This is why I joined the RAF

This is why I joined the RAF

A poem written in December 1942 after her first love was shot down over France. After his death Betty resolved to join the Royal Air Force and became a wireless operator. According to a note, she later found out that some of what she wrote down went to Bletchley Park to help break the German secret code.

1942-12

One typewritten sheet

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MTurnerBM2146029-170131-03

[inserted] This is why I joined [underlined] RAF [/underlined] Dec 1942 [/inserted]
He was twenty-two I was seventeen
I thought he was lovely &
he seemed very keen

But he was a bomber pilot
didn’t stand a chance
when singled out by fighters
shot down over France

That evening, as usual, I waited
His friend came instead
I sobbed as he told me
my lovely friend was dead

Since then I’ve loved a dozen times
But first love’s so sincere,
Remember him? Of course I do,
Especially this time of year.

After this happened within days I joined the RAF and after training at Compton Bassett, became a wireless operator. Very boring listening in to signals writing down pages of groups of letters. Found out many years later, some of which we wrote down went to Bletchley Park to help break the German secret code.

Betty Turner (nee Baldock)
Aylesbury