The war in England

Name: Fances Mary Outhwaite
Place of birth: Mortlake, Surrey, UK. She is an American citizen and longtime Burlington resident
Date of birth: Oct. 7, 1923
Branch of service: Canadian Women's Army Corps
Service dates: March 1943 to April 1946
Highest rank: Corporal
Unit, Division, etc.: Ipperwash Infantry Training Center, Ontario, Canada and #41 Company CWAC London, England.
Medals, special awards:  Canadian Volunteer Service Medal
Special duties, highlights: Army clerical, worked in the Orderly Room.
In her words: (Taken from an article she wrote and was published in 1989 in the San Diego Union, Outhwaite returns to England for a visit and remembrances of England during the war):
"London was cold and gray when I fled it on that foggy November day in 1939. A refugee from the war, I did not see my homeland again until six years later when I returned as a member of the Canadian Women's Army Corps. The city was blacked out, sooty and grubby, full of bomb-shattered buildings, Its population looked terribly tired and worn."
"This part of London (Hyde Park area) holds memories for me. I was barracked at Lord Aberconways' gorgeous town house ... the last home of great size to be built in Mayfair ... I remember, also, #41 Company and the camaraderie we shared ... It is here that, in 1945, a flying rocket burst, blowing a gigantic hole in the ground. The incredibility of that day returns as I remember dashing out of the barracks over a sheaf of broken glass, to stand, breathless and unbelieving, at the very edge of the awesome crater."
"...in August 1945, I watched the Victory parade ... King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and princesses Elizabeth and Margaret coming into view up Ludgate Hill in an open landau coach pulled by four gray horses ... The bells of St. Paul's and all the bells of London were pealing in a clamorous victory hurrah."
"At Queen Victoria's memorial ... I remember climbing one of the regal lions on the memorial in order to see the King and Queen waving to the thousands of jubilant people celebrating victory below their palace balconey. I didn't go to bed that victory night, but danced and sang away the hours with the crowds in the street."
[Of Big Ben]: "During the air raids of 1941, all the glass in the south clock face was broken but the clock itself and the bells were undamaged. The faithful chiming of Big Ben was a morale booster during those weary years of British defiance of Hitler's relentless bombardments."