Honoured at last

BY LUKE PARKER

It's been 65 years since Lucy Bowen did her bit for Great Britain during World War Two.

Now she's finally getting some recognition for it.

The 87-year-old has just received the war medals she earned as a volunteer with the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in England.

Mrs Bowen knew she was eligible but never got round to applying.

But a neighbour encouraged her to contact the British Defence Ministry and a package arrived in the post this month, delivering the war and defence medals as a permanent reminder of her service.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to bits to have them," she says. "They mean a lot."

The mother of one vividly recalls the war years, especially her own narrow brush with death at 18.

She was riding her bicycle in Hertfordshire, northwest London, when a bomb exploded nearby.

The last things she saw was a sudden flash before the blast knocked her unconscious.

"The Germans were bombing all the time," she says. "Even during the day. You could see them coming over. It didn't matter where you were - you weren't safe."

Mrs Bowen's legs were injured and the experience prompted her to sign up with the force at 19.

The Glen Eden resident was sent all over England to different stations and grew up quickly in the months that followed.

It was during her three-year service that she met and married her late husband Ronald, a fitter-mechanic in the air force.

The pair came to New Zealand in 1957 and built a house in Waitakere.

Mr Bowen, who worked as a cabinet maker in New Lynn, died in 1994 after struggling with alzheimers and pneumonia.

He was also still owed some medals and his wife is now trying to claim them.

"He'll get a few more than me because he was at the Battle of Britain. He was also posted to the Bahamas."

Mrs Bowen is recording her thoughts in a series of diaries which she plans to give to her son Fenton along with the medals.

She is a member of the King's Empire Veterans group at the Glen Eden RSA.

- © Fairfax NZ News