| We've come a long way |
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| Written by Mary Turner, 2006 | |
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Page 3 of 3 FANYs: the unsung heroinesFive years ago Woman’s World featured the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry – Britain’s most decorated female Corps – on which the film Charlotte Gray was based. Next year is the centenary of the FANYs. Dan James reportsMost people associate the FANY with the Second World War, but its full story goes back much further than this. It was founded in 1907 by an enthusiastic but somewhat idealistic army officer who envisaged Florence Nightingales on horseback riding on to the battlefield not only to tend to the wounded but also to fight! The proposed use of horses explains the word “yeomanry”, but by the outbreak of the First World War the FANY had mechanical horse-power and more than 400 members were often under fire in Flanders and France as they bravely drove ambulance convoys and ran field hospitals on the battlefields. WW1 was the beginning of a long and outstanding service record and when describing the FANY, historians often resort to such adjectives as “unique”, “eccentric”, “independent”, “flexible” and “free-spirited”. The Corps has always attracted women with such qualities, and by operating with an unofficial motto of “I cope” and an ability to adapt to the prevailing requirements in both war and peace, it’s no wonder the FANY has remained within Britain’s military infrastructure for so long. At the start of WW2 FANYs provided the nucleus of the Motor Driver Companies of the ATS, while a spirit of independence led others to serve with the Special Operations Executive, known simply as SOE. In 1940 Winston Churchill had ordered this new and clandestine organisation to “set Europe ablaze” using sabotage and intelligence gathering, and the bright and adaptable FANYs were perfect recruits. Several thousand worked at secret communications bases as linguists, code breakers, and wireless operators maintaining the vital links with its operatives working with the resistance behind enemy lines. Most of these courageous agents were men – but for certain missions only a woman could blend in and travel more easily in an occupied country. Thirty-nine French-speaking FANYs volunteered for this dangerous work, 13 of whom did not survive the war. Three were awarded the George Cross, two posthumously. FANYs also served in many other vital wartime roles, often doing what would normally have been men’s work but at a time when so many men were serving on the home front and overseas. They worked at radar and anti-aircraft gun sites, became ambulance drivers in the Blitz, drove staff cars and lorries delivering munitions and secret documents, and provided welfare services for thousands of escaped Polish soldiers. After D-Day a number of FANYs travelled to Normandy by landing craft to collect the Allied wounded, and at the close of the war the Corps helped repatriate the wounded and POWs from the Far East and Europe. Today’s FANY still recruits dynamic young women. A recent book described the greatest changes in the modern-day FANY as “those that could not be advertised, since they involve closer work with Special Forces and secure army units”. But one very important role that isn’t secret, just hardly ever acknowledged, is the Corps’ communications roles in providing personnel for the City of London Police Casualty Bureau and the capital’s civil-military emergency response planning. Immediately after London’s 7 July attacks, a dozen Corps members were soon en route to the police casualty bureau, and it was FANYs who registered missing British people after 9/11 and after the Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004. Lynda Rose, who has commanded the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry since 1998, says these first 100 years have marked a period of extreme social and cultural change for women: “Our activities over the century have reflected women’s transformation from disenfranchised chattels to fully paid up members of society – even a prime minister. The FANY centenary is a celebration by the oldest and arguably most illustrious women’s volunteer corps in the country. But it’s also a commemoration of those who went to war and saw and endured unspeakable hardship and horror, yet retained an unmatched joie de vivre and mischievous charm!” Throughout 2007 there will be several special events to commemorate the centenary. If you, or a friend or relative, served as a FANY you may like to contact FANY headquarters on tel: 020 7976 5459, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or www.fany.org.uk |
