Janet began her journey with the WRAC in the early 1970s and knew on arrival that it was the right career for her. Although she initially found life at Guildford a bit of shock, by the time she had finished her trade training with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, she felt like a soldier. She describes her first posting to Rheindahlen where aside from working on classified clerical work, she embarked on many trips to surrounding cities and landscapes. Janet also recalls the rising threat of Eastern Germany, and her own exposure to the realities of the Cold War. After Germany she was posted to Beaconsfield, Krefeld and Deepcut where she became chief clerk of the WRAC company in 1976. Although this was a great achievement, Janet remembers still feeling outnumbered by men in the army and experiencing gender discrimination even at her rank. The rest of the interview follows her journey to London, back to Rheindahlen, and finally becoming quartermaster at Aldershot where she campaigned for contraceptive machines in the women's blocks. A fantastic interview and a true trailblazer, we thank Janet for her inspiring story of the frustrations, limitations and power of women in the army.

Chrystal King OBE was born in 1916. In 1938 she joined the FANYs along with her older sister Irene Buckland. Their father, Sir Henry Buckland, was the General Manager of The Crystal Palace. Chrystal stated that they were more or less “shanghaied” into joining as the Chairman’s wife was part of FANY recruitment. She said that Dad’s Army didn’t have a patch on those early days of the FANYs. Having four family cars their driving skills were soon put into action. Chrystal was immensely proud of her FANY uniform and particularly her hat strap. When the FANYs were eventually absorbed into the ATS, they wanted to keep their tradition and identity by retaining the FANY hat strap; which they did. After the war Chrystal went to Kings College London to complete her Almoners course and obtain her certificate. She then had a proud career with the John Lewis Partnership.   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.