Eileen Younghusband at Barry Library - One Woman's War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFqRVuPC0-o&feature=relmfu
Click for Site DirectoryEileen Younghusband writes second book about her wartime experiences.
On the 23rd April 2012 I was privileged to meet Eileen Younghusband at Fairwater Library in Cardiff.
Here is a link to my meeting with her at Fairwater Library: Click on the link!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9rFWs5iIFI&list=UUBrtjxctQmkkncs69BoyfbQ&index=2&feature=plcp
I found her fascinating to talk to as I realised that she had been working in the top secret room that dealt with all
the radar information before anyone in any other military command. So when the message was flashed to a Balloon Site to
have the balloons let up to the routine operating height, the message to Balloon Command, had been triggered by the
work of all the staff in the Filter Room. She was keen to explain her role in the war and patiently explained what she
had done. She told me that she gives talks about her life and war work and that she is working on the manuscript for
a third book about men she had known during her life. She has certainly done a great deal with her life and has met
some amazing and famous people over the decades. It was a pleasure to listen to her story and I am pleased that she
decided to write it!
Here in print are revelations and insights about the secret Filter Room and how it helped win the war told by someone
who was there and can give a firsthand account in great detail. So often books are written by military historians who
were not there and have to sometimes second guess the events that took place.
This is not so with this book, as it is a superb primary source of history of life in World War Two.
This is a book you will find you cannot put down and will read and reread. A must for anyone interested in the history
of our country.
Eileen Younghusband with her new book at Fairwater Library
Eileen is a fascinating lady who can give an insight into events in World War Two that have only recently been revealed.
If you enjoy a good read then I can thoroughly recommend both of her books to you. The books are very well written
and are so detailed that you feel you were there standing alongside her throughout. A superb present for anyone with
an interest in the dark days of World War Two and how life was pre-war.
She is an exceptional person and has written two books about her most remarkable life. Her second book,
"One Woman's War", is a step by step account of her life as a young woman in pre-war Britain
and how life changed for her, and the nation, when the war began in earnest.
How she became to join up in the services and how due to her excellent mathematical skills she was able to work in the
Filter Room, a top secret part of our defence organisation who were the first to deal with radar information so that
it could be passed to the various commands who were charged with defending our country in World War Two.
To see a film about the Top Secret Filter Room look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFN4uE2b9hA
To purchase this book visit: http://www.freewebstore.org/candy-jar-store/index.aspx?pageid=676595
THE AUTHOR
EILEEN YOUNGHUSBAND lives in Sully in the Vale of Glamorgan. She speaks several languages and regularly gives
lectures about her time in the war. Reminiscing, she says these experiences have helped her cope with the loss
of both her husband and her only son. It has also given her the determination to gain her Bachelor of Arts Degree
at the age of eighty-six, write her autobiography "Not an Ordinary Life" and complete this wartime saga, in the
last two years. This book is dedicated to the small band of women of the W.A.A.F., working in the seven Filter
Rooms of Fighter Command, whose dedication to duty and patriotism contributed to the victorious defence of
Great Britain.
Winston Churchill immortalised the fighter pilots who won the Battle of Britain as "The Few" but behind them
was another group of people – even fewer and mostly women, whose work was too secret to acknowledge.
The author takes us on a fascinating journey, bringing to life the untold story of Radar’s secret Filter Room.
Ninety-year-old Eileen Younghusband served as an officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in WW2. Deciding
to volunteer at the age of eighteen, her mathematical abilities lead to her training as a Clerk Special Duties, a
vital part of the Radar chain. She found herself working in the Filter Room, the lynchpin between the coastal
Radar Chain and the successful defence of Britain. She tracked the V1s over Kent and London and gave the first
"Big Ben" warning of a V2, which landed on Chiswick on September 8th, 1944.
After losing two fiancés, she eventually married; only to be posted oversees six weeks later to Second Tactical
Air Force in Belgium. There she became part of a team tracking and destroying V2 launching vehicles,
responsible for the devastating raids on Antwerp – the Allies’ vital port for landing troops and supplies.
Re-allocated to new duties, she was sent as guide and interpreter to the concentration camp south of Brussels,Breendonk, known as the " Camp of Silence and Death" where she learnt the horrible secrets of its past...
To purchase this book visit: http://www.freewebstore.org/candy-jar-store/index.aspx?pageid=676595
"Not an Ordinary Life" is a fascinating autobiography from Eileen Younghusband telling of her time in the Second
World War as a young woman in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (W.A.A.F.), through to her remarkable career in
business and
completing a degree at the age of 86.
Eileen volunteered for service in the W.A.A.F. and was chosen to work in the
Filter Rooms of Fighter Command in
the defence against hostile aircraft. This secret and vital link between the coastal Radar installations and the
Operations Rooms has never received the publicity it deserved. It was the nerve centre for Radar's defence of
Britain.
“Many of the W.A.A.F. personnel with whom I served were married or related to operating air crews from either
Bomber or Fighter Command,” says Eileen. “They continued steadfastly with their duties even in times of danger
, knowing perhaps that their loved ones might not return from an operation. Our lives were moulded by these
years,” said Eileen.
“It set the seal for my future life – how I acted, when coping with the challenges and many problems of post-war
life. My generation lost our teenage years and the chance to plan our futures. We grew up fast. The book is a
tribute to my once
colleagues and perhaps a social document of that generation.”
This book has already garnered praise from reviewers. Fred Mawer, who writes for
the Daily Telegraph and the
Daily Mail, said "Perhaps the most fascinating part of Eileen's inspirational autobiography are the descriptions of
her time in the W.A.A.F. These chapters are hugely informative, and written with great clarity and honesty, as well
as a lightness of touch. I would encourage anyone with an interest in the “hidden” history of the Second World War
to read Not an Ordinary Life.”
Eileen can be seen on other videos at :
Eileen Younghusband - Memories of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Diamond Jubilee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBysllxMf2c&feature=relmfu
Eileen Younghusband at Barry Library - One Woman's War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFqRVuPC0-o&feature=relmfu