This is a wonderfully evocative memoir of Pauline Cole, who joined the Army at the age of eighteen and enjoyed many years of successful service with them in the field of communications. In the summer of 2015, Pauline attended the Buckingham Palace Garden Party under the auspices of Blind Veterans, UK. She remains the only blind ex-servicewoman in the country, a veteran of one of the nastiest fields of action since the Second World War.
Although trained in communications, Pauline found herself in the front line during the Aden Emergency, 1967. She saw active service, used weapons in dangerous situations and coped at first hand with Arab and Egyptian terrorists. After Aden, her army career took her to Germany where she manned the telephone exchange during a crucial period of the Cold War. Civilian life found her running everything she ever started, whether it was the local Co-Op, a nightclub, charity ventures for children, or her own business mailing leisure catalogues.
Now retired, Pauline lives near her two adult sons and their families in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Her experiences in Aden remain the highlight of her life and she has begun research into the political background of a campaign that she saw on the ground, never feeling entirely confident that the Government took proper steps to safeguard their moral responsibility towards a former Crown Colony.
She is a vocal spokesman for the virtues of Army training. The disciplines served her well throughout her life. She loved the camaraderie, the physical demands and even the dangers involved. It might not suit every young woman - but Pauline was a very round peg in a very round hole.
Although trained in communications, Pauline found herself in the front line during the Aden Emergency, 1967. She saw active service, used weapons in dangerous situations and coped at first hand with Arab and Egyptian terrorists. After Aden, her army career took her to Germany where she manned the telephone exchange during a crucial period of the Cold War. Civilian life found her running everything she ever started, whether it was the local Co-Op, a nightclub, charity ventures for children, or her own business mailing leisure catalogues.
Now retired, Pauline lives near her two adult sons and their families in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Her experiences in Aden remain the highlight of her life and she has begun research into the political background of a campaign that she saw on the ground, never feeling entirely confident that the Government took proper steps to safeguard their moral responsibility towards a former Crown Colony.
She is a vocal spokesman for the virtues of Army training. The disciplines served her well throughout her life. She loved the camaraderie, the physical demands and even the dangers involved. It might not suit every young woman - but Pauline was a very round peg in a very round hole.
