Joan lived in Chatham where she worked in the education department. She was responsible for arranging the evacuation of many school children, but in the end the region didn’t get the heavy bombing they were expecting.

Joan chose to volunteer for the war effort in 1943, and as she came from a naval family she chose the marines. She trained as a radio mechanic at a base in Scotland. Joan speaks incredibly fondly of her time training in Scotland, although it wasn’t short of its challenges, not least the lack of hot water. Their 2-year training was condensed into 7 months, which meant they had a lot to learn. Joan also explains that she had only worked in an office before, so she had never worked with anything electrical. Joan also recalls the challenging moment when two close friends were killed while testing their radio equipment in an aircraft.

Joan emphasises the strong camaraderie of the Wrens, and fondly remembers the close friends that she made. She is also keen to dispel misconceptions about women in the forces. She says they were expected to be ‘easy catches,’ but this wasn’t the case. She heard rumours of the ‘steamy side’ going on, but she emphasises that this wasn’t the case for her group of friends. 

However, Joan then describes the great disappointment of being invalided out of the navy for a sight defect, shortly after completing her training. She describes feeling like a ‘pricked balloon,’ and still looks back on the moment with disappointment. 

Joan then reflects on her life during the war, and describes it as ‘living on a knife’s edge.’ She relates the fact that she was engaged to a man in the navy, who was sadly killed early on in the war, but explains that she doesn’t like to dwell on it. Nevertheless, Joan concludes that although war always brings unhappy times, ‘a lot of them were good times too.’ In particular, she repeats that she loved her time in the navy.

Joan’s story reminds us of the important contribution of women to the army, and the courage and determination they displayed.