I had one ambition - By - Alexandra Grant

I had one ambition when I was young. I wanted to work on the ships. Most stewardesses were widows of seamen in their late forties or in their fifties. I applied to all the shipping companies but was politely turned down – too young. Eventually I took a job in the art galleries in Glasgow as a sort of dogsbody helping out anywhere in the museum. I enjoyed it but still applied to shipping companies.

On arriving at my digs one evening after a dance my landlady gave me a telegram which had been delivered for me earlier in the day. It contained the most wonderful message. `If you really mean it be there at 9AM tomorrow.’ It was from the Anchor Line. I was there on the dot and by 9.30 was signed on.

It turned out that a troopship was leaving for Korea that evening and the stewardess who should have been there was afraid to go to the war. I sailed, complete with documents and uniform at 5.30, that evening for Southampton. There we picked up the Northumbrian Fusiliers and I started a six year job that I loved.

It was a strange start as we had no civilian passengers so I just enjoyed it. However things changed in Korea. Any wounded were taken over to Japan. It was amazing. I discovered we were only twelve miles from Hiroshima so I took a bus and went there. It was about six years after the bomb and the devastation was horrendous. The Japanese had cleared the rubble but had not yet been able to rebuild. There was an island in the bay and they where breeding babies there to find out if the atomic fracture was affecting babies. The doorstep of the town hall had the imprint of the figure on it as was seen in the papers just after it happened.

We used the port of Kure to leave the wounded ashore. The Japanese laid on stalls and goods for the troops: beer, watches, cameras, anything to catch the eye. However tea was not provided. I eventually found what I took to be a teashop but could not get served. The geisha girls twittered at me and eventually a young soldier took me outside. He kept muttering but I could not understand him. Our bosun came shopping and then I found out. It was not a tea room. It was a brothel!!!

On the return trip we picked up a few families who were due for home leave. There was a lovely lass with two youngsters in a cabin near me. She was screaming and making an awful noise. I went to help. She was clutching her two little ones, pointing into the cabin and shouting about her husband. On the bunk was a pineapple. She had never seen one before and thought it was a grenade and danger to her children. We were all naïve in those days. However I loved the life and was lucky in really having a job I wanted.