The day after her 17th birthday, Eileen Moseley signed up to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, a part of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force.
It was July 1942 and she had only recently lived through the bombing of her home in England during the Blitz, her daughter Melanie Rantucci said, but was undeterred and “still anxious to join up.”
Today, nearly 80 years since Moseley’s time with the air force ended, she’ll be honoured in White Rock, B.C., as part of a larger ceremony for surviving World War II veterans.
“It is a bit overwhelming,” the now 99-year-old told CBC’s Gloria Macarenko. “It brings back so many memories.”
Moseley served from July 1942 until September 1946. At least 75 million people were killed during the course of the war, which began in September 1939 and lasted six years.
While wartime memories often trigger stress, sadness or anger, Moseley recalls that time fondly, thinking of the friends she made and the things she did while in the air force.
Friendship, dancing
When she began her military career, Moseley took an aptitude test to figure out where her talents may lie, her daughter said, and ended up in motor mechanics, where she was also a driver.
“We had to pick up all sorts of people that were ditched from aircraft,” Moseley recalled. “They were picked up and brought back because they [had crashed in the water.] We were bombed all day and all night sometimes.”
But she enjoyed being a driver, and said it made her feel “free.”
The 99-year-old said she was lodged in a seaside town, where she and other officers slept on cots in an attic. Their landlady kept them fed — though the food, often a potato and a spoonful of minced beef, left little to be desired.
“It was like dishwater,” Moseley said.
She also remembers going for drinks with other members of the U.K. military while there.
“We had a few friends and we went out,” she said.
And she got up to other fun too.
One time, Moseley said, she and two other women — a singer and a tap dancer — got together and choreographed a show for the “army boys,” who Moseley said didn’t have a pub to unwind in during their off hours.
A pilot’s wife, who worked for the BBC, gave them tips on putting together a stage production, and a seamstress made dance uniforms — pleated skirts and halter tops — from white sheets, Moseley said.
“We did a little dance to the men and that went down pretty well,” she said with a smile.
Moseley’s daughter, Rantucci, said it was a delight for her mother, who had always wanted to try tap dancing.
Growing up, Rantucci said she and her sister heard many stories of her parents during the war, many of which had a positive spin.
“When my mom and dad would talk about this, it would only be like 10, 15 years ago for them when all that happened,” she said.
“By all accounts, although there was danger, of course, I think they enjoyed being away from home and meeting friends.”
While her mother is being honoured this year, Rantucci said the whole family pays tribute to her parents each year, acknowledging what they did for their country and for their families.