253736 Pte Dorothy Vera Riley Auxiliary Territorial Service from:Kendal Mam, Dot Riley, was called up in 1941, aged 18. One of nine children she was the only one of the six girls to be in the services. I remember her talking about being stationed at Donnington and Woolwich she was in the office at Woolwich supplying ordnance.
She was in the flying bomb raids which where terrifying, as she said the engine would just cut out then drop with little warning. She was billeted with people in the area and said about sheltering under a dining room table from the bombs. She said she was the last person from the family to see both her brother and brother in law alive before their deaths, one at Arnhem and the other in England.
She was allowed home for her 21st birthday but the officer kept her waiting till the very last minute. Her Mam made her a lovely party despite rationing.
Mam started writing during the war to my Dad, also from Kendal, who she married in 1949.
He was in the Royal Artillery and abroad fighting for most of the war.
Mam left the ATS after 4 years due to what I believe now would be described as PTSD due to the bombings. She never recovered from this but lived till 2015 not quite reaching her 92nd birthday.
I applied for her war service medal on her behalf while she was still alive, we were not aware she was entitled to said medal, she received it in the post and I had it framed for her.
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