206817 L/Cpl Shirley Dorothy Ewart British Army 8th A.A. Regiment Auxiliary Territorial Service from:St. Mary House, Arthur Rd, Wimbledon, Surrey After a rather miserable year as a nursing probationer, I decided to join the A.T.S. At the time I was excited. Maybe they would send me to Wales, or even to Scotland. My basic training was at Northampton, the furthest North I had ever been. The next stop was in Bristol where I was trained as a Medical Orderly. My final orders were not, however, to anywhere I considered particularly exciting. I was being posted as Medical Orderly to an all-women A.A. gunsite on the Fal River in Cornwall. This was not far from St. Ives where I'd spent many summer holidays. I was quite disappointed. However, Falmouth was quite busy and the hub of the activity was right there on the Fal. It was shortly before the invasion and a great many ships from the U.S. Navy were lined up along the river bank. The A.T.S. barracks was, as I remember, just one Nissen hut. Another hut served as the Medical Inspection (M.I.) room. Our Sergeant was Dolly Wallis from Sithney in Cornwall. Most of the other girls were from Scotland or the northern counties. Sadly, I don't remember the names of anyone else but they were a warm, friendly group. I do remember our Medical Officer who was also from the north.
I don't remember how I met my husband. He was in the U.S. Coast Guard and was Executive Officer of one of the Coast Guard Landing Ships. Two years later we were married and I was discharged from the army on compassionate grounds. It amused me somewhat that, when I applied for a passport to go to the United States, I discovered that I was not a British subject. I had been born in China and my father, who had been educated in England and who had served during WWI in India, was at the time of my birth still legally Austrian. So, I entered the U.S. with a paper describing me as "a British Protected Person". Since the war was still on, I hoped our trans-atlantic crossing would be peaceful.
I am sorry I can't remember any more names, but I am 89 years old so that might be forgiven.
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