Home | Veterans | Sue Westlake
Sue-Westlake

A veteran interview with

Sue Westlake

Lt Col Sue Westlake spent much of her time in the WRAC as a Selection Officer. It was a long and distinguished career.

Play video
Watch the interview

About Sue Westlake

At only eighteen and determined for adventure, Sue accepted her place at the WRAC college at Camberley in 1971. Being born into a military family Sue knew from a young age that she would join the army.

In her interview she recalls the discipline and regimen of military life, but most importantly her pride at wearing her WRAC uniform. After Commissioning, Sue spent her first ten years in the WRAC recruiting, training or selecting women to be either WRAC Officers or Servicewomen. She was also involved in the training of Warrant Officers, Senior and Junior NCO’s and the selection of WRAC Junior Leaders. Sue reflects on this period with great fondness.

Her extensive experience led to her selection to command one of the big three WRAC Companies. Sue was sent to Rheindahlen, Germany, and put in charge of 250 Servicewomen, a role which in many ways marked the pinnacle of her career. Remembering the Guildford bombing, Sue discusses its deep resonation with the women around her and the impact of other IRA attacks which she continued to feel through until the late 1980s. After leaving Rheindahlen in 1989, Sue went to work in the WRAC Directorate.

Following the disbandment of the WRAC in 1992, Sue embarked on a seventeen-year career in the Adjutant General’s Corps. When that ended, Sue decided to commit her time to the WRAC Association to ensure its traditions and camaraderie lived on. She became its Vice President and Chairman of Trustees for Eleven years (2003 – 2014) and was awarded an MBE for her services to female veterans in 2014. She is now a Life Vice President of the WRAC Association and continues to give her time and experience to the Charity.

A brilliant interview, we thank Sue for being an example of the many trailblazing women of the WRAC.

Credits

Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker
Reviewed by:
Evie Painter
Transcribed by:
Amelia Bolton

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

If you would like a version of the transcript that has been transcribed manually by Amelia Bolton, please complete this form or email info@legasee.org.uk.

Copyright:
All video content, web site design, graphics, images (including submitted content), text, the selection and arrangement thereof, underlying source code, software and all other material on this Web site are the copyright of Legasee Educational Trust, and its affiliates, or their content and technology providers. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Any use of materials on this Web site – including reproduction for purposes other than those noted above, modification, distribution, or republication – without the prior written permission of Legasee Educational Trust is strictly prohibited.

Home | Veterans | Sue Westlake

A veteran interview with

Sue Westlake

Sue-Westlake

Lt Col Sue Westlake spent much of her time in the WRAC as a Selection Officer. It was a long and distinguished career.

Related topics & talking points

Veteran gallery

Photos & memories

Keep on watching

More veteran stories...

Share this interview on:

https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/

Cite this interview:

MLA Style:
Westlake, Sue. A Veteran Interview with Sue Westlake. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, 9 May. 2024 https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
APA Style:
Westlake, S. (2024, May 9). A Veteran Interview with Sue Westlake [Interview by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee. Retrieved June 13, 2026, from https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/
Chicago Style:
Westlake, Sue. 2024. A Veteran Interview with Sue Westlake. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, May 9. Accessed June 13, 2026. https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/
Harvard Style:
Westlake, S. (2024). A Veteran Interview with Sue Westlake. [Interviewed by Martin Bisiker]. Legasee, 9 May. Available at https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/ (Accessed: 13 June 2026)
Vancouver Style:
Westlake, S. A Veteran Interview with Sue Westlake [Internet]. Interview by M. Bisiker. Legasee; 2024 May 9 [cited 2026 Jun 13]. Available from: https://www.legasee.org.uk/veteran/sue-westlake/
An interview with

Diana Tennant

From society pages to secret listening posts: Diana’s wartime shift from FANY air-raid canteens to covert intelligence work at Trent Park.

Diana was born in London in 1916, into a class whose activities were the subject of gossip in the newspapers and magazines of the day.  Like so many of her peers, however, she was more than a society lady: she intended to contribute to the war effort and held ambitions to join the ATS.  First, she joined the FANYs and throughout the winter of the Blitz drove a mobile canteen, calling at bomb shelters to support the hungry occupants and feeding the firemen while they fought fires in the bombed buildings. When she did join the ATS, her strong language skills gained during a year living in Germany meant she was assigned a role at Trent Park.  This North London mansion had been requisitioned and adapted by the intelligence service MI19 as a centre for the surveillance of German prisoners of war.  There, she and her colleagues recorded, transcribed and translated conversations between the prisoners which were then used in support of intelligence operations.   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. 
Service:
Interviewed by:
Martyn Cox
An interview with

Ronald Arnold

Ronald Arnold provides recalls life in wartime Britain, initially as a teenager in the Home Guard and later in the army, before deploying to Normandy in June 1944.

Ronald Arnold joined the Home Guard in 1940 aged 16, before joining the regular army in 1942 (Middlesex Regiment) and serving in Normandy. As a wartime teenager, he felt a strong sense of duty and urgency, with most people somehow contributing to the war effort. He provides a fascinating insight into wartime Britain: working as a machinist by day, basic Home Guard training from First World War veterans, learning to use sticky bombs, standing guard at night and vigilance against German parachutists. His reminiscences on wartime Britain continue after he joined the army: the harshness of the conditions, training exercises across the countryside, navigating through Southern England a dispatch rider with minimal resources and relying on army units for fuel and food. His unit landed in Normandy later in June as a support unit for 43rd Wessex Brigade. He recalls the ever-present fear of enemy artillery and nebelwerfer rockets, which had a significant psychological impact. After being injured, he was evacuated for medical treatment and struggled with feelings of guilt for leaving his comrades.
Photo Gallery icon 1 Photo
Service:
Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker
An interview with

John Boyd

Signals on the Frontline

John Boyd grew up in Essex, the son of a cowman, and was called up for National Service in the early 1950s. After a string of rejections from other corps, he found himself posted to the Royal Signals via the REME — a twist of fate that would send him far from home.

On his way to Germany, John seized the chance to volunteer for Korea. He recalls the long sea crossing, a sobering stop in Hiroshima, and his first days on the frontline. There he was issued with a 19 set radio — built originally for the Russian Army and still marked with Cyrillic script — which became his responsibility.

In his interview, John shares detailed memories of signal work, from wiring and exchanges to his time attached to an American unit where discipline was rather different. His stories are punctuated with humour — a lorry fire, the quirks of kit — but also moments of sadness, particularly the loss of a comrade to haemorrhagic fever. John’s reflections offer a vivid glimpse into the vital, and often overlooked, role of communications in Korea.

Service:
Interviewed by:
Martin Bisiker