D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Robbie Hall

Robbie Hall, Age: 100, Women's Auxiliary Air Force

Interviewed 1 November 2023

Lying about her age to become a WAAF when she was just 17, Robbie Hall worked for the accounts section of RAF Bomber Command, keeping Air Ministry regulations and instructions up to date.

Her boss was Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who’s plan to bomb Nazi Germany into submission by reducing its industrial cities to rubble remains controversial.

At the time of D-Day she was with Fighter Command.

Her joy at the news of the invasion was tempered by the fact that her fiance - a bomb aimer - had just been killed when his Lancaster was shot down during a raid.

She said: "When my boyfriend was posted as missing I was living with his parents. And of course it wasn’t a happy homecoming.

"They sent me home that day because obviously I was upset and it was difficult living in the same house as his parents.

At the time of D-Day Robbie Hall was with Fighter Command. Credit: ITV Meridian

"If you stopped to think about it which I’ve done in later years, he was shot down. Did his plane burst into flames? Because they used to try for the petrol tanks.

"Did he get burnt alive in the plane as it came down? Did he get killed on impact? Did it burst into flame on impact? What did they find of him?

"Because his parents went out - I wouldn’t go - to see the gravestones and there were four names on that memorial.

"We were both 21. And at my age I think ‘How young we were. What did we know? We hadn’t lived.'"

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...