Jenny always knew she wanted to work with animals and in her interview discusses the journey that led her to becoming a rider groom with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Growing up in Northern Rhodesia, she found the move difficult and initially struggled with army life. Once she had adapted to military life at Guildford, she remembers finding enjoyment in her specialised training and uniform. As a kennel maid, Jenny describes the different sections of dogs that were trained within the army and the limited dog-work available to women in the army. She recalls the lack of options for women and how much harder they had to work to progress into higher ranks, such as the horse stables. Once she had been promoted to the stables, she was placed in control of cavalry horses and breaking in wild horses for military use. She describes the difficulty of this job, along with its demanding hours and social restrictions. When asked to reflect on the WRAC Jenny states that she always felt part of a sisterhood, however, like many other female veterans resented the manner in which she was forced to leave on the condition of marriage and the restrictions placed on women in the army.

Irene Buckland was born in 1912. In 1938 she joined the FANYs along with her younger sister Chrystal King (nee Eileen Maud Chrystal Buckland). Their father, Sir Henry Buckland, was the General Manager of The Crystal Palace. They both felt they had been more or less “shanghaied” into joining the FANYs as the Chairman’s wife was part of FANY recruitment. Irene recalls that people wondered who they were when they first appeared in uniform. The FANYs were very proud of their uniform which they felt was much better than the ATS uniform. Both Irene and Chrystal were based initially at Woolwich. Irene was met with some initial distain by the male officers being a female driver but once they knew she could drive they were fine. She joined the Anglo-American FANYs before leaving to look after her parents. She continued in the ARP, however, missed the camaraderie of the FANYs.   The publication of this previously unseen interview was made possible thanks to a grant from The Gerry Holdsworth Special Forces Charity, to mark 80 years since the closure of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in January 1946. 

At university, Audrey joined the Officer Training Corps which ultimately led her to join the army when she graduated. Due to her experience, Audrey never enrolled in basic training but was instead sent to the WRAC school of instruction. She was then posted to Shoeburyness as a Commander, then Singapore, and then to the new Duchess of Kent Barracks as Commanding Officer. Audrey also discusses growing IRA threats, and recalls the horror of experiencing the Aldershot bombing in 1972. Her career continued to flourish and she went to Army Staff College where she was the only woman out of one hundred men. Audrey proceeded to be posted at Shrewsbury as Senior Personnel Officer, then to the doctorate where she wrote employment papers for the WRAC, then the BAOR, and the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Audrey's work in the WRAC was fundamental to its evolution and she was involved in the crucial integration of weapons training into the female corps. She felt strongly that women should be given opportunities and went on to design the selection tests for officers admittance to Staff College. A true trailblazer, we thank Audrey for her inspiring interview and passionate words about the importance of women's roles in the WRAC.