WOMEN WAR WORKERS

Evening Star, Issue 24280, 22 August 1942, Page 8

WOMEN WAR WORKERS

4. THE W.A.A.G.

A businesslike atmosphere pervaded the lounge room provided for members of the Women’s Array Auxiliary Corps at the Drill Hall, when a ‘ Star ’ reporter visited them the other afternoon. At the moment, there are nine women serving in this corps,, and their duties are confined to the driving of officers’ cars to ail parts of the Otago area

or to the conveying of sick and wounded. When they went on to the Army pay roll in May after a period of voluntary Bcrviee they were employed in driving lorries, and they can recall some awkward moments before they knew exactly what was expected of them. “ Imagine my horror,” said one of them, “ when my lorry refused to budge when X teas a long way from help and my shame when I realised that I had run out of petrol.” However, such accidents are a thing of the past, as each girl has learned to check up on water, petrol, and oil in the morning as soon as she goes on duty.

The,hours of duly arc irregular, as there must oe some members on call from 6.30 in ihc morning till late aI, night. While they are waiting for the, job they go to (heir own room, which has been comfortably furnished with easy chairs, an electric heater, and facilities for the inevitable cup of tea. without, which no New Zealanders seem able to exist for any length of time. 31 online and afternoon” tea hours are cheery breaks in the day's routine, when all the women employed ‘at the. Drill Hall on the. clerical side gather with the AV.A.A.C.s for a few minutes’ chat and interchange of the

latest gossip. However, the presence of a stranger in their midst made them specially conscious of the Don’t talk ’ slogan, and beyond admitting that life in the Army was not without its humours they refused to divulge any of their experiences. Array authorities are loud in their praise of the' work of the W.A.A.C.s, while the women themselves all love the work in spite of the early morning start and the long hours. When a telephone call comes they jump to attention, and with a brief Sony, <rot to leave,’’ grab hat and gloves and disappear.