0:00:03 > 0:00:06It's 100 years since the first pioneering women
0:00:06 > 0:00:08joined the British Armed Forces.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13Today, women serve alongside men
0:00:13 > 0:00:15together in combat on the front line.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19If you can do it and you want to do it, you should be able to.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21To see how much things have changed...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23- Love it!- How do I look?
0:00:23 > 0:00:26..five well-known faces revisit either their own...
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Morning, ma'am. I'm the captain of HMS Puncher.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30You called me ma'am. How sweet!
0:00:30 > 0:00:32..or a family member's military past.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35They just got stuck in!
0:00:35 > 0:00:37It was exciting.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Always intense.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42From defending land,
0:00:42 > 0:00:43sea...
0:00:43 > 0:00:46- I don't want to go that way. - ..and air.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51These are the extraordinary stories of a century of women at war.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Today, actor Edward Fox discovers the sacrifices
0:01:01 > 0:01:03made by women like his aunt Mary
0:01:03 > 0:01:06who fought on the home front during World War II.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10She was a bit like a very delicate, strict colonel.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15He's bowled over by a veteran of the Women's Land Army
0:01:15 > 0:01:18who still wears her uniform with pride.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Iris! It's brilliant!
0:01:21 > 0:01:23And meets a woman who helped build the planes
0:01:23 > 0:01:25that many have claimed won the war.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27The Lancaster bombers.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30- It's an extraordinary sight, isn't it?- It is. It's so big!
0:01:30 > 0:01:33- It's so big!- Yes.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Edward also explores the vital roles that women have played
0:01:36 > 0:01:40in non-combat roles on the front line, from this Army medic...
0:01:40 > 0:01:45And then I was, like, thrown forward and then I lost consciousness.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49..to the wartime nurses who saved his own father's life.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52So, you can see the wound there. Quite big.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Gunshot wounds can be difficult because it could have hit vessels,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57it could have hit nerves, it could have put your lung down,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59it could have hit your heart.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06In the 1970s, Edward Fox became a Hollywood star,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08often playing British officers
0:02:08 > 0:02:10in some of the biggest movies of the day.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13The plan is called Operation Market Garden.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17Market is the airborne element and Garden, the ground forces.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22But his own wartime experience was very different
0:02:22 > 0:02:24from the one he portrayed on the silver screen.
0:02:24 > 0:02:31I can remember being given this military hat to wear.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34And even now, I can sort of feel
0:02:34 > 0:02:37the delight of wearing this military hat.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Born just two years before the conflict broke out,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Edward's early years were dominated by the shadow of war.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51My mother used to put the wireless on for my brother and I
0:02:51 > 0:02:56to listen to at night and it was the time when Mr Churchill,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Mr Churchill was giving his wartime speeches.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13The vivid memory I have
0:03:13 > 0:03:18is this magnificent voice talking to me,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20directly to me,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22and the message it was telling me
0:03:22 > 0:03:26was that there was some trouble definitely, there was trouble.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29But that I had nothing to fear.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32To me, four or five years old...
0:03:34 > 0:03:39..and I knew then I could go to sleep and all would be well.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45But in reality, things were far from well.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50As the conflict raged, Britain's very future hung in the balance.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53And Edward's parents, both in their 20s,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56were thrown headlong into the war effort.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Edward's father went to fight on the Continent
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and with the men on the front line,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04it was down to the women, like Edward's mother,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06to keep the home fires burning.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11I can remember the kind of time when there were many,
0:04:11 > 0:04:17many soldiers, many of them Canadian, some Scottish, English,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20a lot of the officers were always in the house.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23My mother and my aunt, who is there,
0:04:23 > 0:04:28entertained and provided food and drink and all of that.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Edward is fascinated by the various roles women have played
0:04:33 > 0:04:36on both the home front and supporting troops on the front line.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38From the First World War to today.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Drawing on the World War II experiences of close family members,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48he wants to highlight the huge wartime contribution
0:04:48 > 0:04:50of women over the past 100 years.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57The conditions that women lived under during the war
0:04:57 > 0:05:01is somewhat forgotten, but of course, it was crucial.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Whether that is looking after your children
0:05:04 > 0:05:07or other people's children as well.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Or whether it's working in factories,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14making parts for armaments of all kinds,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17or working on farms,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21doing more or less the same work as a man would do.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26They just got stuck in to whatever needed doing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31And that was a commitment that women made in just as strongly for what
0:05:31 > 0:05:37they could do in a wartime situation as men who, as men, would say,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41"We go to defend our country and to fight an enemy."
