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Antoinette-Porter-

A veteran interview with

Antoinette Porter

Antoinette Porter was just 17 when she tried to enlist. Keen on adventure, little could she have imagined that she would end up in Folkestone

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About Antoinette Porter

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker

Transcripts:
Please note that transcripts and closed captions in the video player are automatically generated by Vimeo.

Copyright:
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Home | Veterans | Antoinette Porter

A veteran interview with

Antoinette Porter

Antoinette-Porter-

Antoinette Porter was just 17 when she tried to enlist. Keen on adventure, little could she have imagined that she would end up in Folkestone

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Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Porter, Antoinette. A Veteran Interview with Antoinette Porter. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, n.d. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/antoinette-porter/. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
APA Style:
Porter, A. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Antoinette Porter [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/antoinette-porter/
Chicago Style:
Porter, Antoinette. n.d.. A Veteran Interview with Antoinette Porter. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee. Accessed July 15, 2025. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/antoinette-porter/
Harvard Style:
Porter, A. (n.d.). A Veteran Interview with Antoinette Porter. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/antoinette-porter/ (Accessed: 15 July 2025)
Vancouver Style:
Porter, A. A Veteran Interview with Antoinette Porter [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; n.d. [cited 2025 Jul 15]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/antoinette-porter/
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Harriet Wight was living in the countryside in North East Scotland at the outbreak of war and recalls seeing an enemy aircraft drop a bomb over Aberdeen. It was then she decided ‘to do her bit’ and joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). After a medical in Dundee she did her initial basic training at Balloch on the edge of Loch Lomond and began her duties as a messenger. She was eventually posted to Ilfracombe in Devon as a signaller and was involved in taking and logging signals which at that time mainly related to noting casualties from the North African campaign in 1943. Harriet moved on to operating telephone switchboards after a period of training and was posted to Hatston on the Orkneys, close to the vital naval base of Scapa Flow. Harriet spoke of meeting her future husband, who was a sailor involved in Arctic and Atlantic convoys, and how she never concerned about the danger he was in until she found out that an American soldier pen-friend of hers had been killed in Belgium and then the reality of war hit home. Harriet concluded by saying how very proud she was of having been a Wren. 
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Service:
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Frame grab from an oral history interview of a British military veteran
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A Royal Marines Reserve shares memories of life on military standby until the call to action finally came.

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Service:
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Service:
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