Reporting for Duty, page 4
She seemed to be enjoying their embarrassment. The woman spoke even louder. ‘Turn your stocking tops over when you attach them to the suspenders, as if you don’t do it your stockings will ladder and you have to mend them.’
With relish, she waved a stocking and suspender about in the air. Eileen wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable, but their corporal seemed to be relishing this. What a particularly unpleasant person Rigby was – being trained by her was going to be horrible, even for those like herself who knew a little of what they were doing.
They were then obliged to listen to a detailed explanation of how to lace a pair of shoes and there surely couldn’t be a single girl who didn’t know how to do that. And so it went on until triumphantly their tormentor held up in full view of all and sundry two packets of sanitary towels. She yelled, just in case those across the road couldn’t hear, that these were issued monthly and if they didn’t want size two, they had to speak to her.
Eileen was a married woman, more knowledgeable than most of the girls, but even she was horrified. These items weren’t displayed in chemist shops, you had to wait until there were no male customers or children and then quietly ask the sales assistant to fetch them from a cupboard somewhere out of sight.
There was a stunned silence from her squad. Those standing close to her were as scarlet faced as she was. They were then dismissed and fled up the stairs to the billet.
‘How could she do that when there were men in earshot?’ Clara said, shaking her head in disgust. ‘One just doesn’t talk about such things in public. I knew things were going to be different, but I never expected to be publicly humiliated.’
‘The cow did it on purpose,’ Minnie said. ‘But she won’t get me down. That officer don’t think much of her and you can be sure them blokes watching will be talking about it and word will get back to someone in charge.’
Grace had collapsed on her bed. ‘I don’t think I can take any more. I wish we were volunteers and could leave if we want to. It was a dreadful mistake coming and now I’ve just got to lump it.’
‘Anyway, if you could go home with your tail between your legs, your parents would have forced you to marry that man you don’t like.’
Minnie snorted. ‘No one can make you marry someone you don’t like as you ain’t a prisoner – you should have stood up for yourself. If they’d thrown you out, you could have got a job. A posh bird like you could work at Harrods or Fortnum & Mason’s as all the assistants in there are toffee-nosed.’
‘You could always have been a land girl – not so many rules and regulations for them.’
‘The uniform’s much nicer than ours too,’ Clara said.
Grace’s eyebrows rose. If Eileen had suggested Grace dance naked down the room, she couldn’t have looked more shocked. ‘A farm labourer? I should think not. You’re right, I have no option but to stay here, however appalling it is. After all, one must hope that it can only get better.’
Eileen stood up and clapped her hands. A startled silence fell. ‘Before you put everything away, why don’t we practise setting it all out? The six of us at this end can do Minnie’s and then you can have a look.’
A murmur of agreement rippled around the long room. The scheme they’d come up with to remember the order worked wonderfully and in no time Minnie’s kit was beautifully set out.
‘Blooming heck, that’s a turn-up for the books,’ one of girls said admiringly. ‘I’d never have thought of that.’
Then Clara, Grace, Mabel and Barbara, the two girls who’d made up their six, copied. Then each girl did the same and in twenty minutes they’d all got an immaculate kit display. Eileen and Minnie had wandered down their sides of the room and helped those that needed it.
Suddenly a female voice shouted, ‘Attention. Officer present.’
Eileen ran back to her bed and jumped to attention, facing the end of the room. Minnie did the same and then seconds later the entire squad were eyes front, standing as they should.
It wasn’t Rigby who’d given the order but another woman with two stripes on her arm. Standing next to her was a very important officer, as she had three pips on her epaulette. It was confusing that the ATS had different names for the officers. Eileen thought Danny had told her that three pips were the same as a captain, but she’d no idea what the name of the equivalent rank in the ATS was.
‘Stand at ease,’ the officer ordered.
You had to be at attention before you could stand at ease. Why hadn’t she shown the girls this too? Eileen relaxed her stance and linked her hands behind her back. Minnie copied her and then Clara, after a quick glance over her shoulder, did the same. Surprisingly quickly, all twenty-four of them were standing at ease. Watching Danny’s training was proving useful.
