I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

Following on from an earlier post ,  I've been looking on YouTube for some material on the history of the WRNS. This film clip is from 1918  and shows an inspection of the WRNS by Commander Sir R. William Buleley, Bart,. C.B., R.N.R. The film is remarkably clear and you can see the uniforms really well. Sir William barely looks at the WRNS as he walks past but they don't seem to care. The WRNS was founded in 1917  and by 1919 there were 7,000  Wrens including Cooks and Stewards, Despatch Riders, Sail Makers and those in Intelligence. Tellingly, their motto was ‘Never at Sea’. At the start of WW2, 3,000 women were recruited for the WRNS into the same roles as before and also in new roles such as Radio Operators, Meteorologists, Bomb Range Markers together with sea-going  Cypher Officers, Coders and Boat’s Crew Wrens. By 1944 there were 74,000 WRNS Officers and ratings. This time their motto was ‘Free a Man for the Fleet’. This is another nice clip.  It shows

I found this advert in the British Newspaper Archive . It's from the Sunday Mirror on Sunday 28 December 1941. I've saved the clipping in three sections to make it easier to read. Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. I wonder if anyone took any notice of the exhortation. And how the Ministry defined a war worker? And what essential job the woman in the picture is involved in? This second promotion was designed to encourage women to join the WAAF.  It was in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail on Monday 27 October 1941. Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was the female auxiliary of t

Some while ago I discovered an amazing war artist called Anthony Gross.  In 1942 he sailed on a troop carrier, the m.v. Highland Monarch, from England to Egypt via Sierra Leone and the Indian Ocean.  He made a series of drawings during the eight week voyage which are a fantastic record of daily life on board ship. Check out: Anthony Gross, official war artist, and the Convoy series of drawings and Official war artist Anthony Gross to read more about him. More recently, I've discovered that Anthony Gross had a sister, Phyllis, who was also an artist. 1940 Born Phyllis Isobella Gross, her lifelong nickname was PIG.  Phyllis became one of Britain's most intriguing entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires. After an eight year marriage to Richard Pearsall and subsequent divorce, Phyllis had to support herself and so she became a portrait painter. This was in the 1930s. While working as a portrait painter and trying to find her patrons' houses Phyllis Pearsal

I found some interesting photos the other day of women in the Women's Royal Naval Service with the Fleet Air Arm in Scotland in 1943. The first photo shows the WRNS working as radio mechanics. They are preparing to board a Fleet Air Arm aircraft to test the radio whilst the aircraft is in flight. This was the job my dad did too and he also started his service in Scotland before being sent out to West Africa. By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons This photo is even more interesting as it gives a great idea of what the job of the radio mechanic entailed. By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons When they weren't fixing the radios, the WRNS could also turn their hands to other electrical equipment in need of repair! By Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I found an interesting film segment on YouTube the other day. It's a Pathe News clip showing a MONAB in Australia. If MONAB is an unfamiliar term then maybe read these posts first. http://tinned-variety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/monab-1-10.html http://tinned-variety.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/hms-nabaron-monab-4-msr6-1945.html The caption seems to suggest that  the film is of Australian forces  but I think they're British forces. Anyway, at the opening of the clip  there's some really good footage of the sort of activities  the MONAB was involved in. By the way, anyone who has a particular interest in  WW2 in the Pacific will like this website: Pacific Wrecks .

The other new photos of Freetown in WW2 I've found on WikiCommons. By Roper, F G (Lt) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Nigerian Bandsmen Entertain British Sailors  6 December 1942, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Men of the Royal Navy  back from an Anti-U-boat patrol in the Atlantic,  come ashore  to find the band of the Royal West African Frontier Force  playing in front of the Naval Canteen.  The musical director is Lieutenant McEwan. By Royal Navy official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons African Naval ratings march past  His Excellency the Governor of Sierra Leone,  Major Sir Hubert Stevenson, KCMG, OBE, MC  who received the salute on the balcony of the Law Courts, Freetown, Sierra Leone.  Note the large Union Flag hanging beneath the balcony.  With the Governor are  Vice Admiral A M Peters, CB, DSO,  Flag Officer Commanding West Africa ;  Major General G G Phillips, CB, DSO, MC,  Area Commander, Sierra Leone;  a

I've found some new photos today on Wikicommons. By Royal Navy official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons  French sailor carrying fresh pineapples  on board the submarine depot ship HMS MERCATOR  at Freetown, Sierra Leone, August 1943. HMS MERCATOR was a three masted barquentine  which had been commissioned by the Royal Navy  as a floating rest home for submarine men  when they returned to harbour after Atlantic patrol. This is what my dad wrote in his diary: "The oranges' season is now well in and the crop is excellent.  Pineapples are also in and I had my first the other day.  They are quite juicy but rather woody. I think I prefer the tinned variety." 20th January 1944 By Royal Navy official photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons One of HMS MERCATOR'S signalman,  from Sierra Leone,  using semaphore to pass a message  to a submarine preparing to come alongside. By Intelligence, Fr

Arriving at Freetown, Sierra Leone October 1943. Sunday 31st October 1943 Sighted the African coast early in the morning and at 10.10 dropped anchor in Freetown harbour. The town looks very pretty with brightly coloured houses, the outstanding objects being a church and two wireless aerials. Behind the town to the left is the coastal range of hills. Large numbers of canoes fill the harbour, some mere dug-outs but others quite decent boats. At 16.30 the launch arrives to take us ashore and our kit is unloaded by small boys. We no sooner set foot ashore than scores of boys and girls mob us selling bananas. The first one tastes good. After a long wait a lorry appears to take us to a place called Hastings where the Air Station is, its commissioned name being H.M.S. Spurwing. .....after an hour’s travel we turn down a side track, past a cemetery and pull up against a bungalow which is the Regulatory Office of H.M.S. Spurwing. We have arrived at the end of our journey. There a

I've noticed on the Internet that 26th January is Australia Day. So, best wishes today to readers in Australia.  This is an extract from my dad's diary that describes some of his experiences in Australia in 1945 while en-route to join his unit involved in the war in the Pacific. On the morning of the 9th April 1945  we arrived at Sydney, largest city in Australia and second largest in the British Empire. Before entering the great harbour the sea was very choppy but once inside became calm and we moved alongside without incident. The main impression I now recall is the first view of the magnificent bridge across the harbour. About the middle of the afternoon we disembarked and travelled to a Naval Air Station a few miles outside the city which was to be our home for the next few weeks. We settled down and that same night caught the electric train back into the city. Our first call was an eating house (American style with little alcoves for couples) where we made