0:05:43 > 0:05:45The home front during World War II
0:05:45 > 0:05:48stretched from the hearth to the factories and fields.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Women took on all manner of vital roles in the war effort,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57from air raid wardens and bus conductors
0:05:57 > 0:05:59to nurses and munitions workers.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Edward's aunt Mary was one of millions of women
0:06:02 > 0:06:05who enthusiastically accepted the call to do their bit.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Mary was as tough as a man.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12She was a bit like a very delicate, strict colonel.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16But she would have no nonsense with anything.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18She'd do anything.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Mary left London for rural Cornwall,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24where women were needed in their thousands to help work the land.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Mary, being of the nature that she was, she embraced hard work,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32embraced anything that she could do to...
0:06:33 > 0:06:36..contribute to, again, the war effort.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40And farming, of course, was vitally important
0:06:40 > 0:06:45because the question of whether the country would have been able to
0:06:45 > 0:06:50provide for itself with its own producing was crucial.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Mary was just one of millions of women desperately needed
0:06:54 > 0:06:57to fill the labour shortages created by war.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01From 1941, young women were conscripted
0:07:01 > 0:07:03either in to support roles to the military
0:07:03 > 0:07:06or to essential civilian work like food production.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Women's Land Army was created,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14building on past experiences from World War I,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16when the threat of starvation saw the mobilisation
0:07:16 > 0:07:19of large numbers of women into agricultural roles.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Although she never officially joined the Women's Land Army,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Edward's aunt Mary worked on several farms in Cornwall
0:07:28 > 0:07:29throughout the war.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Where, like many others,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36she threw herself wholeheartedly into the urgent business
0:07:36 > 0:07:38of harvesting crops and rearing livestock.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Mary died five years ago,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46so to fully understand the contribution she made,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Edward's travelling to North Yorkshire to meet an ex-Land Girl.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52This is lovely.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54A lovely Yorkshire village.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Like Mary, Iris Newbould gave up the relative comforts of the city
0:08:00 > 0:08:02for the tougher outdoor life of the country.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Gosh, you could be 25 years old!
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Aw, bless.- You're beautiful. - Not bad for 92, is it?
0:08:11 > 0:08:12Wonderful!
0:08:12 > 0:08:18Iris was stationed here in the village of Langton in 1943.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- You lived in this house during the war, did you?- Yes.- Did you?
0:08:22 > 0:08:26- Lovely house to live in, too. - It was.- Bit basic, I should think?
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Very. No gas, no electricity, no water.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35For two years, I just stayed here, living in the cottage
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and working within a 12-mile radius of this village.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44When you first came to live here, Iris, how old were you?
0:08:44 > 0:08:47- 18.- 18?- Yes, yes!
0:08:47 > 0:08:50As Iris was approaching conscription age,
0:08:50 > 0:08:53a news report calling for women to join the Land Army
0:08:53 > 0:08:55had a dramatic effect on her.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57I was sat in the cinema.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00It came on the Gaumont British news.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Speaking of what's going to be happening.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07We're going to have food rationing,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11there's not enough stocks to last too long,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15so you'll have to be a little bit more self-sufficient,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18so my country needs me, I'm going to feed the nation.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It was in my head to do that.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24So, I came here quite proud. "I've come to feed you all!"
0:09:26 > 0:09:27"Where do I start?"
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Women conscripted into the services to support the war effort
0:09:32 > 0:09:34were often confined to military bases.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38But the Land Girls like Iris,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40their place of work was the open fields
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and farmyards of rural Britain.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46It was very deep in dung and...
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Yes, it would have been. Very useful stuff, too.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53- Marvellous stuff.- Yes. - Yeah, and quite pungent.
0:09:54 > 0:09:55Yes, very!
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And then, we used to put it on carts sometimes and take it down
0:09:59 > 0:10:02into the fields and spread it out.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04- Called muck spreading.- Exactly.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Iris is returning with Edward to one of the farms
0:10:08 > 0:10:11where she was placed over 70 years ago
0:10:11 > 0:10:13to help him understand what life would have been like
0:10:13 > 0:10:15for his aunt Mary during the war.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19But adapting to the demands of farming life
0:10:19 > 0:10:22wasn't always easy for city girls like Iris.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27When you first arrived, you were in very foreign land to you, really.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30- Very much so.- And everything that was going on
0:10:30 > 0:10:31would have been strange?
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Yes, I can remember feeling bewildered and gosh, you know...
0:10:36 > 0:10:38I don't know, I know I was up to the job
0:10:38 > 0:10:41but whether I could do it well enough for them.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Because I'd had a weekend at an instruction farm
0:10:44 > 0:10:47and that was all the training I ever got.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50But in time, women like Iris
0:10:50 > 0:10:52and Edward's aunt Mary proved their worth.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Toiling tirelessly to relieve labour shortages in farming,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59no matter how demanding the work.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05Many, many jobs and activities were undertaken here.
0:11:05 > 0:11:12All requiring this output of food product for the nation.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Yes, from morning to night, there was work and more difficult
0:11:16 > 0:11:19because there was no mechanisation as we know it.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21It was horse and carts.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25How was the hay cut then?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28- By scythe? By hand?- Yes.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Say there's four of us, each with a scythe,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34and you would go mowing along.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38I was left-handed and you're going with a scythe but left-handed
0:11:38 > 0:11:40- would go the opposite way.- Yep.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44And so, they used to say, "Change hands, change hands!"