‘The privates who were away from their beds, step forward and identify yourselves.’
Eileen’s knees were trembling. She did as instructed. ‘Private Ruffel, ma’am.’
Minnie did the same. ‘Private Wolton, ma’am.’
‘I came expecting to find chaos but have found the reverse and am certain it’s down to the leadership of you two. Corporal Rigby is unwell, therefore Corporal Endean will be your instructor from now on. I’ll leave you in her capable hands.’
She nodded, smiled and vanished as silently as she’d appeared. Eileen was relieved they now had someone better to train them. After all, she couldn’t be worse.
‘Right, ladies, I can see you’ve mastered the tricky task of setting out your kit. Can you now put it away as efficiently? Then stack your bedding. Beds are only made up to sleep on or for a kit inspection. When that’s done, I’ll direct you to the rec room where you can meet the rest of the new intake.’ Corporal Endean smiled. ‘You are Platoon C. You’ll have an hour to mingle, then supper, and this evening you must do any alterations to your uniform that are needed. Make the most of these few hours as from reveille tomorrow at six you’ll have no free time until next week.’
4
Minnie didn’t have any personal items to put on top of her locker as some of the others did. It would be nice to have had a photo of her family, but her precious book would look just fine there.
The beds ran down the centre of the room, leaving a space at the foot end just big enough for a personal locker, four pegs and a narrow passage to walk up and down. There was only a couple of feet between each bed, but Minnie had slept top to tail with two of the little ones when she’d been at home, so having a bed to herself was a real luxury.
Mabel and Barbara had made friends with a different group, leaving the four of them to themselves, which Minnie preferred.
‘I’m done. I’ve never had so many clothes in me life and none of them second-hand neither,’ she said with a happy smile as she closed her locker door.
‘I’m ready,’ Clara said from beside her. ‘Eileen’s helping Grace. I honestly think she’s had a maid do everything for her before now. I really think she shouldn’t be here.’
‘Well, she can’t leave even if she wants to. And I ain’t going nowhere – I promised me mum I’d send her me wages, not that we get much.’
The other two sidled between the beds to join them. ‘We get the princely sum of eleven shillings and sixpence a week,’ Eileen said. ‘It isn’t much, but remember we have everything paid for including medical bills and so on.’
‘Thank goodness I have my savings book with me,’ Grace said. ‘I’ve also got more than twenty pounds in my purse.’ Her crystal-clear voice carried and several heads turned. Minnie saw a speculative look on the face of one of the girls.
‘You shouldn’t have said that – you won’t have it for long now everybody knows. Don’t leave it here, for gawd’s sake.’
Grace rushed back to her locker, removed her purse and with her back to those who’d been watching she hastily pulled out the four white five-pound notes and pushed them into an inside pocket in her uniform jacket.
‘I really didn’t think this through. Do you think there might be a safe somewhere I can put it?’
‘Might be – you can ask Endean, she’s waiting by the door,’ Eileen said.
Grace was delighted to find that she could store her valuables safely at the admin office and went off to find it whilst the rest of them followed the others to the rec room.
They had to pass the ablution block, so Minnie decided to use the facilities and also see where they had to wash. ‘Are you two coming with me?’
‘No, we’ll see you there. It’s the building next to the mess so you can’t miss it,’ Eileen said and with a cheery wave she and Clara wandered off.
In the ablutions block, there were twenty lavs on one side and twenty wash basins with hot and cold water opposite. Each one of these had a small shelf and a mirror above it. There were no baths in this block, so Minnie supposed they had to wash at the basins in full view of each other.
As she didn’t have a towel, she dried her hands on her skirt. She stared at her reflection. Her hair and eyes were her best features, nut-brown curls and hazel eyes, but her nose was too pointed and her mouth too small, in her opinion.
