HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-11-08, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2007. PAGE11.
“We hadn’t been able to get in
because the dance was full. The
officers were behind us and asked if
they could get us in would we dance
with them for the evening. ‘Oh,
sure,’ we said.”
The officers were enjoying a
weekend leave off a destroyer and
invited the women to visit them on
board the next day. “We went on the
train and arranged to meet them.
Imagine the chance we took, but you
lived for the moment then. You just
never knew.”
As that day came to an end, the
group, with their Scottish escorts
made their way back to Piccadilly
and a hotel for dinner. “Between
each course we danced. It was a real
posh place.”
At night’s end the officers walked
the women home. “We never saw
them again. I have no idea what their
names are, what happened to them,
but it’s one thing I’ll never forget.”
Such bittersweet memories are
common for those who went
overseas. Often young people were
far away from all they had ever
known for the first time in their lives.
Cunningham had grown up on a
farm just outside Walton and by her
own admission had never ventured
far before enlisting in May of 1943
at the age of 23. “There had been so
much talk about the war, and I
thought I could do my bit.”
While some damage to one of her
eyes saw her rejected, Cunningham
decided to try again. “They said then
I’d never go overseas.”After stints in
various Canadian centres,
Cunningham found herself aboard
the New Amsterdam enroute for
London in August of 1944.
“It was kind of scary. The ship was
loaded with troops. I’d say there
were thousands aboard.”
One morning, very early they were
told to get into their clothes and head
to their stations. “This was to the
lifeboats, but there’s no way we
would have all got into them. They
said there were enemy aircraft
overhead. Then they told us it was a
practice. That was really the only
scare we had on the way over.”
After landing in the northern part
of England, Cunningham ended up
in Bournemouth. “It was so
frightening, taking that train down.
There were no lights, everything was
so dark. You just didn’t know what
might happen and we had heard so
much about what was going on.”
Her pay at this point was 90 cents
a day.
Eventually Cunningham ended up
in London, living with 11 others in a
house. Every evening and morning,
she said, the sirens would go off.
“The woman who owned the house
had told us there was a place in the
basement we could run to if we
wanted. But she wasn’t in good
health and I guess 10 girls running
down every time was too much and
she told us not to do it anymore.”
One time, she said, they decided to
take a look at a V-1. “By the time it
was over our head, we were soon in
a shelter,” said Cunningham.
Having made corporal,
Cunningham eventually found
herself near Windsor at a tobacco
depot. “When you sent money for
cigarettes this is where it went and
we sent them out.”
“It was a big shed with about 100
people working in it and all we did
was type out these labels.”
She and another girl stayed with a
couple for a short time. “She was a
good cook, but a poor host. It was a
small house and I remember having
to pay a quarter to heat water for a
bath.”
In 1945 Cunningham went to
Torquay in the southern part of
England. There she lived in a hotel
that had been taken over by the
government. “It was right on the
water and we often went on trips on
the boats.”
By that time the troops were
starting to go home. “We’d be typing
names on sheets. It was a nice place
to be, but we sometimes were
wishing we were going with them.”
The fact that she had the
opportunity to see so much isn’t lost
on her, however. “I saw Scotland and
Ireland. When we went to Ireland we
got talking to an Canadian air force
officer who had been a POW. There
was a separate carriage for POWs;
they were given special treatment;
and he asked us to ride with him. It
was always great to meet somebody
from Canada.”
That didn’t happen at the dances,
said Cunningham as the English
girls “pretty much coralled all the
boys.”
Discharged in May of 1946,
Cunningham worked in the
telephone office for a time then got
notice that she could take a
hairdressing course so didn’t return
to Walton until 1947.
Cunningham said the transition
was surprisingly difficult. “We had
actually had good times. There were
always eight to 10 of us girls
together. I was lonesome coming
back to Walton to tell the truth. I had
no friends left here.”
Well, almost none. Cunningham
wasn’t home long when she attended
a local event. The brother of a young
man she had dated from time to time
was present. She asked him how his
brother was. “He phoned me the
next night.”
She and Ross married in October
1947, and she settled back in to a
quieter country life.
But remembering her years
overseas, Cunningham admits it was
a heady experience for a young girl.
“I had never been anywhere before
and London was a busy, busy place.
It was really quite an exciting time.”
Woman remembers wartime EnglandLest we forget
“No one knew if they’d be around the next day,
especially those fellows.”
It was with those words that Anna Cunningham of
Brussels remembers a time a world away, more than
60 years ago.
Cunningham, a Leading Air Woman in the RCAF, was stationed
in England during the Second World War when she and some
friends met a group of Scottish naval officers at a dance.
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen
Memories
A uniform tucked away, and a box of photographs, help to
keep memories of her time in service vivid for Anna
Cunningham. While many young men actually did office
work as well, Cunningham remembers those who served in
combat, who knew, she said, that for them tomorrow might
not come. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
On the job
Working at the tobacco depot, June 1945, was one of
several clerical jobs that Anna Cunningham held during
her service overseas as a Leading Air Woman with the
RCAF. (Photo submitted)With new friends in new places
Anna Cunningham, second from right, visits Trafalgar
Square in London, England, Aug. 24, 1944 with fellow
Leading Air Women, Marion Ross, Elsie Pritchard and Lila
Dorr. (Photo submitted)
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