Jane Eldridge 3 - The ballroom, that was our meeting place
The Queen Mary was one of the largest ships used as a troop ship during WWII and could transport up to 15,000 troops across the Atlantic.
Jane and a group of Cypher Wrens sailed with Churchill to the Quebec Conference (Canada) on the Queen Mary in 1943.
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Extract Text (Duration1.03)
We didn't have anywhere to go as such when you were off duty, except with all these officers who were journeying and we all assembled in the ballroom, that was our meeting place, that was where we were allowed to go. But you just sat on the floor, there was no furniture at all and you had, oh I don't know how many hundreds of us on the floor sitting in little groups and a sort of general hum over the whole area, and a little group would start singing or others were playing bridge, others were just talking, and the troops, I've got a feeling I'm right in saying this, they used to move around. I think it was every two hours they'd try and move them around, one side would go up a deck and the other side would go down a deck to keep the balance of the ship going. So that at least they got perhaps four hours a day outside before being stuck below decks.
One was awfully proud if you had green buttons
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Yes, monster, that was the code name
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The ballroom, that was our meeting place
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They gave you a ship?s biscuit
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You had to have special seawater soap
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You had to have a commission to cypher
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