Like other women who signed up to participate in the war effort, many women joined the ambulance core and the fire brigade, whereas May and Grace took their training to become plane spotters with the 161 Battalion and Field Regiment in Northern England. They spent many long hours in the cold wind and rainy days looking to the sky.
May and Grace saved many lives with their plane spotting, they would radio to the platoon leader if the incoming plane was friend or foe. May and Grace had to be quick and had to be correct. They were both good at their posts and always ready for duty when called.
Eventually May met Bob and fell in love and shortly thereafter, Grace met Allan and fell in love, with weddings 6 months apart, it was only natural that May and Grace would be each other’s maid of honours in their weddings.
When Grace’s husband Allan got a new job in Australia, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. May and Grace faced the difficult task of saying goodbye to each other and promising to write and visit when they could. Years passed and many letters passed hands, and many phone calls for those special holidays despite the enormous costs.
Eventually May stopped hearing from Grace. There were no more letters, no more phone calls and when May rang the number she had for Grace, it was out of service.
May was stuck, she only had an outdated phone number, half a military service number and years of friendship to start looking. May contacted her local police department, there wasn’t anything they could do across international borders. May tried to contact the police in Australia, but since Grace no longer lived at that address anymore, there wasn’t any location to start looking in.
27 years later, May’s eldest daughter Linda took it upon herself to write a small little story in the community newspaper about her mother always wondering what happened to her friend Grace. The story touched many in the small village and the story was eventually picked up by a national news station and aired on the 6 o’clock news.
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/features/lookingback/1798273.did-you-know-grace-the-plane-spotter/
One evening, Grace’s eldest daughter Susan was in northern England watching the 6 o’clock news, when suddenly – a youthful picture of her mother flashed across the screen! Susan yelled for her husband to come quick – he too confirmed that indeed that was his mother-in-law, Grace! Susan called the number listed on the television and spoke to the producer of the show who was very excited there could be a possible connection.
Susan called her mother Grace, who was living in Canada to tell her the news. Grace was excited and fondly remembered her friend May. Time, moving, traveling, children and losing the contact details for May, Grace was eager to see her friend again.
May and Grace connected for the first time by telephone almost 30 years after last seeing each other in England. Up until the passing of May in 1998, May and Grace made several trips across the ocean to visit with one another – forever remaining the best of friends and making life-long connections between their two families!
Click the link below to finish the story on Searching for Grace!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbWAs5wlCKJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 