On May 11, the Post published Ted Lurie’s article about women from the Yishuv in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Like other articles in his series, the location of their military unit is not revealed, but it is revealed that they were stationed within relatively close travel distance of Cairo and the Canal Zone. Unlike the women profiled in the Parade issue of February 12, 1944, the soldiers in camp visited by Lurie were not drivers as such (though he alludes to this), instead serving in an Ordnance stores and Accounting Department.
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The A.T.S. ARE DOING WELL
By T.R. LURIE
The Palestine Post
May 11, 1942
This is the fourth of a series of articles by The Palestine Post News Editor who has just returned from a tour of the camps of the Palestinians in Egypt and Libya.
PALESTINIAN women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service who got into uniform only six weeks ago are at work on important jobs in Egypt, and have already won high praise from the Colonels in command of the Ordnance Depos to which they are attached.
They are still digging-in their new homes which they are rapidly converting from bare barrack rooms to attractive, home-like hutments. I visited two of the three camps occupied by the first contingent of ATS to arrive from Palestine in Egypt and found them both to be surprisingly comfortable.
The women live in large sheds fixed more like dormitories than like barracks. They have proper spring beds and small bed-tables which they themselves are curtaining. The sappers who had the job of converting these barracks into women’s quarters outdid themselves in ingenuity. In one they provided a special hairdressing saloon. They built shower rooms with specially low showers (hot and cold) so that the women can shower without getting their hair wet.
BUT all these comforts do not mean that the ATS are soft. They are doing mens’ jobs, whether as ordinance clerks, storewomen or drivers – and not just drivers of small cars, for they are already driving three-ton lorries. At one Ordnance Vehicle depot, the Colonel told me that the ATS were already handling the “flow,” that is, driving new vehicles around the huge depot from their arrival through the various inspections, equipping and greasing stages to their final issue.
More Women Volunteers
Although busy fixing up their living quarters and comforts, the girls are chiefly occupied with their work, which they have taken to with an enthusiasm that has aroused comment everywhere. The only “crime” reported by one Commanding Officer was that of two ATS who went to work when the doctor said they should have gone sick.
I happened to visit one camp during an inspection by the D.D.O.S. [Deputy Director of Ordnance Services], who was, of course, very pleased to find the girls so keen. He spoke of the importance of their work and their efficiency, and stressed the need for more and more Auxiliaries, as indeed did all the officers. Their reputation is traveling fast, and one looks forward to this vanguard of ATS being followed by thousands more to replace more and more men. Men are thus relieved for other jobs, without the work suffering at all. If anything there will be greater efficiency, as there will no longer be any danger of trained personnel being taken away from these jobs at the base to be sent up to the front.
CAIRO, which today sees more varied womens’ uniforms than probably any other city in the world, has already noticed the ATS. While their khaki may not be as colorful as the Navy blue of the WRENS or the tan and brown of the South-African women or the Air-Force blue of the WAFFS, still their new forage caps, which I saw them wear yesterday in place of the peaked hats they wear on duty, give them an air of perky smartness.
In Cairo and the Canal Zone two homes for ATS are being opened where girls of leave will be able to stay. Mrs. Edwin Samuel has just spent about a fortnight in Egypt, making arrangements for these clubs, and, she told me, plans are well advanced. The houses have been chosen and architects and interior decorators are at work.
Social Life
The PATS’ social life is, however, not confined to visits to town during off hours, for in the camps themselves the officers are paying special attention to recreation and cultural activities. English, Hebrew, and Arabic lessons are being arranged in one camp, where it is also planned to start a mixed choir. The A.T.S. are permitted to entertain men friends in their own canteen at certain hours. Their canteens have, of course, got pianos, radios and all sorts of indoor games, and are large, spacious, attractive and comfortable recreation halls.
Friday evenings are most attractive of all at the A.T.S. camps, and at one I visited I was told that the non-Jewish officers and N.C.O.s take part in the candle-lighting service together with the Jewish girls.
Quiet Efficiency
The ATS have, no doubt, made an excellent impression in the short time since their arrival. Such remarks as “highly intelligent” and “extremely capable” are the only comments I could hear from officers as well as from the N.C.O.s in charge of the various Departments in which the girls are employed. These Corporals and Sergeants, old soldiers and Ordnance men who had the job of introducing the girls to the bookkeeping and officer work at which they are replacing men, were enthusiastic about the alacrity with which their pupils caught on.
I saw the women a work, a few score among hundreds of men in gigantic Ordnance stores and Accounting Departments. They were already very much at home doing their work on their own and were being entrusted with complete responsibility like veterans. At work, there is the same informal atmosphere of a civilian officer. The Auxiliaries sit at their long tables handling index cards and army forms with quiet efficiency, and, in some places, they are even permitted to smoke at work.
Outside the “office,” there is just enough of heel-clicking and drill to remind them that they’re in the Army. They parade in the morning and afternoon to march to work and back again and they march to Mess as well. All in all, it’s a soldier’s life they lead.