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| First Lieutenant Maureen Dunlop sits at the controls of her Spitfire fighter plane in September 1944 |
At this particular time of year WWII servicemen are praised to the heavens for their efforts during the war, but I feel not enough mention is made of the contributions of our women.
There's a plethora of acronyms to thank: The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) which was the women's branch of the British Army, Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS), Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and female Air Raid Precautions (ARP) wardens who happily helped on guns.
Always an air enthusiast, I was impressed by the band of women pilots (dubbed "Attagirls") who would ferry Spitfires from the factory to various squadrons.
You may recall Amy Johnson, the renowned British aviator who was the first female pilot to fly solo from Britain to Australia. She joined the Air Transport Auxiliary and in 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford, went off course in bad weather and crashed to her death in the Thames.
Most are familiar with the image of Rosie the Riveter working in city factories and shipyards, but I was able to see how women worked their talents in rural areas.
While I was up in the north of England for gunnery training, the Women's Land Army (WLA) was busy looking after farms while the farmers were off to war. They did everything from tending animals, sowing, planting and harvesting vegetables, to taking crops and livestock to market.
Many years after the war, while relaxing at home in front of the television, I immediately recognized Julia Child as someone I would see in Kandy, Ceylon during WWII while she was working in the OSS. We all thought she was a regular clerical worker until it came out she had operated as a top secret researcher.
Of course women didn't have to be sworn into service to help keep things running smoothly at home. They took over factory jobs vacated by men sent overseas, delivered mail, drove trucks, operated trams and dealt with an overwhelming amount of wartime clerical work.
Wartime housewives kept the nation's spirits up by managing marvelous meals with rationed food. My mum had a particular talent for cooking and baking for a large brood with meagre ingredients.
These homemakers knitted millions of scarves, socks and mittens, ran endless raffles and organized care packages for shipping to men overseas in need of comforts from home. Add to that the sacrifice of their treasured hosiery for the sake of parachutes!
They also exhibited compassion and recognition of the fact even the enemy was someone's son. I recall a German plane crash landing at the end of our street early in the war and housewives coming out with cups of tea to soothe the anxious pilot while awaiting the arrival of military police.
In my teenage years before I was old enough to sign up, I belonged to the anti-aircraft battery home guard where women were given the tasks of plotting the incoming and interception of enemy aircraft as well as directing the guns.
They would manipulate barrage balloons that were as large as a room and send them aloft to force the enemy to fly higher. I remember an incident in Green Wrythe Lane in my town of Carshalton where enemy aircraft let off a round of bullets causing casualties among these woman performing this daunting task.
Of great importance were the nurses and other medical personnel, many working under harsh and harrowing conditions close to battle lines, and female ambulance drivers who jumped in and assisted the fire brigade during the blitz.
Mustn't forget the volunteers. I recall boarding a train at Waterloo Station as a young airman, not knowing where I was headed and feeling grateful for the presence of the Women's Voluntary Service busily passing around cups of tea and plates of biscuits.
That first time I wondered why servicemen were putting on gloves before being handed their tea. It was soon apparent - crockery being at a premium, glass jam jars were used instead of mugs for the steaming liquid and I can tell you I caught on quickly and didn't burn my hands a second time.
Let's pay tribute to the singers, dancers, actresses and starlets who gave of their time and safety, some travelling out to the most remote of camps to put on shows for appreciative audiences. Paulette Goddard flew all the way from Hollywood to Burma to pay us a Christmastime visit.
So let's all give a tip of our hats to the plucky women who contributed to the war effort in so many ways. Now, as is expected from me, I'll end this tribute off with a bit of humour.
As you may or may not know, at war's end mutinies by servicemen were a common occurrence due to it taking so long to be sent home after peace had been declared.
A friend told me about a particular incident he witnessed in Halifax, where a ruckus at a Navy yard had spilled out into the streets.
In describing the scene to his wife, he emphasized the extent of the riot by telling her WRENS had been running naked through the city. She pondered a moment, then asked "If they weren't wearing their uniforms, how did you know they were WRENS?"
An astute woman.