0:11:44 > 0:11:47And then, of course, I'm not in complete control.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49They're jumping out of the way.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53"Send her to the back. We're going to lose a foot here!"
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- So, I had to go to the back.- Yes.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59And then, buttering away about women and with the men gone.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01We were not very popular.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05I think because they were quite sarcastic with the townies,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09"What do they know?" I used to say, "I'll show them.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11"We're as good as they are!"
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And so, I learnt and I got the respect
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and they knew and we were all friendly in the end.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21Women like Iris and Mary
0:12:21 > 0:12:24were energised by the call to do their bit for the country
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and work the land with pride.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32They were told that this was work to produce food for the nation
0:12:32 > 0:12:37which needed it, and that to get up every day and get stuck in and do it
0:12:37 > 0:12:38was what the nation needed.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43And the need was immense.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49Food shortfalls meant that almost 1.5 million acres of underused land
0:12:49 > 0:12:51had to be rapidly cultivated.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55For farming historian Dr Mike Tyler,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57this huge task would have been impossible
0:12:57 > 0:13:00without the efforts of the Land Girls.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03British agriculture at the start of the war in that period
0:13:03 > 0:13:07was looking at a shortage of around 30,000 pairs of hands.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- Put it in those terms, 30,000 pairs of hands.- Right.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14And of course, that labour has to come from somewhere.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19The Land Army was very, very effective in mobilising volunteers.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Bringing people, young girls out and then saying,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25"Right, where do these people need to go?
0:13:25 > 0:13:27"Where do these girls need to go?
0:13:27 > 0:13:30"Where can they make the biggest impact?"
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Helping with land drainage was one of the things.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35The process of ploughing is very time-consuming.
0:13:35 > 0:13:41My aunt Mary was farming from that time, absolutely.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43But I remember one of the things she said was,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46"We used to plough right up to the edge of the cliff."
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Yes.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54- To use every foot of land that they could.- Yes.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Putting the hypothetical question to you,
0:13:57 > 0:14:02supposing that Land Girl Army had not been available,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05not been willing, for instance,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09or just not been there to use for whatever reason,
0:14:09 > 0:14:16how would that have affected the dire situation of food production?
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Well, it would have been a catastrophe.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23- A catastrophe.- If that million and a half acres of land
0:14:23 > 0:14:25hadn't come back into production,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29if those 30,000 pairs of hands that the Land Girls provided
0:14:29 > 0:14:33hadn't been in, the food would not have been on the plates
0:14:33 > 0:14:36and you would have quite seriously been looking at...
0:14:36 > 0:14:38- Starvation.- Starvation.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43The war effort drew on a huge reserve of female labour.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Conscripting millions of women to work in the fields and factories
0:14:47 > 0:14:49as well as supporting the forces.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54And their war experiences often had a long-lasting effect on them.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Edward's aunt Mary remained in Cornwall after the war,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01working as a farmer for the rest of her life.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05As for Iris, she still treasures her photos
0:15:05 > 0:15:08from a time she'll never forget.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11This one tells me that you were a very happy girl.
0:15:11 > 0:15:12Yes, I was.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16They were days that changed my life.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18It changed my view of the world.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21And it made me a better person.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Really? A better person?
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Absolutely, because there was no mum and dad there to help in any way.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29You were on your own two feet.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33You just did the best you could and while we were growing the food,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38and I saw it had been planted and taken care off and harvested,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41that was our job, it was a useful time.
0:15:41 > 0:15:42I thought, "This is wonderful.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45"We are feeding the nation, it's there before my eyes!"
0:15:45 > 0:15:51And knowing that life had a very significant purpose.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55- Absolutely.- You had to stand up and be counted.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57- It's a good expression.- Yes!
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Sometimes when life goes that way, there's nothing else you can do.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Absolutely.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Anyway, I forgot, I've got a surprise for you.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08- Yeah.- Excuse me. I'll have a look.
0:16:09 > 0:16:1392-year-old Iris has made a big impression on Edward.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16He is delighted that the plucky spirit of the Land Girls
0:16:16 > 0:16:18is still alive and well.
0:16:18 > 0:16:19- Ta-dah!- I say!
0:16:19 > 0:16:23Iris, you darling girl.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25- You are wonderful. - Come and get me!
0:16:27 > 0:16:29- Really great. - That's my little dream now.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34- On the boards.- It's brilliant!