She was smiling as she strolled out into the April sunshine. The building she wanted was a brisk ten minutes’ walk away and she set off, head up, eyes forward and arms swinging the way Eileen had shown them.
She marched past the young officer she’d literally bumped into earlier. Without pausing, she turned her head and saluted smartly and then marched on. She could hear him laughing and she knew it was a good laugh, that he wasn’t taking the mickey.
The rec room was heaving as it seemed all the new intakes were in there. Finding her friends was going to be hard for two reasons. One, she was shorter than most of them, and two, they all looked the same.
Minnie moved away from the door and started to walk around the perimeter of the large noisy room. There were three long tables down the centre where girls were sitting knitting, sewing or playing board games and cards.
There must have been over a hundred girls packed in there, and the racket was deafening. After a fruitless few minutes peering through the shoulders of the crowd, she gave up looking for Eileen and decided to have a gander around the barracks. As long as she was back for supper, no one would miss her.
‘Hey, Minnie, wait for me,’ someone called.
She turned and saw her friend pushing her way towards her. As Eileen was tall and a redhead, she was easy to spot. ‘Blimey, I was just giving up. I ain’t fond of crowds like this. Fancy a wander around to see what’s what?’
‘Yes, it’s unpleasantly stuffy in here,’ Eileen said as they squeezed their way outside into the fresh late April afternoon.
‘To put it bluntly, a lot of those girls should have had a bath before putting on their lovely new uniform. I would have thought, being the army, someone in authority would have thought of body odour,’ Minnie added.
‘I can assure you we think of nothing else,’ an amused male voice replied from right behind them.
Minnie turned and, seeing the familiar face, couldn’t help herself. ‘Not you again. Haven’t you got something better to do than creep up on ATS girls?’ A shocked gasp from Eileen made her regret her words.
She jumped to attention and saluted; Eileen did the same. This forced the officer to respond in kind and gave her a few moments to gather her wits, which had buggered off or she wouldn’t have said something so stupid to an officer.
He was no longer smiling, and she guessed she was about to be put on charge for insubordination. He stared icily at them for a second, then his eyes flashed, and he laughed.
‘At ease, ladies. I can see the pair of you are going to shake things up here. Such a shame we aren’t allowed to fraternise. Toodle pip.’ He nodded and, still chuckling, strolled off.
The two of them watched open mouthed until, as before, he vanished down one of the narrow paths that ran between the buildings.
‘Golly, Minnie, you were lucky to get away with that. Whatever possessed you to speak to that officer so rudely?’
Minnie shrugged. ‘He’s not a proper officer, is he? Wasn’t he saying that if he wasn’t an officer, he would ask one of us on date?’
‘It certainly sounded like that. What an eventful day it’s been. Grace fainted on the train, Rigby might have had a breakdown, and you told an officer where to get off.’
‘I’d like to know where the NAAFI is and where we can have a bath. There ain’t none in the ablutions block.’
‘Grace’s coming our way. She’s not seen us. Should we nip down this alley?’
Minnie shook her head. ‘No, she might know where them things we want are to be found.’
‘Cooee, Grace, do you want to find the NAAFI with us or go into the rec room with everybody else?’ Eileen called.
The girl smiled and for the first time since they’d met on the train it was genuine. ‘Oh, yes, the NAAFI, please. I’d love a decent cup of tea and a bun of some sort.’
‘Blimey, I’m still stuffed from lunch. How can you be so blooming slim and lovely if you eat buns?’
‘I’m just lucky. I eat like the proverbial and don’t put on an ounce. I used to ride every day, play tennis and croquet so got plenty of exercise.’
‘Did you put your money somewhere safe?’ Eileen asked as the three of them started to walk towards the end of the road.
‘I did, thanks. It’s the same place we have to go to get a pass to leave the base, near the guard room at the exit.’ She pointed ahead. ‘Look, is that a field up there?’
The buildings ended ahead and there was an empty space but no sign of trees or grass. It was the parade ground where they would have to do their drill every day.
