Phyllis Humphreys
Serving with the Womens Royal Army Corps
“I was conscripted into the ATS in 1945 and was posted to the Royal Army Pay Corps unit at Droitwich. In 1947 we were posted to the nearby camp at Wolverley, formerly an American general hospital”. “When we arrived it housed some very regimental Redcaps”.
“I had decided to enlist in the newly formed WRAC, at the time when we had a new draft of ‘general duties’ men arrive at the camp”. “They were real old sweats, wore ‘Airborne Forces Flashes’, a bunch of ‘Red feathers’ In their hats and were from the 2nd Battalion, Black Watch”. “We girls found these sun tanned heroes very attractive, unlike the non-combatant RAPC men, the nastiest thing they had handled was a sharp pencil”.
Phyllis Humphreys at Wolverley camp.
“I was billeted in hut No 11, this was in the corner of the camp next to the road into Wolverley, on the one side while the squatters camp was on the other side, over the wire”. “We used to call the boiler man ‘Pop’, it was him who told us that our hut had been used by the Americans as one of the operating theatres”. “it was him who told us the reason for the iron bars being up at the windows of the hut opposite were put there for safety reasons”. “The hut had formerly been used by the Americans to restrain the more seriously wounded and disturbed patients”.
“I married Joe Humphries of ‘The black Watch’, in August 1950. Joe had to write a letter to the commanding officer at the time, a Col Buck, for permission to marry a serving member of the WRAC”. “I only had another six months to serve, so Joe had to write another letter to the Colonel, asking for his permission for me to remain on the same camp as Joe after we had been married, thankfully he gave his permission to this request”.