0:16:34 > 0:16:38- I thought you might like it. - Oh, I think it's wonderful.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Yeah! Lovely.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Iris's story, though she's younger than my aunt Mary,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49but they were doing exactly the same work together in the war
0:16:49 > 0:16:54and although they will have made light of it then,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59actually without the work of the Women's Land Army
0:16:59 > 0:17:04and the women's war effort, there would have been a serious depletion
0:17:04 > 0:17:07in food production for the nation.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15That's a remembrance worth having.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Just as the Land Girls defied expectations in both World Wars,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24so too did those women who took on support roles in the military.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Every one of them paving the way for women of today
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and inspiring many to serve in the Armed Forces and on the front line.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42I think it's amazing what they did and to see where we've come now
0:17:42 > 0:17:44and to look back at that.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48I'm really proud to be able to do the job that I do
0:17:48 > 0:17:50because of what they did for us.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55I think they were very courageous at a time where society maybe
0:17:55 > 0:17:59wasn't fully supportive of them in that kind of role.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I can't imagine trying to forge my way
0:18:02 > 0:18:05as one of the first pioneering females into the military
0:18:05 > 0:18:08because I imagine it must have been really difficult
0:18:08 > 0:18:12and because of them, we're here now and we've got mixed forces
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and everything is just great, to be honest.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18They've paved the way to where we are now
0:18:18 > 0:18:23and I'm very proud to be serving in their sort of footsteps, really.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29100 years after the first women joined the military,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31female personnel regularly work
0:18:31 > 0:18:34in extremely dangerous front line roles.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Edward is meeting Sgt Sinead Dodds, who in 2013, aged 20,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43was deployed as a combat medic in Afghanistan.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Five weeks after her arrival,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51she was out on patrol when her armoured vehicle was attacked.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55A civilian vehicle drove past the patrols on the ground.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00And then drove into the side of our vehicle and detonated.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Do you remember what happened then?
0:19:03 > 0:19:10I remember at the time, I remember being forced back into my seat.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15A big warm blast pushing me back into my seat,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19and then I was thrown forward and then I'd lost consciousness.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24When Sinead came to, her vehicle was on fire and full of smoke.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29After checking on the driver who was wounded but conscious,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32she went to help her badly injured commanding officer.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36So, I managed to pull him up and keep him sat up.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41And he was in between consciousness
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and I knew he had a problem with his airway.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47He couldn't clear his airway very well
0:19:47 > 0:19:49and there was blood around his mouth,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52so I managed to help him clear his airway a little bit
0:19:52 > 0:19:54and keep him sat up.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Despite suffering from concussion, Sinead was able to
0:19:58 > 0:20:00keep her casualties stable until help arrived.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05You were rightly awarded a decoration.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08Can you tell me about that?
0:20:08 > 0:20:11So, a couple of months after I got back from Afghanistan,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16I was called into the colonel's office and he had told me
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that I was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22- Yes.- So, it was a bit of a surprise.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25- Nice surprise.- Nice surprise, yes.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- Nice to be recognised. - Yes, absolutely.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31You were with a unit, all men.
0:20:32 > 0:20:38And throughout our modern army, this is very much a fact of life.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41To be honest, it's just like a normal thing to us.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44- Normal thing for you.- Normal day-to-day thing.- Just come about.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46When you're out with the soldiers, it's just...
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Professionals just doing a job and they...
0:20:48 > 0:20:52- It's just a normal thing out there. - ..treat you as another soldier.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54We're different creatures, aren't we, in many ways?
0:20:54 > 0:20:57I think the engineers, they look after the girls as well.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59- Oh, sure.- Not in a bad way.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03No, but I'm sure in a very concerned, proper way.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06- Of course.- But you don't get treated any differently.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09- You just get on with it, it's a normal thing.- Exactly.
0:21:09 > 0:21:15I could think, what is it that inspires her to commit herself
0:21:15 > 0:21:18at a very young age that requires such courage from her
0:21:18 > 0:21:21and bravery, and determination?
0:21:21 > 0:21:23And I can't honestly answer that,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27but there is something in her which does
0:21:27 > 0:21:29and I can only think that it is something...
0:21:31 > 0:21:35..certainly in humanity, but I like to think also in the British spirit.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Although during World War I and World War II,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43women weren't mobilised to fight on the front line,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48over 1.5 million were conscripted into another vital industry.
