By Jacqui Johnson (The Story Volunteer)
Volunteering in Collections at The Story has provided me with numerous opportunities to look into the lives of people who have lived and worked in County Durham throughout the years. Recently I was tasked with picking out common themes from oral transcripts of 70 different women who served in the Aycliffe Royal Ordnance Factory during WWII. These ladies were known as ‘munitionettes’ and they carried out very important but dangerous work making shells and other explosives (munitions) for the soldiers on the front line.
What became apparent very quickly as I read these transcripts was that there were numerous themes that would raise an eyebrow or two in today’s working environments – simply put it would not be allowed. But they did it anyway and generally without question or complaint.
It is also probably worth mentioning at this point that these women were conscripted; they could choose to join the forces or work in the munitions factories. With that context in mind I still can’t help but wonder how or why these women have largely gone unrecognised for the important and dangerous work that they carried out as part of the war effort. The women’s land army and forces certainly were recognised (and rightly so) but for some strange reason not the munitionettes.
The Munitionettes
So let us take a look at what it was like for these women. Days were long and generally started with an early morning train or bus journey to the factory. Once there they needed to switch into ‘clean side’ clothing and anything that could cause a spark had to be removed, this included things such as hair grips and jewellery. The work itself was tedious and a lapse of concentration could be disastrous, resulting in fingers and hands literally being blown off, and in some cases could prove to be fatal. There was also a general health risk working with explosive powders that often resulted in skin turning yellow from the cordite, and lastly let us not forget that Hitler’s army was constantly aiming to destroy these factories. And yet these brave women continued on, in spite of it all and generally in good spirits.
When the war finished the munitions factories closed down and these ladies returned to ‘pre-war life’ working in various places or making homes and families – hopefully with their husbands that had gone off to war and returned safely. Some remained in touch with each other – others not so much, but whatever the outcome these ladies shared a very special lifelong bond.
Perhaps during the next Remembrance Day services when we in our modern free world remember those that sacrificed so much for us, we can also give thanks to these incredibly brave ‘munitionettes’ ladies who also gave and sacrificed so much without question or complaint, and who so far seem to have gone largely unrecognised for what they did.