D-Day 80 The Last Veterans: Grace Taylor

Grace Taylor, Age 99, Royal Artillery

Interviewed 12 November 2023

An ATS member who then trained with the Royal Artillery at Arborfield near Reading, Mrs Taylor from Poole was a gunner in a mixed anti aircraft crew on the South coast before and after D-Day. 

She learnt how to spot British and German planes by their wingspan, size and tail designs. 

Mrs Taylor was at a battery in Plymouth which saw much action firing on enemy fighters and bombers coming over the coastline. 

She said: "Our alarm would go off and you would have to pick up your steel helmet and your gas mask and run up to the command post where the four guns were.

"Sometimes there were (German) fighters and sometimes bombers.

"Hundreds at a time. Waves of them coming over. And there were gun sites every couple of miles all round the coast. You can’t really claim it was your guns that got it ot the next gun site. 

"Hurray. Excitement. That’s one less. We were almost always firing out to sea, which was good.

"We never saw a newspaper or listened to radio.

"We didn’t know what the rest of the world was doing. But on D-Day we were stationed at Land’s End and we were sleeping under canvas.

"Four girls to a tent. Girls in one field and fellahs in another. 

"We were on duty all the time. And all these little ships were going by. Loads of them across towards the east coast. But we didn’t know why. All going one way following each other.

"When the war was over we knew why."

Approaching her 100th birthday Ms Taylor still serves as President of the Poole Branch of the Royal Artillery Association. 

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