0:21:48 > 0:21:49Armaments.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52Keeping up a supply of weapons
0:21:52 > 0:21:55which were urgently needed by the troops in the field.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Aircraft production in particular soon became vitally important,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05and the supply of one ground-breaking plane,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08the Lancaster, would play a critical role
0:22:08 > 0:22:10in the entire direction of the war.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14Quite wonderful to see the sight of it. Wonderful.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Edward's come to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre
0:22:17 > 0:22:22to find out what part women played in building the Lancaster.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Just the concept of the brain that dreamed that up for the first time,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30utterly amazing and brilliant.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32It's also,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36in its own curious way, tremendously beautiful.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Just the whole skilfulness of it is beautiful.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43But to think what it was meant for.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53The arrival of the Lancaster in 1941 came just in the nick of time.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56After a disastrous start to the war,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59the RAF urgently needed a new breed of heavy bomber.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06The Lancaster, often called the Queen of the Skies, was fast,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09it could carry a high bomb load and it was very versatile.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11It could carry a bouncing bomb, for example,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14and the air crews were certainly appreciative
0:23:14 > 0:23:16of its abilities to evade combat.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22As the aerial war intensified,
0:23:22 > 0:23:24demand for Lancasters increased exponentially,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28putting greater pressure on the women workers who made them.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32In February 1942, a new commander, Sir Arthur Harris,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36takes up command of Bomber Command and there is a real shift
0:23:36 > 0:23:38in the emphasis and the escalation
0:23:38 > 0:23:41of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Of course they needed more aircraft
0:23:43 > 0:23:46and that placed demands on the industry.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49So, everybody in the nation who was involved in the production
0:23:49 > 0:23:52of these aircraft took on that responsibility.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54The people who were making the aircraft,
0:23:54 > 0:23:55the women in the factories,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58on the production lines that were doing the riveting,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00putting the engines together,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02they were giving these airmen the opportunity
0:24:02 > 0:24:04to shift the air battle over Germany.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06The role that the women played
0:24:06 > 0:24:09in the production of the Avro Lancaster was vital.
0:24:09 > 0:24:15They ensured that 7,377 of these aircraft were manufactured
0:24:15 > 0:24:17and could reach the operational squadrons.
0:24:19 > 0:24:2292-year-old Joan Rae was one of those women.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26During the war, she worked in a factory in Doncaster,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29riveting side panels for the Lancasters.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31It's an extraordinary sight, isn't it?
0:24:31 > 0:24:35- It is. It's so big. - It's so big!- Yes.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39- And yet...- And it's not so big inside for people to sit in,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42because all down the middle was where the bombs were, wasn't it?
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Yes.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48And very uncomfortable once you got in there and very cold too.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53That's a very good photograph of girls work,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56because that could have been you, couldn't it, really?
0:24:56 > 0:24:58When you were doing the riveting,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00what did it entail and how did you do it?
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Well, we had to go and pick these panels up
0:25:04 > 0:25:05and put them on a stand,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Then you had to drill the holes in the panels
0:25:09 > 0:25:10and then there was two of you.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14One put the rivets in and at the other side of the panel,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17the other lady would be knocking them down.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21- Over 12 hours in a day, too! - Some days, yes.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Did you feel that the work you were doing for the war effort
0:25:25 > 0:25:27was vitally important?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Yeah, because we had friends that we went to school with
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and everything that were in the war and they didn't come back.
0:25:33 > 0:25:39- Exactly.- And ladies working with me, their husbands and that didn't come.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Yeah, it was very sad and we knew how serious it was,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45what job we were doing, yes.
0:25:45 > 0:25:51And that everything that you and all the girls did was contributing
0:25:51 > 0:25:54in its own way to winning the war.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56- Yes, yes.- That was the feeling, wasn't it?
0:25:56 > 0:25:57Of course, yes.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Alongside riveting,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05women operated heavy machinery and pressed and hammered parts.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Freeing many thousands of men for front line duties.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15To show Joan just how vital her contribution was,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Edward has brought her to meet Rusty Warman,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21a pilot who flew one of the planes Joan helped to build.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25The intelligence officer would point out these areas,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29which are defensive areas which we had to avoid.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32This is the first time Rusty's had the opportunity
0:26:32 > 0:26:35to meet one of the women who built the Lancasters.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I believe you were involved with aeroplanes,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41building the aeroplanes during the war.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45- It was a big factory?- Yes. - So, what bits were you playing with?
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- The side panels. I was a riveter. - Were you riveting, were you?
0:26:49 > 0:26:51That's amazing.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54A lot of us were only young girls. 17 and all.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57- Oh, I was an old man, I was 20. - Oh, was you?
0:26:59 > 0:27:03The general public these days have no idea what went on
0:27:03 > 0:27:07in getting these aircraft built and getting these aircraft ready.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10If it wasn't for people like you doing the jobs that you did
0:27:10 > 0:27:14and so reliably, we as aircrew couldn't have flown.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19- I know.- So, your job was really just as vital as anybody else's.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25Realising just what you did for us flying, people flying,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28not me personally, there's a little something.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33You may have dozens of these, but I hope you'll perhaps like it.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35It's lovely, thank you.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The Lancaster bombers that women like Joan carefully assembled
0:27:44 > 0:27:48on the factory floor took on a life of their own once in the skies.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53And Rusty's keen to show Edward what being on board one was like.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Those little windows there,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59you could look into the bomb doors and see if your bombs had fallen.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Yeah.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04One thing you don't get is that sort of atmosphere.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07It's very difficult to put over what it was like.
