Veteran helped track Battle of Britain with Churchill
A veteran has spoken of the role she played during the Battle of Britain – while Sir Winston Churchill looked on.
Joan Fanshawe served in the RAF's main command bunker during the Blitz, tracking the course of enemy aircraft on a giant map as dogfights raged in the skies.
The 89-year-old was also involved in the climactic day of the Battle of Britain on September 15, 1940, with the Prime Minister breathing down her neck.
Joan said: 'We became frantically busy. We were finding it difficult to find the space on the table as different raids came through on the telephone.
'I was on duty while Churchill was stood there above me, watching the battle go on. I was on shift from seven to 12 and their first wave came at around 11 o'clock. We had to stay on duty an extra hour. We found out afterwards that he hadn't been allowed to smoke his cigars. Instead he chewed on them as he watched, and afterwards people cut them up and kept them as memorabilia.'
Joan, from Winchester Road, Stroud, near Petersfield, was promoted from Plotter to Section Officer and was also on duty during D-Day, while her fiancee Lt Tom Fanshawe was leading HMS Clover in the assault on the Normandy beaches.
'I do feel very sad that a generation of such young men were lost,' she added.
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