here' she said. 'They used to take us up sometimes to test the observer's Lewis or Browning by firing it.'
'What did you fire at? Something in the sea?'
'Yes, sir. A bit of wood or seaweed - anything.'
All the officers were studying her. The First Sea Lord asked, 'What are you in civil life?'
She said awkwardly, 'Well, sir - I wasn't anything. I mean, I was at school."
The Captain of Excellent asked, 'What were you best at, at school?'
She hesitated. 'Well, I liked Latin best, I think.' It seemed a pretty crackpot sort of question to her, and it must have been, because one or two of them laughed.
The First Sea Lord asked, 'Did you have any difficulty in learning eye-shooting?'
'No, sir.' She had a natural flair for it. All the rest of her class had been much puzzled by it, and she had spent an hour trying to make May Spikins see what seemed so obvious to her. 'I just did what the Chief taught us.'
That brought in Chief Petty Officer Waters. The Admiral asked him, 'Is this Wren exceptional, Chief?'
71
He answered stiffly, 'She's better than the general run, sir. I'd say that she's a natural good shot.'
'That's why you put her on to shoot?'
'Yes, sir.'
Somebody else asked, 'What are the Ordnance Wrens like, in general, compared with the ratings?'
He said, 'They're better, sir - no doubt of that. Of course, they're better educated, mostly, than the called-up classes that we're getting in now.'
The First Sea Lord said, 'Well, I congratulate you on this young lady, Chief. It was very good shooting.' The Petty Officer beamed with pleasure, storing up each word in a retentive memory, to retail to me in the end eight years later.
He withdrew with Janet and they left the tower together and went down to the class on the grid. He sent her back in to the ranks, and called the squad to attention. 'Now look here, you Wrens,' he said in measured tones. 'I just been congratulated by the First Sea Lord himself, on account of what Leading Wren Prentice, No 3 in the front rank, just did. Now you see what can be done with eye-shooting if you troubles to learn how to do it. What Leading Wren Prentice did any one of you can do, if you takes the trouble. Otherwise you better change your category and go for a cook. Now, stand easy.'
They all bent towards Janet. 'Did you see the First Sea Lord? What did he say?'
'I saw him,' she told them. 'He asked me what I did before I joined up, and I said I didn't do anything. And then the Captain of Excellent asked what I was best at, at school, and I said, Latin. I think they're all crackers, if you ask me. Mad as March hares. No wonder they can't hit the bloody aeroplane.'
I know she said that, because May Spikins told me all about that day when we talked in her council house up on the new estate at Harlow. May Cunningham she was by that time, with a little boy two years old and a baby of six months; her husband was a clerk in the municipal offices at Enfield and he was away at work when I called to see her, in 1950. War-
72
rant Officer Finch had told me about her when I went to see him about Bill, and I motored down to see May Spikins because I thought that she might be in touch with Janet Prentice, or at least know what had happened to her. But she knew nothing; they had not met or corresponded since Janet left the Service. She had known Bill slightly as Janet's boyfriend, and when I told her that I was his brother from Australia she loosened up and invited me into the parlour, and made a pot of tea, and we talked for a long time of those far-off weeks and day at Beaulieu, before 'Overlord', before the balloon went up.
I know she said that, because she was a very outspoken girl in those days, and when May Spikins told me that I knew that it was true, because the words were exactly the words that Leading Wren Prentice would have used. It was probably this quality of character and ability to express herself in a masculine way that made the ratings in the invasion fleet afraid of her
'What did you fire at? Something in the sea?'
'Yes, sir. A bit of wood or seaweed - anything.'
All the officers were studying her. The First Sea Lord asked, 'What are you in civil life?'
She said awkwardly, 'Well, sir - I wasn't anything. I mean, I was at school."
The Captain of Excellent asked, 'What were you best at, at school?'
She hesitated. 'Well, I liked Latin best, I think.' It seemed a pretty crackpot sort of question to her, and it must have been, because one or two of them laughed.
The First Sea Lord asked, 'Did you have any difficulty in learning eye-shooting?'
'No, sir.' She had a natural flair for it. All the rest of her class had been much puzzled by it, and she had spent an hour trying to make May Spikins see what seemed so obvious to her. 'I just did what the Chief taught us.'
That brought in Chief Petty Officer Waters. The Admiral asked him, 'Is this Wren exceptional, Chief?'
71
He answered stiffly, 'She's better than the general run, sir. I'd say that she's a natural good shot.'
'That's why you put her on to shoot?'
'Yes, sir.'
Somebody else asked, 'What are the Ordnance Wrens like, in general, compared with the ratings?'
He said, 'They're better, sir - no doubt of that. Of course, they're better educated, mostly, than the called-up classes that we're getting in now.'
The First Sea Lord said, 'Well, I congratulate you on this young lady, Chief. It was very good shooting.' The Petty Officer beamed with pleasure, storing up each word in a retentive memory, to retail to me in the end eight years later.
He withdrew with Janet and they left the tower together and went down to the class on the grid. He sent her back in to the ranks, and called the squad to attention. 'Now look here, you Wrens,' he said in measured tones. 'I just been congratulated by the First Sea Lord himself, on account of what Leading Wren Prentice, No 3 in the front rank, just did. Now you see what can be done with eye-shooting if you troubles to learn how to do it. What Leading Wren Prentice did any one of you can do, if you takes the trouble. Otherwise you better change your category and go for a cook. Now, stand easy.'
They all bent towards Janet. 'Did you see the First Sea Lord? What did he say?'
'I saw him,' she told them. 'He asked me what I did before I joined up, and I said I didn't do anything. And then the Captain of Excellent asked what I was best at, at school, and I said, Latin. I think they're all crackers, if you ask me. Mad as March hares. No wonder they can't hit the bloody aeroplane.'
I know she said that, because May Spikins told me all about that day when we talked in her council house up on the new estate at Harlow. May Cunningham she was by that time, with a little boy two years old and a baby of six months; her husband was a clerk in the municipal offices at Enfield and he was away at work when I called to see her, in 1950. War-
72
rant Officer Finch had told me about her when I went to see him about Bill, and I motored down to see May Spikins because I thought that she might be in touch with Janet Prentice, or at least know what had happened to her. But she knew nothing; they had not met or corresponded since Janet left the Service. She had known Bill slightly as Janet's boyfriend, and when I told her that I was his brother from Australia she loosened up and invited me into the parlour, and made a pot of tea, and we talked for a long time of those far-off weeks and day at Beaulieu, before 'Overlord', before the balloon went up.
I know she said that, because she was a very outspoken girl in those days, and when May Spikins told me that I knew that it was true, because the words were exactly the words that Leading Wren Prentice would have used. It was probably this quality of character and ability to express herself in a masculine way that made the ratings in the invasion fleet afraid of her
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