0:28:07 > 0:28:13As a crew on operations, it was about 60% normal flying,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17about 40% panic and some raids when it was a lot like
0:28:17 > 0:28:21when you were in high adrenaline rate all the time.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25You can get the impression of the noise and the speed
0:28:25 > 0:28:27and you get the impression of the appearance,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30but one thing you don't get is the smell.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Cos when you were flying through a box barrage of anti-aircraft flying,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36you could smell all the cordite.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Of the 125,000 crew who flew in operations for Bomber Command
0:28:40 > 0:28:43during the war, 55,000 were killed.
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Many of them in Lancasters.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48When you first started on operations,
0:28:48 > 0:28:50you realise people were killed.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Oh, you said, "Poor souls," and all this sort of thing.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56But later on, it happened so often,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59you just accepted the fact that people were going to be killed.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02- Yeah.- And you didn't expect to live yourself.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05- No.- I was giving a talk to a school one day
0:29:05 > 0:29:10and one of the little girls said, "How many dead bodies did you see?"
0:29:10 > 0:29:13- We didn't see dead bodies.- No. - All we saw were empty beds.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20It's been a completely fascinating day being here but meeting Joan,
0:29:20 > 0:29:2517 and a half years of age, she was on an assembly line.
0:29:25 > 0:29:31And Rusty, talking to Rusty is just wonderful.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34But as he also was saying...
0:29:35 > 0:29:39..the aircrews would never have had aeroplanes to fly
0:29:39 > 0:29:41unless they had been made,
0:29:41 > 0:29:46and they were put together panel by panel, rivet by rivet.
0:29:46 > 0:29:47Mostly by women.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49A large majority of women,
0:29:49 > 0:29:55it was very important and very crucial to the war effort
0:29:55 > 0:29:57and to winning the war.
0:29:58 > 0:29:59So, I've had a wonderful day.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Wonderful day. I mean, two wonderful people.
0:30:06 > 0:30:11Britain's armament factories and Land Army employed millions of women
0:30:11 > 0:30:14during both world wars but there was another profession,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18which over the past 100 years and before then,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21has provided significant numbers of women.
0:30:21 > 0:30:22Nursing.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26During World War I and World War II,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28most nurses remained on the home front.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31But in both conflicts,
0:30:31 > 0:30:35many thousands of nurses were also needed to treat wounded combatants
0:30:35 > 0:30:37within a hair's breadth of military operations.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42One soldier to benefit from the expert care and treatment
0:30:42 > 0:30:47of front line nurses was Edward's own father, Robin Fox.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50He was a very, very good-looking man, my father.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52And had enormous charm.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54But that's before the war, I'm sure.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Like many other fathers,
0:30:56 > 0:31:01most other fathers did not talk to his children about the war.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07I remember him being not angry but he could be very angry
0:31:07 > 0:31:10at certain moments and looking back on that,
0:31:10 > 0:31:17you realise that they were pent-up needs to release an anger,
0:31:17 > 0:31:22which in normal ways, would be kept in a civilised way.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Major Robin Fox fought on the Italian front,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31where he was gravely injured during a reconnaissance mission.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35They were recking forward in a jeep and were ambushed.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38My father's colonel was driving
0:31:38 > 0:31:41and he had the wit just to drive on through the ambush.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45But my father was hit in the shoulder and the back.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47He had a scar that long.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51So, I don't know how many bullets there were in him,
0:31:51 > 0:31:56or how many were in his lung. I just don't know.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00But he would have been lucky
0:32:00 > 0:32:07that it didn't affect any other organ, major organ.
0:32:07 > 0:32:14One often saw the scar on his back and I don't think my brother and I
0:32:14 > 0:32:17would have had the almost impoliteness
0:32:17 > 0:32:19to mention what was that?
0:32:19 > 0:32:23It used, I know, to pain him.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29It couldn't not. He'd had a lung shot away.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Despite his injuries, Edward's father wasn't returned home.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40He was treated in Italy and eventually rejoined his regiment.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Edward wants to find out about the role nurses played
0:32:44 > 0:32:47in his father's remarkable wartime rehabilitation.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51And to see how female Army medics operate on the front line today.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55He's come to a field hospital training camp in Hampshire
0:32:55 > 0:32:58to meet medical historian, Emily Mayhew.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04I know that my papa was operated on, of course,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08and his life saved there by, but I don't know what happened after that
0:33:08 > 0:33:11in terms of his being nursed back to...
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Of an ability to get back into an active service.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19The nurses would have been every bit as important as the surgeons.
0:33:19 > 0:33:24- Yep.- A nurse who paid extraordinary attention with all of her senses
0:33:24 > 0:33:27to somebody with the kind of complex wound your father had,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30so she'd need to listen for breath sounds,
0:33:30 > 0:33:34she'd need to be watching his colour and she'd be doing this all the time.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38And we forget that this is really the pre-antibiotic era.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41- No penicillin, nothing. - Very little, no penicillin.- No.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44So, you'd be running the risk that you'd get a lung infection.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47The only way to deal with that is to have someone watch the patient
0:33:47 > 0:33:50second by second, minute by minute.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The nurses would have had to make the same difficult decision
0:33:53 > 0:33:55that your surgeon made, which is, "Who do I treat?
