Eileen Lansdowne, working at Mills in Yarmouth before WWII, joined the ATS
Eileen Smith in ATS uniform
and on leave in 1945, married Ralph Smith who had left Mills to enlist in Princess Beatrice’s Own in 1939,
Eileen Lansdowne marries Ralph Smith 1945
When war broke out I was working in Mills Grocers shop and driving their delivery van. Ralph Smith, who worked there too, was a pork butcher. He and I were near enough courting (and married 1945). He joined the Isle of Wight Territorials, ( Princess Beatrice’s Own) at Freshwater on March 4th, 1939 and was mobilised at the end of July and stationed first of all at the Needles Battery, on Coastal Guns.
Ralph manned a Lewis gun during the Battle of Britain, served in Algeria, Medjes el Bab, Tunisia with the Ist Army, in Italy, Monte Casino, Tel Aviv, Palestine, Greece, back to Italy before VE Day. After VE Day, he was sent to Klagenfurt, Austria, Germany and Belgium. He was demobbed on March 1st 1946.
Ralph Smith on rest camp near Cairo after 6 months at the line in Tunisia: Photo Eileen Smith