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We All Wore Blue: Experiences in the WAAF
Muriel Gane was just eighteen when war was declared on. 3 September 1939: Keen to enlist and help the war effort, she was nonetheless young, nervous and leaving home for the first time. "We All Wore Blue" is the story of Muriel's subsequent experiences with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, her personal journey from the new recruit whose primary obsession was how well the blue of the uniform suited her, to a resolute and hard-working young woman with a wide social life and successful air-force career. Illustrated with family photographs, this book gives the reader a unique glimpse into the changing role of women and their experiences throughout the troubled years of the Second World War. It is the sequel to the moving "One Family's War", which relates the experiences of the Gane family during wartime.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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February 21, 2016
I should have written a review for this book before reading Pip Beck's book "Keeping Watch" on basically the same topic, of serving in the WAAF during WWII. Before I read that book, I thought this short book of 158 pages a real fun and interesting book. I still do, but if one wants a more detailed book on what life really was like in the WAAF, I would recommend Pip Beck's book and not this one.
Muriel Gane joined the WAAF's because their uniform in blue matched her blonde hair and blue eyes so well, in her opinion. And to look well was very important to her. You notice that when she plans for her wedding and without any hesitation spends a fortune at Harrods and such places, to get wonderful underwear and all sorts of other gorgeous outfits.
That is the problem with this book, that it made me wonder if she just looked upon the war as a fantastic way of having an adventure. There does not seem to be any qualms about people starving in London and being bombed out. No qualms about her mother getting things on the black market.
Does a book about a beautiful and very privileged girl in the WAAF really give a truthful view of what life was like during those years? As a historian I am not so sure. She broke many rules by dating officers that ought to have stayed clear of her. She never had any money problems. Nor problems with attaining items that everyone else had difficulty getting hold of because of the rations. And in Pip Beck's book we are told that WAAFs were terribly looked down on since the opinion was that these girls were there to find a husband.
It was fun to read about all of Muriel's young men and romances but at the same time, I can understand why the WAAFs got a bad reputation in this respect. She did marry in 1943 and got pregnant on her wedding night. Had I been in charge anywhere in the WAAF I would have been livid with her. There was protection in those days. And since she joined the force in 1939, they had wasted so much training on her. She was constantly on courses, being trained for greater things, getting a commission, only to throw it all away and the WAAF having to start all over with someone else mid-war. You can't help falling in love, and if you no longer want to serve with your collegues fighting against a German mad man, but choose motherhood instead, I guess that is your choice. But finishing this book, I was disappointed because I felt let down, the WAAF must have felt let down, and perhaps she ought not have talked so proudly of it all.
After a while I got the feel that she really was in the force to find romance, excitement and husband. She writes that she did not keep up contact with any of the girls she got to know during these war years. It just proves the point, that she never got really truly involved in her work. If one fights side by side, bonds are created that can never be broken. So a fun read, with some fun anecdotes, romance, parties, dances, care-free youths, but it lacks THE WAR somehow.
Muriel Gane joined the WAAF's because their uniform in blue matched her blonde hair and blue eyes so well, in her opinion. And to look well was very important to her. You notice that when she plans for her wedding and without any hesitation spends a fortune at Harrods and such places, to get wonderful underwear and all sorts of other gorgeous outfits.
That is the problem with this book, that it made me wonder if she just looked upon the war as a fantastic way of having an adventure. There does not seem to be any qualms about people starving in London and being bombed out. No qualms about her mother getting things on the black market.
Does a book about a beautiful and very privileged girl in the WAAF really give a truthful view of what life was like during those years? As a historian I am not so sure. She broke many rules by dating officers that ought to have stayed clear of her. She never had any money problems. Nor problems with attaining items that everyone else had difficulty getting hold of because of the rations. And in Pip Beck's book we are told that WAAFs were terribly looked down on since the opinion was that these girls were there to find a husband.
It was fun to read about all of Muriel's young men and romances but at the same time, I can understand why the WAAFs got a bad reputation in this respect. She did marry in 1943 and got pregnant on her wedding night. Had I been in charge anywhere in the WAAF I would have been livid with her. There was protection in those days. And since she joined the force in 1939, they had wasted so much training on her. She was constantly on courses, being trained for greater things, getting a commission, only to throw it all away and the WAAF having to start all over with someone else mid-war. You can't help falling in love, and if you no longer want to serve with your collegues fighting against a German mad man, but choose motherhood instead, I guess that is your choice. But finishing this book, I was disappointed because I felt let down, the WAAF must have felt let down, and perhaps she ought not have talked so proudly of it all.
After a while I got the feel that she really was in the force to find romance, excitement and husband. She writes that she did not keep up contact with any of the girls she got to know during these war years. It just proves the point, that she never got really truly involved in her work. If one fights side by side, bonds are created that can never be broken. So a fun read, with some fun anecdotes, romance, parties, dances, care-free youths, but it lacks THE WAR somehow.
Displaying 1 of 1 review