A 101-year-old veteran, who has never publicly talked about her wartime experience, wants the VE Day 80th anniversary events to be a chance to reflect on the “unnecessary” conflicts we see today that she says are driven by “pure greed”.
Pauline Alexander was one of five siblings who all served in the Second World War – with three of them among the four family members she lost during the conflict.
She was encouraged to talk about what she went through by her daughter after she saw the Royal British Legion appealing for more surviving veterans to tell their stories.
80 years ago, as Sir Winston Churchill declared there was finally victory in Europe and the celebrations erupted in London, Ms Alexander was in Chelmsford with her mother and sister-in-law.
“I was at home on leave,” she said.
“We joined in the celebrations, the singing and dancing. It was very exciting. Everyone in Chelmsford had turned out, well those who were still there. But it was very… how can I put it? A feeling of what next… life had changed completely.
“We started (the war) as a family of seven, we ended as three.”
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Like so many, Ms Alexander’s war was punctuated by loss.
Her father died while running the family surgical instrument business in 1943, and three of her brothers were killed.
Peter Kipling, an Army dispatch rider, died in a bike accident delivering a message to the war office in London. He was about to be sent to the front in preparation for D-Day.
Guy and Bernard Kipling, who were twins, were both navigators on RAF bombers.
They were shot down in 1941 and 1943, their bodies never came home.
All three are remembered on Peter’s gravestone in Broomfield Cemetery.
Looking at photographs of her brothers, Ms Alexander quietly said: “That’s just how I remember them all, just like that.”
When I asked her how she felt when she heard they had died serving their country, she replied: “In those days of war you just had to accept these things.
“It was bound to happen at some time or other. Bernard served on Whitley bombers, and they were known as flying coffins.”
Ms Alexander’s story about her family, and the clerical work she did in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) from 1942-1946, including at bomber command at RAF Waddington, only came to light because of the Royal British Legion appeal.
She said she previously just thought: “It was our duty to do what we could and that was life, everyone was losing family… it was just something that happened.
“All part of life and living.”
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I asked her how her mother reacted when she said she wanted to sign up.
Ms Alexander replied: “She said yes. It would do me good. I was getting too spoilt at home.”
She added: “If my brothers were in, I had to be in to do my bit too.”
Her mother, Rosa Kipling, was also a remarkable woman.
She lived until 105 and was recognised for bravery in the first honours list to feature MBEs in 1918, after surviving an explosion during the First World War in a munitions factory.
It is no wonder then that her children were all so committed to do their bit.
The sense of service and the acceptance of the sacrifices that had to be made now feel more important than ever, especially in the context of ongoing global conflicts.
That was something that Ms Alexander was keen to talk about from her home in Cambridgeshire in March, where she will be watching today’s events.
Asked why she believes it is so important that we take time to remember today, she said: “Because it’s all part of history, and history is very important, because we learn from history.
“When you think of all the conflicts that are going on now and how it’s all unnecessary in a sense, just pure greed. Because what they went through (in the Second World War) was absolute hell.”
As I reflected with her that they truly are an amazing generation, Ms Alexander simply replied: “Yes, there’ll never be another one like it.”
