Under Fire: The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver

by Naomi Clifford

The true story of June Spencer, debutante and volunteer ambulance driver in Chelsea during the Blitz, told through her remarkable diaries.
"We would say to each other ‘here it comes’ and would listen to the whining whizz which sounded like it was for us every time."
DANVERS STREET AMBULANCE STATION, 8 September 1940

LONDON IN THE SUMMER OF 1940
June Spencer volunteers for the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service in Chelsea. Every night she writes up the day’s events in her diary, whether it’s driving in a hail of incendiaries, peeling potatoes for the crews, or loading broken and bleeding victims into her ambulance.

She also records her hectic social life – dining at the Ritz, dancing at the Café de Paris and partying with the artists, writers and aristos in her set. But below the surface is turmoil and heartache: dear friends killed in action, relationships cracking under pressure and a growing dissatisfaction with her role in London.

Using June’s vivid first-hand accounts of life in the thick of the Blitz, Naomi Clifford paints a vivid picture of a young woman navigating the perils of home front life.

230 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

13 Park Lane is Naomi’s debut historical crime novel and is based on a real-life case from 1872 in which Marguerite Diblanc, a young Belgian cook, murdered her mistress, a mysterious French widow.

Naomi Clifford grew up in London. After reading history at Bristol University, she spent two years in Nashville, Tennessee, and following her return worked for a variety of magazines and websites.

She has published several non-fiction history books focusing primarily on women and crime.

Reviews

[Cheryl Burman]

Bought for research purposes and well worth it. Naomi Clifford does a wonderful job of filling in the factual detail around June (the diarist)'s sparse entries. June herself comes across as a strong-minded young woman, and obviously not adored by all. But her reaction to the Blitz is worth reading for its glimpses into the mental as well as physical hardship of the time. Just as many, for example, in Ukraine are suffering exactly the same today.

[Hilary Tesh]

After deciphering June Spencer’s diaries - apparently her hand writing wasn’t always clear - the author selected entries and used them as the framework against which historical information and experiences from other memoirs of the time were set, when bombs rained down on London and the population relied on volunteers like June to drive ambulances, fire watch act as ARP wardens etc. June’s diary entries were, in the main, rather sparse, recording her busy social life as a former debutante and often only mentioning when she went on or off duty at the ambulance station. Only occasionally does she go into more detail of what her work actually entailed - which would have been more interesting. The author postulates that this may have been June’s way of coping with the trauma she witnessed. A trip to Tresco, Isles of Scilly made me smile - being sick on the Scillonian on the crossing still happens on the 4th boat carrying that name! (But Tresco isn’t the largest of the Islands!) Loads of names to take in - including politician AP Herbert and authors Mary Wesley and Frances Faviell, both of whom I’d read. Mostly better to let the numerous slide by, but an appendix on my kindle edition provided information about many of them, some more interesting than others. Rather a dry account overall without much sense of June’s actual work as a volunteer ambulance driver.

[Frances Kitson]

This is a riveting account of the dark and terrifying days of the London Blitz. Naomi Clifford has used June Spencer's diary entries, most of which are a record of what she did, where and when, as a framework for a rich evocation of the tensions, horrors, fear and occasional tedium of her work as a London Ambulance Driver during the horrific and deadly bombings. June was a newly presented debutante, thrown into the most gruelling and heart-breaking work when war broke out. As a survival mechanism, after working all day, she and many like her threw themselves into a whirlwind of parties, dances, soirees and chance encounters. Clifford's meticulous research unveils and brings alive the places, people and events of this double life, in a story that is as gripping and tense as any novel.

[Katelyn]

Wow--Naomi Clifford has done some serious research to write this book. "Under Fire" features diary excerpts from June Spencer, an upper middle class British woman who lived in London and drove an ambulance during WWII, including during the blitz. I've read other diaries where the entire book is the person's diary. Instead, most of this book is Clifford's in-depth research about June Spencer and what her life was like, with brief diary entries (Spencer was not effusive) throughout.

[Tiffany Johnstone]

Absolutely brilliant from start to finish for history lovers.

[Teri]

I only finished half- it wasn’t taking me there. I appreciate the research but this wasn’t the account I had hoped for.

[Alex]

An good, if little dry account of life for an ambulance driver's service during the Blitz. I felt that the diaries while interesting didn't really give a full idea of what life was like for an ambulance driver at that time.