My mother, Patricia Kilner born 1921, was recruited into the ATS in India, where she was living at the outbreak of WWII. She was sent to Sarafand as 'Corporal Kilner' to help train the women you describe above. My mother died in 2009 but during her life told me some amusing anecdotes about working with the Jewish women who arrived in the camp from all over, including refugees from Europe. I have a little note that accompanied a gift to her (I don't know what that was)which reads "ATS Training-(illegible), 24th August 1942. We wish that this little gift will be a constant memory to you, and will remind you of us who, though we were very troublesome and tiresome, thank you very much for everything you did to turn us into real soliders. Yours truly, Hut 9". The writing is in a very European hand, possibly German. It is possible that I have some photographs but would have to ask my brother who keeps the albums.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now