0:33:55 > 0:33:58"Where does my nurse go? Who do they sit by?
0:33:58 > 0:34:00"Who do they give their time and attention to
0:34:00 > 0:34:02"because they're likely to survive?"
0:34:02 > 0:34:09They would have listened to their last moments of living thought,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11- held their hands?- Absolutely.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16Extraordinarily demanding and extraordinary courage and dedication
0:34:16 > 0:34:20to summon the energy...
0:34:20 > 0:34:23- Yes.- The mental energy as well as physical.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Spiritual energy, actually, to cope.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28Absolutely, and it was dangerous.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31The field hospitals in Italy was a dangerous place to be,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35as your family knows. The field hospitals moved.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38Guns came in, attacks were made, ambushes were made.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40So, you were in physical danger.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44And I think for many of them, they recognised how demanding it was
0:34:44 > 0:34:48but what they had in common, I think, was the memory and history
0:34:48 > 0:34:52of nurses in the First World War and the extraordinary contribution
0:34:52 > 0:34:54that they had been able to make.
0:34:54 > 0:34:55They also knew it was going to be
0:34:55 > 0:34:58the most professionally-rewarding work that they ever did.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04The readiness of women to serve on front lines over the past 100 years
0:35:04 > 0:35:08has resulted in them being fully integrated into the military,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10in combat as well as support roles.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Working alongside the men, they're more valued than ever before.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Women have always proved in hard times, we are equally as tough as
0:35:25 > 0:35:27the men, if not tougher.
0:35:27 > 0:35:28We are seen as equals now.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31I don't think there is that differentiation any more.
0:35:32 > 0:35:33As long as you can do your job,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36I don't think the gender thing comes into it any more.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42I take my hat off to all the girls in all the forces now because Iraq,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45Afghanistan, what they do, especially the medics
0:35:45 > 0:35:49with these CASEVAC's by helicopter and things.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Things are very different now and it's great to see the women in the
0:35:52 > 0:35:54Army now much more integrated and making terrific
0:35:54 > 0:35:55careers for themselves.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57I couldn't be more pleased.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03Medicine has changed significantly since World War II,
0:36:03 > 0:36:07but the role of the modern female medic is essentially the same.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11To provide the best care to injured soldiers as quickly as possible.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16To get a sense of what the job entails,
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Edward is about to follow a group of reservists in action as they train
0:36:20 > 0:36:22for a front line emergency.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27And to make the whole exercise more relevant, the casualty is being made
0:36:27 > 0:36:31up as if he has the same injury Edward's father sustained in Italy.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35These are all senior Staff Sergeant Warrant Officers and they are just
0:36:35 > 0:36:38preparing for the arrival of the casualty.
0:36:38 > 0:36:42Talking him through the exercise is Lieutenant Colonel Amy Jones,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45a medical reservist who has seen action in Afghanistan.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48OK, so we've got gunshot wound coming in, so, obviously,
0:36:48 > 0:36:52it's going to be our priority one. We need to get him in straightaway.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56- TANNOY:- Trauma team to ED. Trauma team to ED. That is all.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59We want to find out which one is the worst priority.
0:36:59 > 0:37:00Just one. OK?
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Check his pockets. Check him all over.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11He doesn't look in good shape at all.
0:37:11 > 0:37:12We've got an in plate.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14- A weapon.- Yeah.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Soldiers injured on the front line are transported to mobile field
0:37:18 > 0:37:22hospitals like this one which can be completely assembled and up and
0:37:22 > 0:37:25running in less than 24 hours.
0:37:25 > 0:37:26We have an adult male.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28A Royal Artillery officer.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30He's got a gunshot wound to left shoulder.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32You can see the wound, there.
0:37:32 > 0:37:33Quite big.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40So there's quite a lot of blood coming out of there.
0:37:40 > 0:37:41He does sound quite poorly.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44His heart rate is a little bit fast and the most significant thing,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46it's taken them three hours to get him here.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48What they're going to do is what we call a primary survey,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51a top to toe look through their airway, airway, breathing,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54circulation, to see if there's anything immediately that's
0:37:54 > 0:37:56going to kill him.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00X-rays in bay three. X-rays in bay three.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Gunshot wounds can be difficult because it may have gone straight
0:38:03 > 0:38:05through, not hit anything important.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07- Yeah.- Or it could have hit, you know...