‘Good grief – l don’t like the look of that,’ Grace said. ‘It’s far too big.’
‘You can only just see the far end,’ Minnie said, ‘and we’d never hear the person drilling us unless he or she marched with us.’ Grace was right. Drill was going to be exhausting on this huge concrete area.
‘Imagine how horrible it would be in the winter,’ Eileen said. ‘The weather’s all right now and will get warmer. It’ll be May next week. Good thing it says we have PT in the gym, wherever that is.’
‘I’ve never been one for exercise,’ Minnie told them. ‘Waste of time and energy if you ask me.’
‘A healthy mind in a healthy body is the motto for the ATS,’ Eileen said. ‘What I’m not looking forward to is being seen in public in those flimsy shorts and top. Have you noticed there seem to be a lot of soldiers on this base doing very little?’
Grace frowned. ‘I’ve a nasty feeling this is where useless officers and other ranks are sent to keep them out of the way of the serious action.’
‘That daft lieutenant is recovering from a broken leg. He don’t seem to have much to do, that’s for sure,’ Minnie said. ‘I wonder if he’s walking about to strengthen his damaged leg.’
‘Makes sense. You’ll never guess what Minnie said to him, Grace.’
The three of them were smiling and sharing anecdotes when they turned yet another corner and finally found the NAAFI. Over a proper cup of char and a rock cake, cheerfully paid for by Grace, Minnie revised her opinion of this girl. She might be a bit sniffy but underneath the prickly exterior she was nice. Mum would be chuffed that on her first day as a soldier her daughter had already made three good friends and impressed a couple of officers. Not bad for a girl from the East End.
Eileen had learned something that Minnie didn’t know, and she’d forgotten to tell her. ‘Oh, by the way, we’ve got to hand in our suitcases with our civilian clothes and then the army will send them home. I didn’t realise we wouldn’t have our civvies. This means even if we go to a dance we’ve got to be in this ugly uniform.’
‘It ain’t too bad, there must be a lot of short-arses in the ATS as mine fits better than I’d thought it would.’
‘I was expecting the same and for my skirt to be well below my knees. Mind you, I think you’re as tall as Clara, aren’t you, Eileen?’ Grace said.
‘I am, but I’m not lovely and slim like either of you. I’ve always been well-covered.’
Grace glanced at her expensive gold wristwatch. ‘Golly, we need to hurry. I’ve got to collect my irons – I know they said we’ve got to keep them with us but there’s nowhere to put a tin mug even if we put the cutlery in a pocket.’
‘I ain’t got mine either. What about you, Eileen?’
‘I don’t think they meant that we have to carry it around the base, only that if we’re posted, or off base doing something, we need to have them with us.’
They dashed back and quite a few of the other girls were doing the same. Everybody seemed in better spirits and there were more smiles than sour faces. The next thing they’d have to face were inoculations, visits to the dentist, optician and so on. Minnie wasn’t too bad with needles but was sure there’d be plenty of girls who were.
It was strange being in a room full of other people, listening to them snoring, muttering, and turning over. There was also the irritating ticking of a dozen alarm clocks that had been placed lovingly on the top of the owners’ lockers. The beds creaked when you moved, which made it worse. Eileen slept fitfully, waking with a start several times, disorientated and wondering where she was.
Then she remembered she was no longer under the control of her husband but more or less a free woman. She had, like all the ATS, to answer to the army but that was a lot better than answering to Danny.
Both Clara and Grace were sleeping soundly, as was Minnie. She sighed, wriggled a bit to try make herself as comfortable as she could on the nasty hard biscuits which pretended to be a mattress, and eventually dozed off.
Eileen woke before reveille, which would be someone with a bugle walking up and down past the various barracks. The windows in this room were at shoulder height, but at least there were a dozen on each side and this let in sufficient light for her to see one of the clocks. It was just after five.
If she wanted to have a wash and use the loo without having to queue, now was the time to do it. With a hundred girls and only twenty WCs and sinks, things were going to be horribly busy once everybody was awake.
