Pte. Joan Elizabeth Savage
Auxiliary Territorial Service 564 Battery Royal Artillery
from:Henfield, Sussex
I grew up in the village of Henfield, Sussex. At the age of 18, in 1942, I went to Brighton and signed up. From Brighton I was shipped to Guildford, to 5 Platoon, C Company, No. 7 Training Centre. From Guildford, and Aldershot, I was posted to Sheffield. It was here, in a canteen, that I met my future husband, Cecil Cowey, a soldier in the Canadian Army. I then went to Oswestry for further training. In north Wales, I was trained for airplane identification, recognition.
After D Day, I was shipped by train to the coast and boarded a ship for Ostend, Belgium. Then, by truck to Antwerp, and Wilrijk, until the war ended.
Upon returning to England in 1945, I married my Canadian soldier, in December 1945, in Worthing, to where my parents had moved during the latter stages of the war. I was unable to follow my husband to Canada until July, 1946, on the Queen Mary. I have lived in Peterborough, Ontario, for 67 years, raising 9 children.