0:38:07 > 0:38:09In your chest is a number of vital organs, so it could've hit
0:38:09 > 0:38:12vessels, it could've hit nerves, it could've put your lung down,
0:38:12 > 0:38:14it could've hit your heart.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Now, you were serving in Afghanistan,
0:38:17 > 0:38:24so you saw and dealt with injuries of all kinds.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28So, most of what we dealt with was ballistic trauma,
0:38:28 > 0:38:29so IED blasts or gunshot wounds.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Although I was not on the front line when it actually happened,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35we would fly a helicopter out to the front line,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37we'd land where the patient had been hit.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Often when we landed, we could still smell the smoke from the IED.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42We pick the casualty up from where they'd been hit.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Often in the middle of a firefight, so a couple of times we landed in
0:38:45 > 0:38:48firefight and had a couple of minutes to throw the casualties on
0:38:48 > 0:38:50the helicopter and take off again.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Then do all the treatment we needed to do.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55A little bit like what these guys are doing in terms of packing,
0:38:55 > 0:38:57giving blood and putting them off to sleep.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00We would do that in the helicopter as we were flying out of there.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04So the rate of saving life has been extraordinary.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06- Massive.- Quite extraordinary.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08We had something we coined unexpected survivors,
0:39:08 > 0:39:10so people that on paper should've died.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12- Yes.- And they didn't.- Exactly.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14On previous wars, almost certain death.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16Certainly my first tour, lots of IED blasts.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19We're going out every single day. Double amputations.
0:39:19 > 0:39:20We'd get up in the morning and say,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22"We're going to have to pick up a double amputee today."
0:39:22 > 0:39:24- Yes.- Because that's how frequent they were. Yes.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27And it was partly because we're pushing forward the advanced care we
0:39:27 > 0:39:29could give here right to where they'd been wounded,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31so they were getting that care much more quickly.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34And just the level of care we can provide at a hospital
0:39:34 > 0:39:37like this was, you know, second to none.
0:39:37 > 0:39:38So he's still awake at the moment,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41looks quite pale and sweaty because he's lost a lot of blood.
0:39:41 > 0:39:42He looks a little better.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48There are over 1,700 female medics currently serving in the Army
0:39:48 > 0:39:52working in every category from health care assistants through
0:39:52 > 0:39:54to consultant surgeons.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00They're utilised in both military and humanitarian situations,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03from the British Virgin Islands to the deserts of Iraq.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08We've ordered another group specific which will be with us in about 20 minutes.
0:40:08 > 0:40:14Any World War II situation would not have had anything like what
0:40:14 > 0:40:16we are seeing here.
0:40:17 > 0:40:18But nevertheless,
0:40:18 > 0:40:25what would be the same is exactly the same as the spirit of concern
0:40:25 > 0:40:31to save life would've been exactly the same as we are seeing here.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36The dedication and the skill involved in improving injury.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41If you and I were in Afghanistan today, say,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43in a situation like this...
0:40:45 > 0:40:49..the complement of women would be large, too.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54Certainly the predominance of the nurses are female still, but I'd say
0:40:54 > 0:40:57nearing half of them are probably nearing half of the doctors are female.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01Very, very interesting that, I think.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04I think they're going to wake him up now.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06If they've done a good enough job and they're happy with his
0:41:06 > 0:41:09physiology and his blood tests, they're going to be able to wake
0:41:09 > 0:41:11him up and send him to the ward.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16From the hi-tech medical units of today, to the improvised field
0:41:16 > 0:41:21hospitals of World War II, wounded British soldiers like
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Edward's father have had expert nursing.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28The quality of the nursing that my father will have received will have
0:41:28 > 0:41:30been life-saving for him.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35Quite sure of it because the ease with which infection could get into
0:41:35 > 0:41:42a wound like that and cause death was very easy to happen.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45So my father fell in kind hands.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52Whether it was feeding the nation in the First World War,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55building Lancaster's in the Second or nursing soldiers on the
0:41:55 > 0:41:57battlefields of Afghanistan,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02the past 100 years have seen British women play vital roles in civilian
0:42:02 > 0:42:04and military life during wartime.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09And while the stories from his own family mean Edward has always been
0:42:09 > 0:42:13aware of the crucial contribution made by tens of thousands of women
0:42:13 > 0:42:18outside the forces, he's now come to appreciate them even more.
0:42:18 > 0:42:25Joan, Iris, my aunt Mary, are typical of millions of other
0:42:25 > 0:42:30young women who, quite naturally,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34felt more than perfectly prepared
0:42:34 > 0:42:40to be involved in the work that was required of them and to commit
0:42:40 > 0:42:46themselves to doing that work for the war effort.
0:42:46 > 0:42:53They will have had that zeal within them to do whatever they could
0:42:53 > 0:42:58in civilian life, but for a war purpose.
0:42:58 > 0:43:04I don't think the desire to serve, the sense of commitment to duty has
0:43:04 > 0:43:07changed today.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13So, of course, I admire the women service personnel here,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16who none of them will speak about what they've done particularly,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19but who will have done very remarkable things
0:43:19 > 0:43:24in very difficult and dangerous circumstances and I feel nothing
0:43:24 > 0:43:28but huge admiration for them.