Description
Object description
British worker (private) served with Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps on Western Front, 1918
Content description
REEL 1: Aspects of period in GB, 1917: story of joining Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, 12/1917; posted to Folkestone for medical examination and inoculations; opinion of accommodation in hotel; description of uniform; drill; story of having tea with friends; description of walking down Road of Remembrance to board ship; sailed to Boulogne, France, 1/1918. Aspects of operations with Women's Army Auxiliary Corps on Western Front, 1-11/1918: opinion of accommodation in Boulogne; posted to Etaples; given the nickname 'Wag'; description of duties in Quartermaster's stores; employment of German POWs as sanitary workers; story about German POW Charlie; attitude to Germans; description of uniform and underwear; opinion of sleeping arrangements, accommodation and food; rate of pay; description of restaurants and shops in Etaples, Le Touquet and Paris-Plage; role in organising concert party; story of bomb destroying piano in YMCA hut; use of chalk pit as air raid shelter; location of camp on railway line; bombing raids on Etaples and casualties; story about No. 26 General Hospital receiving direct hit and reaction to death of patients; various memories of concert party members; description of activities with concert party; opinion of food in camps; amusing story about RAF officer and photograph; reaction of troops to concert party; story of being given Christmas gift by soldier on way to front; morale of troops; further description of duties in Quartermaster's stores; air raid procedure; number of women in camp; attitude to sexual relations with soldiers; opinion of dances organised by Commonwealth troops; story about Canadian soldier Pte. Pendleton; question of not being allowed to associate with officers; story about death of friend's brother; amusing story about Australian drill sergeant; reaction to claim that one in ten women in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps went home pregnant; attitude to Women's Army Auxiliary Corps being renamed Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, 4/1918; attitude to being referred to by soldiers as 'waacs'; daily routine and duties; opinion of Etaples.
REEL 2 Continues: story of concert party being escorted to and from camp by two officers; roll call; description of view from hut; opinion of Unit Administrator named Hobbs; use of insignia to denote grades and duties; role on telephone exchange in supply depot; opinion of signallers in Nissen hut; question of social hierarchy among staff; reason for not being promoted; role of Unit Administrator and other officers; story of eating and drinking in officers' mess; price of food; amusing story about camp cat Sooty and tin of salmon; further comments on Germans bombing hospitals along railway line; story about Maori soldier singing with concert party; opinion of Lena Ashwell's concert party; further memories of concert party members and description of shows; story of being given flask of whisky by Canadian NCO to cure cold; further description of duties in supply depots; attitude to home leave; story of mistaking glow from cigarette at night for gun flashes; story of encountering group of German POWs in railway carriage; opinion of food provided by Salvation Army and other religious organisations; description of food and personal items bought in shops; story about ten days home leave, 8/1918; question of washing uniform; hut inspections; description of hospital uniform worn to identify patients with venereal disease; attitude to VADs; story about friend in concert party who served as driver with motor transport section; attitude to driving car; various memories of family background in Nottingham, GB; reaction of parents to serving with Women's Auxiliary Army Corps in France.
REEL 3 Continues: attitude to returning to France after home leave; story of journey back to camp in horse and carriage; further description of activities with concert party in France and post-war theatrical career in GB.