards women; description of duties as telephonist.
REEL 4 Continues: problems of water supply; opinion of rations including finding key in soup; effect on ration provision with arrival of German prisoners of war; memories of Chinese from nearby Chinese Labour Corps camp, 12/1917; degree of awareness of war situation; unofficial duties; description of uniform; hospitalisation for appendicitis.
REEL 5 Continues: leave after hospitalisation; attitude of soldier towards Woman's Army Auxiliary Corps; reaction to presence of rats; duties tending casualties during German offensive, 3/1918; sight of refugees in Abbeville, 3/1917; proximity of fighting, 3/1918; visit to camp by Very Important Persons (VIPs), 5/1918; engagement to sapper, 5/1918.
REEL 6 Continues: nature of German air raids, 5/1918; attending funeral of corps casualties; move to tented camp in Crecy Forest; living conditions in forest; presence of German prisoner of war camp in Crecy Forest; visit by Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan; attending French funeral.
REEL 7 Continues: memories of Winifred Holtby; duties on Armistice Day, 11/11/1918; continuing telephonist duties; background to discharge, 1/1919; opinion of work of Salvation Army; attitude towards Germans; orders not to mix with American troops; memories of troops with frostbite and shell shock; attitude towards drinking in pubs; reads letter from former comrade.
REEL 8 Continues: obtaining coal; atmosphere in camp during German offensive, 3/1918; visiting battlefields after Armistice; leave in Bradford, 10/1918; impact of war on Bradford; effect of war on relationship with fiancé; discussion of photographs and papers.
REEL 9 Continues: entertainment and popular songs; uniform; attitude towards female administrators; rules regarding fraternisation with officers; relations with other members of organisation; reads from letters and poems.