EILEEN LAYS A GHOST TO REST

Eileen has returned to the site of a concentration camp where she worked as a translator following the end of World War Two. The notorious Fort Breendonk, situated near Antwerp, was captured by the Nazis during their invasion of Belgium; re-purposed into a prison camp for political prisoners, resistance members and Jews, the site witnessed innumerable tortures and executions until its liberation by Allied forces in 1944.

Eileen was in Belgium to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the death of dambuster Guy Gibson, and hadn't originally intended to revisit Breendonk. Her reluctance is understandable. Not long after VE day, Eileen was drafted to unearth, and to explain to RAF officers, the extent of the atrocities carried out in the camp; on top of the horrors related to her, which included human waterwheels and boiling-water showers, she also had to contend with the Belgian collaborators then imprisoned there.

However, with the assistance of two RAF cadets, ultimately Eileen took the opportunity to, in her own words, 'lay a ghost to rest', and spent a day touring the memorial museum into which the camp has been converted. Though glad to have done so, Eileen described the trip as 'very sombre'. Much of what she recalls from her service remains: the blood-stained posts to which prisoners were tied prior to being shot, the gallows, the mud field in which prisoners were buried up to their neck.

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WAR HEROES' REUNION

Eileen Younghusband, author of One Woman’s War, joined eighty of her fellow veterans at Bletchley Park this week to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of operations beginning at the site.  Now a museum, the code-breaking and intelligence operations conducted at the mansion are credited with shortening the Second World War by ‘two to four years’.

For many decades after the end of the war, employees of Bletchley Park were so tight-lipped about their top-secret work that Churchill labelled them ‘the geese that laid the golden eggs and never cackled’. However, with a major new film on their operations soon to be released, recognition for, and interest in, the team that cracked the enigma cipher is at an all-time high.

Eileen herself joined the war effort when she was nineteen, in 1941, and served as a Filterer Officer on RAF bases across the country.  Her own story went untold for years, she, like her colleagues,  having signed the Official Secrets Act; it is now available in One Woman’s War, an autobiography that is a testament to the invaluable work of the WAAF in the fight against fascism.

CURTAIN UP

Eileen Younghusband’s One Woman’s War has been turned into a play for the first time! Two French school students took on the task and the curtain goes up today.

Eileen was thrilled to receive an email from Parisian students Isaure and Elvire who had chosen to base their school history project on One Woman’s War. The sixteen-year-olds felt Eileen’s book was an excellent resource for their presentation on Women in the RAF and contacted her with a few questions. Eileen has been in regular contact with the pair, one of whom is playing her in the assessed performance, and wishes them the best of luck with their upcoming exams.

REMEMBERING THE FEW

Last month Eileen attended the 72^nd annual Battle of Britain Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey. Upon her arrival, Eileen was greeted and saluted by a guard of honour and her walk into the Abbey was framed by lines of RAF officers. She was then escorted to her reserved seat by current members of the RAF. She was seated with fellow veterans of the RADAR and Filter Room and next to fellow author Patricia Robbins (also known as, Claire Lorrimer). A number of pilots from the Battle of Britain and their families were also in attendance. The service was instigated in 1943 and originally held in St Paul’s Cathedral until the Battle of Britain Memorial Window was unveiled in the Abbey by King George VI in 1947.

The Chaplin in Chief, Raymond Pentland, gave the sermon, making reference to plotters and other members of the Dowding system that served in the Battle of Britain. The veterans were also honoured by the presence of royalty – the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. Eileen really enjoyed the day and valued the opportunity to view the commemorative window at such a prestigious event. 

Hayley Cox

V2 ROCKET FOUND IN HARWICH

Recently a V2 rocket used during the Second World War was discovered in Harwich Harbour, Essex. A local sailing club spotted what looked like the tail of a rocket breaking the service of the water. Once the police had been informed a team of Royal Navy divers were called to the scene to investigate, as well as the Bomb Disposal Squad. WW2 veteran, Eileen Younghusband, knows all too well about the dangers of the V2 rockets. She served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and was tasked with detecting and tracking enemy planes and the V2 rockets in the wartime Filter Rooms.

90-year-old Eileen, who was the first person to track a V2 rocket, feels the location of the discovered V2 is quite interesting. She said: “It’s all very strange. It’s not where I would have expected it to be. The V2s were designed to travel great distances. If they were launched from Pas-de-Calais they were aimed at London, from Rotterdam they were aimed at Antwerp. This one must have been faulty.”

She continues: “These weapons were so different from the bombing of the Blitz when people could see and hear the aircraft and recognise that our fighters were up there retaliating. The V2s were something else. If you heard one, the chances are you were going to die."

Eileen’s book, ‘One Woman’s War’, which details her time in the Filter Room, is available now from www.onewomanswar.co.uk.

ONE WOMAN'S WAR - COMING SOON ON DVD!

Candy Jar is pleased to announce the forthcoming DVD, based on the critically acclaimed memoir One Woman's War by Eileen Younghusband.

Eileen Younghusband (90) was just 18 when she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). She quickly demonstrated her keen intellect and mathematical skills, playing a crucial role in Fighter Command’s underground Filter Room.

Working grueling shifts under enormous pressure she and her companions worked tirelessly, tracking the swarms of enemy aircraft that sought to break the British resolve. She even had the dubious honour of detecting the first of Hitler’s devastating V2 rockets as it fell on an unsuspecting London.

In 2011, Candy Jar Books published Eileen's memoir to critical and commercial success.

Now, this DVD goes beyond the book and delves deeper into Eileen's wartime experiences as she gives a frank and revealing interview about her experiences leading up to and during the Second World War.
Running Time: Approx. 60mins

Format: PAL, Widescreen (16:9)

Classification: Exempt

The One Woman's War DVD will be available this spring. To pre-order your copy of the DVD, please go here. Any orders made prior to release with benefit from priority dispatch.
www.onewomanswar.co.uk

www.candy-jar.co.uk