On D-Day, hundreds of thousands of military women worked as codebreakers, ship plotters, radar operators and cartographers while soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy.
What did you do in the war, Granny? For British women who came of age during World War II, the answer to that question is often: quite a lot. The history of D-Day is often told through the stories of the men who fought and died when the Allies stormed the beaches of northern France on June 6, 1944.
But behind the scenes were hundreds of thousands of military women who worked in crucial non-combat roles such as codebreakers, ship plotters, radar operators and cartographers. Often overlooked, their contributions have come into sharper focus as the number of living D-Day veterans dwindles and the world prepares for the 80th anniversary of the landings.
The bronze monolith is decorated with 17 different uniforms hung on pegs to represent the jobs women took on during the war, then gave up when the men returned. They include the uniforms of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and the Women’s Royal Naval Service. But there are also police overalls, a nursing cape and a welder’s mask. 'I get a certain satisfaction from my wartime experience,' Scott said.
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