The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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16 Joan Smith Land Army I served in the Women's Land Army from 1942 to 1945 and despite searching the Internet have been unable to find an active group of ex Land Girls for my area of service in Hertfordshire. At almost 82 years old and partially sighted now I suppose we are a dwindling number. A fellow tiller of the soil whom I met during those years at our first posting, also 82 now, became my best friend, and is to this day. We braved rats in potato clamps, climbed ladders to pick fruit, rescued birds trapped in fruit nets (much to our foreman's annoyance), picked and dug vegetables with frozen hands and feet and sowed, thinned and hoed miles of root crops. Those were just a few of our duties, but for myself it was the best job I ever had and I have been a country girl at heart ever since . We Land Girls had no 35 hour week, summer hours were 6am till dusk and in winter we were allowed to begin an hour later at 7am. I remember being nervous cycling to work across a common in the dark. My starting basic salary was two pounds five shillings a week, and even back then that was not a great sum. Over the years I have unfortunately lost track of my badge, armband with the red felt triangles which were issued for each six months of service and my Service Certificate. My number however needs no physical proof. That, like my late husband's army number is I think burned into my brain. Like Mrs.K.O'Dell of Suffolk I do remember such glorious summers, and yes, the lovely tan gained as a result of shortened dungarees. Our Area lady did not approve. Writing this has evoked so many memories, I almost feel 19 years old again Joan Smith Add to this record.  Related Content: Womens Land Army Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.